HuffPost Tackles Religion and other Pagan News of Note

February 25, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 15 Comments

Top Story: While traditional media outlets continue to cut back on their coverage of religion, there’s been a slow expansion on the Internet. Beliefnet, one of the first Internet religion-news hubs, continues to reign supreme in terms of size and traffic, but it’s starting to see some competition from sites like Patheos and the Newsweek/Washington Post-supported On Faith. Now, another new-media contender is entering the God(s)-beat, as the left-leaning Huffington Post launches a religion section.

Site founder Arianna Huffington explains:

“Like all our sections, HuffPost Religion will bring you the latest news — in this case about all things religion-related — served up in the HuffPost style. It will also be home to an open and fearless dialogue about all the ways religion affects both our personal and our public lives. And it will do so in a way that moves beyond the pigeonhole depictions of both the faithful and the agnostic we see so frequently — and also beyond the tired assumption that God is a card-carrying member of one political party or another.

HuffPost Religion is being edited by Paul Raushenbush, an Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University and an ordained Baptist minister. As a passionate and brilliant religious thinker, pastor, writer and college dean, Paul is ideally suited to the challenge of presenting multiple viewpoints and insights, as well as the real-world implications of religion for American life.”

Some of the big-name contributors include Jim Wallis, Deepak Chopra, Sister Joan Chittister, and Eboo Patel. But will HuffPost Religion cover modern Paganism? I’ve received some initial signs from folks working there that they are looking to add Pagan voices to the section, so we’ll see how things play out in the weeks ahead. Patheos, Beliefnet, and On Faith all now include a Pagan perspective (to varying degrees), so I can’t imagine HuffPost Religion will be far behind (especially since they have Pagans writing for them in other sections). I’ll keep you posted on developments.

In Other News:

An Earth-Based Discussion: Thorn Coyle has posted the audio from a panel discussion she led at this year’s Pantheacon on the question: “Earth-Based: Are We Really?”

“Organized by T. Thorn Coyle, this panel features Weiser authors T. Thorn Coyle, Diana Paxson, Zee Budapest, Orion Foxwood, and Lon Milo DuQuette. Discussion spans our definitions of ourselves as Earth- based, Nature-Based, Cosmos-based, etc. and addresses some of the problems of our times as well as positive media influences such as the movie Avatar.”

I briefly covered (and live-tweeted) this panel in my Pantheacon coverage, so I’m glad to see the audio for it released. While the panel didn’t really dig too deep into the question of how “earth-based” modern Pagan traditions really are, there were some fascinating and insightful things said and discussed, and I highly recommend checking it out.

The Fake Child Sacrifices: Earlier this year I noted the story of Ugandan anti-human-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela, who claimed to have personally killed several children, including his own son. At the time I was deeply skeptical of his claims, seeing them as a strong echo of similar stories peddled by various ex-Satanists and Witches in America. Nor was I the only one to wonder if Angela was fabricating the story, and if he wasn’t, why he wasn’t in custody for his crimes. Now the house of cards has come tumbling down, as he’s been arrested for lying to a public officer.

“He allegedly repeated his claims to a Ugandan police officer and has been charged with “giving false information to a public officer”. He denied the charges and was remanded in custody in Lira Central Prison. Police officer Godwin Tumugumye, an officer at Lira Police Station, said BBC correspondent Tim Whewell is also wanted by the police over the case, reports Uganda’s New Vision newspaper.”

In another report, it’s come out that Angela was paid 200,000 Uganda shillings to play up child sacrifice, and has now confessed to lying.  If only we could do the same to some of the professional “ex”-workers in America. As I said in my initial post on this story, it isn’t that I don’t believe children aren’t being abducted, abused, and killed in several African nations. There’s of plenty of evidence for that. I also acknowledge that some witch-doctors are indeed killing and mutilating certain children for various reasons. But the lurid portrait painted by the BBC, with help from Mr. Angela, raised many of my old “Satanic Panic” red flags (most notably the idea of a centralized sacrifice industry/conspiracy). I’m glad that the truth has come to light in this story.

