NMR ISSUE 35

As the Light
Astrological Forecast 35
Common Knowledge
Editorial 35
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Inner Peace
Isis
Journey to the Crone for Power and Renewal
Letters 35
Macrocosm
Religion in Society
The Cauldron of Change
The Earth
The Magical Flute
The Magical Name Ted Andrews
The Odic Force
The Sign of the Cross
The Spirit World, Part II
Wren & Egret

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Common Knowledge

By Donald Michael Kraig

One of the things I find fascinating is the idea of common knowledge. By that I don't mean the common knowledge that two plus two equals four (and for my fellow techno-nerds, I know that the equation does not hold for base systems less than five). Rather, I mean the type of knowledge given out by a person who begins their thought by saying or writing; It's common knowledge that… or everybody knows that… or experts say that... or some similar qualifier.

It seems to me that these expressions are so common that there must be a need for them in the human psyche. Merely saying I think that, or I believe that, isn't good enough. We must get anonymous others to be the basis for the opinion. Then, if somebody disagrees with our opinion, we can say, Hey, it's not my opinion. It's what 1) the experts say; 2) everybody knows, or 3) is common knowledge, (Pick one of the above). Perhaps the most curious thing is that these common knowledge statements frequently hide a nasty side to the person who is saying it, or at least a side that they believe is nasty. But even stranger is the fact that such common knowledge is frequently wrong.

For example, it is common knowledge that people on entitlement or welfare programs become addicted to the easy money and have no desire to get off the dole. In fact, according to an article in the L.A. Weekly, 75% of all people on welfare are off of it within 18 months. Here in California we recently passed an initiative (now being debated in the courts) which (if you are on the political right), as everyone knows, will help stop illegal immigration. For those on the political left it is common knowledge that the bill is simply racist and promotes racism. I think a more objective view is that it is neither. There is nothing in the bill which would affect illegal immigration by people in the middle-class or who are wealthy. It is neither anti-illegal immigration nor racist. It is a battle of the haves against the have-nots, a type of class struggle where those who have, by sending the have-nots away from schools and medical care, can pretend that the have-nots do not exist and can ignore them.

I'm sure that some of you reading this will disagree with my interpretation, and that's fine. My point here is not one of politics, but to question the idea of common knowledge. Sometimes this idea actually becomes ingrained in our thinking and acting. At times, total falsehoods can become realities. For example, people on the political right are now trying to revise the history of the 1960's to denounce the freedoms and triumphs that were won—from the mainstreaming of the modern civil rights movement, to the ousting of a U.S. president and the ending of the war in Vietnam. Several books showing this revisionist history have already been published, and one of the most popular films of 1994, Forest Gump, illustrates that failure-of-the-'60's theme.

Another more pointed example would be the common knowledge among certain religious sects that Witches worship Satan. I think that most of the readers of New Moon Rising will realize the ridiculousness of such common knowledge, but there is no denying that it exists.

The point I want to get to in this article is that it is common knowledge that there is a Judeo-Christian tradition. Everybody has heard that expression and it frequently fills Pagan publications representing one of the main sources of evil in the world. I have used the expression many times. That's what I want to look at here, because after years of studying the matter I have had to conclude that such a tradition does not exist, and never has.

But wait a second, you're thinking, everybody knows that there is a Judeo-Christian tradition. Sorry, but that's not true. That expression is only popular in the U.S. Also, it is relatively modern, only appearing earlier this century.

Well, even if the expression is new, it's common knowledge that they have a common tradition. Sorry, but that is not true either. For example, Judaism (like Wicca!) stresses personal responsibility. Christianity lets you pawn off your sins on a savior (known as vicarious atonement). Roman Catholics could actually buy pardons for their sins from the Pope! These are two highly different philosophies.

But everyone knows that they follow the same book, don't they? If that was the only consideration, then we should call it the Judeo-Christian-Satanic-Roman Catholic-Islamic-People's Temple-Branch Davidian-Manson Family-et.al. tradition because they all seem to be involved with the Jewish and/or Christian Bibles in some way.

Well, isn't it common knowledge that they're both monotheistic? According to Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess, Jews worshipped a Goddess (Asherah) in the second temple until its destruction in 70 C.E. Even today, the Sabbath is welcomed as a bride, and the new moon (whose name in Hebrew, Levanah, is that of a Semitic moon Goddess) is welcomed with special prayers. Superficially, of course, Judaism is very monotheistic. In most forms of Christianity the importance of the Goddess has been eliminated totally, or at least downplayed.

Besides, if there is only one deity, why does the first of the Ten Commandments read Thou shalt have no other gods before me? If there were only one God, how would it even be possible to have other gods before Him? In fact, as you read the Pentateuch (Jewish Bible), you will see that the Jews were a group of tribes that were constantly worshipping other gods and goddesses. The real move to eliminate this worship came with the first united kingdom. For those interested in these topics I suggest you read the wonderful magazine Biblical Archaeology Review.

But everyone knows that they're both very patriarchal. In Judaism the family line is totally matrilineal. In Judaism, it is the primary role of the male to worship at the synagogue, while the woman controls and oversees all aspects of ritual in the home; the husband plays a very minor role. In Judaism if a wife doesn't sexually satisfy a husband, too bad. If the husband doesn't sexually satisfy the wife, she can sue for divorce under religious law. While it is true that large parts of Judaism are patriarchal today (due to accretions over the years), the real nature of Judaism is one of balance. In Christianity the man is considered to be in charge of all aspects of religion and family.

Everyone knows that they both have the idea of a savior, a messiah. Although the word is the same, the meaning of the word is different. In Christianity, the messiah is a spiritual leader and, in a curious borrowing from Pagan lore, both the Son of God and God. In Judaism the messiah is clearly defined as a political and even a military leader who will unite the Jews and bring them back to Jerusalem. The messiah of the Jews and Christians is totally different in nature and purpose.

But it is common knowledge that many of the Christian beliefs and Jewish beliefs are the same. If so, we run into the Judeo-Christian-Islamic-Satanic-etc. tradition problem again. But let's look at just three of those ideas and see how they compare: It would be possible to continue this list for dozens of pages.

Well, isn't it common knowledge that Christians and Jews have much in common? The early Church fathers debated just this question and came to the conclusion that they had to split from Jewry. The Romans, thinking that the Christians' communal lifestyle and anti-government attitudes were odd, referred to them as Gli Idioti, the stupid ones (the source of our word idiot). Later, as the number of Christians increased among the poor and uneducated, the Romans accused the Christians of weird sexual rituals and human sacrifice. When the Christians came to power during the reign of Constantine, these same charges were thrown by the Christians against the Jews. Later they used the same charges against heretics such as the Cathars and the Pagans as well as the Jews.

So why am I writing about this stuff? When I went to school, from kindergarten through postgraduate work, none of this information was taught. That, in part, is why this common knowledge, though incorrect, is believed. If we are going to write about history and religion in ways that counter the wisdom that everyone knows, we must scrupulously avoid factual errors. If we do not do this the detractors of the Craft, magick and occultism in general will jump on the error and focus on that rather than what we are trying to communicate.

So, the purpose of this article has been twofold. First, to explode the myth of there being a Judeo-Christian tradition, and second, to suggest that if you come across an expression such as; It is common knowledge that, or Everyone knows that. Or if you are going to use such an expression, that you research the information to see if it is really fact or, like the alligators in the New York sewers, simply fiction.

1994 by Donald Michael Kraig