[You can read part one of this entry, here.]

05. Jose Merced, Santeria, and Animal Sacrifice: The battles over animal sacrifice, and the legal rights of adherents to Santeria, were in my top ten last year, and things have only intensified since then. The biggest story was the resolution of a case involving a Santero, Jose Merced, who was restricted from practicing his religion in Euless, Texas, due to the town’s animal slaughter laws. Merced, who lost his initial challenge to the law, was backed in his appeal by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and ultimately prevailed in his case.

“If this decision is ultimately allowed to stand, Merced v. City of Euless could be the case that takes the precedent initially established in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah nationwide, clearing the way for legal animal sacrifice in religious ceremonies.”

As sweet as this victory, and the precedents it sets, has been for adherents to Santeria in America, the faith is still a long way away from acceptance or mainstream understanding. One had only to look at the variety of random dead-animal cases blamed on Santeros and Santeras (or other African Diasporic Faiths) as proof that they have a long way to go.

“We are left to guess what “evidence” led the authorities to guess it was a ritualistic matter, and what, exactly, makes them point the finger at “Santeria” or “Palo Mayombe”. While people of “African, Central American, Haitian, Cuban or Caribbean decent” lay low, will we eventually find out it was some disturbed teen? Why only people of color? Is it because these police know that white people never do crazy things and give them a ritualistic veneer? Again, this is a recipe for misinformation, stereotyping, and ultimately, discrimination.”

Perhaps now that we have a new Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, who has publicly stated that distinctions between “traditional” and “non-traditional” religions” are “intolerable”, and has actually ruled favorably on cases involving adherents to Santeria, we can start to see a slow turn-around in the misconceptions and slanders that pass for wisdom among police and animal control officers. But as we enter the new year with yet another lurid Santeria dead-animal case on our hands, that turn-around seems far away and slow in coming.

04. Pagans at the Parliament of the World’s Religions: If there was one event that could point to how far modern Pagans have come in terms of international visibility and relevance in the last twenty years, it would have to be the role we play in the Parliament of the World’s Religions. From a curiosity (and scandal to some) in 1993, to having three Pagans serving on the Parliament’s executive council in 2009. Simply put, our participation and movement toward leadership roles within the global interfaith community in the last fifteen years is extraordinary. We are emerging as a significant world-wide religious movement at a time where our voice and perspective is increasingly relevant and needed.

This Parliament also saw Pagan organizations really reaching out to share the work, discussions, and connections there were being made in Melbourne. With several collaborative efforts being made to give a picture of what Pagan participation in this event was like. Even though there were some mis-communications and controversies in the process, it also made many people feel invested in these events for the first time, and no doubt paved the way for even greater things to come in the future. Modern Paganism is a global phenomenon now, and we are starting to make our voice heard globally.

03. The International Epidemic of Witch Hunts: Thousands of innocent men, women, and children are currently being killed, displaced, and abused because someone, somewhere, believes they practice “sorcery” or “witchcraft”. This state of affairs has grown so large that UN officials are  saying that this is an international problem that is destroying the lives of millions. Far from being a localized phenomenon in “primitive” or isolated villages, witch hunts and witch killings are now global in nature and spreading. Some have stated that this isn’t our problem because the victims aren’t modern Pagans, or that by expressing concern over this trend, we are somehow conflating ourselves with these poor souls, but I think this attitude fails to look at the larger picture. That, as I said yesterday, Paganism is now global, and we have thriving communities in the “over there” places like India and South Africa that are dealing directly with this madness. That we are being naive to think such lunacy could never spread to the “First World”.

“The anger and hardship that cries out for a scapegoat is right here in our backyard. Right now “socialism” or “the government” may be the popular/populist nightmare,  but that can change. A global epidemic of witch-hunts is our issue, not because we share some theological bond with a “witch” killed in Nigeria, or imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, but because we don’t live in an enlightened vacuum, free from the troubles of the “third world” … those of us who are “safe” need to realize that what happens to “witches” in India and Papua New Guinea is no longer a string of  isolated incidents that will always stay “over there”. A “global” problem means it could indeed happen here, and perhaps sooner than any of us would want to admit.”

That fact that churches in America, Australia, and the UK send funds to churches in Africa that engage in witch-hunting only further proves how interconnected this problem is to our homes. Though, to be fair, some countries need no money or encouragement from the West in executing supposed heretics and witches. Luckily some countries, like Nepal, and India, are doing something to reverse this trend, but we need an international initiative of education, aid, and reform if we are to ever see the end of this ongoing tragedy. In the meantime, for those who want to help the witch-children in Africa, two good organizations to send money to are Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN (Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network). In India you can support the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.

02. Patrick McCollum’s Chaplaincy Case, and his Meeting With the Obama Administration: In 2008, Pagan chaplain Patrick McCollum made this list for his historic testimony concerning the treatment of Pagan prisoners before the US Commission on Civil Rights. His work continues, and this year two events have made McCollum especially newsworthy and important. First, despite some recent setbacks, his ongoing battle to overturn the California prison system’s “five faiths policy”, which limits the hiring of paid chaplains to Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents, has gained a coalition of  new allies.

