Vincelette attempted to “strip [the Maetreum] of its religious status … without bothering to set forth any personal expertise or objective basis for his conclusion,” the judge wrote. The argument that religious events at the Maetreum are too infrequent “has no basis,” he wrote, and is a “subjective standard” that “is so vague that it would wreak havoc if it were generally applied to religious organizations in Greene County.” The argument seems to be tailor-made to fit the Maetreum, Pulver wrote. “That [Vincelette's] standards are directed at [the Maetreum] alone and will never be applied to other churches and charitable organizations seems inescapable.”
“In a seventeen page decision on the motion of the Town of Catskill to dismiss our case and our counter motion for summery judgment the Maetreum was granted a stay from any tax foreclosure action by the county. In three separate places in that decision the Judge commented directly on the clear discriminatory nature of the stated basis for our denial in language that chided the Town attorney for vague nature of his complants and claims. Further, the judge, one by one and with cited precedences denied the legitimacy of all the rationale offered by the Town attorney for denial of our exemption leaving them without a basis for having done so. It fell short of actual summery judgment, just short. The Judge made clear that he expects us to show the religious use of our property in court but also indicated he is already aware we do so and are a legitimate religion. The Judge basically handed us a ready made Federal case against the Town of Catskill if we decide to proceed in that manner as well as more than enough to re-open our complaint with the State Attorney Generals Office of open discrimination by the Town of Catskill. By avoiding mention of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalize Persons Act of 2000, he preserved our use of that as basis of a Federal court case. In short, he communicated that the Town would be well advised to settle with us now. On Monday we will have to file for our 2011 property tax exemption with the Town Assessor. That filing will include citations from this decision. Given that, if we are once again denied we will proceed directly to Federal Court and file the action with the State AG’s office which should trigger a full scale investigation into the Town of Catskill.”
As both the Watershed Post and the statement point out, this case isn’t yet over, but it seems very apparent that the Town of Catskill’s case is quickly falling apart under official scrutiny. Once it is done, the Maetreum of Cybele will have won a major victory for all Pagan faiths looking to build lasting infrastructure, in New York, and across the United States. Anyone wanting to donate to the Maetreum’s legal fees, can still do so at their web site. Congratulations to the Maetreum on this win!
This issue has been tackled by others already, but I just thought I’d put my two cents in since this story is still popping up on my news feeds. It goes something like this: Two people have what seems to be a consensual sexual encounter in Brooklyn. Their intimate moments consummated on a bed ringed with lit candles. Sadly, one of those candles tipped over onto some fabric, starting a fire, a fire that couldn’t be put out. I’ll let Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano explain the rest.
“Time and time again we respond to tragedies that could have been so easily prevented,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said. “This fire had so many of those elements — candles left on the floor near combustible material, one of the occupants trying to douse the flames before calling 911 and an open door, which allowed fire to spread into the hallway. Hopefully others will learn from this tragedy.”
This is a text-book fire safety failing, one that sadly claimed a life. That couple could have been any ordinary careless couple, and had it been, this tragic story would never have made it past the local Brooklyn news. Yet, because of a certain detail, it has ignited the newswires.
“Fire marshals said the fire started around 6:40 p.m., when a woman visited a man in the building and paid him $300 to perform a voodoo ceremony to bring her good luck. The man was known in the neighborhood as a voodoo priest, the AP reported.”
Nelson “Pepe” Pierre, 66, claimed “he could turn people into ghosts, move buildings, turn people into buildings,” said Patrick Louis, who also lived in the East Flatbush building. “But that day, I guess, he couldn’t turn that fire out.”
Yes, his magical powers couldn’t put the fire out! Because Voodoo/Vodou is silly and superstitious! Plus, sex ritual! OMG! Can you imagine this story being written in this sensationalist manner if the couple were evangelical Christians?
“Betty and Robert, despite being properly married and bible-believing Christians, were unable to call down the Lord’s aid in ending the blaze. Neighbors have wondered if it was the judgment of the Lord.”
A sentence like that, even from a tabloid, would have provoked a storm of controversy. Even the normally sedate New York Times uses the phrase “Voodoo candles” in their headline. CNN trumpets that “Voodoo sex ceremony starts fatal fire.” No, neither the ceremony, nor the sex, nor the religion of Vodou started the blaze. What started the blaze was a knocked over candle into flammable fabric. If an overturned candle had accidentally burned down a church, would the headlines call them “Christian candles”? If it had happened during a baptism in that hypothetical church, would the press say that “Christian baptism starts fatal fire?” No. Because one faith is seen as normal, and another is not. So the tragic death of a woman, and the loss of homes for dozens more, is reduced to a sensationalist punchline because Vodou happened to be involved.
