According to Hugh Colmer, Co-Director of the Windham Spiritual Retreat
Center in Windham N.Y,  Paganism doesn’t have to make a comeback. He insists
that it’s been with us all along in every major religion since their inceptions.
Not only, says Colmer, are all the world religions derived from Pagan religions,
they still contain Pagan practices and principles. Colmer’s bold assertion comes
smack up against what the Catholic Encyclopedia states: “Paganism, in the
broadest sense includes all religions other
than the true one revealed by God, and, in a narrower sense, all except
Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism.”

I asked Hugh Colmer to respond to the sharp contrast between his view and what
representatives of world religions would say— like the statement in the
Catholic Encyclopedia.

Starr: Hugh, the Catholic Church clearly states that Catholicism, as well as
other world religions, stand apart from Paganism. In other words, they see a chasm
between Paganism and world religions. What’s your response to that?

Hugh Colmer: It’s been perfectly clear to me for the last twenty years that I have been
studying Pagan religions that all the world religions have their origins—as well as
current practices—seeped in Paganism.

Q. Why have you waited until now to express these views?

A. I’ve hesitated to go public with my provocative contrarian perspective in the
present climate of intolerance to opposing views about religion. But then someone else
miraculously opened the door. Lo and behold—and much to my surprise—conservative
commentator Glenn Beck, of all people, accomplished what Oprah Winfrey and
Shirley McClaine couldn’t. In addressing evangelical and “religious right” leaders
he said that “it is acceptable for millions of Christians to embrace humanistic spirituality
and paganism for the purpose of social activism and social change.”

I would have liked him to expand on the subject or to say that there is nothing new
under the sun in Christianity and that all its rituals are Pagan–which is my view. But hey,
it’s a beginning.

Q. Hugh, can you give some examples of Pagan practices in Christianity?

A. Sure. For example, Christians may be unaware of the fact that the practice of bending
their knees before their Lord goes back to a ritual sacred to Thoth, the Egytian God of
wisdom, writing, speech and magic. Burying their dead beneath the ground mirrors the
rites of the Osirin priesthood dating back to 3600 BC. They believed that the soul can
transcend to higher planes of existence after traversing the "underworld" that was called
Duat, Amenta or Nekya. Then there’s the mushrooms that appear so frequently in Christian
art that has it’s origins in ancient religions. You can also see mushrooms in the mosaics and
wall paintings of the earliest Christian images, and later in manuscripts, stained glass,
tapestries, and sculpture. The holy mushroom also appears in many other forms such as
mushroom-trees, tree-mushrooms, mushroom-rocks, blood-mushrooms, mushroom-stoles,
footstools, cushions, doves, and fish. In 1968, financier and wild mushroom expert Gordon
Wasson, in his widely cited Soma, Divine Mushroom of Immortality, put forth the notion
that the holy mushroom was the ancient sacred Soma mushroom. Wasson believed that
Soma was the mushroom used in religious ceremonies going back over 4000 years by the
people known as “Aryans”—long before the beginning of the Christian era.

Q. You also have said that Christianity is based on a fertility-mushroom/drug cult. Could
you expand on that?

A. It was the famed Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro who popularized that idea.
In 1970 he announced in a series of article in a British newspaper that Christianity is based
on a fertility-mushroom/drug cult— and he made the provocative assertion that Jesus was
actually the mushroom itself. Allegro was a philologist and expert in the derivations of
languages. In his fascinating book, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, he traced biblical
words and phrases back to their roots in Sumerian, and other Indo-European languages.
According to Allegro’s analysis of language he shows that Christianity, and other religions,
have their roots in fertility cults. He says that cultic practices, such as taking hallucinogenic
drugs to perceive and experience divinity, were actively practiced by Christians well into
the Christian era.

Q. How did the Christian establishment respond to these ideas?

A. Not surprising, the response was outrage. Sadly, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
ruined Allegro's career. By the way, that’s one of the reasons why I hesitated to “come out.”
Much to his credit, Allegro continued to explore the subject. He went on to write several other
books detailing the roots of religion:The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth. In these
books he connects Christian theology to Gnostic writings, classical mythology and Egyptian
sun-worship. He says they all have the same underlying theme of the quest for divine light.
Allegro believed that if the public fully understood the true origins of religion it would liberate
them to think for themselves and find a common bond between all religions.

