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.

• Since the incident last week where Mrs. B from Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom was attacked (and “prayed for”) by Christian mom-bloggers for performing too well in the “faith” category at Circle of Moms a wonderful thing has happened. First, several Christian mom-bloggers apologized for the behavior of their coreligionists, and thanks to a mobilized online Pagan community Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom is now in first place, and several other Pagan mom-blogs (The Pagan Mom Blog, Witch Mom, Hearth-n-Home, etc) are in the top 10. Congrats! Voting remains open till June 8th, so support Pagan moms!
• The “Pagan” label discussion/debate has started to slow down a bit, though my comments section is still quite active. That said, there are a couple new entries in the back-and-forth that I thought were worth mentioning. First, Phaedra Bonewits gives a somewhat historical perspective of debates within the Pagan community, and reiterates her late husband’s definitions of the term Pagan. Then, Matthew N. Hunt, admin of the Polytheism Fan Page on Facebook, argues that “different religions, different values, different world-views should be appreciated as just that.”
• The Warriors & Kin/Pagan Newswire Collective effort to “clip for the troops” is now officially underway. The chosen post/base for this effort will be US Army: Illesheim, Germany. On the subject of troop support, you may also want to check out PNC-Minnesota coverage of the Memorial Day gathering to honor fallen Pagan service members.
• For those looking for non-Pagan coverage of the Patrick McCollum Ninth Circuit ruling, here’s some links: Religion Clause, SF Weekly, Courthouse News Service, ABA Journal. More from me on this in the near-ish future.
• News of the Religious/Christian Right’s demise was apparently greatly exaggerated. Ralph Reed matters! The Faith and Freedom conference (now underway) is a who’s who of Republican presidential hopefuls. What does it say about a party where just about every serious candidate is willing to court a very distinct subset of Christian, one that largely denies religious minorities equal treatment. If we were truly a secular nation, it might just be a scandal. I guess conservative non-Christians are too small a group to get equal time. Meanwhile, the Republican wave of 2010 has brought with it a wave of social conservative anti-abortion legislation. What’s next on the social agenda once these states have hamstrung women’s right to a legal medical procedure?
• Thyrsos-Hellenes Ethnikoi in Greece invites everyone to celebrate the Summer Solstice with them. “At the dawn of the 21st of June, at the very moment when the first rays will be shown from the horizon, light up a Fire, a candle, a torch, whatever you may find possible and heading towards the Sun make a Salute to the Invictus God!” They’d also like you to send them photos of your salutation to the Sun.
• Nepal is currently working on a new law that would ban evangelism. If passed, it would prohibit conversion “by offering inducements or without inducement,” and preaching “a different religion or faith with any other intent.” Nepal’s Christian community has apparently been caught by surprise by this effort. While I’m sure there might be a knee-jerk impulse to applaud such a law, I’m troubled by its speech-prohibiting overreach. Patrick McCollum is actually in Nepal at the moment, and once the excitement over his California court case dies down a bit, I’d love to ask him his opinion on this.
• Did you know that June is the 3rd annual Pagan Values Blogging and Podcasting month? Well it is! I’m hoping to participate soon. In the meantime, do check out the many wonderful entries made so far. Facebook event listing, here.
• Did the urge to worship actually spark civilization? That seems to be the emerging theory from National Geographic, who are covering excavations at the Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.
• A bunch of dead goats are found in Tampa, Florida, but for once Santeria seems to not be blamed. “With 11 bodies, as opposed to one or two that you typically find in a Santeria type practice, it doesn’t lend itself to that type of situation, but we haven’t ruled it out,” says [Hillsborough Animal Services investigator Pam] Perry. Could law and animal enforcement agencies be acquiring some nuance in approaching dead animal remains? Lets hope so.

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.

I have some more post-earthquake Haitian Vodou coverage. First,  WBUR in Boston interviews a Haitian-American Vodou priest from New York about his faith, and explores how Vodou is helping survivors in Haiti cope with this massive tragedy.

“Erol Josue lost more than two dozen friends and extended family in Haiti’s devastating earthquake. The Voodoo priest, who lives in New York, says he has spent the past week saying traditional Voodoo prayers … Voodoo is playing a central role in helping Haitians cope with their unthinkable tragedy … even as Haitians mourn the death of tens of thousands of people, Voodoo gives them an eternal perspective, says Max Beauvoir, the supreme servitor of Voodoo, or the highest priest, in Haiti.”

