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News & Submissions 10/18/2010

Monday, October 18th, 2010

An interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone by Bernadette Montana
Today’s interview is with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone.  The contributions that they have given to the pagan community over these many years, are too numerous for me to mention here.  I would suggest printing out this interview for future use as a teaching aid, or as adjunct to the course that both Janet and Gavin teach, here at Sacred Mists.  Enjoy! Read full story from sacredmistsblog.com

Expanding the pagan tent of worshippers
Paul Larson doesn’t celebrate Halloween. Instead, he spends Oct. 31 in a worship service that’s a ritual feast with offerings of sweet cakes and ale to the ancestors.

For many pagans such as Larson, Oct. 31 is the autumnal new year called Samhain, a time when the veil between the spiritual world and the world as we know it is the thinnest and it’s possible to contact those who have passed away. Read full story from chicagotribune.com

Call for law on Witchcraft and Human Rights
A former Chairman of the National Commission on Culture, Professor George Hagan has called for a legislation to make it a criminal offence for people who infringe on the rights of innocent Ghanaians particularly old women and accuse them of witchcraft. Read full story from gbcghana.com

‘Evangelical Atheists:’ Pushing For What?
Last Friday, a New York Times headline declared: “Atheists Debate How Pushy to Be.” This ongoing debate among atheists — “Just how much should we confront the religious?” — is nowhere near resolution.

Last year when I visited Minnesota to spend the winter holidays with my family, I spoke with a Christian friend about my budding efforts as an atheist promoting religious tolerance and interfaith work. She too was excited about the idea of bringing people together around shared values in spite of religious differences, but near the end of our conversation she asked me a pointed question: “I’m a little confused. Isn’t part of being an atheist trying to talk people out of their faith?” Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Group says prayers to protect Native American burial ground
The Native American community from the surrounding area came together in a ceremonial gathering and prayer vigil Saturday at the Glen Cove shellmound in Vallejo.The noon event was a part of their ongoing effort to protect the sacred Native America burial site from the city’s development plan.

Standing in the middle of the prayer circle, Wounded Knee Deocampo of the Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes encouraged the crowd to join the battle against the Greater Vallejo Recreation District to preserve the site. Read full story from timesheraldonline.com

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News & Submissions 10/17/2010

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Salem needs a new museum to explore its witch-trial past
OCTOBER HAS a special significance in Salem, where the month-long Haunted Happenings is the nation’s leading celebration of Halloween. It’s a unique event, combining everything from ethnic dance presentations to demonstrations by the city’s psychic community and followers of Wicca, to such family fare as haunted houses and fireworks. Read full story from boston.com

Victorian book proves Old wives aren’t all witchcraft and wizardry
First published in 1856 ‘Enquire Within Upon Everything’ was a how-to book for domestic life, first published in 1856 by Houlston and Sons of Paternoster Square. The book was a top-seller in its day, and was regularly updated with an encyclopedic collection of cheap and straight-to-hand remedies using day to day items found in an average house of the 1800’s (and latterly the 1900’s; its last edition was printed in 1976). Read full story from entertainment.stv.tv

Controversial pastor gets free car for not burning Quran
The Rev. Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who caused a firestorm last month when he came close to staging a public Quran burning, is getting a new car courtesy of a New Jersey dealership.

In the run-up to the planned book-burning, Brad Benson Hyundai in New Brunswick offered Jones a vehicle if the pastor backed down on his threat. Read full story from cnn.com

Exhibit explores how Hitler taught a nation to hate
(CNN) — Playing cards with images of Hitler. Toy fuhrers. And a lamp and church tapestry with swastikas emblazoned across the front.

No, it’s not a neo-Nazi convention. Rather, it is a groundbreaking exhibit that opened Friday in the German capital and is intended to show Adolf Hitler’s relationship with the German people. Read full story from cnn.com

Texas Billboard: Christians are ‘jerks’ (Source cnn.com)

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News & Submissions 10/14/2010

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Shamanism: Spirits in the valley
The cultural heritage of pre-Islamic philosophy and mythology is so interwoven into the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan that strands of it survive to this day. Religions born of their environments, the influence of centuries of Shamanism, Buddhism, Baoism and Zartosht are seen most clearly in their interaction with nature, where the word worship can be interchanged with respect for and love of. Read full story from tribune.com.pk

Media needs to stop enabling stigmas
The Senate is on the verge of change as 37 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election in November. However, one candidate for the senate in Delaware is causing quite a stir. Tea party favored Christine O’Donnell caused an upset when she became the GOP Senate candidate after the primaries. Though I disagree with everything the tea party stands for, my issue with O’Donnell does not revolve around her party affiliations, but rather her idiotic comments. Read full story from understatesman.com

State wants death in trial
Two women charged with first-degree murder in the death in 2004 of a Winston-Salem woman plotted via e-mail to kill her, a prosecutor said yesterday in Forsyth Superior Court.

