On Tuesday a special election is being held in Massachusetts to pick the replacement for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, and despite the fact that the state is solidly liberal and reliably Democratic, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will win. Certainly part of it is that Scott Brown has been presenting as a liberal-ish Republican (except when he doesn’t), and has been running a tight campaign, but it’s also due to the fact that Democratic candidate Martha Coakley has done a terrible job, treating her election as fait accompli, and failing to energize voters. Which brings us to why I’m commenting on this race, Coakley’s involvement in the notorious Fells Acres Day Care Case. While Coakley didn’t prosecute the case, one of the most high-profile “ritual abuse” trials of the 1980s, she subsequently spent years defending the convictions as D.A., still insists the family was guilty, and placed bizarre restrictions on the accused once they were released.

“Coakley had previously allowed Gerald’s sister, Cheryl Amirault LeFave, to be released from prison on the curious condition that she not submit to television or film interviews. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz, who championed the Amiraults’ case in a series of articles and in a book, Coakley also requested that the Amiraults’ attorney, James Sultan, who was negotiating Cheryl’s release, stop representing Gerald, which would have further crippled Gerald’s appeals for freedom.”

It would be fair to say that electing a possible Satanic Ritual Abuse/Organized Ritual Abuse true-believer to the Senate has made several Pagans, especially the ones who lived through the moral panics of 1980s, uneasy.

“It’s like Salem 1692 again: letting kids fantasize and treating those fantasies as evidence in court. “Spectral evidence.” On Tuesday, voters in Massachusetts will select a replacement for Senator Edward Kennedy. The Democrats are running Martha Coakley, a former district attorney and state attorney general, who still thinks the Amiraults’ case was handled correctly and who has fought to keep Gerald Amirault in prison because she thinks he is some kind of satanic mastermind. She is a Democrat, I’m a Democrat. But I don’t care if she likes kittens and puppies and takes good care of her aged parents.  For that reason alone–for being the spiritual descendant of the Salem witch-hunters–if I lived in Massachusetts, I would not vote for Martha Coakley.”

Chas Clifton’s sentiments are echoed by Beliefnet Pagan blogger Gus diZerega.

“Perhaps most revealing with respect to Coakley was the conditions she imposed on people she allowed to be released after years of confinement.  They could not talk to the press nor could their lawyer be used to help another family member.  These conditions have nothing to do with guilt or innocence and a great deal to do with covering up abuses of power.  What was Coakley hiding?  We have seen a lot of such abuses and we do not need another Democrat inclined to do the same.  There already are more than enough Democrats and Republicans of that ilk.”

Her participation in moral panics are bad enough, but her steadfast defense of the Fells Acres convictions seems to also extend to a “law enforcement doesn’t make mistakes and shouldn’t be questioned” philosophy.

“Last year, Coakley chose to personally argue her state’s case before the Supreme Court in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. Despite the recent headlines detailing forensic mishaps, fraudulent testimony and crime lab incompetence, Coakley argued that requiring crime lab technicians to be present at trial for questioning by defense attorneys would place too large a burden on prosecutors. The Supreme Court found otherwise, in a decision that had Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia coming down on Coakley’s left.”

Of course, with Obama’s health care plan possibly on the line, many are urging voters to “hold their nose” and vote for Coakley anyway. Indeed, I know of some Massachusetts Pagans who’ve indicated that they will be (reluctantly) voting for Coakley, and a commenter on Chas Clifton’s blog sums up many of their talking points.

“I understand your feelings, but I’m a Masschusetts voter, and I will vote for Martha Coakley.  The whole SRA thing was a travesty, but even so Coakley is much better than her Republican opponent Scott Brown, who is anti-choice for women, pro-death penalty, opposed to the public health care legislation, and opposed to gay marriage (which we already have in Massachusetts). Coakley isn’t perfect, but if Brown is elected it will be a disaster for our state and country.”

I want health care reform too, heck, I want a single payer system! I’m also pro-choice, but I’m troubled when serious accusations about a candidate abusing their powers are made, and then swept aside in the name of party unity and the fear of legislative gridlock. The Boston Globe, in endorsing Coakley, praises her for “prosecuting child abusers”, never noting that some of those alleged abusers may have been completely innocent. As I’ve said before, I truly hope Coakley isn’t a SRA true-believer, because if we do see a revival of “Satanic Panic” in America, the last thing we need is a Senator willing to craft laws that will throw even more innocent people in jail.

