Tomorrow I’ll be on a flight to Maryland for the 2011 FaerieCon event, at which I’ll be conducting interviews, taking pictures, and moderating panel discussions (in addition to seeing Qntal in concert).

Since I’m not sure I’ll have enough time to blog properly while also covering the event, I’ve arranged a variety of guest-posters during my absence to keep the lights on here at The Wild Hunt. Tomorrow we’ll be featuring a guest-post from Patheos columnist and Killing the Buddha Contributing Editor Eric Scott, and we have several other wonderful Pagan voices lined in the days to follow. Patheos Pagan Portal manager Star Foster will be behind the scenes making sure the trains run on time. I’ll return on Tuesday, and should have some great coverage to share when I get back!

In the meantime, before I go, here are some news stories I’d like to share with you.

• On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Utah Highway Patrol Association v. American Atheists. The case regarded large metal crosses in Utah erected along the highway to honor state highway patrol officers who died in the line of duty. At the heart of this issue was if the Christian cross could be considered a secular symbol of death. The 10th Circuit Court rejected this notion, noting the obvious fact that a Christian symbol cannot represent all peoples and religions in the United States. Now, with certiorari denied, and the 10th Circuit decision upheld, Utah will have to dismantle the crosses.
• Reverend Carlton Veazey, President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice writes an op-ed for Religion Dispatches calling the pro-life “personhood” agenda “theocratic” in nature. Quote: “in the fashion of those who are determined to embed their religious views in law, there is no acknowledgement that there are other, equally valid views. Because there are a variety of views on such a basic question as “the beginning of life,” the constitution guarantees that decisions about contraception and abortion will be protected by law. And that is where the matter should rest.”
• A Slate.com article on female craft beer producers reminds us that it was women (and goddesses) who gave us the gift of beer. Quote: “Brewing is currently seen as a male field, but it wasn’t always this way. What’s believed to be the world’s oldest written recipe is for beer, and it celebrates a female brewmaster. Four-thousand-year-old Mesopotamian clay tablets describe the brewing process in a hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. From ancient Sumeria through medieval Europe, women ruled the kettles.”
• Finally, in a bit of Pagan Newswire Collective news, I’d like to welcome Lupa and Eli Effinger-Weintraub to their new roles as writers for No Unsacred Place, the PNC’s nature and environmental issues blog. I look forward to their contributions!

That’s all I have for now, enjoy the guest-posts, see you on Tuesday!

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.

• As the Occupy Wall Street movement goes nationwide, bureau reporters from the Pagan Newswire Collective have been covering the protests from a Pagan perspective. PNC-Minnesota reporter Cara Schulz attends the OccupyMN protests and asks: “Who are the 99%”. Meanwhile, Diana Rajchel interviews Aldous Tyler, a Pagan presidential hopeful who’s aligning himself with the Occupy movement. At PNC-Washington DC they feature a guest post from local Pagan Nicole Franklin, who attended the protests in New York. You may also want to check out the personal experiences of Erynn Rowan Laurie, who attended the Occupy Seattle action. We’ll try to keep you posted regarding reports from Pagans participating in this growing phenomenon.
• Right Wing Watch reports that Mitt Romney did, in fact, albeit without actually naming him, call out the bigotry of Bryan Fischer at the Values Voters Summit. Quote: “One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line I think. Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate.” While I wish that Romney had gone further, and actually declared that minority religions (like his) deserved, and are, protected under the United States constitution, I will still acknowledge this as bold forward step for the candidate.
• In related Values Voters Summit news, they have a simple message to attendees: “Don’t be the weird one.”
• Earlier this week PNC-Minnesota reported that Volkshof Kindred, a Heathen 501c3 organization located in the Twin Cities, recently purchased a building to be used as a Hof. The group says this is the first dedicated, group-owned, public heathen Hof (temple building) in North America.  The residential building, which the group is currently renovating, is located in a northern Minneapolis suburb.
• The Supreme Court is expected to soon announce whether they will hear a case regarding large metal crosses in Utah erected along the highway to honor state highway patrol officers who died in the line of duty. At the heart of this issues is if the Christian cross can be considered a secular symbol of death. The 10th Circuit Court rejected this notion, noting the obvious fact that a Christian symbol cannot represent all peoples and religions in the United States. We’ll be keeping track of this one.
• A group of journalists and bloggers who cover the Religious Right, Dominionism, and the New Apostolic Reformation, have sent an open letter to evangelical moderate Jim Wallis objecting to his assertions that they are portraying evangelical Christians as “intellectually-flawed right-wing crazies with dangerous plans for the country.” They also take issue with Wallis endorsing an editorial by Mark I. Pinsky that engages in what they see as anti-Semitic slurs.
• An Australian wedding ends in a local Witch being attacked by her drunken neighbor (who was also the bride). The neighbors apparently had a long-running feud, and too much alcohol brought out the worst in her. More, here.
• Slacktivist spotlights yet another terrible idea in alternative Halloween celebrations for Christians: Jesus Ween. No, really. Don’t they know that the neighbors who hand out Chick tracts and related fare are the ones targeted for egging later?
• Kilkenny People profiles Eimear Burke, a trained psychotherapist, priestess and Druid.
• Two years later, the Prescott Daily Courier checks in with various figures connected to the deadly sweat lodge ceremony held by New Age guru James Arthur Ray.  As for Ray himself, the long-delayed pre-sentencing hearing is finally set to begin on November 8th.