In addition to interviewing Erol Josue and Max Beauvoir, they also speak to Elizabeth McAlister, a Vodou expert at Wesleyan University. McAlister has been busy defending Vodou since the earthquake hit, writing sympathetic pieces for Forbes and Newsweek/On Faith. They are all part of a growing chorus of pro-Vodou voices that have emerged since Pat Robertson, David Brooks, Rod Dreher, and other commentators have implied, directly and indirectly, that the religion is partially to blame for the depth of the tragedy, and for Haiti’s ongoing social and economic problems.

Not that this has stopped the anti-Vodou onslaught. While Robertson has been (somewhat) muted after the outcry he caused, the Robertson-founded Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is staying “on message” concerning Vodou in Haiti. Running a “earthquake bringing Vodou practitioners to Christ” story.

“The Haitian government officially recognized voodoo as a religion in 2003. More than half of the country’s 9 million people are believed to practice voodoo. But for Polestier, the earthquake brought serious doubts about her religious practices. “I’m going to leave it. I’m going to leave Voodoo,” Polestier vowed. “It has brought me nothing but anguish.” It’s a sentiment Camille has heard repeatedly over the last few days as Haitians struggle to understand their hardships. “So many people are accepting Christ,” he said.”

Stay classy, CBN. Leaving their Robertson-connections aside for a moment, the CBN story feeds into a larger undercurrent of post-earthquake pro-missionary sentiment among (predominantly) evangelical Christians.

“A religious ministry group based in Albuquerque is hoping to provide comfort in Haiti by sending hundreds of electronic audio Bibles to earthquake survivors. The group, Faith Comes by Hearing , plans to ship 600 Bibles this week. “The people are thirsty for words of comfort, and they’re asking us for the Bibles,” said spokesperson Jon Wilke … Shortly after the 7.1 earthquake struck Haiti, group members rushed to figure out how they could get the Bibles to the disaster zone…”

I just bet they did! What “opportunity” to swoop in and evangelize while people are experiencing trauma! Still, one wonders if this zeal, and Vodou-demonizing, will ultimately backfire. It’s hard to say what religious narrative will dominate in the months, and years, to come. Could we see a stronger, resurgent, Vodou? Just as many younger Haitian Americans are exploring the faith?

In the meantime, one of the positive outcomes of this terrible tragedy may be the thrusting of Vodou, so long misunderstood, into the spotlight. We are starting to see the appearance of Vodou blogs, as American adherents try to gather news from Haiti. This emerging Vodou voice, along with a growing number of sympathetic scholars, could help shape public opinion, and give journalists better sources to turn to when exploring the religion.

Yesterday we looked at how the Chicago Sun-Times spun the ARIS data into a story about Wiccans, today we turn to Oregon where Nancy Haught at The Oregonian interviews Southern Oregon University sociology professor Mark A. Shibley about what the data means regarding the spiritual makeup of the Northwest.

“Established churches have been in decline, and evangelical Protestantism has been growing. Over time and generations, the mainline and Catholic churches are failing to hang on to young people, and some are being scooped up by mega-churches designed to appeal to the younger generation. New religious movements and spiritualities, neo-paganism, New Age folks have all experimented, explored and are proliferating here in the Northwest. At the same time, the hip California style of evangelicalism has flourished here. Some of those movements have spread up the coast, planted churches and taken hold. Our landscape has gotten a little bit more religious, but in particular ways.”

Shibley, who contributed to the book “Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone”, also points out that many of the increasingly large “nones” demographic found within the ARIS data may very well be exploring spirituality in “unconventional” ways (ie New Age, syncretic mixes, etc). So with “nones” (around 24% in Oregon, 25% in Washington), new religious movements (including Pagans), and evangelicals all flourishing in the Pacific Northwest, does that spell  some sort of looming religious conflict? Maybe not. While evangelicals are certainly absorbing adherents from the slowly dwindling institutional churches, some are predicting a major evangelical collapse in the next ten years.

“Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the “Protestant” 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century. This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West … Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I’m convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.”

