Paganism = Antisemitism?

Harun Yahya (a “prominent Turkish intellectual”) writing for the Media Monitors Network tries to convince his readers that antiSemitism is contrary to Islam. How does he do this? By blaming Paganism!

“A basic fact that must be appreciated about antisemitism is that it is a pagan creed that no Muslim could ever espouse.”

Now wait. Doesn’t he mean ‘pagan’ in the irreligious, modern secular society sense? Surely he isn’t talking about actual pre-Christian religion. Yes he is, and don’t call me Shirley.

“All these various [Middle-Eastern] civilizations have had their prophets who proclaimed the existence and the unity of God and made His commands known. But when we examine recorded history, we see that Indo-European peoples from ancient times always believed in paganism. The Greek and Roman civilizations, the Teutons, Vikings and other Barbarian peoples living in southern Europe at that time were all polytheistic pagans. For this reason, these communities remained completely without moral guidance. Violence and savagery were regarded as praiseworthy; homosexuality and adultery were widely practiced. (The most important historical representative of Indo-European civilization was the Roman Empire, and we must not forget that it was a savage society that delighted in seeing people torn apart in the arenas.) These peoples who ruled Europe encountered monotheism through Jesus Christ, a prophet sent to Semitic people. Sent as a prophet to the children of Israel, the teaching of Jesus spread throughout Europe in the course of time and all the formerly pagan peoples gradually accepted Christianity.”

Wow! Good thing we all converted. But wait! The dread spectre of antiSemitism would rise again through Neo-Paganism!

“…a strange current of thought circulated in Europe: Neo-Paganism. The leaders of this movement claimed that European societies must reject Christianity and return to ancient pagan beliefs. According to the adherents of Neo-Paganism, the way European societies understood morality in ancient pagan times (i.e., a warlike, pitiless, bloodthirsty, unbounded barbarous morality), was much superior to the morality they adopted when they accepted Christianity (i.e., a humble, compassionate, peace-loving and religious morality).”

So it was only a matter of time before we started hating Jews! How logical!

“The adherents of Neo-Paganism were hostile to Christianity; at the same time, they adopted a great hatred for Judaism which they saw as the source of Christianity. Indeed, they saw Christianity as the disseminator of Jewish ideas throughout the world and regarded it as a kind of Jewish plot. So, this Neo-Paganism, on the one hand incited hostility against religion and, on the other, gave birth to fascism and antisemitism. Especially when we look at the foundations of the Nazi ideology, we can see clearly that Hitler and his confreres were, in fact, pagans.”

Again with the “Hitler was a Pagan” thing. Is this guy hanging out with the Pope? This writer has so much love to give (as long as you only believe in the right big-G God).

“Islam is a religion of peace, love and tolerance. Today, however, some circles have been presenting a false image of Islam, as if there were conflict between Islam and the adherents of the two other monotheistic religions. Yet Islam’s view of Jews and Christians, who are named “the People of the Book” in the, is very friendly and tolerant.”

Because as we all know the “People of the Book” have never sought to harm Jews or wage Crusades or vilify eachother or wage wars or terror. It was all the Pagans fault after all. Thanks goodness! Now the monotheists can sleep with a clear conscience knowing that a proper scape-goat for their sins has been found.

ADDENDUM: Richard Bartholomew points out in the comments that Harun Yahya is among other things a Holocaust denier.

The Perils of Treating Those Afflicted By Spells

Medical blogger “The Angry Doctor” relates a tale of the supernatural!

“Bewitched: My stomach was bloated too, but now it’s come back to normal again.

What I want to say: ?

What I say: Yes? tell me more?

Bewitched: I think someone put a curse on me.

What I want to say: No, I think someone put a curse on ME. Why do I always get the nutcases?

What I say: Who put a curse on you?

Bewitched: I used to go to this medium and help out at his place. But after a while I stopped going and he kept calling me at home and ask me to go over. When I refused, he sent evil spirits against me and I get this rash and my stomach bloated up.

What I want to say: Nice guy. I?m not even going to ask you what kind of ‘help’ he got from you? A priest and a medium… I wonder when the rabbi comes into this story.

What I say: Then what happened?

…read the rest of the story.

Native Illusions

Salon reviews Charles C. Mann’s new book “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus”. In the article reviewer Steve Kettmann sums up the effects of the book on his belief in the traditional Euro-centric narrative of the Americas before European settlement.

“What’s most shocking about “1491″ is the feeling it induces of waking up from a long dream and slowly realizing just how thoroughly one has been duped. We all knew there were problems with the old narrative of brave European settlers crossing the Atlantic to find an empty continent, but it’s jarring to discover, as Mann tells us, that in 1491 there were almost certainly more people living in the Americas than in Europe — and that, in many ways, American civilizations of the time were as advanced as anything across the ocean.”

The myths of scattered isolated tribes (who are portrayed as either noble savages or merely savage) is decimated in the book which presents a complex, advanced, populace people who had made advances in land management, class structure, and government that would take the European settlers generations to rival. Amazon.com reviewer Tom Nissley encapsulates some of the new information this book introduces.

“The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, unused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even “timeless” natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.”