So, to my Massachusetts readers, who are you voting for? Why? Do certain issues trump others, no matter how serious they may be? I’d really like to know, because I certainly don’t envy your choices right now. Perhaps that is why some Democrats are already spinning for a Coakley loss?

I was meaning to get to Massachusetts Democratic candidate Martha Coakley today, and her ties to SRA ritual-abuse panic, but it looks like I have at least one more Haiti/Vodou post to get to first. I’ll try to write about Coakley before Tuesday’s elections. In the meantime, check out Chas Clifton’s take on the subject, and my original post concerning Coakley. Now then, back to Haiti, specifically, Haitian Vodou. It seems that, in the struggle to answer the question of “why” Haiti was so devastated by the quake, of why it is so poverty-stricken, a strange new consensus has emerged.

“As Lawrence E. Harrison explained in his book “The Central Liberal Truth,” Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10. We’re all supposed to politely respect each other’s cultures. But some cultures are more progress-resistant than others, and a horrible tragedy was just exacerbated by one of them.”

That was conservative commentator David Brooks, who argues that we should encourage a new moral “paternalism” instead of sending more aid money to Haiti. This, naturally, appeals to Rod “Crunchy Con” Dreher, who never much liked Vodou (or Santeria, which he calls savage demon-worship) anyway.

“The kind of religion one practices makes a huge difference in how the community lives — for better or for worse. I suppose it’s at least arguable that the Haitians would be better off at the Church of Christopher Hitchens rather than as followers of voodoo.“

Dreher bizarrely tries to bolster his point by talking about black American Christians, how the poor in Turkey are so tidy, and stuff his “Mexican immigrant housekeeper” told him. I don’t even want to begin unpacking the problems with his post, it would take me a week. Next up to the punching-bag is economist Tyler Cowen.

“Hegel was correct that the “voodoo religion,” with its intransitive power relations among the gods, was prone to producing political intransitivity as well. (Isn’t that a startling insight for a guy who didn’t travel the broader world much?)”

He keeps using the word “intransitive” to describe Vodou. Either he doesn’t understand what that word actually means, or he knows next to nothing about human-loa interactions within the faith. But trust him, he’s an economist! Next, Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent for the Times, interviews Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, superintendent minister of Wesley’s chapel in the City of London, who was ordained in Haiti. Guess what he thinks of Vodou in Haiti?

“Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach … said he feared the fatalism inspired by the voodoo religion would militate against recovery … Lord Griffiths told The Times: “I would say that 90 per cent of the time, the voodoo is non-malign. It is not just sticking pins into dolls, although there is a bit of that.” The tragic religious “fault line” which could now impact recovery from the earthquake was the “fatalism” of the voodoo belief system.“

Man! Haiti must be totally doomed! I mean, everything would be just fine, eventually, if it weren’t for all that darn fatalistic, intransitive, futile, un-tidy Vodou! Never mind that Haiti has been kicked when it’s down so many times that it’s amazing it still exists at all, if we just inject some paternalistic, moralistic, Christianity into the country, the road to recovery can begin. The only commentator I could find who didn’t think Vodou was holding the country back was Ian Thomson, author of “Bonjour Blanc: A Journey Through Haiti”.

“For most Haitians, Vodou is the only way to rise above the misery of poverty and the devastation wreaked by hurricanes, mud slides, storms and now this humanitarian catastrophe. When a Haitian is possessed by a loa (spirit) he is taken out of himself and transformed. At night, Port-au-Prince is now said to flicker with candles, as swaying, homeless Haitians offer prayers to the loas in hope of deliverance.

Vodou also reflects the rage and ecstasy that threw off the shackles of slavery. On the night of August 15, 1791, a ceremony was held in the north of Haiti that marked the beginning of the revolt. A rain of burning cane straw, sweet-smelling, drifted over the plantations as the slaves set them ablaze. Toussaint L’Ouverture was said to have taken part in this Vodou-inspired uprising – proof that religion is not always an opium of the people, but a prelude to action.”