Leaving the Northwest, perhaps, to the Pagans and “nones”? I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see, reports of the collapse of evangelical Christianity have come from a number of different sources and been wrong before. Still, if you squint in a certain direction, you can see how our post-Christian future could develop in the next twenty-thirty years.

As for the journalistic merits of the Oregonian piece, it’s a marked improvement over the Sun-Times’ look at Wiccans. While both only used one source in their respective articles, Haught wisely decided to find an academic who understood the ramifications of the ARIS data and then conducted the piece as a straightforward interview.  She also didn’t try to lead with a bad joke, for which I thank her. The end result is a far more nuanced, accurate, and detail-oreinted look at a developing trend.

The Church of England has been having a hard time of it recently. Attendance levels are falling precipitously, women are leaving in massive droves, and hip outreach programs don’t seem to be making much of a difference. So the Anglican bishops have decided it’s time to get back into the old-school conversions business.

Anglicans were commanded to “go forth and evangelise” yesterday in a dramatic assertion of missionary fervour that could jeopardise carefully built-up relations with Muslims, Jews and other faiths. The established Church of England put decades of liberal-inspired political correctness behind it in a move that led one bishop to condemn in anger the “evangelistic rants” … The Church’s General Synod, meeting in London, overwhelmingly backed a motion to force its bishops to report on their “understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multifaith society” and offer guidance in sharing “the gospel of salvation” with people of other faiths and none.

If you think this move is going to cause some internal tensions, you’d be right. While some vicars see every person they meet as “a potential convert”, others are worried that a renewed stridency will only further hinder efforts at evangelistic outreach.

However, the Bishop of Hulme, Stephen Lowe, who leads the Church’s mission in urban life, told The Times that he was “saddened” by the debate. Condemning the “evangelistic rants” of some members, he said: “There are one or two contributions that worried me because they did not seem to have any understanding of the nature of relationship that precedes good evangelism.” He added: “There’s an element of people who have not got experience of living and spreading the gospel in a multicultural, multifaith context telling those who do have that experience how to do it. That makes me very uneasy.”

Will this re-evangelization effort bear fruit? Or will it simply further alienate those already dissatisfied with the church? Whichever the case, I can’t imagine this will do wonders for relations between the CoE and an increasingly multi-religious Britain. While some vicars complain that British Anglicans need “to recover our nerve” and get back to proclaiming the “truth”, they may find that doctrinal correctness could come at the price of an ever-shrinking audience of believers. As for British Pagans, they now know who to avoid at parties and other social functions.

His name is Jeff Harshbarger, and he just wants to help you. Help you escape the evil clutches of Satan and his minions!

“Harshbarger and his wife Liz co-authored “From Darkness To Light: How to Rescue Someone You Love From the Occult,” published in 2005 by Bridge-Logos of Gainesville, Fla. The couple has founded Refuge Ministries and hopes to have Bible study groups formed by this fall … The book is partly an account of Harshbarger’s own commitment to Satanism as an older teen, the collapse of his anti-faith and his journey back to God. It also offers a primer on forms of spiritualism and practical advice on presenting a Christian alternative for young people attracted to those and similar sects.”

There is a certain sense of nostalgia in the air as I read this article, you just don’t see the ex-Satanic cult members pop up the way they used to. This local news piece is really rather tame, to get some of the “good” stuff regarding Harshbarger’s supposedly Satanic past, you have to dig a little deeper.

“We constructed a pentagram, stood within the pentagram, he [a "Satanist" he had met] prayed over me, and laid hands on me. When he laid hands on me, I was literally filled with a demon … When a demon is around you or inside of you, with the sensation of their presence, you lie to yourself. You think that is your power level … I saw each and every one of them [fellow cult members] become demon possessed, and I noticed something in my heart. My heart felt for them. It was like I was convicted. I knew it was wrong. It was like I knew this shouldn’t be happening. I fought that because I’m a satanist. I don’t care about anybody or anything but me. [But] Here I am a caring satanist. I began to ritually try to kill this part of me — this heart, this part of me that cares.”