In an interview about the book, author Charles C. Mann also debunks the origin of Kennewick Man

“Incidentally, there has been speculation that Kennewick Man was from Europe, largely based on an early reconstruction of his face that made him look a bit like the actor Patrick Stewart. More recent reconstructions based on better data have eliminated that resemblance. And in any case there is no evidence that I am aware of that solidly suggests a link to Europe-and lots of evidence against it, beginning with the fact that Indians are genetically linked with the peoples of Siberia.”

It becomes clear that if it were not for endemic disease striking the Native populations our history would be very different today. Casting away presumptions of how the native peoples of the Americas lived will not only help reshape how we consider their descendants today but on how we perceive our own “primitive” pasts.

The Trouble With God-Fearing Nations

The Times has published a story on a study published by The Journal of Religion and Society entitled “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies”.

Here is what The Times thinks it says:

“Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.”

Here is the actual conclusion of the author:

“The United States’ deep social problems are all the more disturbing because the nation enjoys exceptional per capita wealth among the major western nations. Spending on health care is much higher as a portion of the GDP and per capita, by a factor of a third to two or more, than in any other developing democracy. The U.S. is therefore the least efficient western nation in terms of converting wealth into cultural and physical health. Understanding the reasons for this failure is urgent, and doing so requires considering the degree to which cause versus effect is responsible for the observed correlations between social conditions and religiosity versus secularism. It is therefore hoped that this initial look at a subject of pressing importance will inspire more extensive research on the subject. Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions? There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms. It is the responsibility of the research community to address controversial issues and provide the information that the citizens of democracies need to chart their future courses.“

The study was done to spur more study into the relationship of religion and societal health. It makes no dramatic sweeping conclusions. It asks that these issues be studied and looked at. Furthermore the study if anything doesn’t damn religion as a whole. It says that Western governments who are more secular are doing better on issues of societal health.

This should be a jumping-on point for people of faith to examine how religion is affecting politics in America. Are Christians who want more political influence inadvertently holding America back from a society that they would find more desirable (at least in terms of societal health)? I know that as a person who adheres to a minority faith I want to see more examination of how government and our policies are influenced by Christian thought.

ADDENDUM: The Revealer calls the study “a step backwards for social science.”

Is America a churchgoing nation? Various studies place Americans’ attendance of religious services (a category including more than just church services) at around 40 percent, hardly a representative majority. Is America God-blessed by consensus? One only needs to look at the recent court ruling concerning the “under God” clause of the Pledge of Allegiance to know the answer. Is skepticism the only alternative to Christianity? Where would America’s Muslims, Pagans, and practitioners of Falun Gong fall under Paul’s study?

Singing In The Rainbow Choir

Scandinavian newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has a lovely profile of choir director, musician, and modern Pagan Veera Voima.

Veera Voima (photo by Pentti Koskinen)

Voima leads Finland’s Rainbow Choir. The choir is made up of immigrants to Finland who sing traditional music from their countries of origin. The choir is a way to introduce these cultures to a Finnish audience and help integrate the immigrants into Finnish life.

“For those who have moved here, to a foreign environment, it is an enormously big deal to get to teach their songs to others. The pride and joy in one??s own culture can be heard by the listeners” – Veera Voima

In addition to the Rainbow Choir (organized by the Kassandra group), Voima is also the conductor of folk music group Hytkyt and leader of the trio Suo which does traditional rune-singing.

“The Kalevala-esque rune singing, old myths, and especially incantations are the biggest thing in the world for me. They represent the oldest culture that has been preserved in Finland. A definite roots thing” – Veera Voima

Suo will be touring the Eastern EU member states next year performing the Finnish rune singing. You can download two songs by Suo at their website “Ohtoseni” (the bear spell) and “Saunaloitsu” (the healing words used in a sauna).

When Legends Collide

What do you get when legendary comics writer and warlock Alan Moore interviews legendary musical pioneer Brian Eno for a BBC radio show?

Something like this:

Alan Moore: In 1975 you had presentiments of doom, not for the first time, which culminated in an encounter with what Alan Ginsberg called The Taxi Cabs of Absolute Reality, I believe… On your way to hospital after this accident you felt quite strongly that you’d brought this on yourself. Which reminded me of William Burroughs’ sudden premonition on the day before he accidentally killed his wife where he was talking about being possessed by what he called the ‘ugly spirit’. Do you have any thoughts about these self destructive energies. I mean, what are they for?

Brian Eno: Yes, I do actually. I have a lot of thoughts about that. I started having a mid-life crisis when I was about eighteen… and it has continued ever since and one of the continuing narratives of that crisis is, “Is what I’m doing worth doing… at all? Is there any point in doing this?” And because I’m very interested in the sciences and I know a lot of scientists and I can see what they are doing and I can sort of understand the point of what they’re doing … I’ve spent a long time trying to figure out what the point of being an artist is. What does it do for us? What does it do for me? What does it do for anybody else? Could we do without it? Is it a useful job? Does it make any difference to the world?… those kinds of questions. Now, their answers quite directly affect me because I’m not intellectually dishonest enough to always answer in my own favour. So sometimes I come up with the answer… for several years at a time sometimes… where I say it really isn’t worth doing. There are better ways of spending your time… and this is a sort of crisis, because then I don’t know what to do and I think, “Well, the only way to find out is by trying it again and seeing if I can get somewhere different this time.” And if I find myself going down the same road again I think this is hopeless. I’m in such a privileged, luxury position I can do whatever I want and I’m doing the same thing as I did before.