“Though a judge recently ruled against McCollum in February (twice), saying he had no standing to challenge the policy , his federal-court appeal is gaining support from groups like the Anti-Defamation League (PDF) and Americans United (PDF) … Other groups filing amicus briefs in support of McCollum’s appeal were The Interfaith Alliance, the Hindu American Foundation, and Pagan organizations like Cherry Hill Seminary.”

This is a heartening development in the fight to see Pagan inmates afforded the same rights and treatment as other prisoners, one that may finally lead to this case being fully heard in court.

Secondly, McCollum, while at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, managed to meet with Obama Administration officials concerning how to improve interfaith relations, and limit discrimination.

“According to Rev. McCollum, the meeting was about how the Obama Administration can advance Interfaith relations in the United States. After McCollum’s discussion, officials from the White House sought him out, to have him meet with top officials of the administration to discuss how to limit discrimination and promote Interfaith education in the United States as well as internationally. Upon his return to the states, Patrick McCollum may be able to meet with members with the Justice department as well as the Offices of Faith Based Initiatives to discuss the many outstanding situations that are currently within the American court system.”

That McCollum’s strong voice for the equal treatment of Pagans, whether in prison, or out in the world, was heard in the halls of power here in America is an amazing step forward for all modern Pagans and other adherents of minority faiths. A sign that our issues and needs are being taken seriously, and that we are taking our place at the table in larger discussions concerning the role of faith in our society.

01. Dan Halloran Elected: This one was almost too easy. On November 3rd, 2009, Republican candidate Dan Halloran was elected as the next New York City Councilman for District 19. Why is that so special? He also happens to be an adherent of Theodism, and a member of New York’s Pagan community.

Dan Halloran

“While Dan Halloran isn’t the first openly Pagan candidate running for political office, he may be the first to actually have a shot at winning. Halloran, who is running as an “independent” Republican against Democrat Kevin Kim for a seat on the New York City Council, was recently outed as a prominent Theodsman by the Queens Tribune.”

Despite a campaign that was fraught with mud-slinging, rumors, bad journalism, and accusations of sabotage, Halloran emerged victorious, and proved that an out Pagan can win political office, even in the face of adversity.

“Halloran’s win [has] broken down barriers that will greatly benefit future Pagan adherents looking to get involved in the political process. It has proven that while no race in the near future will be easy for an “out” Pagan, in the right circumstances we can win.”

As if to further prove that point, in addition to Halloran’s historic win in New York, we also learned this year that Jessica Orsini, Alderwoman, 3rd Ward, City of Centralia, Missouri, is a Hellenic polytheist reconstructionist, and that the city of Asheville is happy to elect a post-theist Unitarian-Universalist to their city council. It drives home a message that the “broom closet”, if you want any real part in shaping our culture, should be a thing of the past. That if we stand up, even under bad circumstances, and just be who we are, we can, and will, succeed. It won’t be easy, and we won’t win every time, but if we are to embrace our movement’s future and move it forward, we have to be honest and proud of our identities.

In the words of Harvey Milk:

“You must come out. Come out… to your parents… I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives… come out to your friends… if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors… to your fellow workers… to the people who work where you eat and shop… come out only to the people you know, and who know you. Not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions.”

Here comes the future folks, let’s get ready for it.

That wraps up my top ten news stories about or affecting modern Paganism in 2009. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll join me for another year of sifting through the news and views of interest to our communities. See you in 2010!

As we reach the close of 2009, it is time to stop for a moment and take stock of the previous year. When you look at (and for) news stories regarding modern Paganism (and related topics) every day of the year, you can sometimes lose focus on the larger picture. So it can be a helpful thing to look at the broad strokes, the bigger themes, the events and developments that will have lasting impact on the modern Pagan movement. What follows are my picks for the top ten stories from this past year involving or affecting modern Pagans.

10. Counting (and not counting) the Pagans: Just as the Pew Forum’s 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey gave us new insights into just how many Pagans there are in America, so too does the release of Trinity College’s American Religious Identification Survey data in March of this year. The ARIS survey, like the Pew Forum, showed that modern Pagan religions remain vital and growing.

“As you can see, ‘New Religious Movements and Other Religions’ packed on over a million adherents since 2001, and over 1.5 million in the last twenty years. That brings the total of “others” to nearly 3 million … Both Pew and ARIS give “other” faiths 1.2% of the (American) pie. That in turn seems to back up my earlier assertion that there are at least one million modern Pagans in America (probably more like 1.5 million), add in the over half-million UUs (around 20% of whom are “earth-based” or Pagan) close to a million practitioners of Santeria (in North America), and a few hundred thousand indigenous practitioners, and it seems clear that notions of our continued (slow and steady) growth aren’t unfounded.” in some respect),

Paganism’s healthy growth among the “others”, wasn’t the only survey or poll that was of interest. We also saw proof that America is far more religiously eclectic than some might have imagined, that quite a few Pagans are politically active, and that around half of Americans have heard of Wicca (and aren’t too impressed).

However, not all polling organizations thought Pagans (and other “others”) were worth counting.

“Why were “other” non-Christians not included? No Muslims, no Buddhists, no Pagans. Nothing. They must have that data, so why not release it with the rest? It can’t be simple numerical preferences since the recent ARIS data puts “NRMs and Other Religions” on par with religiously observant Jews and just behind the Mormons, two groups that were included in the released data. Is it down to political influence? I’ve sent a request to Gallup to release the “others” data, but haven’t received a response yet.”

