So, I actually joined ADF twice, and left it twice.

The first time I was a newbie Pagan, this would've been in the early-mid 2000s. I liked that they were focused on polytheism and worship; I liked the focus on scholarship (at the time I was running into a lot of bad revisionist history in the broader online NeoPagan community, this was one of the first groups I came across that acknowledged that and rejected it), being a newbie I liked that they had a training program (which I never finished, when I got right down to it it was lacking something, but right now I can't articulate what it is; if I figure it out, I'll get back to you).

I also had the fortune of being involved with one of the better ADF groves, during that go around. They had done exactly what someone talked about on an earlier post here: bought a house in the inner city, turned it into a temple with a yard for ritual work, they held weekly services in addition to the high day festivals. Yeah, there were a lot of flakes and scene people there playing at spirituality, but there was also a core of serious people keeping everything going.

My ultimate reason for leaving the first time is I was feeling called to a more mystical path, I started looking for esoteric training and ADF doesn't offer that. It thought it did, but no. Even as ill informed as I was, I could look at the Magician's Guild and be unimpressed with it. The Initiate's Program (that I paid more attention to during round two) looked identical to the priesthood training minus some things like training in counseling; if there was any more to it than being able to say you completed yet another round of book reports to win a merit badge, as in some sort of actual inner work, I couldn't see it, something about that seemed off. Like someone else said above me, the organization is designed to produce two things, clergy and lay people (holiday Pagans), there is no third way.

The second time I joined, I was coming off a couple rough years, looking to kick start my religious practice again; ADF was familiar. I'd also found a few local people that were looking to start a proto-grove and needed another member in order to make it official, so it looked like a good idea, try to find some stability again while helping a few people out.

The proto-grove went nowhere fast, and I suppose I should've seen that coming; they seemed more interested in showing up some other local group. My every other experience with an ADF grove, barring the first, was fairly awful. People were unfriendly, ignoring any newcomers (or anyone outside their little clique) the rituals were slapped together and performed by people who had no idea what they were doing and just wanted to get to the potluck and return to conversations about the game last night that this pageantry was interrupting.

ADF had also moved everything over to Facebook, and while the old mailing lists I remember were still around, there was a strong resistance toward using them. I have never joined Facebook and nor shall I ever, and any alternatives to FB discussed seemed to be whatever the next shiny new mass social media movement there is. I never understood why they couldn't just have their own forum, bypass the baggage that comes with FB, but what do I know, I'm clearly the one out of step here. This would've driven me away sooner or later, even without anything else; why belong to an organization I can't communicate with without letting Mark Zuckerberg make money off my privacy.

It was the politics the second time. Public statement after public statement, sticking their nose in every world event even though it has nothing to do with them, every conversation online is about identity politics, fascism around every corner and what do we need to do about it. I didn't like the response to the first Bonewits scandal; I'm not sure what should've been done, or even if anything really needed to be. Even if you believe the accusation (and for the record, I don't - yeah, I know Isaac was a creep, I'd heard as much for years, not a pedophile), he's been dead for near ten years, and when this incident happened, if indeed it ever did, ADF wasn't around yet (or was just coming into being), so we're not talking about any cover up comparable to the Catholic church the way people were saying. But the mob wanted blood as it always does, and it was loud and unruly so it got what it wanted. And the answer was more politics, greater commitment to social justice, funneling our priesthood into one of those social justice seminars the elites on the left love so much right now even though they accomplish nothing.

The last straw for me was the election, candidates running on social justice platforms, promising to bring even more politics into the organization. And it seemed to be met with applause. The writing was on the wall, and like I said in my previous comment, I didn't want to be along for the ride.

I had less direct experience with the lack of leadership, but there was never any end of stories people told among themselves: incompetence, spitefulness, endless endless bickering. I saw many, many times that leadership and the Mother Grove would do anything to avoid having to deal with conflict. Drama ran wild and unchecked.

And when you won't sell your soul to Zuckerberg, you are the unreasonable one, being difficult for the sake of being difficult and thus justifiably excluded. Oh well. Haven't seen anything yet so great it's worth submitting to FB to join.

Here's to being out of step. :)

(just to clarify, this isn't an ADF attitude, just a general culture one)