Hey! Someone remembered that Vodou had a role in ending slavery in Haiti! Maybe all these commentators who seem to think they know all about Vodou and its “fatalism” should take their theological and idealogical blinders off for a moment, and realize that the faith has survived, thrived, and been exported around the world, because there is something to it besides their cheap over-simplifications. The sheer lips-smacking missionary opportunism displayed here is shameful, and casts a very dim light on the “moral” superiority of the Christian faith.

Now that the initial shock of the massive earthquake hitting Haiti (see here for information on sending financial support) has filtered through the media, and the news-cycle starts to move on from Pat Robertson, more in-depth analysis and commentary are starting to emerge. Starting with more articles and editorials that explore the religious character of Haiti, like Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado’s essay for Religion Dispatches.

“What I wanted to say is that Vodou is not some sort of sorcery, or the product of some “pact to the devil” (thank you Pat Robertson). I also wanted to correct his erroneous assumption that Haiti is a nation of Vodou practitioners. It is, and continues to be, overwhelmingly Christian.”

Maldonado, author of “Afro-Cuban Theology: Religion, Race, Culture, and Identity”, predicts that Christian Pentecostalism will receive a big boost in the wake of this tragedy, just as it did in Guatemala after a massive quake in 1976. Its apocalyptic theology and literalism appealing to a shell-shocked and traumatized people. Meanwhile, Rachel Tabachnick at Talk To Action notes the long history of Christian missionaries demonizing Haiti’s history and Vodou religion,  placing Robertson’s comments in a long and sordid context.

“The mythology of Haiti has played a significant role in its recent political struggles.  While many people go to Haiti to provide humanitarian relief, there have also been floods of missionaries, of both the religious and political variety, who have responded to the call to save Haiti from the pact with the devil.”

Another Vodou-related aspect to this ongoing tragedy is what to do with the thousands of dead. In the Vodou religion, no-one but relatives are supposed to touch the dead until the proper ceremonies have been performed. Reaching out, neighboring Brazil has offered to provide a graveyard, while respecting the religious concerns of Vodou practitioners in Haiti.

“Brazil is offering to build a cemetery in Haiti for the thousands killed in this week’s quake, and promising it will respect the Voodoo beliefs of part of the Caribbean country’s population, officials say. The proposal stemmed from the “great concern over the presence of abandoned bodies in the streets, which could create epidemics,” the defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday … “A special attention will be given to adherents of Voodoo, a religion with a strong following in Haiti,” the statement said. One of the considerations in that regard is that “relatives do not accept that anybody touches their dead until their rituals are over.” Voodoo was brought to Haiti from Africa during the time of slavery. A version of it called Candomble exists in Brazil, which also became home to a large African slave population.”

Meanwhile, Benin, the African nation that shares strong cultural ties with Haiti, partially due to it being the acknowledged birthplace of West African Vodun, is holding special rites and ceremonies in solidarity with the victims (the president is also organizing aid).

“In an outburst of solidarity with the victims of the earthquake, the people of Benin and particularly those of Allada have organised traditional ceremonies to appease the spirits and seek the blessing of their ancestors for the Haitians. “A purification ceremony is planned for Haiti and a trip to the devastated island is even possible. We will continue to pray that it never happens again,” says the Queen of Allada.”

Sadly, it also sparked some unfortunate theodicy along with the solidarity.

“Queen Djehami believes that this week’s earthquake has happened because Haiti’s ancestors failed to carry out sacrifices. She explains that during his trip to Haiti six years ago, King Kpodégbé had warned the then President of Haiti of the need to organise sacrifices to appease angry spirits and ward off evil ones. His trip was part of bicentenary celebrations marking the death of Toussaint L’ouverture. Although the Haitian authorities probably didn’t ignore the king’s warning, they did put off organising the rituals. “Haiti is profoundly African and these things should not be underestimated,” exclaims Queen Djehami.”

Implying that the earthquake may have been caused by angry spirits is little better than saying it was all due to an imaginary pact with the Devil. Sadly, disaster seems to almost invite such wrong-headed thinking. Witness actor Danny Glover’s assertion that global warming, and the failure to do something productive at Copenhagen, caused the earthquake.

“When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?”

While there is some speculation that global warming could affect earthquakes, there is no evidence that Haiti’s earthquake was triggered or made worse because of it. Glover’s attempt to politicize this disaster while bodies are being dragged out of collapsed buildings, and millions are in crisis, is seriously misguided.