Max Beauvoir Declares War: After Tuesday’s incident in Haiti, where a mob of Christians drove off a small group of Vodouisants performing a ceremony for the dead, Vodou leader Max Beauvoir says it’s war.

“It will be war, open war,” Max Beauvoir, supreme head of Haitian voodoo, said at his home and temple outside the capital. “It’s unfortunate that at this moment where everybody’s suffering that they have to go to war. But if that is what they need, I think that is what they’ll get.”

You can see a photo essay of the inciting incident, here (thanks to Jennifer for the link). Since the clash of religions, Haitian officials have ensured that Vodou practitioners will be able to perform ceremonies at Cité Soleil in the future, but that seems cold comfort to those who were driven away with stones. However, not everyone in Haiti is seeing a religious war in the future, Mambos Elsie Théanou Joseph and Silviana Désir are busy working to feed and shelter the homeless, while Catholic priest Rev. Frantz-Michel Grandoit sees a new unity developing between Christians and Vodouisants.

“Humanity doesn’t want us to be separated,” said the Rev. Frantz-Michel Grandoit, a Catholic priest. Grandoit has planned several interfaith prayer vigils with Voodoo priests, including a three-day national prayer for rebuilding, held earlier this month and sponsored by the Global Network of Religions for Children, an international nongovernmental organization. In a ceremony at the Croix-des-Bouquets temple earlier this month, priestesses and parishioners knelt at the base of a tree trunk, lighted candles and solemnly chanted prayers for the earthquake’s victims and for the future of their country. “Hold Haiti’s sweet hand!” they sang as they threw water on the tree trunk and conjured up what is known as the Veve, a mystical symbol embodying the Voodoo deities. “Save us! Give us grace and deliverance!”

So while Max Beauvoir is an important voice right now in post-earthquake Haiti, we must remember, despite his claims, that Vodou has no “supreme chief” that all Vodouisants, Mambos, and Houngans bow before. Beauvoir leads a faction, a group of practitioners who have acknowledged him as their leader, and is not a Vodou “pope”. Reporters must move beyond Beauvoir, and talk to many practitioners from different areas to get a fuller picture of religious interactions in Haiti. To be sure there are those how want a religious war, but I would say there are also many who want a sense of national unity to trump theological differences at this critical stage.

The UK Reburial Issue: The BBC tackles the issue of reburying “pagan” remains, and interviews Druid priestess Emma Restall Orr, and representatives from Honouring the Ancient Dead, about the connection some modern Pagans feel to their pre-Christian ancestors.

“Pagan groups are increasingly asking for human remains and grave goods from pre-Christian burials to be returned to the ground, and their voices are being taken increasingly seriously in the museum world.”

As I’ve said before on this site, there is no consensus among British Pagans on this issue, with many, most notably Pagans for Archeology, opposed to the reburial of ancient human remains. It would have been nice for the BBC to get more perspectives on this, rather than simply portraying HAD and Orr as representative of Pagan stances on this issue.

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

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Some Friday Night (Pagan News) Notes

November 13, 2009 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 3 Comments

A have a few items that just can’t wait till Saturday! Starting with a rather awful editorial from The Chicago Tribune’s “The Seeker” blog that seemingly equates tolerance towards Pagan soldiers within the military with a look-the-other-way atmosphere that led to the horrendous Fort Hood murders.

“Fast forward to 1999, when an Austin, Texas newspaper published photos of a Wiccan ceremony at Fort Hood. Theologically conservative Christian clergy joined with indignant Congressmen to protest the Army’s acceptance of Wiccan practice. As reported in Hannah Rosin’s contemporaneous account for The Washington Post, these clergy threatened to disrupt the protests, going so far as to call on Christians not to enlist or reenlist in any branch of the military until Wicca was banned from military posts. But the Army brushed off the threatened protests. Again, according to the Washington Post article, Fort Hood spokesman Lt. Col. Ben Santos said at the time that as long as a religious minority does not interfere with discipline, the military will help it find an off-base leader and a place to practice its beliefs … in light of the fact that the Army and various government agencies appear to have disregarded warning signs about the shooter’s contact with religious radicals who have since praised his murders, a tragic irony bubbles to the surface: might the emphasis on religious inclusion and interfaith acceptance have allowed the sinister to walk, undaunted, disguised as the spiritual?”

