How to Be A Heathen

It’s not always easy to believe in a particular religion, even – or especially – one you were brought up in. And, from there, it’s not such a big step to disbelieve all the conventional religions. But that doesn’t mean to turn up your nose at them. 

After all, religion serves a major role in many people’s lives. It provides answers to questions which otherwise seem unknowable. And, though it has caused many wars – in some of which people on both sides prayed to the same god – it also serves valuable social purposes, such as giving to people who might otherwise feel isolated, places and purposes to gather together and help one another.

Being a heathen
doesn’t necessarily mean
being an atheist.

I am sorry to have no religion. It must be a great comfort to have some feeling that you know where you came from and where you are going – or at least that somebody somewhere does and is somehow watching over you. Of course, I know that not all religions teach such a message – but they do in some way try to make life in this world easier than it would otherwise be.

Then how do people cope, who profess a lack of any faith at all? Whole societies, such as the communist Soviet Union, have tried to replace religion with a political agenda. But, as soon as that Union fell apart, it became obvious that the religious impulse which had been suppressed was always there, ready to spring forth at the first opportunity.

In my own case, my early years were entirely spent among people who considered themselves Jewish, and everybody not Jewish was a “goy.” This term was in no way disparaging. It was simply a statement of fact. But every one of the world’s major religions has words distinguishing nonbelievers from those who follow the faith. And historically, those who refused to submit have sometimes been treated with what may seem to us great cruelty. (It is said that the only great religion in whose name no war has been fought is Buddhism.) 

And, sadly, some of the worst conflicts have occurred when divisions have developed within particular faiths. Christianity, a religion founded on ideals of love and brotherhood, has unfortunately seen some of the bitterest and longest-lasting internal struggles.

But being a heathen doesn’t necessarily mean being an atheist. However, many of us find it hard to believe in an invisible power greater than ourselves, especially one that is inscrutable, and by no means always benevolent. Some prefer to call it chance, or Fate, or just the way things happen. In such a universe, if such it is, we humans have no way of influencing events, beyond the motto of the Boy Scouts: “Be prepared.” Or, the ways it’s been put in other times and circumstances, such as “Trust in God, and keep your powder dry” (a remark attributed to the English military genius and religious fanatic, Oliver Cromwell, about 400 years ago. In those days, firearms had already come into use, but they were still in the form of muskets, for which every soldier had to carry his own supply of gunpowder).

Or, more recently, we have “Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition,” supposedly uttered by a U.S. Navy chaplain during the Pearl Harbor attack, while assisting at a Naval artillery battery.

Such stories are often dismissed as Folklore. Nevertheless, many people still believe in the power of prayer. It may be self-delusion, but who is going to quarrel with so-called scientific, or experimentally proven, results, as sometimes adduced by believers? People who play roulette, or even those just trying to call heads or tails, often believe that, in some dark, mysterious way, wishing (or prayer) will make it happen. But so far, there’s been no scientifically proven, verifiable evidence to bear this out. Over the centuries, however, particular individuals have been thought to have prophetic powers. Spiritualists and “Mediums” still gather ceremoniously around tables, thinking that those in the “Spirit World” will respond to their attempts to communicate. The best a Heathen can say about such efforts is that they do no harm, and probably make some people feel better, especially if they’ve recently lost a loved one.

But, in the absence of undeniable proof, Heathens and their whole clan of skeptics and doubters, will still flourish. As for me personally, I can only add one of my own all-too-personal postcard messages:

“In some minds,
there’s no room for doubt –
In mine,
there’s hardly room for anything else.”