Finally, the Pagan blogosphere has been commenting on this situation. The Immanence blog, while not reacting specifically to Glover’s comments, does a splendid job of rejecting theodicy in the name of Gaia/nature (he also recommends the Haitian charity Fonkoze).

“That said, nature is also never merely nature either. We are part of the nature that acts, part of the system of relations by which the earth twists and moans and writhes in its sleep. There’s little point in looking for a global warming “signature” here. Rather, it’s about vulnerability — and its just (or unjust) distribution among us. As the world globalizes, as we come to see and feel the pain on our screens, we come to build the body of humanity. But the building of it is highly, deeply, radically uneven. An anthropologist working in Haiti, whose e-mail was forwarded to me by a friend, laments the news coverage, “which depicts this as a natural catastrophe, when the real problem is substandard housing and lack of infrastructure.”

Over at Beliefnet, Pagan blogger Gus diZerega, while criticizing Pat Robertson’s assertion that Haitian Vodou is demonic, recalls a Vodou ceremony he attended in New Orleans, and Thorn Coyle avoids trying to find an explanation for the suffering, and instead sticks to what she can fathom.

“What I can fathom is that humans are suffering. Yesterday I donated money to Yele Haiti because all of the funds go directly to the victims of the earthquake. I have heard that the website is overwhelmed today (there were already volume issues yesterday, when I visited the site) but Wyclef Jean reports that one can text “YELE” to 501501 and $5 will be added to your cell phone bill. $5 is not too much to ask from most of us, but for those who cannot afford it, we are also being asked to send our prayers. Might I also recommend we honor the shifting earth and count our blessings where we find them?  May the Gods, humans, and Loa be with Haiti in this time of extraordinary need.”

Fathoming that people need help, and then acting on it, is the strongest form of magic one can do in this circumstance. Remember, I’m keeping an updated list of Pagan and Pagan-friendly efforts to raise funds for aid in Haiti, here.

Natural disasters, like the earthquake that struck Haiti, can often make us feel powerless. We send out money to the relief agencies, say our prayers for the afflicted, and hope for the best. When the cause of such suffering is our own planet, our Gaia, our home, we often feel like there is no outlet, no blame to assign. Into that breach steps folks like Pat Robertson (or Rush Limbaugh), who are more than willing to assume the villain role for us, so long as it means more attention and time in the spotlight. Mollie at Get Religion clued in to this phenomenon while looking at coverage of the Robertson controversy.

“Sometimes I wonder whether the whole Pat Robertson experience doesn’t fill some cosmic need that everyone has after a natural disaster or act of terror. We want to be angry, but in a safe way. Robertson provides this vehicle for anger that fits perfectly into the 24-hour-news cycle.”

Robertson, while certainly venal scum, is smart and media-savvy enough to know exactly what he’s doing when he says those outrageous things. Remember, when the late Jerry Falwell blamed 9/11 on “pagans” and “feminists”, Robertson was right there, nodding and agreeing. It’s a game. They poke our collective sadness and horror, and invoke our anger, a dangerous form of magic that makes the whole world talk about them.

So what about the comments? Here’s what Robertson said:

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti … they were under the heel of the French, uh, you know, Napoleon the third and whatever … and they got together and swore a pact to the devil, they said, we will serve you, if you get us free from the Prince. True story.”

Is this even remotely true? A Christian distortion of Haiti’s African diasporic religion? Salon.com speaks with Andrew Apter, professor of history and anthropology at UCLA, who provides some clarity on the matter.

“Part of the revolution mythology is that one of the revolution leaders sacrificed a pig in Bois Caïmin in a voodoo ceremony and made a contract with Petwo [Haitian voodoo spirits]. It may or may not be true, but to call that a pact with the devil is a gross misrepresentation of what voodoo is. It’s about anything but the devil. He’s imposing an evangelical religious order on a much more sophisticated practice, and he’s turning it into a cheap invocation of Satanism. This is hate speech. It’s saying these people are damned.”

The sacrifice at Bois Caimin is a popular Haitian creation myth, one that modern-day Vodou practitioners re-tell with pride.

