Top Story: Two Nebraska State Penitentiary inmates have won a lawsuit against the state’s Department of Correctional Services over the issue of religious accommodation. The issue? Acknowledgement that Theodism isn’t Asatru, and deserving of separate considerations.
“In court documents, [Wolfgang] Rust and [Bobby] Conn alleged the prison had put a substantial burden on their exercise of religion by setting specific guidelines to develop and conduct religious practices and violated their right to congregate and practice their faith by refusing to provide an outdoor space for a worship site to create an altar and by denying them certain organic foods to be sacrificed to the gods. They also asked the court to require the prison to recognize the Theodish belief as separate from Asatru and to allow them to have personal and communal religious property to practice their religion. After months of negotiations, both sides reached an agreement approved by U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp in December. The prison agreed to schedule separate worship services and educational instruction and to allow Theodish belief practitioners to buy and eat organic food during the feast days so long as the food doesn’t require special handling procedures and is available from a commercial source by mail order or delivery.”
The settlement will also allow Theodish prisoners to purchase a variety of communal items for the purposes of holding religious rites. While this may not seem like a big deal to some, the formal acknowledgement that modern Paganism is simply an umbrella term, and that different Pagan faiths, even very similar ones, deserve separate accommodations is a huge leap forward. Remember, discrimination against religious minorities is endemic, and in some prisons Pagans have no access to any sort of rites, or are lumped together regardless of tradition or path. Lets hope this is the beginning of a larger change in the way our family of faiths is dealt with in U.S. prisons.
Druid Involved in Hate Crime: Last month four individuals in Edmonton were involved in a racially motivated attack, the culmination of a night of verbal abuse against several individuals while passing out flyers for a rally by neo-Nazi organization Blood and Honour. Now the Edmonton Journal, digging into the perpetrators, has discovered that one claims to be a Pagan and Druid.
“One of the accused, Keith Virgil Decu, claims to be a druid on a metaphysical chat group and lists German neo-pagan spirituality and cooking as interests and activities on his Facebook page.”
One of the other accused has tried to mitigate the events by marking them as a “horrible night” of “drunken stupidity.” But no amount of drink can wash away the sickness that made them think passing out racist flyers, hurling abuse, and attacking people is a decent night-on-the-town. That one claims to be an artist, and another a Druid, shames both titles. One can only hope that the moral vacuum of their souls is soon filled with something other than fashionable nihilism and racist stupidity.
COG Local Council Helps Found New Interfaith Group: The Campbell Reporter/Mercury News reports on the formation of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC), a South Bay organization that includes the Northern CA Local Council of Covenant of the Goddess as an inaugural Congregational Affiliate.
So why would Silicon Valley, which hosts many interfaith groups, need another one? ”We don’t have a real sense of focus or centeredness,” said the Rev. Bruce Bramlett, an Episcopalian, who also was involved in the creation of the group. A three-year study by the Knight Foundation released in 2010, “The Soul of the Community,” found that two-thirds of respondents in the valley felt disconnected. SiVIC’s enthusiastic members hope to help remedy that. ”We want to help create the glue to connect various communities,” said Mari Ellen Reynolds Loijens of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
One of SiVIC’s first public activities will be to participate in CROP Walk 2011, an event to raise awareness and funds to combat hunger. Congratulations to the NCLC of COG for being a part of this new interfaith endeavor.
At What Cost Fame: So now that the Christian Day/Charlie Sheen “warlock” issue seems to finally be simmering down, will it ultimately benefit anyone? The press seems to have successfully made this about how Sheen is wacky, instead of focusing on the fact that he’s a serial abuser of women, and Day’s ritual certainly gained attention, but perhaps not in the context he’d like.
“The posse of witches and warlocks that gathered March 6 at a witchcraft store in Salem — and might have been at home on the Ward family couch in “The Fighter” — were wicked pissed at “Chahlie” for associating warlocks with violence. In a five-minute “magical intervention,” coven members summoned the archangels of the four corners of the world, along with a skull they’d named Robert, in a bid to bind Sheen from harming himself and others (well, actually, “hahming”).”
The old saw about there being no such thing as bad publicity only holds true if the subject(s) gain from the experience. In Day’s case, I assume that would mean increased sales for his upcoming book from Weiser. Or perhaps more television deals? I’m not sure where that particular metric should be lain. Oh, and to Bill Edelstein of Variety, it’s certainly your prerogative to mock Day’s ritual, but making fun of someone’s Boston/New England accent? That’s cheap. The alpha and omega of my take on this whole thing can be found, here.
New Star-Studded Pagan Podcast Launches: In a final note, I just wanted to point out the launch of a new Pagan podcast, the Pagan Pathfinders Podcast. The show features an ever-shifting panel of notable Pagans, with Canadian Witch Sable Aradia acting as the host.
“Picture, if you will, a virtual campfire in the astral plane, and around this campfire, a heartbeat drum calls to the elders and leaders of the worldwide Pagan community. They are organizers, facilitators, authors, musicians, scholars, artists, advocates, and community-builders. They practice almost every conceivable Pagan faith and span time zones from the Pacific Coast of North America to New South Wales, Australia. Some of them are famous, some not-so-famous, and some only famous in their own communities. But wherever they are, whoever they are, they are those who find the paths for the rest of us.”
You can download the first episode, featuring Lord Alexian, Hawk, Ellen Evert Hopman, Edain McCoy, Nisaba Merrieweather, Brendan Myers, Myranda O’Byrne, Ali Ravenwood, Natalie Reed, and Sam Wagar now. I wish them good luck!
That’s all I have for now, have a great day!
