Pagan Chaplain Speaks Out on Native Sacred Lands, Heads to Amman, Jordan for Cross-Cultural Dialog Conference

July 20, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Pagan chaplain and activist Patrick McCollum, who is involved in a high-profile case involving the rights of Pagans and religious minorities in California’s prisons, participated at a demonstration in Vallejo, California to protect a Native American sacred gathering place and burial ground called Glen Cove (or Sogorea Te in Karkin Ohlone language). The City of Vallejo is working to develop the land into a recreational park, something that the local Native American community has been opposed to. Patrick McCollum with demonstrators. On July 12th, over... Read more

Pagans on ABC’s Nightline

July 19, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Last night the ABC news program Nightline ran a “Sign of the Times” segment featuring Sgt Simon Wood of the Hampshire Constabulary in the United Kingdom. Wood is a member of the Pagan Police Association, an organization that formed in 2009 and was officially recognized as a Diversity Staff Support Association in 2010. The report mentions the tabloid-headline generating Metropolitan Police diversity handbook, which discusses the fact that some Pagans practice skyclad, and may be bound and blindfolded during rituals, and (inaccurately) references the UK Charity... Read more

Rick Perry Endorser: “Stop Voting for Pagans”

July 18, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

I don’t know how Right Wing Watch digs this stuff up, but gods bless ’em for it. Below is a video of controversial pastor John Hagee, an endorser of upcoming prayer event The Response, and a man potential presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry has “worked to cultivate” a relationship with. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldBF3wVKGCQ Here’s the entire uncut sermon. As scrutiny of The Response grows, organizers seem to be getting a little nervous. Is that why the link to the endorsers page has disappeared... Read more

Are the Prayers of a Metaphysicist, a Sikh, and a Muslim Enough?

July 18, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Just as legal questions over the Frederick County Commissioners opening invocations policy, initially dubbed a “Wiccan-proof prayer policy,” seemed to be settled, a new issue involving prayer before a government body (and religious minorities) is intensifying. This time Lancaster, California’s voter-approved invocations policy, which I covered last year, has withstood its first legal challenge. Plaintiffs have failed to establish that the Policy has been used for an improper purpose or is otherwise unconstitutional. Volunteers of numerous faiths are invited to and have given invocations before City Council... Read more

Update: Good News for Endangered Pagan Community Center

July 17, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

On July 8th I reported that Sacred Paths Center, a Pagan community center serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (aka “Paganistan”), was in danger of closing down unless they could raise $7,500 immediately. That was followed by an interview conducted by PNC-Minnesota with SPC board member CJ Stone, where it was estimated that the center needed to raise $12,000 total by the end of July to remain open and viable for the longer term. Today, CJ Stone left an update in our comments section, to... Read more

Pagan Community Notes: A Pagan Festival in Israel, TheurgiCon, and More!

July 16, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Pagan Community Notes is a companion to my usual Pagan News of Note series, more focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. I want to reinforce the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So lets get started! A Pagan Festival in Israel: September will see the nation of Israel’s... Read more

Polytheist Prayers Now Welcome in Frederick County

July 15, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Back in May I wrote an article looking at the issue of opening invocations at various government bodies. At the center of that piece was discussion of a recently enacted policy in Maryland by the Frederick County Commissioners. The new policy was modeled on the one adopted by the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors in Virginia after they successfully survived a legal challenge by Wiccan priestess Cynthia Simpson. That policy, and the Frederick County Commissioners’ new policy, called for nonsectarian prayers, but only from members... Read more

On Faith: My Response to ‘The Response’

July 14, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

My latest response at the Washington Post’s On Faith site is now up. Here’s this week’s panel question: Texas Governor, and possible GOP presidential candidate, Rick Perry has endorsed ‘The Response’ a prayer event scheduled for August 6 in Texas. “As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy,” Perry wrote on the event’s official Web site. Perry’s critics are... Read more

Pagan Wins Human Rights Campaign Scholarship Award

July 14, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

On Monday the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced the winners in its second-annual Scholarship & Mentorship Program for Religion and Theological Study. The goal of the HRC’s Religion and Faith Program is “to ensure that no one should have to choose between their faith, their sexuality and their gender identity.” The 2011 Dissertation Scholarship was awarded to Megan Goodwin, a doctoral candidate in Religion and Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Goodwin’s... Read more

Quick Notes: Absent Christian Soldiers, A Blessed Ex-Satanist, and We’re All Neo-Pagans Now

July 13, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Just a few quick quick news notes to start off your Wednesday. Absent Christian Soldiers: Remember that story a couple weeks ago about a Christian group in Dorset, England who were going to hold vigils outside a pub in order to “combat” a Pagan moot (social gathering)? Well, it turns out they didn’t show up. “A Pagan moot in Bridport last week went ahead without any trouble after a planned Christian demonstration never materialised. […] Despite the Christian group announcing to... Read more