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.

Back in April I mentioned the case of Roberto Casillas-Corrales, a Santero living in Utah. A local narcotics strike force raided his home looking for illegal drugs. They didn’t find any, so instead they arrested him for possessing two human skulls.

“Roberto Casillas-Corrales, 53, is facing two counts of third-degree felony desecration of a human body for the two human skulls found on his property, according to a court official. Clearfield police and Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force officers served a search warrant at the man’s home as part of a drug investigation Sunday. No drugs were found. The man told police he used the skulls and animal parts for religious purposes. He said he practices Santeria, a Caribbean religious tradition.”

Now it should be noted that it isn’t illegal to own a human skull, even two human skulls. But when you go to all the trouble of doing a drug raid, and don’t find any drugs, it must be hard to come back empty-handed. Now it seems that prosecutors are walking back on those charges, citing some “further investigation” they need to do.

Prosecutors have dropped the case against a Santería clergyman accused of keeping two human skulls in a shed behind his Clearfield home, saying they want to further investigate the case’s constitutional issues. [...] In documents filed last week in 2nd District Court, prosecutors asked Judge David Connors to dismiss the case because “due to the constitutional issues further investigation is needed.” “From the start there was a freedom of religion issue,” said Deputy Davis County Attorney Kathi Sjoberg. “Then there’s some question as to whether or not the process that he went through [in obtaining the skulls] was unlawful.”

Now, the judge dropped the charges without prejudice, so they could charge him again, but you’d think the prosecutor’s office could have found proof they were illegally obtained in three months. As for Casillas-Corrales, he claims he bought the skulls in/from Cuba for 3,500 dollars.

The case raises a lot of different questions. Do law enforcement have any solid evidence that Casillas-Corrales is involved with illegal drugs, or was this a bit of drug-war over-reach? If they were involved in a drug raid, and didn’t find drugs, why did they arrest him for possessing human skulls? Is this due to “occult experts” who like to emphasize ties between Afro-Caribbean religions and the drug trade? Local media reported that Casillas-Corrales was, by all accounts, “somebody who invites people in for celebrations and aids those in need,” so why didn’t anyone dig into the possibility that he was an innocent man practicing a religion that may seem strange and alien to those not exposed to it?

It may be that Roberto Casillas-Corrales is guilty of something. Drugs, improper handling of animals or human remains, or even an immigration issue (he’s not a U.S. citizen), but so far no charges stand against him. In the eyes of the law he’s an innocent man until proven otherwise. His life has been exposed in a way he most likely would not have chosen, and this will have deep ramifications to other practitioners of Santeria, Palo, and related faiths, who will now be even less likely to trust law enforcement (not to mention the press, or at least the mainstream press). I think my recent interview with Morgan Page Iyawo Odofemi fairly sums up the general state of things.

