by Joshua Curtis
Daily Lobo
Pagan Sterling Kyle said monotheistic religions view their god as being one pane of glass.
Pagans see that glass as broken into many pieces, he said.
"I look at Christianity, Islam and paganism. When you strip all the dogma, don't harm your neighbor," he said. "Be a good person - someone supportive of community."
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Sterling was the security coordinator for Pagan Pride Day on Sunday at Bataan Park and is also the founder of the Pagan Student Union at NMSU.
"People don't understand paganism," he said. "This nation is a Christian nation."
He said his belief is like Catholicism, where there are different saints to pray to for different things.
The event had different booths selling an assortment of goods, such as herbs and jewelry.
A food drive was set up, and there were belly dancing and other workshops for those interested.
Raven Peters, who had a booth at the festival, said one of the goals for the festival was to inform.
"(We want) to introduce curious people to what we are about," Peters said. "In a lot of movies about Wicca and pagans, they go over the top. Truthfully, we're pretty boring."
The crowd that attended was a mix of many ages and races.
Peters said she is not trying to convert anyone.
"We don't really proselytize. If you might be interested, here we are," she said.
It's easy to define what a pagan is, Peters said.
"NonJudeo-Christian or Islam is technically pagan," she said.
UNM student Jessica Frazer, who attended the event, said she did not align herself with a particular religion.
"We are here to celebrate what we are," she said.
Frazer said the event's crowd seemed open-minded.
"We have an obligation to know ourselves through every medium possible, and it's our job to push the boundaries that were set by those who went before us," she said.
Every religion has the common theme of faith, Frazer said.
"My faith is in everybody," she said. "Have faith in the fact that what goes around comes around threefold."
