Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

October 8, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 58 Comments

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

Filed Under: Paganism, Religion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 58 Comments

The Cross is (Still) Secular (Except When it Isn’t)

January 6, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 40 Comments

I continue to be amazed at the argument that the Christian cross, the primary symbol of Christianity across the globe, can also be a “secular” symbol that “honors” dead people who aren’t Christian. It seems so clear-cut an issue to anyone who isn’t Christian. Yet, seemingly learned Supreme Court judges have made hair-splitting arguments to this effect, discussing context and “message” of various monuments erected for the dead. Recently, another high-profile cross monument, the now-infamous Mt. Soledad cross, was unanimously ruled unconstitutional by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“In no way is this decision meant to undermine the importance of honoring our veterans,” the three judges said in their ruling. “Indeed, there are countless ways that we can and should honor them, but without the imprimatur of state-endorsed religion.”

Turns out the context, history, and message of this particular cross wasn’t so secular.

Michael Aguirre, a former San Diego city attorney who has followed the case closely, said cross supporters will have to counter the court’s analysis that the cross was used historically to promote Christianity. The ruling recounts that the cross was dedicated on Easter Sunday and used for religious gatherings for nearly three decades before it became a war memorial. It said La Jolla has a “well-documented history” of anti-Semitism from the 1920s to around 1970. “This cross marks La Jolla as a Christian community, that’s basically what (the judges are) saying,” said Aguirre, who is now in private practice. “It was a cross for decades in a community with a history of anti-Semitism.”

You’d think that this would be the end of the story, but it isn’t. The case will no doubt be appealed to the Supreme Court, and the court has left wriggle-room for the “modification” of the monument, meaning the cross stays up. Religion reporter Joshunda Sanders notes that it isn’t the only unconstitutional cross that is still standing. The Utah “secular symbols of death,” erected in memorial to fallen highway patrol officers, and ruled unconstitutional this past Summer, are still standing.

“A Denver appeals court has stayed an order that would remove 14 memorial crosses from Utah’s highways intended to honor fallen officers and encourage safe driving. The ruling gives the Utah attorneys general’s office 90 days to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the 12-foot-high memorials are unconstitutional.”

So now the fate of these unconstitutional crosses will most likely lay in the hands of the Supreme Court, and after the Mojave Desert cross ruling last year, which opened the door to the “secular cross” argument, many are worried the lines of separation concerning government-endorsed religion will be further blurred.

“…for Christians to celebrate this decision requires a will to allow the government to reject the distinct religious value the cross has traditionally held in Christianity.”

These events will not doubt embolden Christian groups to erect further “secular” crosses in hopes of sparking more legal decisions to establish a “secular cross” legal precedent. But the more Christian groups try to bend the law in their favor, in an attempt to return to a mythical pre-secular era of Christian dominance,  the more they make it possible for other faiths to eventually benefit from their labors. I somehow doubt these cross secularizers are going to stand in our corner when someone tries to erect a Wiccan or Asatru war dead memorial. Nor would anyone try to argue for a “secular” Jewish star of David, or “secular” Muslim crescent (particularly not the latter in our current climate). We’ll all have to wait and see what SCOTUS does, and how it will shape the religious landscape of this country.

Filed Under: Religion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 40 Comments

No Secular Christian Crosses in Utah

August 19, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 3 Comments

Is the Christian Cross a “secular symbol of death”? That was the assertion of U.S. District Judge David Sam back in 2007 regarding a series of metal crosses along the Utah highway to honor state highway patrol officers who died in the line of duty. This ruling was appealed in 2008, with support from Americans United, the Hindu American Foundation, The Interfaith Alliance, the Union for Reform Judaism, and others. Officials contended that since the cross is secular, not religious, it would being used regardless of the personal religious persuasion of the fallen officer. So atheist, Mormon, Pagan, Jewish or Hindu cops would all get the giant “non-religious” cross as a memorial. However, yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that these crosses were not “secular” and were in fact, as they have always been, symbols of the Christian faith.

“We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion,” concluded the Denver, Colorado-based court. The state of Utah and a private trooper association have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not a secular symbol of death.

Not a secular symbol of death.