Still, even that just doesn’t seem very…evil. No crimes, no sacrifices, just a bunch of teens who think they’re demon-possessed. Mike Warnke he isn’t. But anyway, he’s totally saved now, and wants to save kids from the occult, and has teamed up with ex-witch Annie Fintan to warn Christians about Wicca!

“We know what salvation is because our involvement in the occult nearly killed us. And, we have a passion to reach and effectively serve the youth that are being mislead into believing the lies of Wicca and Paganism. We desire to serve you, the parent, in giving you the tools to parent your child in these times. We desire to serve you, the pastor, in effectively helping the youth of your church, so that they will not need a reason to go looking for their answers anywhere else because the Answer is Jesus Christ. And, we desire to serve anyone who has been or knows someone who is considering or involved in Wicca and Paganism, because sometimes you just don’t know what to do to reach those that you love.”

Nowadays, anti-Pagan books are far more polite. Most Christians have learned their lessons regarding whipping up “Satanic Panics”, and know that such spiritual scorched-earth tactics will often backfire. Instead, Christians are taking a cue from marketers, and spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) under the guise of “informing” parents who are “concerned” about their child possibly getting mixed up with the “subtle dangers” of Paganism. Just be careful to not scratch their polite surface, or the old demonizing tactics will spill right out.

Jeff Harshbarger is a relic of a time when Paganism and other new religious movements hadn’t fully emerged from the shadows and into the mainstream. When outright falsehoods could be bandied about without any real opposition or focused criticism. No doubt there will always be a segment of the Christian community who will see demons around every corner, but we can at least be thankful that the time of “Satanic” blood libel, and the merry band of un-convicted ex-Satanic criminals who profited from it, has shrunk to a petulant whisper.

John Morehead blogs about an upcoming conference taking place at Trinity International University in Illinois entitled “Trinity Consultation on Post-Christendom Spiritualities: The New Unreached People Groups”. Who are the “new unreached people groups”? We are.

“The conference will be a gathering of practitioners and scholars addressing the decline of Christianity in the West and the concomitant growth of new unreached people groups expressed in religions and spiritualities such as modern Paganism, New Age, and other alternative spiritualities. Plenary sessions and parallel workshops will address the topics of the future of religion in the West, the make up of the alternative religious marketplace and approaches in engaging adherents of alternative spiritualities.”

The talk is co-sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization Issue Group 16 and the Western Institute for Intercultural Studies. Two groups dedicated to “culturally sensitive” evangelism of new religious movements like ours. Participants include the aforementioned John Morehead, new religious movements scholar J Gordon Melton, and Michael T. Cooper, who recently presented a paper about Druidry.

While I suppose it is flattering to receive all this attention from Christians in our increasingly multi-religious society, it does raise some questions. For example, can open and respectful dialog co-exist with attempts by the same people to evangelize and convert us? John Morehead, who is at the forefront of developing new “culturally sensitive” evangelization tactics, is also breaking new ground in opening channels of dialog between Christians and Pagans. Do these dual roles impair real communication? Can we balance dispelling misconceptions without in turn also empowering those who would see our faiths disappear?

I’m all for better dialog and understanding. I think that a basic understanding of modern Pagan theology and practice by the general populace can only help reduce intolerance, discrimination, and the diabolic fantasies that fueled the “Satanic panics” of years gone by. On the other hand, in regards to dialog with Christians, specifically evangelical Christian movements, these efforts at better understanding have in some way helped fuel a rash of anti-Pagan (though somewhat more accurate) books. Christians are talking to us, but many seem to be doing so to help “inoculate” their children and faith community from the “infection” of a post-Christian culture.

I think Christian scholars like John Morehead are doing us a service, but we must remain open-eyed as we engage them. For many Christians, particularly those actively interested in dialogging with us, their active mandate is to ultimately convert us. “Engaging the unreached” is simply a nicer way of saying “evangelizing the unsaved”. The context and attitudes may be different, but the goals remain consistent.

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

A Connecticut-based animal cruelty task force is leaping into action after six beheaded chickens were found in a parking lot. Some speculate the animals were the results of a Santeria ritual.