Practitioners of Lukumi, along with most other Afro-Diasporic Religions, have faced an incredible amount of persecution – including being murdered and having our religious altars desecrated. This ongoing oppression, combined with class issues, race issues, immigration status, and language barriers creates a climate where many elders (who are generally people of colour, lower-income, Spanish-speaking, etc.) do not feel comfortable speaking about the religion out of a very real fear of persecution. There are also some priests who are given taboos against being public about their religious beliefs. I don’t think that our lack of public spokespeople necessarily hurts practitioners. I think racism, classism, and xenophobia hurt practitioners. Secrecy is what helped our ancestors to survive and thrive. Ashe to those who want to take on the burden of being public, but I don’t think it’s something we necessarily “need.”

I think the press needs to take a cue from prosecutors and have a greater emphasis on the “constitutional issues” that arise in interactions with Afro-Diasporic Religions instead of going for the sensationalist stenography that seems to sometimes pass for journalism. These faiths are only growing in the United States, and the more we alienate them, the more secretive and hostile to outsiders they will become. If we want to ensure that justice and fairness happen, we can’t allow the tiny amount of outreach that’s happened in the last twenty years to be undone.

I’d like to highlight two comments from yesterday’s post on the treatment of Santeria and Vodou in the media. The first comes from Jacquie Minerva Georges, who notes that adherents to Afro-Caribbean faiths are engaging with the media, just not the mainstream English-speaking media.

“Thank you, Jason for your devotion for defending the Afro-Caribbean/Latin American based religion. I do believe practitioners of African-based religions are speaking but not the “mainstream” media or certain individuals. I often must read French, Spanish, Portuguese written [typed] articles to find out what practitioners of such faith[s] are speaking about. Recently there was an article, originally written in Spanish but somehow was translated into English, regarding practitioners of Santeria being really upset and embarrassed by individual practitioners leaving offerings to the orishas in [the] public community [parks for an example where masses commune]. “We” are educating the recently migrant practitioners that “our” rituals must adapt to our times and/or the “general” public. Here is a link to what I am speaking of: titled “Offering to the Orishas”.”

Georges follows up to say that “some of ‘us’ we don’t care what others think about our faith[s].”

The second comment I’d like to highlight from yesterday’s post comes from Rev. Heron Herodias, a Wiccan priestess from the Church of the Sacred Circle in Utah. She was interviewed by a local Fox affiliate about one of the stories linked in yesterday’s post.

“They interviewed me about this – classic Fox News move “Hey, let’s ask a Wiccan about Voudou!” I’m embarrassed to say that they got some good “out of context” and reporter-fed quotes from me, while completely cutting out the point I was trying to make which was that animal sacrifice is not only a legal practice in the US, but that many “mainstream” faiths including Christianity have a history of it as well. They interviewed me for a good twenty minutes, and BOTH of the statements they showed were fed by their reporter. For instance, I followed up the statement about human remains being a concern with the acknowledgement that most mainstream Santeria practitioners discourage the use of human remains (having read some prominent Santeria practitioners say the same thing) even while other practitioners do not. i thought that by being interviewed that I could help dispel the “OH NOES, ded animal” hype. Lesson: don’t be a patsy for Fox News when they come a-callin’.”

I think both comments add some great context and additional information, and I’m glad they shared it with us here. I’m thinking of taking a page from Andrew Sullivan and highlighting smart, relevant, comments that expand and clarify an issue more often.

Top Story: For the third time in recent memory a Canadian citizen has been charged with the obscure ordinance against “pretending to practice witchcraft”. The first concerned Vishwantee Persaud in late 2009 who bilked several people, including a lawyer, out of thousands of dollars, the second, from April of this year, was against Batura Draame of Toronto. Now a third case, involving Brampton resident Yogendra Pathak, has emerged.

“Police say Yogendra Pathak, 44 was “putting it out there that he had the ability to practice magic and by doing that he could solve people’s problems… for money.” … Police say they believe Mr. Pathak was operating for over a year and do not yet know how many people have been conned by his alleged scam. They are urging victims and anyone with information to come forward. Mr. Pathak is charged with fraud under $5,000 and pretending to practice witchcraft.”

Persaud, Draame, and Pathak were all charged under the fraud statutes so why the witchcraft charge? Is it really necessary? Canadian author and philosophy professor Brendan Myers finds the law deeply problematic.

