The Church of England has been having a hard time of it recently. Attendance levels are falling precipitously, women are leaving in massive droves, and hip outreach programs don’t seem to be making much of a difference. So the Anglican bishops have decided it’s time to get back into the old-school conversions business.

Anglicans were commanded to “go forth and evangelise” yesterday in a dramatic assertion of missionary fervour that could jeopardise carefully built-up relations with Muslims, Jews and other faiths. The established Church of England put decades of liberal-inspired political correctness behind it in a move that led one bishop to condemn in anger the “evangelistic rants” … The Church’s General Synod, meeting in London, overwhelmingly backed a motion to force its bishops to report on their “understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multifaith society” and offer guidance in sharing “the gospel of salvation” with people of other faiths and none.

If you think this move is going to cause some internal tensions, you’d be right. While some vicars see every person they meet as “a potential convert”, others are worried that a renewed stridency will only further hinder efforts at evangelistic outreach.

However, the Bishop of Hulme, Stephen Lowe, who leads the Church’s mission in urban life, told The Times that he was “saddened” by the debate. Condemning the “evangelistic rants” of some members, he said: “There are one or two contributions that worried me because they did not seem to have any understanding of the nature of relationship that precedes good evangelism.” He added: “There’s an element of people who have not got experience of living and spreading the gospel in a multicultural, multifaith context telling those who do have that experience how to do it. That makes me very uneasy.”

Will this re-evangelization effort bear fruit? Or will it simply further alienate those already dissatisfied with the church? Whichever the case, I can’t imagine this will do wonders for relations between the CoE and an increasingly multi-religious Britain. While some vicars complain that British Anglicans need “to recover our nerve” and get back to proclaiming the “truth”, they may find that doctrinal correctness could come at the price of an ever-shrinking audience of believers. As for British Pagans, they now know who to avoid at parties and other social functions.

Just in case you thought that it was only Pagans who got sensationalist Christian books written about them, fear not! Spero News wants you to know that the Christian publishing industry are very worried about the Native Americans who still hold onto pre-Christian beliefs as well.

Dreamcatchers, sweat lodges, ancestral spirits, alcoholism, and abuse: author Nanci Des Gerlaise grew up with them all. Her new book, “Muddy Waters: An Insider’s View of North American Native Spirituality,” which according to a news release exposes the current awakening and popularity of occult concepts borrowed from her Native roots. “The focal point of my book is an appeal to the Christian audience to turn away from Native Spirituality and its demonic influences; I also want to equip them with the knowledge of how to deal with those in bondage to Native Spirituality.”

One wonders what the extended Métis community in Canada (to which she claims membership, and that she is descended from a “long line of medicine men”), not to mention members of the First Nations and Inuit think of her proclaiming Native spirituality and religion as “demonic”. Of course she doesn’t stop there, you see Nanci Des Gerlaise is that special kind of Christian who also thinks Catholics are demonic too.

Born into a Canadian Métis family, Nanci Des Gerlaise struggled through years of dysfunctional relationships before discovering the freedom of the pure Gospel, unadulterated by mixtures of spirituality, animism or Roman Catholicism.

Many Christians tend to shy away from damning Native Americans, it’s bad for publicity and makes them look like “haters”. But make no mistake, the Christians who spout off about Pagans feel exactly the same about indigenous belief systems, they just know to be more polite about it. So in a way we should all thank Ms. Des Gerlaise for reminding the public exactly what those certain Christians really think of the “Great Spirit”.

About a year ago Terisa “Red Phoenix” Davidson was found guilty of conspiracy in  the attempted murder of a local man (and fellow Pagan) whom she claimed raped her and her teenage daughter (no evidence has emerged to give any indication that these accusations were true). While not involved in the actual brutal attack (which included being hit by a car, being beaten, stabbed, set on fire, and injected with silver thermal compound via a marinade needle) prosecutors successfully argued that she provided the motivation, weapons, and plan of attack. Having finally exhausted her appeals to the conviction, yesterday a judge sentenced her to nearly five years in prison.

Terisa Davidson was ordered to serve four years and 11 months of a 15 year prison sentence by substitute Circuit Court Judge Jay T. Swett. Davidson will also be on supervised probation for five years after her release and will have to pay $10,600 in restitution to a victim’s fund … While Davidson — who went by the name “Red Phoenix” — was not present during the attack, York-Poquoson Commonwealth’s Attorney Eileen Addison painted her as a ring leader who supplied the needle and silver compound as well as the plan to harm Barron. “She is the force that put it all in play,” Addison said, in closing arguments Tuesday.

During the sentencing Davidson was quoted as saying that  she was “sorry that this thing ever happened,” and that she “couldn’t imagine going through what he’s been through.” Davidson, the four attackers (three of whom are now in jail), and the victim (Jonathan “Lord Othis” Barron) all met at a local metaphysical shop in Norfolk, Virginia where they attended a Pagan drum-circle. Almost no investigation was done by journalists into the actual beliefs of Davidson, Barron, or his attackers other than the fact that Barron considered himself a vampire and one of his attackers thought he was a werewolf. Were they Pagans? New Age dabblers? Otherkin? Curious seekers? The “Red Phoenix” and “Lord Othis” sobriquets suggest they had some sort of magical/metaphysical identity beyond mere dabbling, and the four attackers considered Davidson a “powerful mother figure” suggesting some sort of coven arrangement, but nothing was ever confirmed.

