McCollum’s Case and Other News

I’ve got several links to share with you today, and then just a bit to say on the McCollum case.

First, the rather hateful attack from a Christian blogger has had a surprising effect on the Circle of Mom’s Faith Blogger contest: eight of the top twelve blogs are now Pagan, with the popular Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom and The Pagan Mom Blog taking the 1st and 3rd spots respectively. Attacking a community tends to rally it, and boy did we rally! Congrats ladies!

Patheos columnist Galina Krasskova was interviewed on Lamyka’s Wiccan Podcast two weeks ago and I forgot to mention it.

The 3rd Annual Pagan Values Blogging and Podcasting Month has kicked off to a good start:

A full month of Pagan values is to get us to look beyond the spells, meditations, and Sabbats of our faith and talk about what we really believe and where we want to go as a spiritual being on Earth.  It is also about tackling the topics that are not discussed very often and may be controversial, being who we are instead of what is considered “safe.” — The Balanced Witch

While the Pagan community lacks a rigid doctrine of commandments detailing the guidelines necessary for protecting the natural rights of both ourselves and our neighbors, we can surprisingly relate to the underlying attitudes of Catholicism’s “Cardinal [7 Deadly] Sins“.  Relate to the Catholics?  Gasp!  I know, I know.  Hear me out. — Pagan Presence

I want to kick off Pagan Values Month not by talking about Zeus et al., but by talking about human beings. The quotation from Epictetus above comes from the Enchiridion, a very practical outline describing how we need to approach life with if we ever want happiness. — Kallisti

Wisdom too, is not just having this knowledge and experience, but being able to share it with others through giving good advice, and acting right. Jobs such as teachers, clergy, judges, and other first function roles need to employ wisdom so that they may better serve their communities and excel at their positions. — Hazel and Rowanberries

If Paganism is freedom, so is fat acceptance. Learning to open the lock to the guilded cage we build and help others build around ourselves is hard work but in the end our reward is freedom,  happiness, love and acceptance.  If I’m to honour my spirit I must also honour my body and mind, and that means nourishing foods as best as I can get them, and keeping my body in working order the best I can, to revel in the things that bring it pleasure and bring me joy. — Fat and Not Afraid

Be a kid again. Let your imagination expand and explode, and remember that doing so is a way to invest in your own spiritual growth. Regardless of how you self-identify, you have an imagination. It’s a sacred tool. A magical instrument that you were born with, created from, and to which one day you will return. — Teo Bishop

Now, about the McCollum case: the 9th decided McCollum had no standing to bring the case on behalf of inmates rights, even though folks like the Anti-Defamation League think he does. For the details on that I refer you to The Wild Hunt.

Among the strange things floating about on the internet regarding this case, including a bizarre idea that CA might subsidize any religion, is the idea that this is just about a volunteer wanting to get paid. Pagans, who honor all things material and earthly, automatically flinch when it comes to money, and some tend to think of it as unworthy, selfish and even evil.

I sat with the thought of what it must be like to be a prison chaplain. There were 593 Pagans in the CA Dept of Corrections according to 2002 estimates. If each of them got to spend 30 mins with a chaplain every month (which isn’t much at all) then that would be two full-time chaplain positions alone, not accounting for ritual, holidays, travel or special circumstances.

When you’re talking about people who will rejoin our society and who we have a vested interest in seeing become productive members of society, is 30 mins a month too much to ask? Or should the task fall to volunteers with less time and training? Would you rather get spiritual advice from someone who’s in the system every day and understands what you face, or from someone who managed to fit you in between their kid’s soccer practice and their hair appointment?

Of course, if the prison population of CA reflects the trends in the general population of the US, there are many more Pagans in the system today. Pagans who will one day rejoin our communities and who can’t even get regular access to clergy who understand their concerns. That’s what this fight is about. It’s about a genuine need our community has, and the people who are willing to fill that need are being turned away because their religion is considered second-class. The only way to fill this need is with trained, dedicated clergy, and if they are willing to put in the hours for what must be a difficult job, then I am all for their being paid.