“The key word in the legislation is the word “pretending” (in subsections (a) and (c).) As pointed out to me by my friend in London via private correspondence: the word “pretending” here suggests that the State does not believe that witchcraft could be real: anyone who says they are practicing witchcraft is only pretending. That can potentially include those who say that they are practicing the religion. With this in mind, it’s not difficult to imagine a religiously conservative or puritan judge ruling that anyone who practices the religion of Wicca is “pretending” to practice witchcraft.

Our religious practices are already protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is part of our constitution and thus trumps the Criminal Code. But a lot will depend on the eye of the beholder here. It is not difficult to imagine a future government much more conservative than our present one, declaring that witchcraft and wicca is not a religion, and that anyone who practices it is “pretending”. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you think it’s a religion: it matters if the law thinks so. I do not know if any judicial precedents have established wicca and witchcraft as a religion in the eyes of the law. So I’ve written to a lawyer that I know, and I await his response.”

While not all Pagans think the law should be repealed, there is a grass-roots movement building to work for the law’s repeal. It should be stressed that all the accused perpetrators were caught and charged with existing laws against fraud, so why has this little-used witchcraft charge been dug up again? What real purpose does it serve other than to sensationalize, muddy the waters of religious freedom, and create potential problems for ethical practitioners of magic and witchcraft who happen to charge for various services? How long before an otherwise ethical magic-worker gets charged due to a vindictive former client? It doesn’t seem so far-fetched a scenario considering the recent frequency this law is getting invoked.

Christine O’Donnell’s Lesbian Paganism-Studying Sister: Andrew Sullivan points to a Mother Jones piece regarding the sister of Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, the Tea Party and Christian Right favorite who recently won an upset primary victory over the Republican party’s preferred candidate. Christine’s sister Jennie is publicly for many of the things O’Donnell is against (like gay marriage), yet is supporting her in her senate campaign. She’s also very different when it comes to religion.

“I have studied and practiced many therapeutic methods, as well as many different spiritual practices, such as; The Eastern Philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism, Sidha yoga with Brahma khumaris and other yoga practices for self realization. Western philosophies of Christianity, Science of mind, Course in miracles, Catholicism, Native American Spiritualities, Judaism, Muslim, Sufi, Ancient Alchemy of the Emerald Tablet, Metaphysics, Wicca, Pagan and many other world spiritualities.”

While it isn’t completely unusual for a family member to back a relative running for office who publicly works against their stated personal positions and interests on various issues, Sullivan wonders if the emergence of this sister might hurt O’Donnell’s standing with the Christians who supported her candidacy.

“Will the Christianist base support a candidate whose sister has studied Wicca and pagan spiritualities and supports marriage equality for gays and lesbians? Apparently, Jennie believes that much that has been written about her sister is untrue.”

It should be interesting to see how the campaign moves forward with this. Will they go big-tent and soften on some of O’Donnell’s past pronouncements on various social issues, sticking to the fiscal populism the Tea Party prefers? That seems to be the direction the political winds are currently blowing, but it remains to be seen if such a move is sustainable if it risks losing Christian voters who want/demand strong stands on social issues.

Witchcraft Worries Australia: A draft report on freedom of religion submitted to the Australian Human Rights Commission apparently ranks Witches as one of the groups that most worries other Australians according to The Age.

“Which groups of Australians most worry other Australians? Muslims, gays and – astonishingly – witches. That apparently anachronistic result appears in a survey of public submissions to a national inquiry into freedom of religion and belief in the 21st century, from which the draft report was submitted last week to the Australian Human Rights Commission … These views do not reflect mainstream opinion; it takes a certain passion and effort to make a detailed submission, so only those most involved or committed will do so. But they provide a fascinating window into contemporary concerns about religion.”

Some academics are concerned the results are dominated by conservative citizens, skewing the results towards the views of “elderly church leaders who happen to be male and anti-Muslim and gays and pagans and witches”. It remains to be seen what recommendations the Human Rights Commission can make from this draft that would please these respondents while ensuring the continued rights and freedoms of Pagan Australians.

