(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
A Spiritualist/Wiccan shop in Crewe (a town in south Cheshire, England) is being forced out of business by continual harassment from local Christians.
“Lunacy at Sarah’s in Market Street opened 18 months ago but since then it has suffered a barrage of protests and even had Bibles thrown at the shop. Now co-owner Lucy Molyneux says it can’t stay open for more than a couple of months longer. She said: ‘We are still having the same problems we always had. People are now coming in and putting flyers and notices inside our products, saying that what we are doing is wrong.’”
You know, I love that part in the Bible where Jesus tells his followers to harass people until their dream is destroyed. It really shines a light on Christian ethics.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed lawsuits on behalf of three couples who had their marriages nullified due to an officiant who wasn’t the head of an established congregation. Two of those marriages were performed by officiants who received their credentials from the Internet-based Universal Life Church.
“The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed the first three lawsuits today in a planned statewide challenge of a recent judicial declaration stating that marriages are invalid if presided over by a minister who does not regularly serve a church or preach in a physical house of worship. The ruling potentially endangers thousands of marriages in Pennsylvania.”
Considering the fact that many modern Pagans across the country lean on ULC ordinations to perform legal wedding ceremonies, and because many Pagan groups don’t have a “congregation” in the sense that a Christian priest does, the outcome here should be closely watched. For a previous post on this issue, click here.
On Faith does a brief spotlight on Ernesto Pichardo, founder of the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, and his quest to bring the rare book of Santerian/Yoruban knowledge “The Book of Diagnosis in Ifa Divination” to the eyes of scholars.
“Sometimes, says Cuban-born Ernesto Pichardo, it seems like he’s been campaigning nonstop for 30 years. Twenty-one years ago Pichardo, a Santeria priest, took a fight for the right to practice his religion all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — and won. Now he wages a different campaign. The priest is leading an effort to make his religion’s sacred text, the Book of Diagnosis in Ifa Divination, widely available for scholars. Written in Spanish and Yoruba, the book combines Yoruba and Afro-Cuban history with culture, philosophy, metaphysics, religion, and spiritual knowledge…”
For previous coverage of this issue, click here.
International outcry has developed over the case of Fawza Falih in Saudi Arabia. Falih was arrested in 2005 and convicted of “witchcraft”. An order of execution “in the public interest” was placed despite a an appeal court decision saying she should not be executed.
“In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice. The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read. Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.”
Only the direct involvement of King Abdullah (George W. Bush’s good pal) can now save the woman. Will Abdullah defy the courts over the life of an illiterate woman? More importantly, is this case the harbinger of worse yet to come?
In the wake over fears concerning the establishment of sharia law in places like England and Canada, The Economist wonders how much of a right faiths should have to run their own affairs and regulate their adherents’ lives.
“In every democratic and more-or-less secular country, similar questions arise about the precise extent to which religious sub-cultures should be allowed to live by their own rules and ‘laws’. One set of questions emerges when believers demand, and often get, an opt-out from the law of the land. Sikhs in British Columbia can ride motorcycles without helmets; some are campaigning for the right not to wear hard hats on building sites. Muslims and Jews slaughter animals in ways that others might consider cruel; Catholic doctors and nurses refuse to have anything to do with abortion or euthanasia.”
This issue affects modern Pagans as well. Our moral codes are often freer, and based on personal responsibility (or a guiding ethos), instead of a list of rigid “commandments”. An ethic that often flies in the face of Christian lawmakers. Restrictive marriage ordinances, the ban on entheogens, bans on divination, what is allowable on private property, and “religious freedom” laws that privilege the majority have all affected our communities in the past. So we should navigate this issue carefully, because while many of may find sharia codes distasteful, laws made to control them could also end up controlling other religious minorities as well.
In a final note, today is the start of Pantheacon, the largest indoor Pagan-oriented convention on the west coast (just in time to celebrate Lupercalia). If you are attending, be sure to stop by Anne Hill’s Serpentine Music booth where you’ll find some great A Darker Shade of Pagan-approved merchandise and swag. Including copies of Monica Richard’s masterful “InfraWarrior” CD, and a chance to pre-order a physical copy of the amazing “John Barleycorn Reborn” compilation. Plus, if you give the “secret blog-reader handshake” Anne may show you my list of music recommendations!
That is all I have for now, have a fertile Lupercalia, and a great day!
One response so far
With regard to the issue of ULC ordinations being considered invalid, the marriage statute in Kentucky states that marriages may be solemnized by any religious leader “who is in regular communion with a religious body or order.”
In Tennessee, the law authorizes any “priest, rabbi, minister, or other religious leader who has the care of souls” to solemnize marriages, and further requires that the body ordaining said person provide for ordinations “by a considered, deliberate, and responsible act.” Tennessee further requires that ministers conduct four hours of pre-marital counseling with the couple prior to the ceremony.
The law in Connecticut has stated since the late 18th Century that marriages may be solemnized by persons who “are settled in the work of Ministry.”
All of these laws were in effect well before Rev Kirby Hensley started the ULC. If this works a hardship on pagans whose only qualification to perform marriages is a ULC ordination certificate they got off the Internet, perhaps they might want to consider finding out what the law in their state is BEFOREHAND, and figuring out how they want to go about contriving to comply with the same law that every other religion’s clergy must comply with.