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I only recently looked into trying to find an online community of Hellenic polytheists... I& #39;m truly shocked at how much of this part of the internet just consists of people arguing with Greek people.
I& #39;m Greek-American, so while I& #39;ve inherited some of the culture, I know that I& #39;m coming at it from a very American perspective and that Greeks have a much deeper understanding of the language, culture, and history that comes into the practice of the religion. I defer to them.
Does this make me a folkist? A gatekeeper? Bigoted? I am welcomed by everyone I have spoken with. But if I want to do this correctly I need to listen and learn from them, and so do my peers with no Greek background.
This isn& #39;t a form of gatekeeping or bigotry... Culture and history and religion are something that you can& #39;t learn completely from a book, not really. We will make mistakes, use Greek culture in ways that hurt Greeks, accidentally offend someone, and that& #39;s why we must listen.
A religion does not spring out of thin air.
This thread has gone on too long but I want to add an example: westerners are welcome to wear kimono, but that does not mean that there are not inoffensive or inappropriate ways to wear them. You--and I--are welcome here, but please remember that Greece still exists.