That lack of confirmation is a shame, because with only these salacious tidbits, with dropped buzz-words like “Pagan” and “vampire” we fuel the kind of speculation that leads to mistrust and hostility towards modern Pagans. We should know what “Red Phoenix” taught, and what the religious identities of this group were. That way we can contrast what she was doing with healthy and productive Pagan groups. As it stands Davidson will simply become grist for the “another crazy Pagan” mill, and we are all poorer for it.

Chris Walton at Philocrites has news concerning Jim David Adkisson, who attacked a Knoxville Unitarian Universalist congregation with a shotgun last July, killing two and injuring six. Adkisson, who defined himself to neighbors as a “Confederate” and a “believer in the old South”, plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. The Knoxville News Sentinel also got to read Adkisson’s four-page manifesto, where he calls the UU church his ex-wife once attended “a den of un-American vipers” and bemoans the fact that he couldn’t kill every Democrat in Congress.

“This was a symbolic killing,” Adkisson wrote. “Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. I’d like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I knew these people were inaccessible to me. “I couldn’t get to the generals and high-ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chicken (expletive) liberals that vote in these traitorous people.”

By all accounts Adkisson was remorseless during the trial, and while his defense attorney claimed he could have argued an insanity plea, prosecutors say they had clear evidence of extensive planning and premeditation before the murders. For extensive coverage of the shootings, check out the Knoxville News Sentinel’s special page devoted to the incident. With this murderer behind bars forever, here’s hoping that healing and closure can come to the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and the friends and family of those affected by this tragedy.

Recently Get Religion blogger and religion-beat journalist Mollie Hemingway, while discussing a major religion-based factual error in a piece by Slate.com, made this assertion concerning the media and the “pagan” roots of modern holidays.

You get a basic fact like what Candlemas commemorates wrong and it kind of casts doubt on the whole piece. Not to mention that Noah asserts the pagan connection without substantiating the claim elsewhere in the piece. There is literally no explanation — we are just to take him at his word. That’s my biggest beef with the “Christian holy days co-opt pagan festivals” meme that is so popular with the mainstream media. They just run with the story instead of investigating some tangled and complex histories that may not fit into the preferred narrative.

I think Mollie is being overly harsh here, puff holiday pieces are usually adverse to investigating “tangled and complex” matters, and most often settle for the “common wisdom” (whatever that may be at the time). Do we really expect Timothy Noah to read Ronald Hutton’s “Stations of the Sun” to learn that while Imbolc was almost certainly a pre-Christian festival, we have no real way of telling what, if any, traditions currently associated with the holiday actually date to pre-Christian times? That seems a bit much for a slight article about Punxsutawney Phil and his shadow. Further, there seems to be the implied notion that the “Christian cooptation of old Pagan holidays” meme stems solely from a secular journalistic bias or perhaps Wiccan wishful thinking rather than Christians themselves.

While most Catholics and Orthodox Christians seem rather untroubled with the notion of the (possible) integration of “sanctified” pagan elements into their faith, some protestant sects are genuinely and truly upset with the “pagan” foundations of modern Christian practice. Indeed, on the rightward fringe it’s something of an obsession.

A Tennessee historian and author best known for his searches for the Ark of the Covenant – the box containing the Ten Commandments – is now challenging much of modern Christianity, claiming the traditional version of the faith has more in common with ancient paganism than actual biblical content. “Today, it is amazing what is being presented as Christianity,” says Richard Rives of Lewisburg, Tenn., who has just released a book and DVD collection titled, “Time is the Ally of Deceit.” “First century believers would have never accepted [today's practices],” the 56-year-old ark hunter told WND. “We must earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.” In his new book and videos, Rives goes on a history-packed journey beginning with the creation of the world and Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden, examining how worship of the sun god among ancient cultures influenced the worship of the true God of the Bible.

But it isn’t just the WND-loving fringe-types (not to mention Jack Chick) who perpetuate the “modern Christianity is mostly pagan” meme. George Barna of The Barna Group also wrote a book about it called “Pagan Christianity”.

Pagan Christianity makes an unsettling proposal: Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles.

Which makes you wonder, who has the most invested in Christianity’s “pagan” past? Certainly modern Pagans are big believers in such theories, but we hardly have a lot of influence over the press (and even if some of those theories are ultimately debunked, we have no problem integrating contemporary ideas into our practice). Yes, secular journalists seem to swallow assertions of pagan connections somewhat uncritically, but is it because they aren’t friendly to Christianity (or too friendly to Pagans and atheist debunkers)? I would offer a third possibility, that the “Pagan Christianity” meme is kept alive by Christians. Whether it is from a belief that Christian worship is “tainted” by it, or that Christianity “triumphed” over paganism and kept the best bits, both allow the “mainstream media” to maintain the common wisdom of pagan survivals in modern Christian practice.