This ruling is the latest salvo in the ongoing battles over whether a Christian cross on public lands can ever be secular in orientation. The Supreme Court of the United States recently decided that in certain instances, specifically a eight-foot Christian cross WWI memorial situated on public lands in California’s Mojave National Preserve, it could.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, spoke in broad terms. Although the cross is “a Christian symbol,” said Kennedy, it was not placed on sunrise rock in the Mojave Desert to send “a Christian message.” Nor was it placed there to put a government “imprimatur on a particular creed.”

I’ve long argued that neither tradition, popularity, or ubiquity fully erases a religious symbol’s sectarian nature.

“The idea that the cross is “secular” ties into the larger notion that Christian religious expression and tradition, due to its size and ubiquity, is “normal” and ultimately beneficial. The corollary is that non-Christian religious expressions or traditions are “abnormal” and considered suspect. But popularity and tradition doesn’t remove religious context from a religious symbol, instead it subtly reinforces that faith’s dominance and “right” to utter ubiquity. If the cross was truly secular, we wouldn’t have over 40 different emblems of belief for military markers and headstones, nor would minority religions fight to have their own symbols added to that list.

There is no “secular symbol of death”, any more than there is a “secular symbol of life”, because a truly secular culture allows groups and individuals to choose and adapt their own symbols and instill them with meaning. When governments and judges start telling us which religious symbols are “secular”, we enter into a hierarchy of signs, where the faith(s) with the strongest cultural hold gains official sanction in all but name. Undermining the idea that government should make no law“respecting an establishment of religion”.”

More simply, you do not honor a Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, or Pagan by erecting a Christian cross in their name, any more than erecting a giant pentacle would honor a fallen Christian.

“The mere fact that the cross is a common symbol used in roadside memorials does not mean it is a secular symbol,” said the panel. “The massive size of the crosses displayed on Utah’s rights-of-way and public property unmistakably conveys a message of endorsement, proselytization, and aggrandizement of religion that is far different from the more humble spirit of small roadside crosses.”

The state of Utah and the Utah Highway Patrol Association are expected to appeal, so we may see how far SCOTUS is willing to go regarding the issue of “secular” crosses on public lands. Considering the fact that Justice Scalia thinks it’s “outrageous” to think that a Christian cross only honors Christian dead, we may see further advancements in efforts to secularize this religious symbol (no matter what the long-term ramifications of that may be).

Filed Under: Religion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Pagans in the (UK) Military and other Pagan News of Note

June 7, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 3 Comments

Top Story: The British tabloids, hungry for some controversy, decided to ask the Ministry of Defense for the religious breakdown of active military personnel. They discovered that 100 voluntarily list themselves as Pagan, and another 30 list themselves to be Witches.

“As fighters they are capable of crushing an enemy with terrifying might. But when some members of Britain’s Armed Forces take off their uniforms, they like nothing more than casting spells and taking part in midnight rituals. Around 100 UK service personnel – some taking part in the war on terror – class themselves as pagans. Another 30 are witches, according to figures. The intriguing details about the beliefs of soldiers, sailors and airmen were obtained from the Ministry of Defence using the Freedom of Information Act.”

The problem with there only being 130 “out” Pagans in the British Armed Forces is that it isn’t a very salacious headline. That’s hardly Pagans taking over, especially when they are forced to admit that the “overwhelming majority of servicemen and women record themselves as being Christian”. To try to salvage something they get a local Pagan to speculate that there may be far more Pagans in the military who are in the “broom closet”.

“Phil Ryder, chair of the British Druid Network, said there were in fact far more pagans than the figures suggested. He said: “They tend not to publicise their beliefs for fear of discrimination. In some areas it’s seen as odd. Although the Army doesn’t like people to join secret groups there’s no reason why being a druid or a witch should affect someone’s ability to perform on the front line. “Druidry, in particular, is quite open.” A spokesman for the MoD said that members of the armed forces were free to worship whoever they like, provided it did not interfere with their work.”

Still, it’s not exactly the “ring the alarm” sort of headline these culturally conservative rags were hoping for. This was obviously intended to build on the recent media hype over the Pagan Police Association gaining official recognition as aDiversity Staff Support Association, but it looks like the Freedom of Information Act request didn’t come through for them. Still, they did provide some interesting data, and Phil Ryder is most likely correct that there are more than 130 British Armed Forces personnel, maybe some serious British news organizations will decide to explore the issue now that it’s been brought up by the tabloids.