Of course, if you want something done right, why not do it yourself? Pagan scholar Helen Berger, co-author of “Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States”, along with fellow researchers James R. Lewis and Henrik Bogdan, revisited the Pagan Census project this year. I very much look forward to seeing what the updated data will say about our movement.

09. Modern Paganism Goes Global: Even though the emergence of modern Paganism is a well known story in places like Britain, America, and Australia, we saw this year that the modern Pagan impulse has become a truly global phenomenon. Receiving press attention in places like India, Israel, Russia, and South Africa, where an out Pagan serves as an MP.

“Meet Adrian Williams, the only pentacle-wearing witch in parliament. But the card-carrying ANC and South African Communist Party member, 43, from Mpumalanga has renounced the terms “witch” and “witchcraft” because he maintains the issue needs to be treated with sensitivity in South Africa. Williams practises “magick”, but calls himself a pagan or eclectic wiccan.”

As we move forward, we’ll need to start considering what it means that modern forms of Paganism are now truly “world” religions, and adjust our expectations and views of global events in light of that fact. Problems “over there” do affect us, because “we” are now “over there” too. In tomorrow’s top-five, we’ll explore some of the issues that a global Paganism faces, and what that may mean for us in interfaith settings.

08. Our Media Landscape and the Shifting Sands of Religious Journalism: The whole idea of a “top ten stories” list hinges on there being enough stories about modern Pagans to read and evaluate, and 2009 certainly made some wonder if that prospect might become harder in the near future. With the combination punch of an ascendant new-media and a lousy economy, lots of newspapers eliminated their religion beats (or shuttered completely), and some religion journalists anticipated the future being rather bleak.

“Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Paulson called religion-beat reporters a “dwindling band” who have suffered a “serious reversal of fortune” compared to a decade ago. Meanwhile, veteran religion-reporter Gary Stern blogged about his paper eliminating the religion beat, and Mollie at Get Religion wondered how these shake-ups will change the way that blog analyzes religion reporting.”

What does that mean for us? It could mean a lot less attention being paid to Pagans on the ever-dwindling religion-beat. That could be a big problem for those of us who want to stay informed, because our Pagan-created sources of news have had a rough time of things this year as well.

“After the recent merger of PanGaia and newWitch into Witches & Pagans, and the announcement of Thorn magazine ceasing their print edition, I decided to take the temperature of various Pagan periodicals and the resulting picture is rather grim. Of the 32 periodicals listed at the Witches’ Voice, only a handful seem to still be active, operating on a regular publishing schedule, and dealing primarily with Pagan subject matter. Modern Witch Magazine is “out of publication” after one year and three issues, Witch Eye: A Journal of Feri Uprising promises to return in 2009, but the clock is quickly running out for that deadline, and the two best-known Pagan newspapers PagaNet and Widdershins have been out of commission for years.”

We all need to get our content from somewhere, and while the best blogs and podcasts have been doing more and more primary-source journalism, we face a major deficit of news and information if our community doesn’t pull together to pick up some of that slack.  Projects to address this issue are still in their infancy, and it will take a serious amount of collaboration and cooperation to see a robust and thriving Pagan journalism emerge from these troubled times.

07. Paganism in Pop-Culture, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: While serious news may be hurting, the past 12 months have been one of the biggest in recent memory for Pagan themes in popular media. There was the Wiccan-centric episode of “The Simpsons”, the (awful) Wiccan-centric episode of “The Mentalist”, Santeria on “CSI”, a maenad on “True Blood”, and we remained popular on a variety of reality television programs. Still, it wasn’t all awful on the little screen, Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” was a beautiful endorsement of American-grown pantheistic nature religion.

“While the bulk of the twelve hours is spent recounting various grass-roots efforts and political struggles over park creation, almost the entire first episode is devoted to the spiritual dimension of nature (called, appropriately enough, “The Scripture of Nature”). Briefly referencing the influence of works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Burns makes ground-breaking naturalist and preservationist John Muir the centerpiece. “National Parks” clearly illustrates how his unique brand of Christian-colored pantheism (along with a keen scientific mind) would go on to inspire many, including President Theodore Roosevelt, to preserve vast swathes of American wilderness. The early episodes also take care to mention Native American spiritual and political perspectives, and extensively interviews National Parks superintendent, and Mandan-Hidatsa Indian, Gerard Baker (who says that John Muir would have made a good Medicine Man).”

Meanwhile, on the big screen, most of the big news were about films that we won’t see until 2010. There was news of the long-awaited companion/sequel to “The Wicker Man”, entitled “The Wicker Tree”, that is now filming. The film “Agora”, about the famous Neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, was adrift looking for an American distributor for months despite positive box office and reviews in Europe. Many thought it was because distributors were worried it might offend Christians. In addition, two upcoming Greek-myth-drenched films “Clash of the Titans” and “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” may make 2010 the year of pop-polytheism.

2009, however, seems to be the year of rampant Hollywood pantheism according to the various conservative critics who saw the blockbuster “Avatar”.

