I’ve been part of a number of pagan spaces for many years now, and one thing I’ve noticed, again and again, is how often conservative values just don’t sit right in the pagan world. That’s not to say pagans all think the same. We absolutely don’t. But if you scratch beneath the surface, there’s a deep tension between modern conservatism and what it actually means to walk a pagan path.
Most conservative worldviews revolve around a few key ideas: preserving “tradition”, maintaining order, upholding moral absolutes. Paganism? It’s messy. It’s wild. It’s cyclical instead of linear, plural instead of dogmatic. It says: listen to the land, to your body, to the gods or spirits you serve. And those voices rarely echo the laws laid down by old books or outdated power structures.
Where conservatives might say, “This is the way it’s always been,” paganism reminds us that the earth is always changing. Seasons turn. Gods die and return. Forests grow, burn, and regrow. That’s sacred. Change isn’t a threat in this worldview, it’s part of life.
And then there’s the moral angle. So much of conservative thought insists on rigid ideas of right and wrong, often rooted in monotheistic religion, usually conservative forms of Christianity. Paganism, though, doesn’t really do binaries. It doesn’t say light is good and dark is bad. It doesn’t even say the gods are perfect. In fact, it asks us to live with complexity. To trust ourselves. To take responsibility for our choices, not because we’re afraid of sin, but because we’re in relationship with the world and individuals around us.
I also can’t ignore how many queer people, women, and marginalized people find a home in paganism. For many of us, it’s one of the few spiritual spaces that says, “You are sacred as you are.” No caveats. No conversion. Just, welcome. Meanwhile, conservative movements often lean hard into gender roles, nuclear families, and “traditional values” that exclude or erase us.
Of course, there are people who identify as both pagan and conservative. Some feel drawn to ancestral practices or the old ways. That’s valid. But when conservatism starts pushing nationalism, religious supremacy, or fear of change, it stops being about roots and starts being about control and that’s where it falls down.
Paganism, at its heart, isn’t about control. It’s about connection. With a god or gods, yes, but also with dirt, blood, storms, ancestors, breath. It teaches reverence, not obedience. It calls us to be alive in the world, not above it nor dominion over it.
So no, paganism doesn’t easily align with conservative values. And maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s meant to be a different kind of home, for those of us who found no place in systems built on fear, hierarchy, and shame. Paganism doesn’t ask us to conform. It asks us to remember. To listen. And to live freely.