A Look At Faeries Who Are Radical: The Texas LGBT publication Dallas Age profiles eclectic gay Pagan group the Radical Faeries. The article looks at their founding and history, but also notes the changes in attitude and inclusiveness they have gone through in recent years.

“But in more than 30 years of existence, the Radical Faeries have evolved — albeit gradually and with difficulty — towards embracing a more sexually diverse membership. Some Radical Faerie groups accept people of all genders and orientations with the idea that anyone who identifies as a faerie is one. However, many older members still require gatherings to be male-only and the issue of inclusion continues to be controversial. “As an oppressed people, gay men [have] had to overcome their own prejudices against women, bi, trans [and] intersex people,” notes Singleton, who at 28, is part of the younger generation of faeries.”

What role will the Radical Faeries play within the Pagan community as it becomes more open and inclusive? Will what was once a gay-male only tradition soon become something far larger and influential?

Fighting Utah Over Peyote Arrests: Religion Clause reports that the Oklevueha Native American Church has filed suit against the state of Utah in Federal Court to stop them from arresting and harassing church members for their use of Peyote.

“The lawsuit seeks to block state and federal law enforcement from arresting or bringing criminal charges against church members who “fear reprisal from both state and federal governments for openly practicing their religion,” court papers state. … The lawsuit was filed in Utah because since 1999, church members here say they have been harassed, arrested and prosecuted for using peyote, court papers say.”

This has been an ongoing issue in Utah, and one that will no doubt bring the issue of religious entheogens to the mainstream media once more. We’ll be paying attention to this case as it develops.

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

Top Story: In northern New York state Krista Marie Goley is charged with manslaughter in the stabbing death of her boyfriend Timothy C. Rolland. While there is no evidence that Goley’s religion had anything to do with the stabbing, it’s brought up in a negative light by Watertown Daily Times reporter David Shampine and the victim’s family.

“We had warned Tim to get out of that relationship,” Mrs. Rolland said. “He told us she is bipolar, and she was a Wiccan. He was staring at the devil in the face.” On Ms. Goley’s MySpace page, she lists her religion as “Wiccan,” and for an occupation, she lists, “US ARMY 88M/ Wiccan.” The background of the MySpace page is covered with images of pentacles, a five-pointed star often used as a symbol of Wicca, which is a neopagan religion that utilizes witchcraft.

The question is why did the reporter think Goley’s religion is pertinent in this case? There’s been no sign that the murder was religiously motivated, or that it had ritualistic overtones. You could have just as easily listed the fact that she likes to play Pokemon or that she likes the “Resident Evil” movie. No Wiccan text of any sort I’ve ever read has advocated for murder, so the inclusion of Wicca (which “utilizes witchcraft”) in this article just muddies the water for the purposes of some cheap sensationalism. One wonders if the Watertown Daily Times would have made of point of mentioning her faith if she was Catholic or  a Lutheran. Reporting on a perpetrators religion should involve some pertinent reason for doing so, or else you’re simply stirring the pot because you have nothing else to say.

Glenn Beck, Inclusivity, and Minority Religions: In the wake of Glenn Beck’s religious rally many are trying to figure out what it all means (here are three Pagan reactions over at Pagan+Politics). Over at the Washtington Post’s On Faith site, Hindu American Foundation co-founder Aseem Shukla blasts the “false inclusivity of supposedly ecumenical events” like Beck’s rally.

“…a persistent insistence on Christian-only exceptionalism and a national Christian primacy is raising alarm bells for others. I have argued before that a religious litmus test most certainly exists in this country-and the litmus paper only reads two colors: Christian or the other. Indian Americans recently elected to national office, such as Bobby Jindal or Nikki Haley were forced to prove that they as converts, they were even more Christian than most Christians, and President Obama’s Muslim heritage has been bandied about as a scarlet letter that somehow renders him suspect or unfit to govern. We have experienced before the false inclusivity of supposedly ecumenical events of the far right. There may have been a rabbi or imam at the Beck event, but the overall theme was very much “we are a Christian nation” drumbeat, and Hindus have experienced rejection before when they asked to participate in events such as the National Day of Prayer. This is the paradox of religion in the public square: it means very different things to different people.”