It is hard to tell what, exactly, author Tom Levinson is suggesting. That the military should be less accommodating to religious minorities? That only certain faiths should be allowed or tolerated? That their fair treatment towards Pagan soldiers inevitably led to these shootings by a disturbed Major Nidal Malik Hasan? Frankly, using the story of the Fort Hood Pagans in conveying his “tragic irony” is insulting to the Pagan men and women who serve, and have served, in the military. Already several Pagans and Pagan vets have spoken out against Levinson’s badly-thought-out piece with more, no doubt, to come.

The James Arthur Ray sweat-lodge death saga continues to have repercussions. While the police investigation is still ongoing, the Lakota Nation has filed a lawsuit against Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center for fraud and the “desecration of our Sacred Oinikiga by causing the death of Liz Neuman, Kirby Brown and James Shore”.

“In the aftermath of the tragedy at Angel Valley Retreat Center, where an incompetently conducted “sweat lodge” held by Californian self-help guru James Arthur Ray killed three participants, political steps are being taken by several native people across the United States. While local Indians from Arizona are forming a Council for Indigenous Traditional Healing to reclaim native ceremonies, the Lakota tribe of North and South Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the United States, the state of Arizona, James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.”

This issue seems to have truly galvanized some tribal nations and activists, leading to actions that could have long-standing repercussions in the often tense relations between Native peoples and New Age communities. Meanwhile the daughter of one of the victims wants Ray behind bars and is filing a wrongful death lawsuit. So it looks like only a matter of time before Ray is brought before a judge. Hopefully before his next “spiritual warrior” retreat, scheduled for September 18-23rd.

In a final note, blogger Rob Taylor has alerted me to a group of anti-pedophile activists who have allegedly uncovered the identity of a Wiccan man who brags of his sexual involvement with children and until recently was advertising for a coven on Witchvox.

“He is Wiccan and participates in and goes to Wiccan festivals in which he likes to view children running around naked.”

It seems Witchvox (or the person in question) may have removed the listings since word went out at the beginning of November, as they are now gone. Sadly, there isn’t a picture, or further outside confirmation, so we have no way of telling who exactly this man is at public gatherings (as he could no doubt use a variety of aliases if he wanted). I was planning use this information within the context of a longer investigation of predators within the Pagan community, but I felt it was important to pass this information along now if it could potentially help parents and children be safer at gatherings. As always, be careful, do your own research, and leave law enforcement to law enforcement officials.

That’s all I have for now, have a good night, see you tomorrow.

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Racism, Odinism, and Custody Battles

June 11, 2008 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 13 Comments

The Winnipeg Free Press reports on a woman working to get custody of her two children back after her daughter arrived at school with a swastika drawn on her arm. The woman, an Odinist, claims to be “tolerant of all people” despite the fact that she is married to an admitted white supremacist, and admits to being a “white nationalist” who wears swastika-etched jewelry*.

“The day her seven-year-old daughter went to school in March with a swastika drawn on her arm, her mother said she tried to wash it off with nail polish remover but the marking stayed put. Her daughter forgot her sweater a mother gave her to cover her arm. When her mother arrived to collect her child from school, police were waiting for her. “The only thing that matters to me is my children. It’s not about politics, it’s not about anything else… it’s about what’s best for them … I’ve never forced my beliefs on my children.” The woman’s seven-year-old daughter and two-year-old son were seized by Manitoba Child and Family Services this spring due to concerns their father — an admitted white supremacist — was filling their minds with hate and marking one child’s body with racist graffiti. The children are now staying with relatives..”

One could reasonably argue that if her children have “pro-Hitler” markings on their bodies then she has done a poor job of “not forcing” the beliefs of the parents onto the children. Further, while the lines between being a merely “folkish” Germanic Heathen, and being a racist white supremacist Odinist may seem blurry and vague to some unfamiliar to the religious culture, it seems rather obvious that a line was crossed from mere Eurocentricity into neo-Nazi gutter-philosophy. Harboring a stay-at-home husband who she classifies as “flamboyantly bigoted”, and allowing Nazi-related markings to be made on her children (self-directed or not), speaks of a fundamental failure to insulate her children from toxic racism.