“The eight-member Task Force on Animal Cruelty and the Circle of Violence will consider a growing number of animal abuse incidents in the state and their relationship to domestic violence, child abuse and other types of aggression, said Rep. Diane Urban, D-Stonington, who chairs the task force The group hopes to report back with possible policy changes including tougher consequences that could deter animal cruelty, by late this year, Urban said … ‘There is a lot of information that indicates those who display this kind of behavior might escalate it toward wives and children.’”

While actual animal cruelty might be a warning sign for escalating violence, there is no basis for making the same claim regarding ritualized animal sacrifice in a religious context. A point seemingly lost on Rep. Urban, who conflates sacrificing chickens with dog fighting.

“Whether it’s beheading chickens or dog fighting, it is an alarming sign of people not recognizing the sanctity of an animal’s existence.”

In reality, proper animal sacrifice pays very close attention to the sanctity of that animal’s existence, something your local KFC can’t claim. It should be interesting to see how this unfolds, and if the task force will target ritualized animal sacrifice in the interest of stopping animal cruelty.

The Chicago ABC affiliate reports on the publishing of “The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close”, and recounts some of the exploits of this seminal improvisational comedian.

“A small-town Kansas boy, his early life included stints as a carnie and traveling horror show assistant. Close hung out with a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, and also became the embodiment of the Beat Generation. He overcame alcohol addiction using an extreme form of aversion therapy and gave up cocaine with the help of a banishing ceremony performed by a Wiccan coven.”

Considering the fact that pre-Scientology Hubbard was heavily into ritual magick, and the fact that a Wiccan coven performed a banishing ceremony for him, you have to wonder if Del Close was a practitioner himself.

It looks like the new BBC-produced television series “Merlin”, starring “Buffy” alum Anthony Head, will be appearing on American network television come the Fall/Winter season.

“While most of NBC’s new shows had been previously reported, Peacock surprised with its acquisition of “Merlin”. FremantleMedia is distributing the series, which is being produced by Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine for the BBC. Murdoch recently acquired the Silverman-founded Reveille. BBC will air the show this fall, with NBC running it in the winter. It’s a reversal of the usual Blighty-U.S. programming pipeline.”

NBC will also be pulling in the supernatural Canadian drama “The Listener” and the Biblically inspired “Kings” (about a modern-day King David). Kudos to the network for pulling in some talent from Canada and the UK, lets hope it’s a trend that continues.

George Phillies, a candidate for the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential race, is courting the Pagan vote.

“Bigotry is a key theme of right-wing Republicanism, going back to the KKK and Concerned Citizens Councils,” Phillies said. “Like all other patriotic Americans, Libertarians believe that Freedom of Religion is for everyone. No real Libertarian will ever ask that a religion’s harmless practices be banned. This Fall, please take a stand against Republican bigotry. Please vote Libertarian.”

If Phillies actually clinches the Libertarian nomination, which seems a bit unlikely at this point, he could be the first openly Pagan-friendly presidential candidate to appear on a nationwide ballot. You can head over to Phillies web site to learn more about his campaign.

In a final note, an interesting exchange is taking place on the Christianity Today web site. Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko, Judaic Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, calls out Stan Guthrie, an editor at CT, for his endorsement of the “The Gospel and the Jewish People – An Evangelical Statement”. A document signed by several prominent evangelical leaders that advocates a “loving” and “respectful” re-dedication to converting the Jews. Poupko’s response is forthright, blunt, and gets right to the heart of the cultural and spiritual dilution and eradication at the heart of most monotheistic missionary efforts.

“The basis of interfaith conversation must be mutual sacred rejection, a clear understanding of the irreconcilable differences between the faith communities … I reject what is most sacred to the Christian. I am prepared to die for it, as have my ancestors before me. The Christian rejects what is most sacred to me, and is likewise prepared to die for it. Only after respectful mutual sacred rejection, can we identify those beliefs that we share in common … I don’t want Christians to instruct me on what to believe.”

At the end of the exchange, Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko exclaims that Guthrie, as a Christian, is “capable of understanding me only in your terms.” A common evangelical attitude that can deeply damage healthy dialog and relations between faiths. Poupko’s refusal to acknowledge Jewish conversion attempts as “loving”, while coming from a very different perspective than the Pagan one, is nonetheless an attitude shared by many who wish to grow their faiths in peace without worrying over ever-evolving evangelistic tactics to thwart that growth.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!