Katherine Hofmann, 45, and Kim Stout, 55, were charged last year in the death of Sharon Snow on Feb. 1, 2004. Read full story from journalnow.com

Red Power activist Madonna Thunder Hawk going strong at 70
“I  was kind of a radical from day one,” said Lakota activist Madonna Thunder Hawk, a veteran of many of the battles of the Red Power movement, from the occupation of Alcatraz and Mount Rushmore to Wounded Knee. Now a 70-year-old grandmother, Thunder Hawk remains politically active, just as her grandmother before her. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Indian vets score a win in Congress
WASHINGTON – Legislation supporting Indian veterans and their survivors has made it through both branches of Congress, and will soon be signed by President Barack Obama into law.

The Senate moved Sept. 28 to pass the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act, which remedies a problem that has seen Indian veterans who receive federal disability and survivor benefits being denied support under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Happy Halloween Month, San Diego
If San Diego (and I don’t think we’re alone) can take Halloween as a month-long theme, why not me? And why not here? I don’t think the chamber of commerce has adopted the once-pagan holiday as an official 30-day refrain but many businesses certainly have. My favorite (mentioned last column) is the Crypt on Park at University. How this display designer managed to incorporate childlike, playful fun into leather, whips, chains, blood, rats, spiders, and general imagery of punishment and humiliation, is, I think, remarkable. But then, we’re a can-do kinda town. Read full story from sandiegoreader.com

Florence mosque defaced with bacon
FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) – A national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group is calling on the FBI to investigate a message written in bacon at mosque in Florence.

Three chair members of the Islamic Center in Florence discovered the words “pig” and “chump” written in strips of bacon on the walkway along the mosque Sunday afternoon. Read full story from wmbfnews.com

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News & Submissions 10/12/2010

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

A Jacksonville witch explains what witches are – and aren’t
Delaware’s U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell created a stir by declaring, in a televised political ad, that she is not a witch.

While meant to ease the concerns of evangelicals over reports of her interest in witchcraft many years ago, the ad has offended real witches by implying they are evil, says Jacksonville’s Judith “Holly” Charland. Read full story from jacksonville.com

EPA tells town on Wind River Indian Reservation: Don’t drink the water
PAVILLION, Wyo. – The residents of Pavillion, a rural community on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming have been told by federal agencies not to drink their water and to use fans and ventilation while bathing or washing clothes to avoid the risk of explosion. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

National Guard wants Native recruits
WASHINGTON – Leaders with the U.S. National Guard are making a renewed push to let Native Americans know about opportunities to serve within the reserve military force.

“I am extremely interested in getting the message out to the Native American communities,” said Col. Rob Porter, a director in the National Guard who focuses on recruitment efforts. Read full story from indiancountrytoday

Does Islam and Shariah Have More In Common With Nazi Ideology Than With Religion?
Since the atrocities committed on 9/11/01 by Middle Eastern Muslim terrorists in the name of Islam, people in the U.S. and West have debated whether Islam is “a religion of peace” or more of an all-encompassing totalitarian ideology cloaked in religious garb. Unfortunately, it appears that the Qur’an, Shariah, and the Islamic terrorist attacks of the last thirty years, indicate that Islam is indeed a totalitarian ideology engaged in an effort of world-wide conquest much like Nazism. The major difference being that Nazism was based on racial affiliation while Islam is based on religious affiliation. Read full story from canadafreepress.com

Mormon leader’s remarks spark outcry on same-sex issues
Twice a year, members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convene for a general conference during which the LDS Church leadership addresses the Mormon faithful.