Pagan Community Notes is a companion to my usual Pagan News of Note, a series more focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. I want to reinforce the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So lets get started!
Counting Pagans in the UK: In one month, the 2011 British census will begin. As in 2001 citizens of England and Wales will be able to mark what their religious affiliation is, a change in procedure that saw minority religions gain significant attention. For the first time, Britain was counting its Pagan citizens, and around 40,000 individuals labeled themselves as Pagans, Wiccans, or Druids (making them the 7th largest faith grouping in the UK). However, many Pagans, and the scholars who study them, believe that number is far higher (Ronald Hutton, for example, thinks there are around 250,000 Pagans, circa 2001, equivalent to the Hindu population). So this year a consortium of Pagan organizations are pushing the PaganDASH (Facebook) campaign to encourage all British Pagans to fill out the census, and to do so in a uniform manner.
“The ONS wants to count us. They have a ‘mandate of inclusion’ which means they are looking for ways to include us in their figures. Looking at the raw data that was provided last time to us gave us some startling insights. However, as mentioned, by just writing Pagan on your form, we lose the data for various paths, and our diversity — but there is a simple solution — one that’s worked elsewhere. In Australia in 2001 there were 10,000 Pagans in the census. Just 5 years later, with this initiative, their numbers are being counted as nearer 70,000. So if we can do the same here, and get more accurate numbers it will go a long way to getting the recognition we have fought for, and deserve.”
So a Wiccan would write in “Pagan - Wiccan”, a Druid “Pagan - Druid”, and so forth. This initiative is already gaining some press, and as The Druid Network points out, could result in better representation in government. This is an excellent opportunity to chart the growth of modern Paganism in the UK (one we don’t have in the United States), and I hope British Pagans of all stripes support this initiative.
“In fact, the ‘Con is not fully aware of how many children attend, as they are not formally registered if they are under 12. But parents attending PantheaCon agree- there are tens of dozens of children in attendance, and more come every year. Yet there is no formal “track” for children to attend, no formal childcare arrangements, and most events in the schedule are not kid-friendly.”
As our movement grows, and becomes increasingly multi-generational, issues of how we treat our youngest, and oldest, members will become increasingly pressing. We are at a point now where organizers are straining under the weight of continual growth and popularity, yet we often lack the infrastructure and capital to expand as much as we need to. How we deal with issues like child care, and the inclusion of younger Pagans, can have far-reaching ramifications in our future. Stay tuned to PNC-Bay Area for the next installment of this series where they’ll discuss family-oriented programming at PantheaCon.
Pagan Leadership Panel: One of the panels I participated in at this year’s PantheaCon, led by Modern Witch Podcast host Devin Hunter, was on Pagan leadership in the 21st century. On the panel was Hyperion of The Unnamed Path, Ms. Rabbit Matthews of CAYA, and myself. Devin has uploaded the video he took to Youtube, and is up now in seven parts.
You can find the other six parts, here. I think some very important topics were touched on, and I’m thankful that Devin was able to record his panel and share it with the world.
PNC-Washington DC/Capital Witch will be posting photos later with exclusive interview footage of the CHS faculty and student graduates. So please stay tuned to that site for further updates, and congratulations to the six Cherry Hill Seminary graduates! To find out more about CHS’s educational offerings, please check out the web site.
“People of a mixed back ground often find Hoodoo resonates with them because it calls to part of their cultural back ground. It is a very vital, very American form of magic. I love it, I was born Jewish, and then joined the Baptist church and now am a spiritualist. I have always felt at home in Hoodoo. I would say that since the dawn of the internet age, there is more white people practicing it, but there always were. It has never been something that was exclusively Black, although black cultural nationalists have claimed so.”
For anyone who has shopped at a hoodoo store, and loved it, this article and interview should bring back many pleasant memories.