Leaving aside the political implications of Beck’s rally, the event was, in the words of conservative commentator Ross Douthat, “a long festival of affirmation for middle-class, white Christians.” In addition, the prominent inclusion of figures like John “America has become a pagan society” Hagee and David Barton of Wallbuilders (who argues that Pagans don’t deserve the same Constitutional protections as Christians) make it very clear who’s actually welcome in Beck’s quest to restore honor. So long as those who actively work to deny us our rights are under his big tent, I can’t take seriously any argument that religious minorities are truly welcome.

Anti-Pagan Pastor in Porn Scandal: Australian Christian social crusader the Reverend Fred Nile, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, has been caught in an Internet porn-viewing scandal.

“The controversy began with the issuance of a report by the Department of Parliamentary Services, which had conducted an internet history audit of government computers that said Nile’s office had accessed adult websites approximately 200,000 times. Coming on the heels of a similar revelation that resulted in the resignation of New South Wales Ports and Waterways Minister Paul McLeay, the news has sent shockwaves through the government. Thursday, in response to the growing scandal, Nile held a press conference during which he denied ever viewing pornography, but admitted that he had instructed his staff to research the issue for legislation that he said he was considering introducing.”

Nile is taking a sort of “didn’t inhale” defense, saying the sites were never actually viewed, just accessed (200,000 times) for research into legislation. Sex Party president Fiona Patten says that Nile just needs to “get over his guilt and shame” concerning viewing porn on the Internet. For those who don’t live in Australia, Nile is sort of the equivalent to Pat Robertson there. He’s taken many socially conservative stances, including opposing legal Pagan weddings.

Christian Democrat Party leader and anti-pagan campaigner Reverend Fred Nile said: “(Handfasting) can’t be in any way acknowledged by the state and should not be listed as a genuine wedding. Our party will do what it can to stop pagan weddings and witchcraft or Wicca activities.”

If this scandal means the political and social downfall of Nile, I’m sure there aren’t too many Pagans down under who will be complaining about it.

The OTO Showing Pagan Pride in Utah: The Salt Lake Tribune does your typical “meet the Pagans” story with a couple twists. First, the piece profiles a local OTO/Thelemic group Ordo Gnostic Templar (I couldn’t find a listing for them, but they could be a newer group) along with several colorful pictures, and secondly, it seems the paper used Patheos.com as an information resource.

“More than a million Americans now practice some form of Wicca, or traditional witchcraft, Ceremonial Magick, Hermeticism, Shamanism, Asatru (German/Nordic religion), African religion such as Voodoo and Shamanism, according to patheos.com, a multifaith website.”

It’s nice when a paper steps a bit outside of the Wiccan box to show how diverse modern Paganism truly is, and prints generally solid information. Now if only more such articles would follow suit. We’ll soon be entering the Halloween/Samhain season, and that usually means a small flood of “meet the Pagans” articles, here’s hoping this piece is a good harbinger of coverage to come.

The Order of Light for the Establishment of Global Fraternity: OpEdNews features the latest investigative installment from Georgianne Nienaber and Mac McKinney on post-earthquake Haiti, this one featuring a look at Vodou religion and the history of Vodou in the country.

At this point the discussion segued into the reality of Haitian Vodou until, rather suddenly and casually, Raymond revealed that he himself was a Vodou houngan, or priest, and that he belonged to a Haitian religious society called The Order of Light for the Establishment of Global Fraternity, actually an almost Masonic, even Theosophical title invoking one of the key words from the motto of the French Revolution of 1789: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, hardly what most people, prone to all the stereotyped caricatures of Voodoo in pop culture, would expect.

Raymond, acutely aware of the gross and fraudulent Hollywood image of Voodoo as nothing but zombies, black magic, curses and human sacrifices, went to considerable length expounding that this is indeed a absurd misrepresentation of real Vodou religion. He did point out, though, that there are two streams of Vodou as it is practiced in Haiti, what he calls the Vodou of the Peristyle, and the Vodou of the Temple.

I wasn’t aware that Vodouisants split themselves into “peristyle” and “temple” varieties, could any of my Haitian Vodou-connected readers confirm this for me? Is such a distinction common? In any case, the essay makes for fascinating reading.

That’s all I have for now. Stay tuned tomorrow for a Pagan community news round-up, and have a great day!

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.

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).