Jesuit College Recognizes Pagan Group

A Catholic university located in Chicago has given its blessing to a student organization for “pagans,” according to The Campus Fix.

Loyola University of Chicago, a Jesuit school, pushed back a little bit and asked the group to change its name from the Loyola Student Pagan Alliance to the “Indigenous Faith Tradition Alliance.” It seems administrators of the school were uncomfortable with the word “pagan.” Even with the name change, however, the group’s mission remains the same.

Founder Jill Kreider wrote on Facebook that her group wants to “to unify Pagan, the spiritual but not religious, those seeking faith or religion, minority faith students (including but not limited to: Buddhists, Taoists, Shinto practitioners, Santeras, etc…) pluralists and those students interested in New Age religions on Loyola’s campus. If you don’t have a faith group on campus, we’re here to fill that gap!”

She told The College Fix, “The name change was necessary because the term pagan does not sit well with the administration. The club’s mission is still the same, and the religions and faith traditions which we practice are indeed pre-Christian, and indigenous to the region or society to which they belong.”

A university spokesman said the group will add to the discussion at the Jesuit run university and would “result in deeper critical thinking…”

The formation of the group comes at a time when Christian groups are being run off of public and even private university campuses under what is called an “all-comers” rule from the government that says Christian groups must allow non-Christians and even presumably atheists to run their groups. Rather than agree to such rules, many Christian student groups are moving off campus. It remains to be seen if the new pagan group would allow a faithful Catholic to run it.