“So I guess the conservative intelligentsia has spoken (David Brooks must not have gotten the memo). Pantheism is bad, Hollywood is bad, Americans are foolish eclectic-syncretic Eckhart Tolle-reading dupes who love pantheism, and we (and our souls) are all in big (I assume) trouble. Of course this reading of Hollywood’s output is a tad skewed, and relies on a rather scatter-shot selection of films (“Dances With Wolves”, Disney’s “Pocahontas” and “The Lion King”, “Star Wars”, and, well, “Fern Gully”, I guess) to convince us that pantheism is the with-it thing in Hollywood and beyond. But it just doesn’t seem to line up as well as they seem to think it does.”

I can only imagine that my 2010 round-up will be even more full of surprises, disappointments, and opportunities than 2009. Oh, and speaking of pagan-ish pop-culture in 2009, some guy named Dan Brown released a book about Masons, it also made some conservatives unhappy.

06. Equal Treatment at Work and School, and the Litigation that Follows: This year has seen a lot of high-profile cases of discrimination (and alleged discrimination) of Pagans in the news. You had the Witch who was fired from the University of Nebraska receive a settlement, the Bath & Body Works manager who was fired for making a pilgrimage to Salem, and a Pagan employee of Google who claims he was mocked and fired for his faith. In addition to those cases, you had the school child who was accused of threatening demon possession, though the parent was not allowed to examine the evidence.

“Denise DeSadier was not allowed to read the accusations made against her son that got him suspended, and their veracity was seemingly never questioned by the principle (who assured a reporter from the local college paper that the matter was investigated fully) . Further, Shaun was forced to undergo an evaluation of his mental stability before being allowed to return to class, and this incident was placed in his permanent record, marking him as some sort of potential safety risk. Short of pursuing a lawsuit against the school, or dropping out altogether, there is no recourse for these accusations that have marred Shaun’s record.  Wishing only to finish high-school and move on to college, Shaun has jumped through the necessary hoops, and wants to move on with his life.”

In our search for equal treatment, in our slow integration into the mainstream, there will be those who want to destroy lives simply for being different. Who will use our litigation victories as a pretext to fan the populist flames to further their own careers. But I think these cases, disturbing as some of them are, are a sign of progress. That they highlight just how far we’ve come, a place where the ACLU readily fights for us, where our standing as “real religions” are usually taken as a given. We’ll no doubt see more cases like this in 2010, but I also think we’ll see fewer than 2009, and we’ll see even more victories establishing our equal protection and equal treatment under the law. These cases are big news, but I think we’ll see a day where they are truly rare.

Tomorrow I will post the top five Pagan stories for 2009. In the meantime, I invite you to check out the top religion stories from some different perspectives. Here are the Religion Newswriters Association’s picks, the top 10 from Time, the top 10 from The Telegraph, US News and World Report, and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Freedom.

I’ve got some Pagan music news tidbits I thought I’d share, starting with a new album by UK Pagan folk-rock band The Dolmen (MySpace page). The album, “The Crabchurch Conspiracy”, deals with the battles of 1645 in Weymouth during the English Civil War, and features narration by historian Professor Ronald Hutton (author of “Triumph of the Moon”).

“Prof Hutton said: “This is a spectacular subject for a musical album, and one rarely treated in that form. “The Dolmen make the result work really well, alternating bulletins of real history with electric folk, from high-energy dance to lament, which the band has always played to perfection. “I felt both entertained and moved. “It seemed at times as though a real voice was being given to the dead.” The CD is released following efforts to breathe fresh life into the old town hall, where some of the battle took place.”

The lyrics for the album were written by historian Mark Vine, who authored a book on the subject. You can download the spoken forward by Ronald Hutton, here. There are also several music samples on that page as well. You can order the CD from their web site through PayPal.

Turning from England to my former home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we find a profile of a new band called Cackle that are bringing a unique brand of self-described “pagan pop punk” to local stages.

“If you attend a live show, you might get asked to pull a tarot card from the deck, followed by a personal reading. You might notice a litany of lit candles twinkling about. You might even witness one of the members casting a circle of salt around the stage area to “keep all the good within and all the bad without,” says drummer Renee Bebeau. “We have to get the sacred space ready for rocking.” If you’re thinking it sounds like a witch’s coven, you’re not too far off base. These pagan performance elements aren’t random, they’re completely by design for a band that defines its genre as “pagan pop punk.” And while Cackle isn’t exactly chipper bubble gum pop, the music is far from the soundtrack to a dark, God-less existence.”

You can see a live video of their song “Nancy Reagan Was a Pagan” at their Facebook fan-page, their debut album is due out on New Year’s Eve. Details on how to pick up or download that album are no doubt forthcoming.

Netherlands Pagan goth-rock band The Dreamside released a new album on December 4th entitled “Lunar Nature”, available now from CD Baby, or for pre-order from Amazon.

“The music of “Lunar Nature” can be described as atmospherical gothic rock with a good mixture of heavy guitars, electronical elements and a proper shot of alternative rock. All this interwoven with Kemi Vita’s remarkable voice and her unique way to express emotions in very personal lyrics. “Lunar Nature” continues were the predecessor “Spin Moon Magic” ended. The album is full of diversity and therefore once more a typical output from The Dreamside.”

