Pagan Soup: Burqinis, Polytheism, Circumcision and More

Nigella Lawson Sports A Burqini

Nigella Lawson was seen frolicking on a beach wearing *gasp* clothing! The curvy celebrity chef is no stranger to showing skin, so maybe she just didn’t want a sunburn? People pointing out her cellulite?Muslim blogger Spirit21 writes:

Lawson’s fear of sunburn may have inadvertently prompted the realisation that there is liberation in covering. This is something that Muslim women like me have expended much effort in explaining and defending. But maybe we can now move on from this constant need for explanation, defensiveness and the vague sense of liberal apologetics that occasionally appears. Perhaps it’s time to be a bit naughtily smug and say: we already told you so.

I’m not the least bit ashamed of my body and find the idea of swimming in heavy wet fabric unappealing, but I admire the “stick it to the man” statement Lawson makes here.

Is Circumcision a Religious Right?

San Francisco wants to ban the practice of circumcision, which understandably has the Jewish community furious. Is the issue one of body modification for religious reasons? Or is it that the child has no choice in the matter? We do a lot of things to our kids they have no choice regarding, things that affect them more than whether or not they have a flap of skin on their penis: their schooling, their nutrition, their religion, their community, etc…

One uncircumcised Jew thinks the practice is unnecessary today:

Although uncircumcised, I am a very proud Jew, with a very strong sense of Jewish identity, and never hesitate to affirm my Jewish identity, to Jew and non-Jew alike, but particularly to myself. I can assure you that having a foreskin has not made me less of a Jew than those without one, and in fact has given me additional reason to think about it. I would rather be an uncircumcised self-affirming Jew than a now too common circumcised self-deprecating Jew.

Is this an attack on religious expression and ethnic identity? While no son of mine will ever be circumcised, I kinda think this does infringe on religious rights.

Groovy Pagan-ish Art

Byron Ballard over at The Village Witch shared this link this morning and I’m fascinated by it.

What Is Polytheism?

I find myself often confused by the theological identity of Hindus. Are they monotheists? Are they polytheists? In the Patheos library section on Hinduism I found this answer to that question:

The other criteria for polytheism is that these separate and autonomous gods are all of equal status with each other and are worshipped simultaneously. However, Hindus rarely worship all of the gods and goddesses simultaneously; instead, Hindus generally worship only one God/Goddess as being higher than the others (although, in theory, they are all equally Brahman). Therefore, Hinduism is not polytheistic.

While the Hindu scholar who wrote this may be entirely correct in the case of Hinduism, I doubt this definition of polytheism fits any polytheistic religion or culture I can think of. If Zeus is King of Olympus, are Hellenics not really polytheists? If you don’t actively worship an entire pantheon, or worse yet, don’t actively worship ALL Gods, are you not a polytheist? If you think the Gods have a hierarchy, are those of lesser importance even Gods at all? Are we meant to worship only the highest and best?

Is Venus A Comet?

Apparently at some point Venus had a beard, horns or hair depending on which ancient source you reference:

The Vedas said that the star Venus looks like fire with smoke. The star had a tail, dark in the daytime and luminous at night. This luminous tail, which Venus had in earlier centuries, is mentioned in the Talmud `Fire as hanging down from the planet Venus. Described by the Chaldeans the planet Venus `was said to have a beard. “Beard” is used in modern astronomy in the description of comets.

Of course, mainstream space resources give no mention of this, so this may be nothing more than a bit of curious pseudo-science.

Temple of the River Closing?

It seems like Drew Jacob, despite not identifying as Pagan, keeps popping up in Pagan news. The Facebook page for the group reports that Temple of the River is closing, after having been featured the in PNC-Minnesota as part of their Sacred Spaces series.

PNC-Minnesota is reporting on the closing:

The Irish Cottage Temple closes its doors at the end of June and is available for rent. Ms. Scanlon Schopper says she was surprised by the news and sad to hear the temple is closing its doors, “but I have hope that the cottage will continue to serve as a gathering place, no matter what the gatherings may be.” The current owner believes the temple may be rented out as an art studio or for another spiritual group to use.  Jacob was the former owner of the land the Irish Cottage Temple sits on, but he sold the property in January of 2011 and presently lives at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Minneapolis.

Included in the PNC article is an interview with Drew Jacob. I’m going to need time to process this. I’m sure speculation will abound in the blogosphere, especially in light of his participation in the recent debate regarding identifying as Pagan.