PAGAN ANTI-DEFAMATION NETWORK
(Affiliated to SAFF)
STATEMENT OF PAN'S INTENT
(October 1997ev.)
Presented by PAN Founder Patrick Regan
PAN is one of the principle organisations working tirelessly to counteract the rising tide of Christian fundamentalist activity against Paganism. I have personally contributed a large part of my life to running the PAN organisation. Later on I created the PAN website and this now takes up a great deal on my time. I am always however most grateful to the growing band of friends and helpers who assist in sharing the increasing workload.
In order to fully understand where PAN is coming from, please consider the points below.
We have also reiterated one particular and very important point may times in the past and this is that PAN fully supports Pagan interfaith liaisons with 'tolerant' belief systems but not however with hardline missionary systems that are provably using interfaith events as a means to gain converts to their 'exclusive' religious theocracy.
For any faith wanting to keep 'true' to its original heritage (and let's face it most do) supporting the latter would of course be both ludicrous and insane.
Paganism is not alone in realising that it has and will unfortunately always be a target for evangelical missionary activists. Adherents of other faiths have discovered that they too are subject to unwanted missionary practice at times. For example, the Jewish people frequently complain that the missionary organisation 'Jews for Jesus' sees them as being in need of 'Conversion'. Many other examples may be given regarding this disconcerting and often socially-destructive situation but time of course limits us herein.
PAN specialises in protecting the interests of Pagans. My wife Cath and I realised that ages ago many Pagans failed to see the dangers from Religious fundamentalism to their beliefs. Unfortunately many had listened to naive Pagan leaders who even refused to accept that a concerted fundamentalist campaign against Paganism actually existed. We remember that one Pagan Magazine Editor when approached with the danger said that she only had 'aggro' with Pagans and that a fundie campaign against her beliefs was just a false conspiracy theory.
Cath and I served for a time on the Pagan Federation North-West Committee. We provided (at their request) information for their newsletter on the subject of anti-defamation. Unfortunately the vast amount of data that we sent in to the editor eventually became too much for him to handle and our page was unfortunately omitted from the magazine. We protested but were met with hollow excuses and eventual silence.
The Editor in question that merely sat on our hard-earned data has now left and we notice that he has been criticised from other Pagan quarters too. The well had dried up and the only people who would suffer would have been the ordinary Pagans who knew nothing of this avoidable cut in the chain of vital anti-defamation information. We didn't ask to be put in the position as PAN leaders, it just developed; the will of the Gods sort of thing is the way we see it.
Nobody else in Paganism was taking the fundamentalist menace seriously so we had to do something; it was our duty as genuine Pagans.
The SAFF remit on the other hand is to defend all non-absolutist beliefs. This includes Paganism but also every other minority too. SAFF had acknowledged back in 1988 that the Pagan situation should be dealt with by the Pagan Federation. SAFF supported the PF until the new clutch of Pagan Archbishops took over, stabbed them in the back and cut all ties in 1994. It was the lack of any foresight on this issue by the PF that prompted us to augment the PF's normal work in this arena. We believed that PAN could do a lot more good concerning anti-defamation for the Pagan community than the PF. We were in effect filling a vacuum left by the PF's laziness and in all honesty we got very little help from them whatsoever-often the reverse was the case.
It was only common sense that we used the brilliantly successful research material gained from SAFF to act as a resource bank for PAN. We add to their data banks of knowledge through our own efforts for the good of Pagans everywhere. We have always been autonomous from SAFF yet we often work with them because we know that it is in the best interests of Pagans. When we have failed to agree with them we have said so. The seemingly unworthy leaders of the PF appear to have been trying to misinform the Pagan community that we are somehow in the pocket of SAFF. These self-righteous hypocrites fail to tell their members that the PF was comfortably in the SAFF's pocket, depending on the SAFF for vital research material during the four years when the Satanic Abuse Myth was at it's zenith.
To enable PAN to catch up on events pronto it was essential for us to access data on the SRAM from the acknowledged experts who had tracked it for years-the SAFF. The PF Junta doesn’t like it but that's the truth of the matter. The SAFF is the organisation that knows "where it's at" when it comes to the SRAM. They are the people who have the largest data bank in existence on the fundie campaign to outlaw all minority belief systems.
The current PF leaders have failed Paganism miserably by rejecting SAFF help. They are now failing the Goddess again by rejecting PAN expertise. Pagans should be demanding much more from their leaders. If the vast majority of the Pagan Federation is supporting these airheads then they will need to censor and suppress PAN and the SAFF. They will need to: ban us from their contact lists, outlaw all debates regarding interfaith and spread odious disinformation about us to mislead others. They will have to, in a nutshell, follow the PF leader's example and expel us out of hand without rhyme or reason. They would already have a mandate to do these despicable things from the dictatorship that leads them. The fact that the PF archbishops are going to such extraordinary lengths to silence Cath and myself is indicative of the reverse i.e. an UNMANDATED policy. Are they bringing this policy through the back door unbeknown to the rank and file?
I believe these Archbishops have booted us out to stifle a proper debate over Interfaith and stop us highlighting their inadequacy in supporting Paganism's best interests. It is time for YOU to start asking questions about the PF and about whom is running the show.
Does it really now protect your rights or is it so full of self-righteousness that it cannot see a helping hand when one is offered? The PF 'en-masse' is an essential body yet its current leadership is unworthy by its own actions and is corrupting a vital force for the good of Paganism.
Are they doing what they have done in victimising Cath and myself in the Goddess's name, or are they merely supporting their own shaky platform of Pagan Priesthood? This particular Pagan hierarchy seems to be seeking approval from the 'missionary' Christian Priesthood for their own existence. At the moment they are behaving more like Hard-line Christians than Pagans asking for a blessing from the Christian powers through Interfaith, instead of realising that Paganism does not need the thumbs up from this frequently intolerant Clerical-Machine. We are committed Pagans, please do not let the PF leaders tell you that we are troublemakers. We have selflessly devoted our lives to the cause of peaceful Pagan defence.
We do the work we do because somebody must for the survival of Paganism in all its wonderful forms. How many more folk must complain before you begin to question what is happening here? Before you know it the PF leaders will have formulated and excepted ON YOUR BEHALF, a CHRISTO-PAGAN 'compromise' like an equivalent of the Nicene Creed and shackled genuine Paganism into bondage for centuries to come.
That is why we are bringing it to your attention right now.
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to make the same mistakes in the future."
Your only chance to bypass the misinformation system enjoyed by the PF leaders is the PF's annual conference, where the rank and file have an opportunity to air their views and question them on their policies. I told your newly elected President that he couldn't silence the debate on Interfaith by expelling Cath and I. I told him that if the PF stifled this topic then I would make things clear at the conference. He replied saying that if I did so then he would have me arrested by the police for breach of the peace.
With this threat it appears that honest debate has been outlawed from the PF conference as well. It would seem then that if the victimisation of the Regans is anything to go by, you disagree with PF policy at your peril. Democracy in the PF? What a joke indeed!
It's time to speak out against the current leadership in the PF and their totalitarian ways, before the sands of time run out for us all.
The Old Gods deserve better!
ENDS.
Email pagansuk@yahoo.co.uk
Disclaimer:
PAN realises that the vast majority of Christians are not fundamentalist or evangelical in make up and we only criticise religious extremists who seek to disenfranchise other faiths whilst bolstering their own. PAN does not in any way condone violence against any persons or property and we must state that we have always worked towards a more tolerant and equal society.