Earth Religions bring pagan students together

One group on campus is gathering all types of different people under a tent of paganism -- and that's what they want. \n"With Christianity, the divine is there to be revered and feared, but as pagans, you are hands-on. You're getting in with the god and goddess," said senior Jeremiah Crisp, in closing the Sept. 26 meeting of Earth Religions, the IU Pagans Club. \n"When you call the gods to you, or sometimes within you, there is direct contact, participation," added freshman Burke Denning, who is also events coordinator for the club. \nCurrent statistics from the Pluralism Project indicate there are anywhere between 200,000 and 1 million pagans in the United States alone. Though relatively limited in numbers, pagans enjoy a rich and prolific world history. Practiced in various forms before the dominance of the Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- paganism tends toward a nature-based spiritual path, holding beliefs in multiple divinities and animistic spirits. \nEarth Religions is the official pagan student organization at IU. Their goal is to be a source of pagan awareness for students, as well as a welcome place of discussion for followers of any and all religious beliefs.\nCrisp, president of the club, converted to paganism during his teen years. Raised as a Christian in New York, Colorado and Indiana, Crisp found his personal beliefs drifting from his given faith and coinciding with what he was learning about paganism. At some point, he realized he was pagan and embraced it. \n"If there was one thing that attracted me the most about paganism, it was the freedom. In some of the other religions, there are restrictions and guidelines set down that determine the way you live your life. (In) paganism ... as long as you don't hurt anybody, you do what you want," he said. \nCrisp has been a member of Earth Religions for four years. The group was founded in 1996, but it was in the spring of 2000 that the club formally elected a group of officers, found a faculty sponsor and saw attendance grow. Since then, the IU Pagans have held rituals, observed holidays and conducted workshops on the making of crafts, tools and ritual clothing. \nThe club has general meetings the second and fourth Wednesdays every month, usually in the Indiana Memorial Union. With a focus and respect for the natural world, Earth Religions will be planning environmental-friendly service projects this year, with an eye toward becoming more visible in the Bloomington community. \nA discussion of the eight sabbats, or holidays, was the purpose of last week's meeting held in the IMU's Hoosier Room. The eight members in attendance created symbolic representations of the Wheel of the Year, the pagan calendar. Experiences of past holiday celebrations and rituals were recalled and the significance of each festival talked over. \nClub Vice President Alyssa Jaggers defined the significance of the holidays for her. \n"Sabbats give us time throughout the year to come together and celebrate life ... and spiritual experiences," she said. \nThe IU Pagans Club offers students interested in history, mythology, folklore and religion a trove of information and activity regarding some of the earth's oldest practices. \n"Earth Religions, like paganism itself, is like one big tent. We get people from all walks of life, different lifestyles and paths and we like that. That's what we want," Crisp explained.