“Bois Caiman (French, Alligator Woods, Bwa Kayiman in Haitian Creole), was the site of a historic meeting on the night of August 13-14, 1791, which culminated in a traditional religious ceremony led by Houngan Boukman Dutty and the sacrifice of a black pig by Mambo Marinette, possessed by the lwa Erzulie Dantor. (Marinette has now become a lwa in the Petro portion of the Vodou liturgy!) This ceremony provided the final impetus for the uprising of Africans which led to the only successful slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere, and to the Western Hemisphere’s first independant black republic. In 1991 then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide held a re-enactment of the ceremony of Bois Caiman in the National Palace, provoking wide approval from the Vodouisant majority, and severe criticism from Protestant and Catholic Christian leaders, and members of the Haitian elite class.”

How much of it is actually true? Possibly very little of it, like all creation myths it is hard to prove, and the details change over the years. No doubt Robertson heard a vastly distorted version from a Christian missionary. The creation story, true or not, certainly has very little to do with Haiti’s many troubles over the years. Those who know and love Haiti, like former President Bill Clinton, know that Vodou enriches, not damns, that country’s culture.

“Why is Haiti so special to me? Haiti is completely unique in our hemisphere because of its history and culture. There are other French Caribbean islands, but none of them have Haiti’s particular Creole influence. None of them feature Haiti’s distinctive mix of West African religious and cultural influences, the most visible of which is the persistence of the voodoo faith, which is practiced alongside Christianity. Unfortunately, ever since the first slave revolt by Haitians in 1791, the country has been beset by abuses caused from within and without. It has never been able to fulfill its potential as a nation.”

If there is any silver lining to this terror, this destruction, it is that our religious communities, so long enchanted and fascinated by Haiti’s culture and indigenous faith, are galvanized into action to help it in this time of need. A moment of empathy and action that will perhaps grow into a deeper commitment and interaction. For now, if you can, donate to a reputable charity on the ground in Haiti (I’ll continue to update that post in the days to come), and pray for the wounded, the trapped, and the homeless.

There’s been an international outpouring of concern in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday, a disaster that has already caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Wanting to help, some of my readers have asked me if any Pagan charities are currently planning on sending aid or resources to Haiti. The answer at this time is “I don’t know”. I do know that several groups are planning workings, vigils, and coordinated prayer, but I’ve yet to see any news on physical relief efforts. That said, I don’t think Pagans should wait until one comes forward, as most Pagan charities will likely funnel funds into one of the larger reputable relief organizations on the ground in Haiti.

To find a reputable charity, I suggest Charity Navigator, which provides a listing of groups engaging in Haiti earthquake relief and gives ratings on each one. I would also read their tips on giving during times of crisis. As for specific charities, I’m quite partial to Doctors Without Borders, especially as medical care is going to be a top priority in the initial aftermath.

As for certain hate-mongers who imply that Haiti’s ties to Vodou brought this earthquake down upon them in judgment, I’ll deal with them later. For now we should focus on those who need help, and know that those who try to gain publicity or profit from this tragedy will ultimately reap what they sow.

If you are with a Pagan charity, or a Pagan group that is planning a coordinated working/prayer for the benefit of Haiti, please feel free to share in the comments. I’ll update this post as needed.

May the Good God and the Loa aid and protect the people of Haiti in this time of crisis.

ADDENDUM: The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Association have launched a joint earthquake relief fund to help the survivors.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab will be adding proceeds from all January sales of the Orisha blends (Elegba, Obatala, Ochosi, Ogun, Olokun, Osun, Oya, Shango, and Yemaya) (in the Excolo category) to the Red Cross fund. This is in addition to the proceeds from January sales of Port-Au-Prince (in the Wanderlust category).

The Roots Without End Society’s charitable arm, Vodou Aid, is accepting funds for earthquake relief.

Lodestone & Lady’s Mantle will be donating all profits from the sale of spell and ritual oils to Doctors without Borders, for the month of January. They have just set up the announcement in their Etsy shop, and will be updating the main website shortly.

Avalon Cares, the charitable branch of Officers of Avalon, is accepting donations for Haiti.  They are looking into ways to support emergency first responders by sending supplies and/or money for direct relief. Their goal is to help communities recover as quickly as possible and to fill in needs not met by larger organizations.

Acts of Kindness which is the charitable arm of Society of the Evening Star is accepting donations which will be redirected to relief efforts in Haiti. SOTES and AOK are fully registered charitable organizations and all donations are fully tax deductible.