This is their first full-length of original material since 2005’s “Spin Moon Magic”, so fans of the band take note!

In a final quick music-related note, Pagan music scholar Alfred Surenyan is fielding a survey about Pagan music for a talk and eventual book on the subject.

“I am currently working on a paper on the Sustainability of Music in Paganism. This project is part of my work in Pagan Music that I have been doing for the past five years. I will be presenting this paper at the Pagan Conference in Claremont at the end of January 2010, and perhaps part of a future book on Pagan Music. In order to understand more on Pagan Music it is the community that would have answers and input. For this reason I reach out and ask members of the Pagan Community for some answers. I have put together a small survey of 10 questions, mostly short answers. If you have some time would you be able to take my survey on Pagan Music. It will not take more than ten minuates of your time and the answers will help me further my research on the ever evolving and growing of the music of our community. The link to the questions is just below this paragraph.”

The link to the survey can be found, here. I encourage all of my Pagan-music loving readers to fill it out.

Since yesterday’s post, more details have emerged regarding a large assortment of dead animal skulls and ritual implements found at a Pennsylvania home by animal welfare officers. According to reports they found an altar consisting of “hundreds” of animal skulls, allegedly including the skulls of primates, sheep, cats, and dogs. Now in a follow-up we learn some more about who may be behind the altar, and some tease-pictures that don’t really show all that much.

“There were lit candles and tribal drum music playing from a portable stereo, indicating that somebody was there not long before the humane officers appeared, said George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the PSPCA. The officers found what was believed to be a human skull, but it turned out to be fake. But they did find what appear to be the remains of small monkeys. “The house was covered in bones,” Bengal said … Bengal said the man who lived at the house and probably performed many of the killings is believed to now be in Mexico. However, his wife may still be in the city and she is being sought for questioning, Bengal said.”

So certainly more than one person? A local ABC affiliate gives us some more information on the man who lives at the house, who is currently believed to be in Mexico.

“Investigators believe the animals were sacrificed as part of religious rituals. Neighbors tell Action News Ramon Cruz lives here. He calls himself a high priest of Santeria, a religion of West African and Caribbean origin. One neighbor, who did not want to be identified, says the stench emanating from the house was unbearable. She never saw the sacrifices, the blinds were always drawn, and Cruz always kept the place protected with security cameras. “I saw 7 cases of live chickens delivered every week.” Authorities are now trying to track down Cruz. They believe he’s in Mexico. They’ve received reports he’s ill with swine flu and unable to re-enter the country but when he does he faces several counts of animal cruelty charges.”

So it is Santeria? But is abusing animals and keeping a bone-yard of dead remains and filth common behavior for a Santero, or adherents to Santeria? Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Robert Moran and Kia Gregory do the responsible thing and ask an expert.

Bill Ellis, professor emeritus of English literature at Pennsylvania State University at Hazleton, said that in Santeria, devotionals to a deity often include the ritual sacrifice of a goat or a chicken, “but not in a wasteful way” because these are later cooked and eaten. “So, whenever you see a wanton act of animal cruelty, it probably doesn’t lie in religion at all,” Ellis said, “but with people with very serious psychological problems.”

There you have it. The general expert consensus about cases like these that I’ve been maintaining all along. Even if Cruz was or is a practicing Santero, this behavior is aberrant, the product of psychological problems, not a product of the religion. Whether that message sinks through to PSPCA officials, who seem almost excited by their “huge find”, remains to be seen.

Here we go again. It was just a couple weeks ago that I expressed some concern over the seemingly misinformed animal control and welfare officers employed in the state of Pennsylvania, and now they’re in the news again over a “huge find” in an abandoned house.

“Police are investigating a case of possible animal cruelty after the remains of 75 animals and a large altar composed of primate skulls were found today inside a house in the city’s Feltonville section. The animals are believed to have been sacrificed as part of satanic worship and Santeria rituals, investigators said. Pentagrams were also seen in the house … George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania SPCA, said the agency’s officers had entered the living room and found an altar constructed of about 50 primate skulls. “This is a huge find,” Bengal said. Those involved in the rituals “usually take the skull and the feet and the blood and drain the blood from the animal. They’ll drink the blood and use the skull and feet as part of the altar.” Neighbors said that a man in his 50s or 60s lived at the property, but that they had not seen anyone there for months.”

Satanism? Santeria? The “altar” found in the house, and the supposed rituals described in making it, don’t follow traditional practices for either faith (indeed, most modern Satanists don’t even sacrifice animals). I’m also curious as to why this is a “huge find” for them. Because it involves so many animal corpses? Or is it because it fits into certain preconceived notions about what those faiths do with animals? Remember, the George Bengal quoted above is the same George Bengal who recently warned of mysterious Winter “high holidays” where animals were sacrificed in large numbers.

“An animal welfare official says a beheaded dog and cat found in Philadelphia appear to be the result of a ritual sacrifice. George Bengal, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals director of investigations, said the dog and cat were found … near a bike path in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood along with three beheaded chickens. He said he believes the animals were killed elsewhere and the remains dumped where a passer-by found them. Mr. Bengal said there is usually an increase in ritual animal sacrifices at this time of year because of “a lot of high holidays that different groups celebrate.” But he said most of those sacrifices involve goats and chickens.”