Q. You also talk about Pagan symbols that persist today.

A. That’s correct. For example, The American Medical Association symbol, the caduceus,
is the most common and recognizable Pagan symbol in the world. As far back as 1871,
the Surgeon General of the U.S. designated the caduceus as the seal of the Marine
Hospital Service. Many other medical services have also adopted the caduceus.

The caduceus, with two serpents entwined around a rod originated from a serpent
coiled around the tree of life. Sumerian myth tells how Enki and Ninhursag create primitive
workers through genetic manipulation of an Ape woman in 300,000 B.C. The caduceus was
carried by En.ki and his son Ningishziddha, the Sumerian name for Thoth-Hermes who created
Homo sapiens in the Abzu, their underwater laboratory. The caduceus is thought to be the
symbol of immortality and divine knowledge. Biblical scholar Zecharia Sitchin sees the
caduceus as emulating the structure of the genetic code which allowed Adam and Eve to
procreate and he found evidence that the caduceus was believed to be the secret for
resurrecting the dead. Even Moses was told to create a copper snake on a staff so that
those who were infected with the plague could benefit from its divine magical powers
— a sick person could look at it and be healed.

Q. In our previous conversations you have also challenged some of the official Christian
versions of the early Church. You tell a different story about the Disciples and their
relationship to Roman Paganism.

A. Yes. As Christianity spread following the crucifixion of Jesus, it became important
for the new Church to make St. Peter the bedrock of Christianity. H.P.Blavatsky’s Isis
Unveiled insists that Peter was never in Rome. All of Roman Empire’s religions had to
not only include their major gods but to make them less important than Jesus. The Romans
named the disciples, after those gods. Matthew was Mithras, Thomas - Tammuz, Mark - Mars,
John - Oannes, Peter - Jupiter, Paul - Apollo. Even the Virgin Mary had it origins in the
goddesses of the sea (mare). The name “Jesus Christ” probably combines “Hesus” and
“Christos.” Egyptologist and Poet Gerald Massey identified over two hundred extraordinary
similarities between the reported lives of Jesus and the Egyptian God Horus. And the name
"Christ" can be traced to the Egyptian Karast-mummy, the body of Osiris. Then the Greek
word "Christos" is pretty close in sound and spelling to the Sanskrit word "Krista."

Reverence for the Cross, which many Christians erroneously believe started right after the Crusifixtion as a symbol for Christianity, was non-existent before the fourth century. Early Christians and Church leaders shunned the cross as a reminder of Christ’s suffering.

Q. The Christian Church was formally established by church leaders at the Council of Nicea in the fourth century. How does Paganism fit into that meeting?

A. The Roman Catholic Church as we know it was created by the Pagan emperor
Constantine who worshiped Apollo and was not baptized, according to legend and
many scholars, until his death bed. The Church that was created was only superficially
a Christian Church. In 325 A.D. Constantine called for a council meeting to be held in
Nicea with the bishops of the Christian church to resolve the disunity and the diversity
of theology among the numerous factions. For example, some believed that Jesus was
divine and others not.

The failing Roman Empire under Constantine’s rule, could not withstand the division
caused by years of arguments over doctrinal differences. He saw the disputes among
the different factions not only as a threat to Christianity but as a threat to stability of
the empire. Therefore, at the Council of Nicea, Constantine demanded that the Christians
settle their internal disagreements and bring a unified religion to an empire that was
disintegrating. While the Council was supposed to have been made up of Christian
elders from five major Christian centers (Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch),
it also included elders of all the major Pagan religions of Rome. Bishops from the cults
of Mithras, Tammuz, Oannes (Dagon), Ceres, Janus, Bacchus, Apollo, Osiris, Jupiter,
and Constantine’s own religion: Sol Invictus, were invited. Constantine’s wanted all
of the fractious Pagan religions as well to be unified into one “Catholic” church
— “Catholic” means universal.

Q. That was quite an undertaking. How did he do it?

A. He did it the old fashioned way: Power, influence and threats. Constantine ruled the Nicean Council with a firm hand, and insisted upon, Pistis— a belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. Although there was disagreement among Church leaders about the divinity of Jesus, Constantine believed that only a divine Jesus would rally the populace. Opposing views were suppressed. For example, Gnosticism (based on knowledge) was rejected because it encouraged its members to question Church authority. Pistis achieved this end — and Constantine’s Church was modeled on the Roman army.

