Mists of Avalon review

I sure am hating Mists of Avalon. I don't know if I'll keep reading it or not. The caricature of the church is infuriating. Criticize the church. Bring it on. But don't create a parody where there is absolutely no good in the church at all, where every Christian is a stupid hypocrite. It's like me writing about pagans as all having pointy caps and wearing black and think they can fly on broomsticks and they're always stupid and maladjusted and fat and Goth wannabees who read too much Anne Rice. Why do I keep reading? I'm interested in the plot, a little. And Zimmer is a good writer.

Listen, I'm a feminist in the sense of wanting equal rights and opportunities for men and women. I have a daughter and I want her to be able to read stories of heroines who are strong and useful, and I want her brother to read them, too. This, though, is beyond the pale.

I did a little research on Marion Zimmer Bradley. I was surprised to find out she was not a professed pagan, and that she even took the name 'Christian' (at the end of the FAQ). (I'll mostly be responding to Thoughts on Avalon.) However, the flavor was Catholic Gnostic of a stripe that allowed veneration of the Goddess silently reappearing in Saints and the veneration of Mary...the worship of the female aspect of the deity.

God is not male. God is not female. But we are not allowed the latitude within orthodoxy to talk about God as Goddess. We need to use the forms God revealed Godself in, and Goddess is not remotely one of them (though there are plenty of feminine images).

Bradley's intelligent characters advocate a universal Spirit that can be venerated in most any form - including The Horned Stag, Mother Earth, the Virgin Mary, or whatever. This is way out of bounds.

I think the neo-pagan movement offers a very viable alternative for people, especially for women, who have been turned off by the abuses of Judeo-Christian organized religions.

Wrong. I am sorry. The abuses of Christianity have been many and egregious, but we don't have this kind of flexibility available to us.