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by wings
Not an equivalence, a simile.
You had the experience of growing up in a structured community. That's extremely rare in my experience. Most of the ones I've met, learned from books. Their community was the local craft store, and I'm not talking Hobby Lobby. No covens, no hierarchy, just people hanging around the shop. Different parts of the country, different experiences. I've got ordained family serving the community in the role of a witch, in a strictly individual context. No circles, no covens, but open to help anyone who comes calling.
Not every liberal gets into guns through a group like LGC, nor ever joins one. Many just are liberals who end up owning guns. I would hope that they vastly outnumber us. And we're in no place to play gatekeeper, except for weeding out the ones who might just turn out violent.
My sense is, that's true for pagan practitioners as well. There's a wide swath of folk who never join a coven, never go looking for one, but they pick up some of the books, something clicks, and boom, hello operator, moon calling, will you accept the charges?
Different paths, neither better or worse.