Ethics
        Much has been mentioned of late in relation to a basic ethic in paganism and the suggestion has been offered that the maxim "An it harm none, do what ye will" seems to fill the need.  This rather isolated statement does little to set anyone of a broadly based pagan mind apart from followers of other beneficent religions such as Buddhism or Jainism.

        Furthermore the "do what ye will" statement is always open to a malleable interpretation by all who mistrust the various factions of paganism or New Age thought.

        I feel a more expanded pagan ethic would do more to display the concept of pagan belief and provide an enhanced reassurance for both establishment and non-pagans alike.

        To this end I have penned the following as a possibility which may stand as a unified ethic or policy statement acceptable by most branches of paganism.
         

        Prime Ethic

        "We worship the totality of Divinity, unmanifest yet manifest in all departments of Nature, moulding our lives on Divine inner guidance and overt example whilst eschewing all evil in thought, word and deed, reverencing all life both born and unborn - irrespective of species, the classes, colours or creeds of humanity and upholding the freedom of each living creature, the laws of our homeland and the moral precepts of civilized society."


        Gareth Pengwerin
        3rd August 1999

         

        (Of course carnivorous pagans and those who consider non-white races to be inferior may have a problem with this.  The totality of Divinity - i.e. the full gamut of a bipolarity which runs from the Unmanifest down to the densest of material manifestation may also present a problem for certain feminists who favour a unipolar 'Goddess only' approach.)

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