“The debate continued. No one won, as-such, but winning wasn’t the point. Though I’m not unbiased in this matter, I doubt anyone would disagree that, at the end, the Dianic elders present were affected by the experience. I believe them when they said that they had no wish to harm transsexual and transgendered women, but they remained firm. Wendy Griffin, toward the end, got quite upset, stating that the issue is effectively one of religious freedom, and that what was being proposed effectively would prevent her from engaging in her religion. Ruth Barrett, who I must admit showed astonishing strength in retaining composure throughout the event — for her, the issue was that she wanted to continue to run events at Pantheacon, but that a non-discrimination policy would effectively mean that she could not continue to do so.”
This is a very large issue, and this link will just be the beginning of my own exploration. In the weeks to come the Bay Area PNC bureau will be posting a report, and I will be following up with my own here at The Wild Hunt. I’m hoping to include interviews with individuals on both sides of this discussion, and hopefully spark a wider discussion regarding gender identity within modern Paganism.
“For people raised and programmed on the patriarchal religions of today, religions that affect even the most secular aspects of our society, perhaps there remains a lingering, almost innate memory of sacred shrines and temples tended by priestesses who served in the religion of the original supreme deity. In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven. At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?” – Merlin Stone, “When God Was A Woman”
Word has come to us that sculptor and art historian Merlin Stone passed away this week after a prolonged illness. Stone is perhaps best know for her groundbreaking 1976 book “When God Was A Woman”, a work that was very influential on feminist theology, and, as the book’s blurb puts it, “made the concept of a female deity accessible.”
While Stone and other Goddess-oriented writers of her time eventually came under increased scrutiny for some of their historical assertions, her work became a touchstone that paved the way for many to embrace Goddess religion, modern Paganism, or to simply broaden their own conceptions of deity.
“I think we should have a huge global memorial to Merlin. She was the first one who gave us back our historical heritage as women. Her research was diligent, “When God was a Woman” changed my life.” - Zsuzsanna Budapest
“As a Woman of the Goddess, and Devotee of Higher Learning, Merlin Stone’s work sparked a Depth of Integrity that spoke volumes of a Rich, untapped goldmine of Herstorical perspectives within Conventional University environments early on in my studies; her work marked a trail-blazing path toward a place where intellect and mysticism found a comfortable home within the *Thea* logical Realms of Scholarly imagination.” – Rosmarinus Stehlik
“It was a revelation to me, the idea that the Bible still contained the remnants of the goddess. I felt that cool water was rushing over me. For the first time in my life, I felt that there was an open door for me to approach a “god” who looked like me, whose accessibility wasn’t confined to the men in the congregation. [...] Thanks, Merlin Stone, for breaking me out of my American Christian blinders.” – Anonymous respondent, The Daily Dish, December, 2010
My condolences go out to Merlin Stone’s friends and family, may she rest in the arms of the Goddess.
For a short period today this site was down, the account suspended by our hosts at A Small Orange. The suspension wasn’t because I had done anything wrong, or because ASO (or anyone else) had nefarious intentions, but because The Wild Hunt is just getting too large to operate comfortably on the shared server hosting model most smaller sites run on. The ever-growing stream of traffic triggered an automatic shut-down so that we wouldn’t also bring several other sites down. I was lucky, because someone inside A Small Orange (Jen, who used to run Drak.net) called me personally, helped get the site back up, and suggested options to help keep it up.
Unfortunately, those options aren’t cheap. The Wild Hunt is now at a point where dedicated server space is needed to avoid future shut-downs. That means a very substantial chunk of change had to leave my reserves today, about triple what I normally pay per year to host this site. That cost may inflate if the account level I’m moving to isn’t sufficient. I have no qualms about doing this, I think what I do here is important, and from the conversations I have with individuals at festivals and conventions, so do many of you. However, it does raise questions about support and sustainability, and I’d like to briefly discuss them with you.
The Wild Hunt isn’t the first web site to run into these issues, several years ago The Witches’ Voice ran into very similar problems and luckily found the community ready to step up, producing waves of sponsors that keep things running to this day. What my experience today taught me is that The Wild Hunt is at the cusp of a wave of Pagan media that will soon get large enough to need support beyond what their personal incomes can provide. It is part of the reason why I started a yearly pledge drive, to build an infrastructure of support that can grow into a model other sites and services can someday emulate. Though this process is just beginning, I’m encouraged that so many of you are willing to fiscally support Pagan media services, and I’m given great hope that we can collectively build a new media foundation that endures.
