(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
A Connecticut-based animal cruelty task force is leaping into action after six beheaded chickens were found in a parking lot. Some speculate the animals were the results of a Santeria ritual.
“The eight-member Task Force on Animal Cruelty and the Circle of Violence will consider a growing number of animal abuse incidents in the state and their relationship to domestic violence, child abuse and other types of aggression, said Rep. Diane Urban, D-Stonington, who chairs the task force The group hopes to report back with possible policy changes including tougher consequences that could deter animal cruelty, by late this year, Urban said … ‘There is a lot of information that indicates those who display this kind of behavior might escalate it toward wives and children.’”
While actual animal cruelty might be a warning sign for escalating violence, there is no basis for making the same claim regarding ritualized animal sacrifice in a religious context. A point seemingly lost on Rep. Urban, who conflates sacrificing chickens with dog fighting.
“Whether it’s beheading chickens or dog fighting, it is an alarming sign of people not recognizing the sanctity of an animal’s existence.”
In reality, proper animal sacrifice pays very close attention to the sanctity of that animal’s existence, something your local KFC can’t claim. It should be interesting to see how this unfolds, and if the task force will target ritualized animal sacrifice in the interest of stopping animal cruelty.
The Chicago ABC affiliate reports on the publishing of “The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close”, and recounts some of the exploits of this seminal improvisational comedian.
“A small-town Kansas boy, his early life included stints as a carnie and traveling horror show assistant. Close hung out with a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, and also became the embodiment of the Beat Generation. He overcame alcohol addiction using an extreme form of aversion therapy and gave up cocaine with the help of a banishing ceremony performed by a Wiccan coven.”
Considering the fact that pre-Scientology Hubbard was heavily into ritual magick, and the fact that a Wiccan coven performed a banishing ceremony for him, you have to wonder if Del Close was a practitioner himself.
It looks like the new BBC-produced television series “Merlin”, starring “Buffy” alum Anthony Head, will be appearing on American network television come the Fall/Winter season.
“While most of NBC’s new shows had been previously reported, Peacock surprised with its acquisition of “Merlin”. FremantleMedia is distributing the series, which is being produced by Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine for the BBC. Murdoch recently acquired the Silverman-founded Reveille. BBC will air the show this fall, with NBC running it in the winter. It’s a reversal of the usual Blighty-U.S. programming pipeline.”
NBC will also be pulling in the supernatural Canadian drama “The Listener” and the Biblically inspired “Kings” (about a modern-day King David). Kudos to the network for pulling in some talent from Canada and the UK, lets hope it’s a trend that continues.
George Phillies, a candidate for the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential race, is courting the Pagan vote.
“Bigotry is a key theme of right-wing Republicanism, going back to the KKK and Concerned Citizens Councils,” Phillies said. “Like all other patriotic Americans, Libertarians believe that Freedom of Religion is for everyone. No real Libertarian will ever ask that a religion’s harmless practices be banned. This Fall, please take a stand against Republican bigotry. Please vote Libertarian.”
If Phillies actually clinches the Libertarian nomination, which seems a bit unlikely at this point, he could be the first openly Pagan-friendly presidential candidate to appear on a nationwide ballot. You can head over to Phillies web site to learn more about his campaign.
In a final note, an interesting exchange is taking place on the Christianity Today web site. Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko, Judaic Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, calls out Stan Guthrie, an editor at CT, for his endorsement of the “The Gospel and the Jewish People – An Evangelical Statement”. A document signed by several prominent evangelical leaders that advocates a “loving” and “respectful” re-dedication to converting the Jews. Poupko’s response is forthright, blunt, and gets right to the heart of the cultural and spiritual dilution and eradication at the heart of most monotheistic missionary efforts.
“The basis of interfaith conversation must be mutual sacred rejection, a clear understanding of the irreconcilable differences between the faith communities … I reject what is most sacred to the Christian. I am prepared to die for it, as have my ancestors before me. The Christian rejects what is most sacred to me, and is likewise prepared to die for it. Only after respectful mutual sacred rejection, can we identify those beliefs that we share in common … I don’t want Christians to instruct me on what to believe.”
At the end of the exchange, Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko exclaims that Guthrie, as a Christian, is “capable of understanding me only in your terms.” A common evangelical attitude that can deeply damage healthy dialog and relations between faiths. Poupko’s refusal to acknowledge Jewish conversion attempts as “loving”, while coming from a very different perspective than the Pagan one, is nonetheless an attitude shared by many who wish to grow their faiths in peace without worrying over ever-evolving evangelistic tactics to thwart that growth.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
12 responses so far
There’s more about Stan Guthrie (who is married to my sister) in my blog, http://ravanoid.blogspot.com/, from years ago. I can’t stand reading his column – it’s so full of right-wing ditto-head evangeloid garbage that it makes me see red. He’s a nice guy in person, but his religious viewpoints make me ill. The guy has the convert-fervor blinders and rose-colored glasses on.
No, he won’t grow out of it – the rest of the family has been trying for years to gently educate him about other people, and real tolerance.
Yes, Del Close was a Wiccan. Not certain what trad, but I seem to recall it may have been Gardnerian or an offshoot thereof. He was pretty open about it, and used to mention the Goddess, and full moons and such. I didn’t know him well, but our paths crossed numerous times when I was involved in the Improve scene in the Chicago theatre community.
Heh, that should be “improv” not “improve”… guess I should improve my improv. Or just remember to preview before publishing.