So never mind that various experts in religion and animal abuse cases agree that “huge finds” like this usually aren’t manifestations of Santeria or Satanism, but of disturbed individuals (often teens) who usually construct a hodge-podge of half-understood ritualism to justify their aberrant urges and behaviors. Why go with the boring old truth when you can create a darkly sinister religious “other” to battle? Why listen to experts when you can hector innocent Satanists on bogus abuse charges instead? I would really like to know who exactly is training animal control officers and local ASPCA officials in Pennsylvania concerning ritual sacrifice. Do they even know what a normal Santeria ritual is like? Have they even met a real Satanist? This current trend could be heading for a train-wreck of racial and religious profiling that could seriously damage the effectiveness of animal control officials among minority faiths. After all, why report a co-religionist who’s abusing animals if they’ll just think you’re in on it too?

I just have a few small items to share this Sunday before we gear up for the year-end count-downs and retrospectives, starting with SF Gate columnist Mark Morford, who argues that all the discussions about pantheism in “Avatar” are besides the point, what it’s really about is “alien porn”.

“But wait, we haven’t hit the best part yet. Because in this movie, you don’t merely get to fantasize about the Other from afar or even just indulge in interspecies sex. You get to literally become one of them … Behold, the ultimate in guilty colonialist fetish fantasy epic porn filmmaking, ever. Flawed, broken white man can, with his righteous modern technology, fuse his DNA with super-hot exotic sexually flawless alien species and become the Other and save the world and then score the hot chick from Star Trek.”

Somehow, I don’t think this new angle is going to please Ross Douthat and other conservative commentators much more than the “Hollywood is pantheist” one. For that matter, I doubt it will please the folks who’ve seen “Avatar” and found it to be a deeply transcendent/meaningful experience. As an aside, since we’re talking about movies, I saw “Sherlock Holmes” last night, and was surprised that the entire plot centered on a Freemason/Golden Dawn-ish occult order. By “centered on”, I mean it provided some sort of plot when things weren’t blowing up. It was quite the romp if you turn your expectations down a few notches.

The clinically obsessed folks at the Christian Civic League of Maine continue to stalk Rita Moran, Chair of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee, who was one of two openly Pagan delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Not content with trespassing on private property, or trying to make her book store sound sinister by listing titles found at any Barnes & Noble, they are now engaging in their own sad form of “deep background” looking for some sort of controversy. First it was misquoting a podcast interview she did in 2007, now they are combing through her past involvement with the EarthTides Pagan Network.

“The identities of the members of these organizations are often kept secret. Moran is active in the EarthTides Pagan Network under the pseudonym “Arwen Evenstar.” Under this pseudonym, Moran has written a book review column in the group’s newsletter for the past several years.”

This situation is so sad and pathological, all in an attempt to ruin Moran’s standing with local Democrats.

“It is a sad commentary on politics in Maine that the highest levels of the Democrat Party rely on an occultist whose political prudence consists of Tarot Card reading and crystal-ball gazing; and whose leadership effectiveness is a matter of casting the right spell.”

This one-man “staff” of the Christian Civic League really needs to get a life. It just goes to show you how bothered some Christians get when any other religious perspective dares to seek political power instead of staying silently in the shadows. They try to make sinister activities that would be seen as sanctified and proper if done in a Christian context. This strife only underlines how important our involvement in the public sphere is, and why the “broom closet” must become a thing of the past.

In a final note, the Pagans at the Parliament project seems to be winding down. The last of the video and audio has been posted to the blog, and we have had several post-Parliament missives from attendees, including a statement from Angie Buchanan, one of the Pagan Executive Board members of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. Buchanan addresses the recent flurry of discussion and controversy regarding definitions, and what was (and wasn’t ) said and done in Paganism’s name at the Parliament.

“In my personal participation and my observation of what happened at the Parliament, there was no attempt to “legitimize” anything, nor was there an effort to ostracize anything. There were many very successful attempts to explain concepts, terms and belief structures in ways and using vocabulary understood by those either unfamiliar with or frightened by our practices — by providing them with a frame of reference.”

Despite the flare-up over definition, and who said what at the Parliament, a situation that I take some responsibility in spreading, I do think this event will be seen as pivotal in modern Paganism’s history. Never before have we been so visible and vocal on the world stage, and I believe some paradigm-shifting happened that may greatly benefit all modern Pagans in the long run. I genuinely thank all the Pagans who took the time and effort to be involved with this event, and made our varied voices and viewpoints heard in the context of the global interfaith movement. What happened was important, I believe that we will ultimately experience more signal than noise as we process our involvement there in the coming year.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

United, the airline that breaks guitars, is receiving some more bad publicity, this time from within the Pagan community. A Pagan boycott of the company is being suggested after they seriously bungled the aftermath of an altercation between a zealous Christian subcontractor and a wheelchair-using Pagan veteran.

