Pagan Responses

Pagan rhetoricians are quick to counter the criticisms brought against them, and to level their own charges against what they see as the contradictions of Christianity. Christians are hypocritical, they argue, for while claiming that their faith is based on sharing and love, its real hallmark is selfishness. Pagans feed everyone, even dogs and rats, in their holy ceremonies, but Christians feed only themselves. Pagans sacrifice continually to ensure communal prosperity, but Christians work only for their own families. Several Pagan thinkers go so far as to argue that Pagan ritual embodies true Christian charity, enacting the injunction to love one's neighbor as one's self.

These apologists see no problem in their faith's materialism. Indeed, they point proudly to the intimate connection between the spiritual and physical realms as the cornerstone of their religion, citing empirical evidence to prove that proper ritual performance brings economic prosperity. Their religion, they argue, is based on nature and local tradition and is verifiable through observation; Christianity, in contrast, is supported merely by a foreign book.

Since Buguias Pagans see material fortune as the manifestation of spiritual integrity, they must explain how some Christians become prosperous. The usual explanation for the wealth of the few rich Igorot Christians in other communities is that they received heavenly favor through the actions of their Pagan relatives, if not through their own secret Pagan rites. A case often cited pertains to the Dangwa family of Kapangan. Buguias Pagans insist that the Dangwas continue to honor the ancestors despite their professed Christianity. The wealth of non-Igorot Christians, in contrast, is not considered problematic; lowlanders and westerners merely follow their own customs by adhering to the Christian faith—precisely the goal of the Buguias Pagans in cleaving to their own traditions. Paganism clearly advances no universalistic claims; it is specific to a particular locale and to a people with a common culture and a common group of ancestors.

Pagan thinkers dismiss the allegations that they ignore their appearances and abuse their bodies by turning these supposed vices into virtues. Willingness to wear tattered clothing and to work despite illness show a lofty and spiritual attitude; only the vain spend money on appearance, which does not honor the ancestors and

brings nothing to the community. They also lightly shrug off the charge of "illness transfers." One manbunung countered that neighboring communities can simply respond in kind. "I send a sickness to Kiangan and the Kiangan priest sends it back here—before long we are tossing it back and forth just like a volleyball."

Nor do Pagans apologize for refusing to permit secular performances of ritual dances. To allow this, they claim, would be to debase their religion, offend the ancestors, and risk the well-being of Buguias. They find the prospect of turning their rituals into cultural shows, as has happened in tourist locations in Ifugao and Mountain Province, utterly appalling.

The charge that rituals are so expensive as to preclude education in some families is taken more seriously. The most common response is that a balance must be sought between ceremonial and educational investments. Indeed, the theme of balancing traditional obligations and modern demands runs through much Pagan rhetoric. Several children from Pagan households have received college degrees, and it is difficult to argue that Christians as a group value formal learning more than do Pagans.

An empirical bent underlies both Pagan and Christian beliefs. Arguments for both religions adduce physical evidence in support of supernatural causes. But the same phenomenon may be cited as proof by both sides. In a classic case, a prominent individual on the verge of death converted to Christianity and subsequently recovered. Some Christians argue that conversion saved him; Pagans claim that it was the rituals they performed on his behalf that made the difference.