I would further argue that some conservative Christians have far more invested in the idea of a pagan-haunted world than a lot of Pagans do. This includes Christian authors parroting debunked and discarded modern Pagan talking points to inflate our menace. You see, Christians don’t like tangled and murkey answers to questions any more than journalists do. The real answers to “how much pre-Christian stuff has gotten into modern Christian practice” aren’t simple, clear-cut, or easy to explain. It is little wonder why both grasp for an easy and simple answer. So if mainstream journalism is uncritically swallowing the “pagan origins” meme, who exactly is feeding it to them?

The Western Daily Press reports on the tensions and difficulties of balancing the needs and desires of various groups at the world-famous Avebury henge and stone circle. While not as instantly famous as Stonehenge some twenty miles away, the site has become a popular alternative gathering point with Pagans, travelers, and tourists for solstice and equinox observances.

The National Trust, which owns much of the village, has found itself caught in the middle of several different interest groups: English Heritage wants to preserve the stones, the council wants to keep roads open, the police want to stop anti-social behaviour, the pagans want to uphold their right to their religious observances and residents want the three-day ‘invasion’ kept to a minimum.

For now local residents have decided to continue allowing limited camping near the site, not so much for selfless reasons, but because they are genuinely afraid of “significant problems” if they outright ban camping at the site. Many still recall with dread observances from 2005 and 2006 when disorder and chaos ruled the day and seek to avoid a repeat if they can.

In 2005 and 2006, residents complained of chaos and anti- social behaviour with complaints of drunken revellers urinating in gardens, rubbish left everywhere and emergency service vehicles unable to get through the village. The situation has improved in the since with first police and council officials clamping down on cars parked outside the designated car parks and then the National Trust not allowing camper vans and travellers’ vehicles into the main car park. It has meant numbers at the solstice have more than halved, with many travelling on to Stonehenge.

Despite the popularity of the site and the thousands of visitors, the residents are facing a town in slow decline without a proper post office, no school, and until very recently, no local shop. It’s little wonder the remaining residents are ambivalent about their seasonal “guests”. Meanwhile, due to the global economic downturn, sites like Avebury and Stonehenge are being starved of much-needed funds that could go a long way toward making improvements and easing tensions between locals and visitors.

I think it’s hard for Americans (and other non-UK residing Pagans) to understand the emotional and spiritual resonance these sites hold for the British Pagans (and the British in general), so I won’t venture to guess as to what could solve all the problems faced here. I suppose that time will, in the longer run, finish off the last vestiges of the declining village at Avebury. Allowing The National Trust (which maintains the site and the village) to transition the site into a purely tourist-going affair. But in the meantime, tensions will no doubt persist, and one hopes that local Pagan leaders will be at the forefront of ameliorating mistrust and fear among Avebury residents.

The National Secular Society has released a response to the The National Trust and English Heritage holding a public consultation on the proposed reburial of a neolithic skeleton found at Avebury that has been dubbed “Charlie”. An issue raised by The Council of British Druid Orders (and a CoBDO splinter group) on the grounds that these remains represent their spiritual and genetic ancestors, and that it is ‘disrespectful’ to treat them differently from exhumed Christian remains. Unsurprisingly, the NSS takes a dim view of these demands, and the deference shown to them by The National Trust.

The NSS believes that the National Trust and English Heritage have abdicated their clear responsibility to the nation to turn down the requests from the Council of British Druid Orders (CoBDO), an unelected and unaccountable group, for the reburial of ancient human remains at the Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury. It is important that the demands of one small group are not allowed to overwhelm those of the general public and interested groups, including those of scientists seeking to understand and to spread understanding of the lives of our ancestors in prehistory. Rather than take issue with the theology of the various “druid” groups represented by the CoBDO, the NSS wishes to stress the danger of creating a precedent in this case, whilst also refuting any claims that one specific religious group has over important scientific material which is the property of everyone.

The NSS goes on to call the demands, and the process of CoBDO setting itself up as “indigenous” spokespersons “an act of political expediency” rather than stemming from any real grievence. This particular criticism is echoed by cultural sociologist Dr Tiffany Jenkins in a recent article for Spiked.

CoBDO is an organisation which represents some Pagan groups. The request fronted by Paul Davies claims a genetic relationship with the human remains that are aged between 4,000 and 5,700 years old. But the demands are less about old bones than about winning affirmation of the legitimacy of Paganism from cultural organisations. These are, fundamentally, claims for recognition.

In the end, if the demands by some modern British Druid groups are met, it will raise a host of issues about the future of archeology in the UK and who exactly gets to speak for remains that are thousands of years old. Even if there was proof of some sort of spiritual link between these bones and modern Pagan practice, is CoBDO (or ‘CoBDO West’ for that matter) the organization that British Pagans want representing their interests and views? While secularists and scholars can be needlessly snarky about this issue, they do raise awareness of some important problems with these issues of identity and ownership. There has to be a better way of introducing a measured Pagan perspective to these debates than to allow scattered (and often self-appointed) individuals to claim the authority to speak with our collective voice.