Broadcast via satellite to millions of Mormons across the globe, and speaking in front of the more than 20,000 LDS Church members who flock to the enormous conference center in Salt Lake City, Utah, the leaders offer insights on doctrine and guidance to church adherents. Read full story from cnn.com

The Pagan Alliance connects to nature
The word Pagan comes from Latin; it means “country dweller.” The term was used derogatorily during the Christian conversion period of ancient Rome to refer to the people in the countryside who still adhered to the old traditions of polytheism, said freshman Kassie Cressall, president of the USU Pagan Alliance president. Read full story from usustatesman.com

Does yoga bend Christian faith?
TYLER, TX (KLTV) - Does practicing yoga compromise your Christian faith? That question is at the center of a debate made by the Southern Baptist Seminary president. Christians that practice yoga say two have little to do with each other. Read full story from kltv.com

Coming out as HIV positive to church (Source cnn.com)

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News & Submissions 10/11/2010

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Honhongva: Take back Columbus Day
Indigenous Peoples’ Day commemorates the resilience of indigenous peoples worldwide, throughout campaigns of exploitation, prejudice, and outright genocide. But this year, you might know it as something different: the 518th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ landing in San Salvador. Columbus Day glorifies a history of injustice and historical fallacy; Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a chance to reevaluate. Even Yale, a bastion of progressivism, only employs two American Indian professors among nearly 3,000 faculty members. Read full story from yaledailynews.com

Vail Valley Voices: Faith left to the individual
Editor’s note: Henry Bornstein, a retired attorney who handled constitutional cases and studies the Constitution from a historical as well as legal perspective, replies in several parts to a recent Valley Voices column by Dick Gustafson addressing the separation of church and state. This is the sixth part. Read full story from vaildaily.com

Gaining freedom through faith and good works
Editor’s note: The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He began his theological studies at the Chicago Theological Seminary and deferred his studies when he began working full-time in the Civil Rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Jackson received his Master of Divinity degree in 2000. Next week: Rev. DeForest “Buster” Soaries Jr. writes about his campaign to eliminate debt as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey. He is featured in CNN’s “Almighty Debt: A Black in America Special” which premieres October 21. Read full story from cnn.com

Woman charged for destroying controversial Jesus art in Colorado (Source cnn.com)

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News & Submissions 10/7/2010

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

My Take: So who are the Druids, anyway?
The Druids have hit the headlines in the recent days because religious charity status has been granted in the UK to The Druid Network – a group set up to foster Druid values and projects. Read full story from cnn.com

Priest fears Masonic ‘witchcraft’
A Christian minister in Carterton is objecting to a Masonic Lodge being used for a temporary library because he considers it connected to witchcraft. Read full story from time-age.co.nz

Metro columnist Dan Casey: Who’s afraid of a Sunday Halloween?
Back in 1999, the devil’s holiday fell on a Sunday and that was a lot of fun.

The governments of Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem did their best to ignore such calendar blasphemy. Read full story from Roanoke.com

Oil Spill Panel Says EPA, NOAA Weren’t Ready to Deploy Dispersants
The staff members of a presidential commission today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for being inadequately prepared to deal with the size of the oil spill that resulted from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. Specifically, a discussion draft concluded that neither agency had planned for large-scale use of dispersants to break up the oil on the surface and at depth. Read full story from sciencemag.org

Christian group pulls support for event challenging homosexuality
A national Christian organization will stop sponsoring an annual event that encourages school students to “counter the promotion of homosexual behavior” because the event has become too divisive and confrontational, the group’s president told CNN on Wednesday. Read full story from cnn.com

Delaware Wiccan Speaks Out on Christine O’Donnell
“I am not a witch.” Only in the ever-wackier 2010 election cycle would a campaign video start with such an assertion, but this particular ad was for Delaware’s Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, whose recent admission that she “dabbled in witchcraft” as a teen has brought toil and trouble to the Wiccan community. To find out more about the Wiccan religion — which bases its belief system on witchcraft — TIME spoke to Michael Smith, a Wiccan high priest and IT consultant from O’Donnell’s home state. Read full story from time.com

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News & Submissions 10/6/2010

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Shamans and sorcerors booted off Russian TV
Having a sixth sense will no longer be enough to advertise legally – from now on only a license will allow fortune tellers, faith healers, magicians and shamans to practice.