Speaking of Pagans and British Tabloids: If Pagans in the military won’t titillate or enrage their readership, maybe English footballer Ashley Cole dating an ex-lapdancer and “white witch” will.

“The woman linked to Ashley Cole over the weekend is a former ex-lapdancer who claims to be ‘part white witch’. Mother-of-one Sarah Purnell, 23, says she can cast spells to tame her men and even claims to have reunited a friend with her ex-boyfriend simply by taking a lock of his hair … As of yet it is unclear whether she has told Ashley of her secret life as a white witch, a female who casts good spells, or whether she used her ‘powers’ to snare the footballer.”

Now we’re talking! This one has lit up the gossip pages and tabloids. It’s got it all, sex, witchcraft, (ex) strippers, and football (a topic far more likely to inflame British passions than Druids in the military). They can only hope the fling lasts, or at least lasts long enough to sell a lot of papers.

The Return of the Hippy Witch: The Irish Times puts the spotlight on Alison O’Donnell, singer of the cult folk-rock band Mellow Candle, and how her work has influenced a new generation of singers and songwriters.

“Fast forward 30-plus years and O’Donnell is still around, still making music. Since returning to Ireland some years ago from the UK and raising a daughter, and a period of time spent in Flanders, she has slowly re-emerged as a leading, if somewhat heretofore unheralded, light of the psych-folk movement. She can (and does) thank Mellow Candle for the recognition factor. Over the past few decades, the band has grown in cult status. The likes of psych-folk leaders Devendra Banhart and Espers have cottoned on to the scant Mellow Candle back catalogue, while O’Donnell herself has (and will be) collaborating with the likes of Espers’ Greg Weeks, low-key UK psych-folk act, The Owl Service, Celtic folk/metal act, Moonroot, Winnipeg-based psych-folk band, Mr Pine, and Ireland’s experimental unit, United Bible Studies.”

O’Donnell has released a new solo album entitled “Hey Hey Hippy Witch” that should be a treat for lovers of classic folk-rock in the vein of Fairport, Trees, or Mellow Candle. You may also want to check out The Owl Service, Moonroot, and Espers as well.

Why Are We Saving Christian Crosses But Not Buddhist Stupas? Buddhists are protesting the planned destruction of a Tibetan Buddhist Stupa in New Mexico after the National Park Service seized the (formerly private) land using the power of eminent domain.

“The question has to be raised, is there an attempt to establish a de facto ‘official’ religion in the United States, as demonstrated by the actions of several govermental agencies the over the past 5 years? Ken Salazar, the Secretary for the Department of the Interior, which runs the National Park Service, has been eerily quiet about these actions, as has the Obama administration. Unquestionably, the volunteer caretakers of the Stupa have been more than willing to work with the NPS to preserve the Buddhist symbol within the confines of its amphitheater plans, however, any attempts to open dialogue have been met with no success. One of the ongoing advertising campaigns of the NPS has been “Get Involved!”; I suppose they only wish those to get involved if they are indeed Christian.”

Considering the eerie similarities between this case and the WWI Christian cross memorial that was ruled “secular” by the Supreme Court, will it too be spared? Or will the defenders the “secular” cross now fall silent? For more Pagan exploration of this issue, see this recent post at Pagan+Politics. I’ll be reporting more on this issue in the future, so stay tuned.

Is Dan Halloran Abusing His Power? The NY Politics Examiner has accused conservative New York City Councilman, and out Theodsman, Dan Halloran of abusing the power of his office by using a City Council parking permit and license plate to ignore parking laws.

“In the neighborhood known to be impossible to find a legal parking space on the street, Halloran’s white Jaguar with a city parking permit on the dashboard and “NYC COUNCIL 19″ on his license plate is parked right next to a sign that clearly reads “NO STANDING HOTEL LOADING ZONE” in front of the entrance to the Sheraton New York Towers.  The placard and plate do not make it legal for Halloran to park there, but most police officers and traffic agents will leave such a car alone.  As of publication Halloran’s car had not been ticketed and towed … Halloran could not immediately be located for comment, but examiner.com will keep trying and update with whatever answer he gives us as to why while everyone is else is spending an arm and a leg on the hotel parking lot, he saw fit to violate the very laws he helps write.”

What do you think? Serious ethical breach, or tempest in a tea (party)-pot?

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

Filed Under: Paganism, Religion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
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