The money donated to The Wild Hunt not only pays for this site, it also helps defray costs when I travel to events like PantheaCon (which will be generating several stories for this site), and makes my life dedicated to Pagan journalism somewhat sustainable. However, as costs rise, so will support if I’m going to keep The Wild Hunt open, ad-free, and independent. So If you missed out on donating during the Winter Pledge Drive, or would like to chip in towards my new hosting bill, now’s the time.
You can either make a one-time donation:
Or commit to making a small monthly donation:
In addition, if you are a part of a Pagan organization, and would like to become an underwriter of this site, joining groups like CUUPs, Solar Cross, The Brotherhood of the Phoenix, and others, please contact me for details.
As much as the events of this day have been surprising, the silver lining to it is that it was caused by a Pagan news site experiencing ongoing growth and success. That in of itself points to a bright future. I hope you’ll join me in helping to build one that’s sustainable.
Former Arkansas governor and 2012 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee found himself in hot water this week after he called Islam the “antithesis of the gospel of Christ” and said that churches that share worship space with Muslims are caving to a religion “that says that Jesus Christ and all the people that follow him are a bunch of infidels who should be essentially obliterated.”
In an analysis of how Islam may shape campaign politics, Politico’s Bryon Tau wrote: “As Republican candidates define their national security stands in the 2012 elections, conservative discomfort with Islam in America will be a feature of the debate.”
Should Islam be debated on the campaign trail? Are religious issues in danger of being exploited?
My modest proposal: if we cannot leave religion off the stump, cannot resist hobnobbing at the pulpit, and glad-handing at the megachurch, then let us at least expand the parameters. How wonderful would it be if inherently pluralistic faith groupings like Hinduism, Buddhism, or modern Paganism were also allowed to ask questions on the same national podium that Christians now claim as their own? What if we allowed indigenous voices to ask moral questions of our prospective leaders instead of ceding that honor to the Rick Warrens of this world? If Muslims are to be so central to some political careers, to electoral futures, why not have each of these men of power sit down with a panel of Muslim leaders and academics to discuss their views? For surely, if a belief cannot withstand honest and open questioning, then it is worthless as guiding political policy.
“The Unnamed Path, The Amethyst Pentacle, Ekklesia Antinuou, The Circle of Dionysos: in the past several years a flurry of pagan groups and practices specifically geared to the LBGT community have emerged and caught the attention of the larger pagan community. Why is this happening? What are the similarities and differences between the various paths? What value does this work have for not only GLBTQ pagans, but also for the larger pagan community? Join Hyperion, Storm Faerywolf, DK Cowan, and P. Sufenas Virius Lupus for a round table discussion of these and other topics related to second wave gay paganism.”
You can download the panel discussion, here. Gay Pagan organizations like the ones listed above, or the Brotherhood of the Phoenix in Chicago, have really come into their own in the last decade. Gay Pagans have gone from being a somewhat isolated fringe in the 1970s, to a vibrant and integral part of who we are today. I’m heartened to see growing communication and acknowledgement around this phenomenon.
Currrently, Bowen is studying Baha’i before moving on to Zoroastrianism in March. In October he’s “converting” to Wicca, and will be exploring “fringe” religions in June (whatever that means). He’s noted that he already has a teacher/guide for his Wiccan month (though he doesn’t reveal who it is). Bowen asserts that he’ll always remain “spiritually promiscuous,” but one has to wonder how he’ll feel after he’s immersed himself in both monotheistic and polytheistic faiths. Will it change the way he views the world? The way he views the dominant monotheisms? No doubt he’ll be experiencing the “best face” of each tradition, but there are significant differences.
“A new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that Tea Party supporters tend to have conservative opinions not just about economic matters, but also about social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In addition, they are much more likely than registered voters as a whole to say that their religion is the most important factor in determining their opinions on these social issues. And they draw disproportionate support from the ranks of white evangelical Protestants.”
This significant overlap between the populist Tea Party and socially conservative Christianity has been seen in several nationally elected politicians who received endorsement from Tea Party groups (Rand Paul, for instance). Indeed, some have described the Tea Party phenomenon as a second wind for Christian conservative candidates. The question going forward is will the Tea Party organizations see their fiscal stances become married to a social agenda as well. If so will it create an unhealable rift between factions? How will this affect fiscally conservative Pagans who have found a home in the Tea Party? Especially when an unspoken position of many social conservatives is an animus towards non-Christian faiths.