Q. An Army? Please elaborate.

A. Just look at how the Council structured the Church—just like a military organization with a chain of command. Bishops would rule districts while lesser clerics would report through a chain of command up to the local pontiff. Then there were ‘Staff officers’ called deacons and presbyters who would control finances. Is this what Jesus would want? Jesus was emphatic in saying that he came to do God’s business not Caesars and that a man can give to Caesar only what is not contrary to God’s law. The emperor Constantine sought to establish a religion that would worship god but that would also be loyal to him. His organization of the Church accomplished just that. Before Constantine’s hierarchical organization of the Church, Christ represented, for most Christians, the‘good shepherd,’ just like Krishna, Mithras and Apollo.

Q. Are you saying then that Christianity did not introduce anything new or a new religion?

A. Yes. Even the stories about Jesus and his life mirror the numerous Savior-Gods who preceded Him? That these similarities were used as leverage to convert the Greeks and Romans is evident from the writings of Justin Martyr, another second-century authority. In his Apology, Justin says to the Pagans (Hugh reads from his notes): "And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, Our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. And if we assert that the Word of God was born of God in a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, let this, as said above, be no extraordinary thing to you, who say that Mercury is the angelic word of God. But if any one objects that He was crucified, in this also He is on a par with those reputed sons of Jupiter of yours, who suffered as we have now enumerated."

This confirms that the early Christian Church fathers were willing to admit the similarities between Catholicism and the religions of the Pagans.

The story of Moses also has Pagan origins.

Q. Tell me more about that.

A. Modern biblical criticism no longer accepts the major events described in the Pentateuch about Moses’ life as historical. The story can be traced to a number of sources. Moses birth is based on the Sumerian legend of Sargon. Even the story of Moses receiving the {itaslic}Ten Commandments can be seen in the Babylonian myth of Hammurabi. Then there’s a lively dispute among biblical scholars about whether or not the Exodus actually happened, although some scholars accept that there could be a seed of history behind the story. But the current consensus says no, it didn’t happen.

There are many other controversies surrounding the Exodus story. For example, in the 3rd century BC, Manetho, a Hellenistic Egyptian chronicler and priest, even alleged that Moses was not a Jew, but an Egyptian renegade priest called Osarseph. Moses is an Egyptian name meaning "child of Ra" or "Ra formed him". Many scholars as well as Sigmund Freud and Joseph Campbell suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Pharaoh Akhenaton’s belief in one invisible God was rejected by the priesthood. In another twist, Egyptologist Ahmed Osman proposed that Moses and Akhenaton are the same person. Although monotheism is common to the three major religions in was also present in Neoplatonism and ancient Indian Advaita Vedanta philosophies.

Q. So are you saying that even the notion of one invisible God comes out of ancient Egypt and India? If so, how does that relate to Paganism?

A. While we think of Hindu theology as including a pantheon of Gods, the ancient scriptures,
The Vedas, composed in India between 1000 to 2000 BC, refer to the one invisible God as tat (that) as opposed to the world of manifestation called idam (this).

Q. Well Hugh, you’ve given my readers quite a bit to think about—or to challenge. I know you have much more to say about Paganism and world religions. We’ll have to pick up on that in another conversation.

But one last question for today: In terms of faith, belief, and spiritual practices does it really matter if present day religions have their roots in Pagansim, or that many current practices may have elements of Pagan religions? Doesn’t the here and now meaning and intentionality of believers in their spiritual practices over-ride their origins?

A. You have a point. Faith and belief are primary in religion and spirituality. However, we live in a world that is dominated by hatred and violence toward “the other.” Not only do we see one religion against another but even violence among sects within the same religion. If people had a deep understanding of the common ground and common origin of all religions, Pagan and non-Pagan, that might give us a kinder, gentler, more tolerant world that would reflect what all the religions, past and present, profess to embrace: All is one!

Starr. Thanks Hugh. I know that you are working to complete a book on the subject of our conversation. I’m looking forward to reading it.

For more information about Hugh Colmer, the Windham Retreat Center and his
writings and projects on religion and spirituality visit his
website: http://www.crosscircle.com
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Bernard Starr, Ph.D., was formerly professor of developmental and educational psychology at the City University of New York. Over the past 5 years he taught Psychology and Spirituality in Film at Marymount Manhattan College. He is currently producer and host for Phoenix Rising Television Productions. In addition to his work in radio (“The Longevity Report”), he is a longtime contributor of commentary and opinion articles to numerous major newspapers and other publications. He is also the President of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy and is the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education that founded the Mucherla Global School in Mucherla, India.
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