Secular Pagans religiously demand absolution from religion. Secular Paganism’s first tenet is:
Thou shalt not declare thyself a religion.
This is the most powerful tenet of Secular Paganism. Liberating themselves from the label of religion frees Secular Paganists to demand state sponsorship of their religion while simultaneously demanding the repression of other religions on the ironic grounds that no one religion should be given preference over other religions.
Not having formal or informal recognition as a religion, Secular Paganism has managed to embed itself as the state sponsored religion of a majority of first-world nations and possibly the majority of all nations. The awarding of tax breaks, grants, and government contracts often revolve around institutional and individual adherence to the tenants of Secular Paganism.
Ask a Secular Paganist, “What is your religion?” and you will get an adamant response that they do not identify as a member of a religion. Secular Paganists firmly follow this tenet. This belief gives Secular Paganists a feeling of vast superiority over those that belong to named religions.
Secular Pagans fear breaking their second tenet more than any other act. Secular Paganism’s second great commandment is:
Thou Shalt Not Die
Note that the second commandment applies only to one’s self, not to preserving other human life. Secular Pagans do not demand that anyone else apply this tenet to their own life, only that they themselves live up to this aspiration.
The second tenet of Secular Paganism is the driving force behind many political and environmental movements. Political and environmental movements framed in terms of life and death firmly associate themselves with this second tenet. If you can convince a Secular Paganist that an activity can even remotely endanger their life, no matter how unlikely the endangerment, then the religious Secular Pagan will demand the halting of that life-threatening activity.
Firearms possession, global climate change, and capital punishment all represent potential death to the individual adherent of Secular Paganism. Secular Paganists oppose anything that promotes these activities. Even Secular Paganists that don’t oppose these activities will apologize for their beliefs before stating their support of these activities.
The obsession with healthcare in modern societies actually falls under the second great commandment of thou shalt not die. This elevates medical doctors in the eyes Secular Paganists to the status held by priests, clerics, and pastors in other major world religions. Secular Paganists find few things more revolting that one of their priests failing to help them achieve adherence to this second tenet. Hence, malpractice suits against physicians have exploded in modern Secular Paganist culture.
Secular Paganism’s third tenet leads to notable contradictions found in modern society. Secular Paganisms third tenet is:
Thou Shalt Not Infringe
The individual shall not be restricted in any activity or belief that does not oppose tenets one and two. This tenet, like tenet number two, applies to one’s self not to others. Understanding this third commandment and its relationship to the first two commandments of Secular Paganism allows us to make sense of modern Secular Paganist society.
As an example, the contradiction of Secular Paganism’s demands for easy access to procedures to stop human hearts of the unborn may seem contradictory to the rabid abhorrence of capital punishment. After all, the murderer and the unborn child are both genetically unique humans.
However, applying the three tenets of Secular Paganism in order of precedence we see the sense in this seeming contradiction. All humans get angry and do things that when less emotional they would not have done. All humans have a very remote chance if put in an extreme situation of committing a capital offense. Therefore, the practitioner of Secular Paganism must religiously oppose capital punishment because of tenet number two.
On the other hand, pregnancy and child rearing frequently infringe on the choices of the creators of children. It is impossible for anyone to ever return to the womb, so there can be no chance of violation of tenet number two by the termination of an unwanted pregnancies. Therefore, out of adherence to tenet number three, Secular Paganists must religiously demand easy access to abortions because it may at some future time allow them to avoid choice infringement.
Applying the three tenets listed above to seeming contradictions in Secular Paganist society, you will find that the seeming contractions actually follow their value system closely.