“In August I filed a complaint against an employee of United Airlines who verbally attacked me for my religious beliefs. To date United Airlines and their subcontractor Airserve Corporation, have not made any efforts to alleviate the pain and humiliation I experienced. I had been traveling through Chicago on my way home to California when this incident occurred. I was waiting for a wheelchair to preboard my plane, but the attendant arrived too late to preboard me, despite the fact that I had asked him several times to ensure he returned for me on time. He then got another attendant who asked me to pray with him and give up my burdens to god. I am not a Christian and I informed him that I am the minister of a Druid congregation and then asked to change the topic. At this point he became confrontational and got down in my face; he began to quote scriptures at me and was so vehement that he sprayed spit in my face. He told me I would go to hell, quoted scriptures about false idols and told me that I would be a better person with his god in my life.”

After the humiliating incident, Rev. Jessie “Medb” Olson, Senior Druid for Feather River Grove, ADF, complained to United, and after some research, the subcontractor who employed the attendant. While Airserve Corporation (the subcontractor) did eventually fire the crusading individual, neither company has issued a formal apology for the incident, or refunded her ticket.

“…neither United nor the contractor, Airserve corp, has offered any restitution for the humiliation I experienced. United claims to have sent me a certificate for a new flight (no amount has been indicated) but I have NEVER received it and wouldn’t fly with them again if my life depended on it. All I want is my ticket refunded, a small price to pay for the horrendous treatment I received. I want to send a very clear message that United can not allow its employees to harass customers, no matter their religion, particularly helpless ones that can not remove themselves from the situation.”

Olson is calling for the Pagan community and its allies to boycott United and its subcontractors until this matter has been made right. I think the very least they can do is refund her ticket and issue a formal apology. Whether they do so remains to be seen, modern airline travel seems to be fraught with horrible customer service, and few step up and do the right thing without intense public pressure. You can contact United’s customer relations department, here, if you’d like to make your displeasure known. Perhaps the entire ADF and other large Pagan organizations can send a joint statement? I’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Due to family obligations I won’t be blogging today, but I’ll be back tomorrow with my regular daily dose of modern Pagan-related news and commentary. In the meantime I wish a very happy holiday season to you all, and a very happy birthday to Jesus of Nazareth, Mithras, Carlos Castenada, Sol Invictus, Robert Ripley, and Annie Lennox among many others.

Sol Invictus

Happy Holidays! Back tomorrow.

Top Story: Pop-culture critics have been seemingly too distracted by the 3-D CGI spectacular that is “Avatar” to give much attention to the latest Disney 2-D hand-drawn “princess” movie. Luckily, Religion Dispatches delivers us temporarily from discussions about Hollywood’s pantheism to instead talk about presentations of New Orleans Voodoo in “The Princess and the Frog”. According to Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Miami, the film gives a “prejudiced and misinformed” reading of the often misunderstood religion.

“I do not know where to begin my comments on how this film perpetuates offensive stereotypes about Voodoo. The loas are represented as evil spirits full of greed and anger … The terms Voodoo, Hoodoo, and conjuring are used interchangeably throughout. In the end one is presented with an evil religion that will ultimately fail. I did not expect critical race analysis or a sophisticated presentation of Voodoo when I walked into the theater. It is, after all, Disney. I did not expect such a blatant, racist, and misinformed presentation of Voodoo, however. The reduction of religion to magic is also reaffirmed in the curious absence of Catholicism in the film. My son is correct, Disney Voodoo is bad magic; it just doesn’t have anything to do with the authentic African Diaspora religion.”

In addition to getting New Orleans/Louisiana Voodoo horribly wrong, it seems the film gets New Orleans itself all wrong. In another Religion Dispatches piece, Anthea Butler, associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania, says the film is a big desecrating “lump of coal” that “picks up where Katrina left off”.

“I’m going to go all out and say that the entire movie is a wholesale desecration of New Orleans, Creole culture, Cajun Culture, religion, zydeco music, the Evangeline story, and Louis Armstrong (I’ll get to that in a minute.) Rolled up, Disney hates the South, period … I know it’s only a movie, but movies shape how people, especially children, view the world. In the case of New Orleans and the myriad of cultures it holds, to stint on all of the facets that make New Orleans and Louisiana the wonderful, complex, and sometimes exasperating place that it is is a crime. Disney’s princesses, once again, may have big beautiful eyes, but while kids are enjoying the view, Disney’s hack job of deconstructing history by making it “cute” is just as destructive as a category 5 hurricane. Fun and truth do not have to be mutually exclusive to sell a movie, unless of course you’re just bankrupt of ideas.”

Of course, Disney has a long history of acquiring and terraforming pieces of culture, transforming them to a point where most people think the Disney version is the original. There’s a reason why “disneyfication” is a pejorative term. So you get a Disney New Orleans where the Voodoo is bad, Catholicism is absent, tradition is ignored, and history is mangled. In the end, it’s more about extending the Princess brand, than doing something creative or original.

In Other News: The Pierce County Herald spotlights Circle Sanctuary’s efforts to send holiday care packages to troops in Iraq.

“The Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld is also remembering soldiers at Fort Hood Texas – where a Wisconsin unit lost three of its members in last month’s shooting rampage. Selena Fox, a senior minister of the Wiccan Church, said the Circle group sent packages to about 50 active duty personnel at Fort Hood to show extra support. They’ve also provided counseling for the Pagan soldiers at the base – and they sent holiday cheer to 150 Pagan troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

I’m sure it’s still not too late to donate, and help them in their efforts.