Top Story: While the mainstream media has been generally focused on controversial statements from Harry Reid in John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s “Game Change,” a new book about the 2008 presidential election, there are some other surprising revelations to be found. For instance, did you know that Rielle Hunter, who famously had an affair with presidential candidate John Edwards (and most likely bore his child), was (allegedly) Pagan?

“There was nothing legit, however, about Hunter’s behavior. It was freaky, wildly inappropriate, and all too visible. She flirted outlandishly with every man she met. She spouted New Age babble, rambled on about astrology and reincarnation, and announced to people she had just met, “I’m a witch.” But mostly, she fixated on Edwards. She told him that he had “the power to change the world,” that “the people will follow you.” She told him that he could be as great a leader as Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. She told him, “You’re so real. You just need to get your staff out of your way.” She reinforced everything he already believed, told him everything he wanted to hear.”

Not exactly the kind of revelation of modern Pagan involvement in national politics one hopes for. Then again, if you believe everything in the book excerpt about the Edwards campaign, Hunter was hardly the most crazy element in that bizarre love triangle. Hunter’s life seems to have always skirted fame and notoriety, but when her moment in the sun finally arrived it was ultimately as an infamous footnote in a historic presidential election.

In Other News: The particularly brutal murder of an elderly woman in South Africa has some calling once again for laws banning the practice of witchcraft in the country. Columnist Michael Trapido argues that the infringements on free expression such a law would create are a small price to pay for greater safety.

“So until such time as someone can put forward a better suggestion for protecting people accused of witchcraft — and not the current law which makes it an offence to call someone a witch — legislation to make it a criminal offence to be a witch seems to be the only answer. In tandem that anyone now possessed of this legal channel to accuse witches, who practices self-help, be given the stiffest possible sentences available to a court faced with that charge. Denying some form of religious freedom is very ugly but what happened to an 81-year-old woman and many others like her is far uglier.”

So in the course of attempting to stop witchcraft-related murders, Trapido would support a law that is so broadly worded that it essentially bans non-violent religions like Wicca. That, I suppose, wouldn’t be such a large issue except for the fact that there is a thriving Pagan community in South Africa. I’m told that the South African Pagan Rights Alliance will be releasing a statement on the matter soon, but they have made their position regarding witchcraft bans quite clear before.

“Witchcraft in South Africa is a recognized Pagan religion. Most Pagans in South Africa self-define as Witches – as adherents of the religion of Witchcraft. Every South African citizen has the right to freedom of religion and belief, including the right to proselytize their religious beliefs should they choose to do so. This constitutional right includes not only the right of religious communities to define themselves and their own religion, but also to challenge anything they may perceive as harmful to themselves and their religious communities.”

Further, the South African Pagan Council is a recognized Religious Organization with SA Home Affairs and SA Revenue Services. So to enact the “solution” of banning “witchcraft” they would have to knowingly outlaw a religion they have previously acknowledged as deserving legal recognition. These murders are horrible, but the solution is education, aid, and enforcement of existing laws, not arbitrary (and discriminatory) new laws. I fear Ben Franklin would be rolling in his grave at Trapido’s “ugly” solution. I think the country of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu can do far better than reactionary attempts to outlaw a belief in hopes it will solve the problem.

A group of lawyers, scholars, activists, and religious leaders from the across the political spectrum have collaborated on a new statement encapsulating the current understandings of Church-State law and freedom of expression in America.

“As the role of religion in public life continues to spark intense political debate and high-profile court cases, a group of diverse leaders from religious and secular organizations has issued the most comprehensive joint statement of current law to date on legal issues dividing church and state. Muslim, Jewish, Sikh and Christian leaders from the evangelical, mainline and Catholic traditions joined with civil liberties leaders to draft Religious Expression in American Public Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law, released Tuesday at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.”

A project of the Wake Forest University Divinity School’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs, the statement should be required reading for anyone concerned about legal decisions made regarding religious expression in America. You can download the 34-page PDF file, here. Almost all of the legal issues facing Pagans today in our schools, prisons, military, and the workplace are touched on in the document. Don’t miss out!

Kathy Nance gives us an update on the ceremonial rattles created by Pagan artist Julee Higginbotham for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. After being blessed and distributed by the Pagans at the Parliament, they ended up being gifted to several key spiritual/religious leaders, including the Dalai Lama.