Anyone who wants to use their traditional or occult gifts to promote a business will be forced to get a licence – and it’s up to the media to check out the credentials of their clients. Read full story from mn.ru

Jenice Armstrong: O’Donnell ad irks witches
GRAB YOUR broomsticks and go find yourself a black cat while you’re at it. Because even if you’ve never given a second thought to the notion that Delaware’s Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell was ever a witch, you might now. Read full story from philly.com

Jury to begin deliberating in case of alleged synagogue bomb plot
New York (CNN) — Jury deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial of one of four men charged with plotting to bomb a synagogue and a Jewish community center. Read full story from cnn.com

Why Sunday morning remains America’s most segregated hour
“Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of Christian America.”

That declaration, which has been attributed to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., used to startle listeners. Now it’s virtually become a cliché. For years, various academic studies and news articles have reported what many churchgoers already know: most American congregations are segregated. Read full story from cnn.com

Head of religious sect arrested in Siberia
Nikolai Rudnev, 43, who reportedly calls himself “a being from Sirius”, was arrested on rape charges after two former female members of the cult testified against him. Read full story from en.rian.ru

Cherokee chief opens Highland Games in Scotland
The orange flag with yellow stars symbolizing the seven Cherokee clans swayed brightly among swinging kilts and skirling bagpipes at the Highland Games in Nethy Bridge, Scotland. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Court denies Onondaga land rights lawsuit
ALBANY, N.Y. – A federal court has dismissed the Onondaga Nation’s land rights lawsuit in a ruling that follows recent precedent-setting cases depriving other Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy nations of their lands. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

My Take: Atheists not so smart after all
The U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life went viral last week.

According to Luis Lugo, the Pew Forum’s director, over a million people have taken the online quiz associated with the survey, and the Forum “has had unprecedented Web traffic since the survey was launched, nearly crashing its servers on the day of release.” Read full story from cnn.com

Anti-gay church, grieving father square off over free speech, privacy (Source cnn.com)

Cancer patient: I see Jesus in my MRI (Source cnn.com)

Integration on Sunday Morning (Source cnn.com)

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News & Submissions 10/04/2010

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Darwen man wins Druid campaign
Phil Ryder, of Richmond Terrace, led the campaign as chairman of the trustees of the Druid Network, a nationwide fraternity of followers of the Pagan practice. Read full story from Read full story from lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

Druids recognized as religion for first time in UK
LONDON – Druids have been worshipping the sun and earth for thousands of years in Europe, but now they can say they’re practicing an officially recognized religion. Read full story from news.yahoo.com

My Talk at the Interfaith Observance at the Presidio
I was asked to give a talk this afternoon, October 3, at the Interfaith Center at the  Presidio chapel in San Francisco.  This was an annual gathering celebrating its founding, and this year’s topic was “Reclaiming the First Amendment,” a subject dear to my heart.  I spoke alomg with members of the Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh, Mormon, and Baha’i communities.  There was supposed to be a Muslim speaker as well, but last minute difficulties prevented his coming.  Another Muslim participant contributed some very good improptu remarks in his stead. Read full story from beliefnet.com

‘Expertly crafted’ statue of pharoah is dug up in Luxor
An ancient statue of Tutankhamun’s grandfather has been unearthed from the west bank of the Nile in Egypt.

The 3,400-year-old limestone statue of Amenhotep III, a pharoah who ruled Egypt from about 1391 to 1351 BC, was found at Kom el-Hetan in the city of Luxor. It portrays the king wearing the double crown of Egypt and seated on a throne next to the god Amun. The statue, which is 4ft tall and is decorated with the image of a serpent, was located at the site of the pharoah’s mortuary temple. Read full story from inpependent.co.uk

What do you make of ancient systems of wisdom, such as shamans?
It may come as a surprise to some of you that I have taken two courses on Shamanism. Even though I am a committed atheist, different world views fascinate me, particularly our Canadian indigenous religions. The beauty of the artwork and masks of our West Coast native life resonate within me and are a testament to a proud culture and tradition. It’s a shame that much of what we know of aboriginal religions and shamans is framed through Hollywood-coloured glasses as there is a pure, earthy richness to their beliefs that I find more tangible than those of the big three monotheistic faiths of today. Read full story from ottowacitizen.com

The conspiracy against tolerance
There is a conspiracy against tolerance. Ironically, that conspiracy is often waged in the name of tolerance. Political correctness now threatens free speech. Bigots now masquerade as compassionate liberals inveighing against ‘hate speech’, ‘intolerance’ and ‘bigotry’. Read full story from jamaica-gleaner.com