For more fun of this sort, there is a transcript of the previous show where Moore himself was in the interview chair.

That’s One Media-Savvy Wiccan

The Dalai Lama spoke on Sunday to 36,000 people at Rutgers University. Reporters when covering events of this nature are always looking for colorful quotes from the audience to spice up an article. But what are the chances that two different reporters would interview the same Wiccan? Pretty good it turns out.

From John Chadwick at the North Jersey Media Group:

“Jimi Schultz of Wood-Ridge said he was eager to see a spiritual giant. ‘Just the energy resonance that comes from him,’ said Schultz, who practices Wicca, a pre-Christian form of religion that emphasizes nature and ancient Celtic deities. ‘He can cleanse the whole stadium.’”

From John Majeski at the Home News Tribune:

“Although his religion is Wicca, Wood-Ridge resident Jimi Schultz said he draws on many ideas of Buddhism. ‘I love the teaching, the whole essence,’ Schultz said. The 31-year-old, who works in public relations, said yesterday was an opportunity to ‘just be in his presence . . . his vibe.’”

In fact, neither reporter talked to an actual practicing Buddhist! How is that possible? I guess working in “public relations” pays off.

Beware the Night Things!

The delightfully wicked, clever, and esoteric comic book “Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things” is being made into a feature film by Fox 2000 and New Regency.

Courtney Crumrin by Ted Naifeh

The books, created by Ted Naifeh, center on the adventures of Courtney Crumrin a normal teenage girl who when her vapid and greedy parents hit financial hard times move into the Victorian home of rich Uncle Aloysius. Crumrin soon finds out that her Uncle is a famous magician and that the world of the fey, mystic orders, and witches’ covens is a lot more real and closer than she imagined!

The script will be written by Graham Tallman and will be produced by Stan Winston, Brian J. Gilbert, and Karen Davis.

Documentary in a Strange Land

There is a new documentary dealing with The Church of All Worlds called “Strange Land” that has finished production and is looking for a distributor.

Here is the production blurb:

“Strange Land, a documentary about the neo-pagan Church of All Worlds, provides a portrait of polyamorous founder Oberon Ravenheart and other major players in Church politics; the film follows Church members as they perform rituals, raise unicorns, search for mermaids, and come to terms with the ego of their founder.”

You can read a recent interview with Oberon (co-founder of CAW) and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart conducted by LaSara Firefox at the Widdershins site. In the interview Oberon states that CAW is ready for a re-birth from its current moribund state.

“Right now we are securing a legal foundation, we’ve re-upped our registration in the state of California; we’re getting all the pieces in place. We’ve precipitated our resurrection.”

In other documentary news I rented a biography of famed Hindu convert and Timothy Leary compatriot Ram Dass called “Fierce Grace” which I found utterly compelling to watch. If anything the stroke he suffered in 1997 has deepened him as a person. Worth a watch no matter what your spiritual tradition.

Lines In The Sand

As the culture wars between the “secular” left and the “religious” right heat up will either party notice the widening split between the “Judeo-Christians” and other faith traditions?

It seems that Hindu, Buddhist, and Native groups have aligned themselves with a modern Pagan refused a rotation in a public prayer ceremony because her faith tradition wasn’t “Judeo-Christian” in origin. The Hindu American Foundation along with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the Association on American Indian Affairs have filed a brief in support of Simpson’s case.

This, I believe, represents a shift in thinking (or at least strategy) on the part of these larger American faith traditions. I don’t think this shift is a little thing. Non-Christian faith groups are feeling increasingly marginalized in our recent trend towards an obsessively Christ-centric society lately and as Paul Krassner writing for The Nation points out modern Pagan stuggles are becoming a “canary in the culture-wars coal mine”.

This new alliance could change the way our faiths are encountered and regarded by mainstream America. Buddhists, Native American religion and spirituality, and Hinduism are seen as acceptable non-Christian faith traditions by a large segment of the population. As such they are left alone by the religious culture warriors on the right. While modern Paganism with its associations with magic(k) and witchcraft has been traditionally viewed as “fair game” for evangelical efforts and small court battles.

Expect this alliance to strengthen as “moderate” Christians try to accomodate the more hardline evangelicals by introducing more Bible study into public schools and rolling over on the issue of evolution. For the growing number of children who don’t subscribe to a biblical worldview the issue of Christian dogma sneaking into education is becoming a serious one that non-Christian faith groups can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch happen.

So while Christians in America continue the battle between “lefty” Jesus and “righty” Jesus expect to see more faith traditions that don’t come from Abraham to start banding together to make their voices heard.

I won’t be surprised if the Unitarian-Universalists join such an alliance soon considering the fact that Wiccan Cynthia Simpson is heading to seminary and plans to become a UU minister.