In Australia, Gavin and David of Pagan Awareness Network was making the same argument, that they were larger. David in the next census want everyone who is of a Pagan path (the more inclusive form of Pagan) to say Pagan – Your path, because if they can reach 2% of the census they get their own line. This has very deep political acceptance value if they accomplish their goals.

You can see The Australian Pagan Panel Video from the Parliament at: http://parliament.pagannewswirecollective.com/200…

In Australia, Gavin and David of Pagan Awareness Network was making the same argument, that they were larger. David in the next census want everyone who is of a Pagan path (the more inclusive form of Pagan) to say Pagan – Your path, because if they can reach 2% of the census they get their own line. This has very deep political acceptance value if they accomplish their goals.

Also you can see the Australian Panel as a Video on Pagans at the Parliament Blog, part of the Pagan Newswire Collective: http://parliament.pagannewswirecollective.com/200…

Good idea. I wonder if we all could get in the habit of putting ourselves down as "Pagan" whenever asked, without getting into the fine points of definitions and groups at first. Once our overall numbers are recognized, then we can argue definitions and boundaries among ourselves. I've been identifying myself publicly as a Witch, but, you know, it might help a whole lot if I just said Pagan — for now..

I'm sure we'll be hearing from Starhawk how those evil right-wing Israelis arrested her after that so-called "peaceful demonstration" devolves into a violent riot like every lefty demonstration does.

"God, Goddess, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Krishna and the Great Spirit know that the politicians aren’t doing it!"

*plunges knife into neck*

It would be nice if those who worked rituals on Mount Ainslie would come forward and say exactly what they did to dispell (pun intended!) the foolish notions.
What made that guy think it was evil stuff? couldn't it have been blessing and requests for clarity and compromise to benefit the masses?

Another thing is worth mentioning- I've been called an "anti-semite" for my support of the Palestinian side in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Why hasn't Starhawk gotten that treatment? What, am I not feminist wiccan enough?

I suspect her being Jewish might have something to do with it.

Yeah, I had figured that, but then, I don't buy the double standard. And by the double standard, I don't mean the "Niggaz hatin'" paradox- the paradox that allows African-Americans to call one another the dreaded "N" word without it being seen as racist. That's not the 2Xstandard I'm talking about.

To call me an anti-semite makes no sense because the Palestinians (whose political cause against Israel I support) are themselves Semites. In fact, The Jews are the smallest population of Semites on the planet, with the Arabs being the largest. The whole "Anti-semitic" thing referring only to Jews makes no sense; it makes as much sense as saying "Anti-Caucasian" refers only to hatred of the Germans. Good old fashioned American Arab hate, lit up since 9/11, is the best example of anti-semitism I know.

And I don't hate humans or races of humans; I hate certain cultural patterns, political parties, and religious doctrines/scriptures.

What I find amazing is that Pagans live under the illusion that anyone else cares what Starhawk has to say about anything, assuming that they have even heard of her.

I think it's because she was a formative member of one of the "root" movements that inform neo-pagan spirituality, the Goddess Spirituality thingy. It's rather influential. But she also wrote "The Spiral Dance", which was a very successful and influential work on neo-pagans at the same time Cunningham was selling like hotcakes. That was like a "golden age" of neo-pagan literature.

Now, we're in the post-modern pagan literary phase, which really owes its existence to Ronald Hutton, and the style isn't happy, dreamy how-to books full of Pagan political and spiritual views; the style is hard-core coal-raking and deconstruction and debunking of myths about the figures and movements of the golden age. Everyone's getting mature now, you see? We're all tough guys now, who all pat each other on the back and remind ourselves that we were "young and idealistic" then, but there was a magic, man… there was a magic… soon we'll be insufferable like former hippies that actually attended Woodstock, and still tell long, boring stories about how real and spiritual it was.

Hey, look at the bright side. I'd rather be this than Baptist. What do they reminiscence about? Not nearly as exciting or weird stuff.

…..or it could have just been a barbecue.

Well, either that or she'll be foiled by the cunning Israeli plan to deny her entrance into the country by fiendishly placing lally columns 15 inches apart at all entrances.

Yes. This.

To Pastor Danny (and most of the rest of Catch The Fire) it wouldn't matter. If it's not Christian icons and form that he himself recognizes, it's evil. Even if it is, if it's being employed by people he doesn't recognize as acceptable Christians, it's evil. The man probably won't even eat devils' food cake, Red Hots, or Green Goddess salad dressing.

The Pew report is bullshit. Why does the United States rank so low in terms of "social hostilities"? A significant portion of the US population is openly hostile to all non-Judeo-Christian religions. These people are known as right-wing Christian fundamentalists. We even have at least one state, as recently noted in the Wild Hunt blog, that explicitly bars from non-Christians from elected office! There is also a small but growing and vocal minority who are hostile to ALL religions! Members of this minority waged a very public campaign against one of the world's most prominent scientists, Francis Collins, when he was nominated by Obama to head the NIH — and this campaign was based solely on vilifying Collins because of his religious beliefs.

But India is listed as "Very High" in terms of religious "social hostilities". India not only has legal protections for religious freedom, but it also has great religious diversity. In fact, the single greatest source of religious "social hostilities" in India is western funded Christian missionaries who preach hatred for all other religions.

"I suspect her being Jewish might have something to do with it."

If anything, Jewish supporters of Palestinian rights get more flack precisely because they are Jewish. Just ask Noam Chomsky. They are called traitors and self-hating Jews. They definitely do not get a pass.

Pew Research is headed by Andrew Kohut, who got his start in polling with the Gallup organization in the 1960's, and was President of Gallup Polls for 10 years from 1979-1989.

George Gallup Jr., the son of the founder of Gallup, once described the polling business like this, in an interview with The Business Journal of New Jersey: “The most important purpose of polls is to explore people’s response to God and indicate ways to strengthen that response. That is a form of ministry.”

In a 1998 article in "Christian Ethics Today", Diane Winston, a research fellow at the Princeton Center for the Study of American Religion, wrote this: "When George Gallup, Jr. joined the family polling firm, the church lost a prospective priest but the world gained a Spirit-filled layman. Mr. Gallup, who is chairman of the George H. Gallup International Institute and executive director of the Princeton Religion Research Center, chose a secular path for a religious call."

The piece continues as follows:

"I was drawn to the church and thought about being an Episcopal priest,” said Mr. Gallup, whose deep bass voice would have rung appealingly from any pulpit. “But I decided Dad’s field offered an opportunity to find truth, to see how people respond to God and to explore their religious lives. When I started surveying in the early 1950s, this was virgin territory.”

That the once-virgin territory is now well-explored is due, in no small part, to Mr. Gallup’s zeal. Over the years, Gallup polls have measured belief in God, angels, miracles, born-again experiences, biblical inerrancy, and heaven and hell. Among his recent projects is a survey on gratitude commissioned by Thanks-Giving Square in Dallas.

Recently, Mr. Gallup discussed his findings during the institution’s annual celebration of the National Day of Prayer.

“George Gallup was the logical person to talk to when we first conceived our interest in the healing power of prayer,” said Peter Stewart, chairman of Thanksgiving Foundation. “He has an amazing way of looking at subjective and intangible things through the polling method, and he himself is certainly a man who understands the power of gratitude and thanksgiving.”

Full article here:
http://www.christianethicstoday.com/Issue/017/A%2…

Yeah, that irked me, too.

This.