And each was blessed at Pagan prayer circles in St. Louis, Melbourne Pagan events, and the Parliament itself. At each circle, the hope that the gifts would convey messages of love and unity were repeated. On the next to last day of the event, before coffee and breakfast, came word that the Dalai Lama’s personal secretary was on his way down to pick up a shaker. River, a Pagan from Missouri, handed over the gift. It was wrapped in cloth and twine used at the Pagan Peace Ritual. “The shakers passed through hundreds of hands with blessings for world peace and for understanding between different yet similar religions,” River said. “We were all tremendously moved that we were able to give one to the Dalai Lama.”

In addition to the Dalai Lama, shakers were gifted to His Majesty Robert Daagbo Hounoun, world wide leader of the Vodun Hwendo faith,  Professor “Auntie” Joy Murphy Wandin, AO Senior Woman of the Wurundjeri People, and “Uncle Bob” Randall, Yankunytjatjara Elder and Traditional Owner of Uluru (Ayers Rock). According to Parliament Board of Trustees member Angie Buchanan, the shakers “opened many doors” between Pagan delegates and indigenous communities across the world.

In a final note, famous Los Angeles Buddhist/New Age/metaphysical bookstore Bodhi Tree is closing down. LA Daily reports that the close came about due to rising costs, rising taxes, and a widely dispersed market.

“Books on Wicca and Astrology and Native American shamanism used to be tough to find. But now every Borders and Barnes & Noble carries a significant selection of religious, spiritual and New Age literature. And what can’t be bought at a bricks and mortar shop can undoubtedly be found online at Amazon. For cheap.”

Where once Pagans, New Agers, occultists, and Buddhists would often be forced to shop at the only place in town that carried “their” kind of books, thanks to the Internet it’s easier than ever to get a hold of material that you find interesting. Indeed, the “community” created around these stores were almost always due to necessity, not a shared theology, practice, or even politics. It was inevitable that as these groups grew into their own, and materials became easier to obtain, the “New Age store” would suffer as a consequence. While there is a part of me that has a somewhat romanticized view of that era, catching only the tail-end of it in the 1990s, I also wouldn’t trade that time for what we have now.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

For those of you who like to keep track of Pagan and occult themes in pop-culture and the arts, I’ve got a few goodies to share. First, online magazines Right Where You Are Sitting Now and Dangerous Minds profile a new short (7 & 1/2 minute) film by Brian Butler entitled “Night of Pan”.

“‘Night of Pan’ is a seven and a half minute film featuring film auteur Kenneth Anger and actor Vincent Gallo. The film has been screened in various versions internationally – Beijing, Lisbon, Cannes, Athens, Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, but never in Butler’s base, Los Angeles. In the film, Anger, Gallo, and Butler depict an occult ritual that symbolizes the stage of ego death in the process of spiritual attainment.”

If you’re going to do a short ritualistic art-film, there’s no finer stamp of approval than getting Kenneth Anger (the undisputed master of the genre, and long-time Thelemite) to co-star in it. After it’s finished making the festival rounds, maybe they’ll post the whole thing to Youtube?

Turning from short art-films with Pagan and occult themes to long big-budget historical films with pagan themes, I have some “Agora” (the film about Hypatia of Alexandria) news to share. While Americans are still awaiting an official release date for the film, in Spain it has garnered 13 Goya Award nominations from the Spanish Film Academy.

“[Alejandro] Amenabar said at the ceremony in the Academy building that it had been “a great year for Spanish cinema” and was quick to push the worth of his fellow nominees, Agora co-scriptwriter Mateo Gil and lead actress Rachel Weisz.”

Now if we can only get a release date! Perhaps the new flurry of international acclaim and press will speed things along?

In a final “and water’s wet” sort of note, Vatican media isn’t pleased with the pantheistic elements of the global mega-blockbuster “Avatar”, criticizing it for turning “creation” into a “divinity to worship”.

“L’Osservatore said the film “gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature.” Similarly, Vatican Radio said it “cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium.” “Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship,” the radio said.”

And while we should never conflate Vatican media with the official opinion of the Pope, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi did state that these views “reflect” Benedict XVI’s opinions on the matter. Indeed, how could they not?  The pontiff has a long history of warning against the dangers of “neo-paganism”, especially within the context of environmental concerns. I’m sure Ross Douthat is excited to be so “on the same page” as his spiritual authority.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!