So for today's prompt: Do you agree with your Primary Patron/Matron (or a generalized image of the divine) on all ethical or political issues? What differences, if any, do you see yourself having in opinion with your deity? (if you need some specific issues to focus on the study in question asked about opinions on abortion, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, the death penalty, the Iraq War, and the legalisation of marijuana).

What a fascinating question!

An interesting twist in the difference in spiritual biographies between most pagans and most of the Christians surveyed is that (by and large) pagans today do not grow up pagan. I'm sure that will change in the future, and I know it's changing already, but the pagan community of today seems to be comprised of people who did not grow up religiously, or who grew up in a Judeo-Christian household. Some members of said community are old enough to have children of their own; some of these children are still too small to really be part of the community at large, though it seems a few are at an age of "spiritual consent," as it were. Most pagans you talk to, then, would tell you a story about finding or choosing their path.

Compare that with a large percentage of Christians, who were raised with their faith. And while there are all stripes of Christians who have a variety of views on just about anything, as well as those who have had periods of severe spiritual crisis and qustioning, there's not the same element of shopping and choosing.

So if you grow up with this specific deity, and grow up accustomed to just this one sort of generic "divine guy" who takes care of stuff...of course you're going to project your own views onto it. But generally pagans tend to gravitate towards deities that already value what they value, who hold the same standards. I would imagine that you see a lot less of this projecting...of course, when interacting with the divine there's always room for human fallibility. We all probably project more than we realize.

To get to my own answer, to be honest I'm not sure what my Deities Of Choice think of a lot of those issues mentioned specifically. Their views on those things are irrelevant to me...maybe to them, too. I value Athena because I value wisdom, strategy, philosophizing, and knowledge; I value Freya because I value sex, affection, creativity, and bringing people together. What they think about our political trifles I don't know, aside from very vague inferences one can make based on their fields of interest. Athena, I'm sure, is concerned with schools, universities, and education; Freya probably has a thing or two to say about sex-ed and society's views of sexuality in general, maybe feminism and women's rights to boot. But what do they care about healthcare reform, or the war in Afghanistan, or tax plans, or anything else? I don't have any disagreements so much as I care about things that they do not.