Far-right Dutch politician tried for inciting hatred
(CNN) — Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday, charged with inciting discrimination and hatred over a controversial film he made about Islam. Read full story from cnn.com

Druids Interviewed

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News & Submissions9/30/2010

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Justice Department debuts streamlined tribal grants
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a round of new funding under the “Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation Grants” banner to hundreds of tribes with the intent of improving the safety of tribal citizens. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Pagan beliefs differ, share common ground
When asked exactly what Paganism is, Jenny Nguyen ’14 of the Vassar Pagan Circle (VPC) sits in awkward silence, then says, “I don’t really know what Paganism is, but whenever I think about it I think of like a ritual circle and a fire.” Members of the VPC have only a slightly clearer understanding of what Paganism is. “That’s a question that no one can answer…The closest thing we can do is tell you what we aren’t,” Aaron Fagan ’11 laughs. Paganism is not Abrahamic [Judeochristian], and most branches are polytheistic. Some modern religions have aspects in common with Paganism, but they are not considered Pagan because they do not view themselves as such. A common theme in Paganism is an oppressed or largely extinguished viewpoint, such as Greco-Roman religion or Druidism, being revived in a modern context. As such, there is a tendency for Pagan or neo-Pagan religions to be ostracized from mainstream society and viewed as archaic. These are all the general facts that can be summed up about Paganism in general, as the numerous branches vary widely. For such a small group, Vassar’s Pagan Circle-or VPO, the O standing in for a pentacle, or star inscribed by a circle-represents a surprisingly diverse array of viewpoints. Erin Clarke ’11 and David March ’14 are two Wiccans with radically different opinions on almost every issue; Fagan follows a Celtic tradition dedicated to the goddess Brighid, and Lilu is an atheist who has joined nearly every religious group on campus while considering a correlate sequence in religious studies. Read full story from miscellaneousnews.com

Trivia kings, but bad thinkers: understanding over facts
Is knowledge of religion important? Why?

As a boutique belief system in the United States, atheism has a good many advantages. There are so few atheists and agnostics that they do not run all the risks of a populist movement. Not for them is the burden of dealing with the masses of a global population, their idiosyncrasies, worries and all. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

Owners, supporters make pleas to re-open Yorktown Memorial Hospital
Eernisse is a member of Victoria Investigative Paranormal Research, and the Yorktown Hospital is reportedly a hotbed of paranormal activity. Read full story from victoriaadvocate.com

Cork set to host 10th annual Ghost Convention
The twilight world beyond the grave, fairies and the dead, haunting and possessions, the whispering spirit, and the ancient, ghostly Guardian of Self Defence. Read full story from irishcen\tral.com

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News & Submissions 9/27/2010

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Viewpoint: Religious freedom is not tolerance
Here’s an essay question, students: Religious freedom and religious tolerance are not the same thing, or are they? Discuss.

The reason for asking the question today is obvious. The plan to build Park 51, a Muslim community centre a few blocks north of Ground Zero in New York City, has re-kindled resentment smoldering since 9/11 against the Muslim community in a significant portion of American society. Read full story from bbc.c0.uk

Jews for Justice Sail to Gaza today, September 26, 2010
THIS is exactly what I have been talking about in many of my comments and posts.

THESE are not Anti-Semites. There are people, like the rest of us, who oppose the Israeli governments actions towards the Palestinians in the West Bank. And they are tired of being cowed into thinking they have to show 100% loyalty to all actions of the Israeli government to be considered “True Jews.” Read full story from FDL

A look inside NYC Islamic center imam’s mosques
The controversy over a proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan has spiraled into a global debate over Islam’s place in the United States, but the arrival of a mosque a couple blocks from ground zero was driven mostly by the simple need for more space. Read full story from cnn.com

Woman killed, another thrashed for witchcraft
BOKARO: A 56-year-old woman was killed and another battling for life in hospital after they were mercilessly beaten by a group of villagers for allegedly practicing witchcraft. While the deceased woman has been identified as Guruwari Devi, Mukta Devi is in hospital in critical condition. Read full story from indiatimes.com

Televangelist Eddie Long: ‘I’m going to fight’ sex allegations

Lithonia, Georgia (CNN) — Baptist televangelist Eddie Long said Sunday he will fight allegations that he coerced young male church members into having sex with him. Read full story from cnn.com

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