Representative Urban is right in his assessment that beheading chickens ritually equates to the animal cruelty of dog fighting. I am a Pagan of more than twenty years, and I find the trend toward the reintegration of animal sacrifice into ritual and worship backward and philosophically problematic, since blood sacrifice is a scapegoating activity. Elevating it above the abuses of the factory farming industry does not address that philosophical element of the practice, and frankly, not all Pagan practices are worth defending.
“blood sacrifice is a scapegoating activity”
Do you have any sources that point to all animal sacrifices in all Pagan cultures were scapegoating activities? Specifically the African and Afro-Caribbean traditions?
Do you have any sources which point to the idea that all animal sacrifices in all Pagan cultures paid/pay very close attention to the sanctity of the sacrificial animals’ existences? Certainly dumping beheaded chickens in a parking lot belies the idea of sanctity for an animal’s life, I should think.
In order to have the source material both you and I have requested of each other, a researcher would have to make a sufficiently scholarly cross-cultural study of animal sacrifice, past and present and then present those findings to the public in such a way that both you and I could access them. Afterward, we would both have to rephrase our questions to one another such that they were honest requests for dialogue and not impossible questions that cannot be answered and were only asked to prove a point.
The matter of animal sacrifice, and every other serious matter facing the Pagan community deserve the best and most serious dialogue we can bring to it, even when we disagree with one another strongly (as Pagans often do). I am happy to enter into dialogue. I do not answer impossible questions.
“The matter of animal sacrifice, and every other serious matter facing the Pagan community deserve the best and most serious dialogue we can bring to it…”
I completely and fully agree.
There are many religious practices that our illegal in the United States, and members of those religions have had to learn to adjust to this. Hopefully as we move towards a more compassionate society (even if it does not seem so right now) sacrificing nonhuman animals will be seen being as horrific as sacrificing human animals.
I am a little burnt out on reading about this every week and even more burnt out on hearing how animal sacrifice is so much kinder than the current treatment of the of livestock. I don’t partake in either and also support organizations that seek to enstablish laws to help farm animals, so the point is lost on me.
“I am a little burnt out on reading about this every week and even more burnt out on hearing how animal sacrifice is so much kinder than the current treatment of the of livestock. I don’t partake in either…”
Ari,
I’m sorry to hear you are burnt out on this issue. I don’t seek out these stories intentionally, I simply report them as they arise.
Considering the fact that I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t engage in animal sacrifice, I can assure you that I’m not engaging in these issues to further a personal agenda.
In Santeria as in all the afro-Carrib traditions animals are sacrificed to “feed” the spirits, and often there is a feast where celebrants and gods share the meat together.
In these traditions, which are not part of the neo-Pagan movement so it is unfair to judge them by those standards, the gods and spirits are considered to have needs and desires similar to a human.
The birds may also have been a “payment” for the spirits in a ritual. Either way it isn’t a “scapegaoting” activity but is an important facet of a rich and interesting tradition.
It is pure ethnocentricism for people to equate Santeria with dog fighting. The Santeria practitioners are not breaking the law (animal sacrifice is protected according to the Supreme Court) and they certainly aren’t attempting to change your religious rites to not offend they’re sensibilities, I like to give them the same respect they give us.
Their ritual sacrifice is no more cruel than Halal slaughtering or Kosherbutchering, yet I doubt commenters here or god-bothering law makers will be fretting over those practices.
I sincerely doubt the people who left beheaded chickens in a parking lot were actual members of a Yoruba-derived tradition, since sacrifice in all those traditions is done with great care and that the meat is never wasted, it is consumed by the celebrants and given freely to the community. I’m not a Santera but I have friends who practice and have enjoyed a respectful working relationship with several orishas on occasion. Regardless of how you feel about animal sacrifice (and I am ambivalent about it, personally), people need to stop being ignorant about it, put the PETA literature down and pick up a freaking book on Santeria or speak to someone who practices. Some Pagans sound no different than a Chick tract about Wicca. And it comes from the same place: fear and disgust about something that is little understood.
Hellfire has it right. If I were feeling particularly uncharitable, I’d chalk the outrage up to more than simple ethnocentrism, but I’m feeling a bit jaded at the moment. It’s just a little tiring to see yet more middle class white Pagan outrage at those damned brown people’s “savage” practices.
The fact that some of you will then go on to wring your hands and wonder why you just can’t get brown people to show up to your rituals is kind of funny.
“Their ritual sacrifice is no more cruel than Halal slaughtering or Kosherbutchering, yet I doubt commenters here or god-bothering law makers will be fretting over those practices.”
“Hellfire has it right. If I were feeling particularly uncharitable, I’d chalk the outrage up to more than simple ethnocentrism, but I’m feeling a bit jaded at the moment. It’s just a little tiring to see yet more middle class white Pagan outrage at those damned brown people’s “savage” practices.
The fact that some of you will then go on to wring your hands and wonder why you just can’t get brown people to show up to your rituals is kind of funny.”
These statements shift the focus of the discussion from the subject of the debate to the character of the debaters. Because of this, they are ad hominem attacks. Both Ari and I confined our comments to the subject of Mr. Pitzl-Waters’ blog entry, while the comments quoted above diverged from a discussion of the issues to an attack upon our characters. So as tempting as it might be to defend myself here, I think I have to simply reiterate that I am happy to enter into dialogue. However, ad hominem attacks are not valid approaches to dialogue.