Now split from her husband after reading the Child and Family Service reports, the woman still entertains notions that the pro-Hitler markings were entirely self-directed, and refuses to admit any failings as a parent.

“The mother, who refused to comment on where the swastika marking came from, suggested her daughter may be responsible for other pro-Hitler markings CFS said they found on her body. “It’s entirely possible she could have drawn it on herself,” she said”

In this case, the references to “Odinism” by the mother and the press seem to be a red herring. This isn’t about religious discrimination, this is about her children being raised by a toxic racist with a criminal record who either drew or encouraged the children to draw pro-Hitler markings on their bodies. Removing them from his presence and placing them with relatives seems prudent. What do you think? Where is the line between intellectual freedom and abusive indoctrination drawn? What would you have done if you were CFS official responding to a concerned teacher’s report?

* I realize that there are some who want to reclaim the swastika from its racist/fascist connotations, but you can’t un-ring a bell. So long as the memory of Hitler, and idiots who seek to glorify him, persist, the immediate connotations of the symbol will be with racism and fascism.

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Update: Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges

December 3, 2007 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 2 Comments

A year ago I blogged about a legal battle involving the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) chapter in Melbourne, Australia and a paper written by Dr Reina Michaelson, founder of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program. Michaelson had written a paper in which she implicated the O.T.O. as part of a Satanic child-abusing underground network. The O.T.O. took her to court and eventually reached a settlement in which Michaelson agreed to withdraw the paper and all false claims concerning the organization (check out the disclaimer at the bottom of this page).

“Phillips Fox ultimately succeeded in showing the document had no factual basis, with CSAPP and the original author being forced to formerly withdraw their allegations. Lovett said both PILCH and the client were very pleased with the settlement, arrived at in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, human rights division last week.”

But the troubles didn’t end here. The Michaelson paper, along with loads of conspiratorial rantings concerning the O.T.O. and child abuse made it onto the web site of Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine. The Melbourne O.T.O. took them to court as well, and in July a judge ordered them to take the material down. They refused, and contempt proceedings went forward.

“On 27 July 2007 Legg and Devine were found guilty of religious vilification and ordered to remove the offensive materials from their website. They failed to do this and contempt proceedings were initiated. To ensure their appearance before the Tribunal four police officers from Victoria travelled more than 1500 kilometres to New South Wales where Legg and Devine live, and brought them to Melbourne. Released on bail overnight with orders to appear the next day, they failed to take the opportunity provided by VCAT to comply with the Tribunal’s orders and on the morning of Wednesday 28 November 2007 Judge Harbison found that their contempt was deliberate. She sentenced Legg and Devine to nine months imprisonment with no minimum period.”

Both of these cases were heard under the Religious and Racial Tolerance Act of 2001, a somewhat controversial measure that outlaws “vilification” of religious (and racial) groups (it should be noted that Australian law concerning the concept of “Free Speech” is entirely different than in the U.S.). Most of the controversy of this new act lays within the definitions of “vilification” versus criticism or “telling the truth”. While this has tripped up previous high-profile cases brought under this act, in this case, the writings concerned show unrestrained vilification and outright fabricataions concerning a religious order.

“From everything that I have been told by Mick, the cult appears to be the Order Templis Orientus (Illuminati), operating in Australia … As a child Mick was forced to attend blood-rituals, where animals and small children were sacrificed and their blood and organs consumed. Mick was required to clean up the blood after these rituals. The children and babies were street children or were taken from orphanages, so that they could not be traced and no-one would know, or care, if they went missing. The rituals were spoken in Latin and were clearly satanic. The rituals took place at various locations, including Goldtown. Mick and other children would be driven to the rituals in the boots of cars.”

Though the American-hosted site remains up, this is a clear win for the O.T.O. in Australia. It remains to be seen if the site will ultimately be taken down (to avoid further jail time for contempt), or if Legg and Devine will try to set themselves up as martyrs in their cause. At the very least it has surely given pause to the practitioners of Satanic Panic, who routinely slander and vilify new religious movements as “fronts” for their imaginary baby-killing cults.

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