NPR reports on the rise of sorcery and witchcraft-related arrests and sentencing in Saudi Arabia, and talks to an expert who posits that the recent increase is a reaction to the government trying to curb the influence of the religious police.

“Saudi political analyst Tawfiq al-Saif says religious authorities truly believe they are helping society by discouraging faith in the supernatural. But, he says, there is also a political reason for the recent rise in sorcery cases. In the past few years, the government has tried to curb the influence of the religious establishment by sacking key religious figures, pushing for reform in the courts and criticizing the religious police. “One time, I met the head of the Hey’a [the religious police] and he was really sorry because in the past he was saying that they were free to do whatever they like to enforce the Sharia laws — even, he said, in the public buses, in the train, in the airports,” Saif says. But now that they are under pressure, the religious police are trying to flex their muscles in the few ways they still can, including looking for people who practice magic or who don’t pray five times a day, and for women who don’t properly cover their hair, Saif says.”

Does this mean that the plight of people like Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali and Ali Sibat are due to the last grasps at control by a shrinking power in the country? Or has the “muscle flexing” by the religious police shifted matters to their liking, and we’ll only see more madness and death in the near future? I suppose it remains to be seen, but I worry that any long-term solution to this anti-sorcery madness will come too late for the unlucky caught in this cultural crossfire.

For a somewhat different take on the problem of sorcery in the Middle East, The Epoch Times looks at Dubai, who have far more liberal laws concerning sorcery, but who also deal with rampant fraud and scam-artists.

“In the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai in particular, authorities take a more liberal stance. However, because of the large number of scam artists posing as sorcerers and exorcists in Dubai, police have set up a special task to crack down on so-called “magic-related crimes.” “Some people are just simple and anything will fool them,” Khaleel Al-Mansouri, the head of Dubai’s Criminal Investigation Department, told local newspaper seven days earlier this year. “It’s due to a lack of education, but also because the victims are greedy and are looking for a quick profit. “Our officers are highly skilled and they carry out special undercover patrols in shopping malls throughout Dubai looking for any sorcery crime that might be occurring.” In 2008 alone, fraudsters fleeced Dh130 million (US$35.5 billion) out of unsuspecting members of the public in sorcery scams.”

They also manage to interview a taxi driver, Hassan Hamadi, who also works as an exorcist. He claims he charges no money for his services, and lives in fear of being arrested by the sorcery task-force. However, despite the threat of arrest, because laws are more liberal (no death-penalty) places like Oman in the Persian Gulf has become, according to one journalist, a hotbed of “sorcerers and mystics”. Such is, I believe, the consequence of creating a legal gray area. They eliminate death-penalties and long prison terms for sorcery, but enough of a penalty remains to keep the practice criminal, underground, and unregulated. One wonders if they repealed all laws and dealt with fraud on a purely secular basis if a home-grown “neo-sorcery” would emerge, much like Wicca did in England. Maybe, maybe not, but arresting, and in the case of Saudi Arabia, killing, “witches” doesn’t seem to ever “solve” the problem.

In a final note, here’s a unique opinion essay at the American Thinker by Selwyn Duke that debunks the pagan origins of Christmas, while acknowledging the great debt we owe to “pagan” pre-Christian cultures.

“If we were to discard all things pagan, I should think we’d plunge ourselves back into the Stone Age. We walk on concrete, record our knowledge with letters, and designate our months with names originated/invented by the pagan Romans. We steer our boats with rudders invented by the pagan Chinese; make calculations with numbers invented by pagan Indians; and create computer graphics, medical imaging, and designs for buildings and bridges using geometry formalized by pagan Greeks. And much of our philosophy (and much of that drawn upon by early Christians, mind you) was generated by pagans such as Aristotle and Plato. Should we “go Taliban” and burn all their works — and other books thus influenced? A pious Christian must believe that pagans could not have had the whole Truth, but only an ignorant Christian would believe they had no Truth.”

I would happily concede Christmas as wholly Christian if those same culture-warriors would acknowledge that their foundation is built on the advances made by “pagans”. Heck, I’d even call it a “Christmas miracle”.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Top Story: Hey, it happens to the best of us sometimes. Apparently around 300 Pagan revelers showed up to Stonehenge for the Winter Solstice a day early, under the mistaken assumption that the date is fixed on the calendar.

“A crowd of around 300 people, wearing traditional costume, met at the mystical stone circle on Monday morning to mark the rising of the sun on the shortest day of the year. But unfortunately their calculations were slightly out meaning they had in fact arrived 24 hours prematurely … A spokesman for English Heritage said: ‘About 300 people turned up a day early on Monday morning. We took pity on them and opened the stone circle so they could celebrate anyway. They were a day early but no doubt had a wonderful time as well.’”

While this has inspired some snark, it also provides a helpful reminder that the solstices (and equinoxes) are moving targets, and that you should always check before inviting 300 of your closest friends to frolic at the stones.

In Other News: Mistakenly early-bird Pagans weren’t the only bit of Pagan-oriented solstice coverage going on, the South Yorkshire Star interviews 82-year-old Wiccan Elder Patricia Crowther (one of, if not the, last living High Priestesses initiated directly by Gerald Gardner) for the holiday and finds her remarkably well-preserved.

“Patricia’s appearance – a full head of thick curls, barely wrinkled skin, and a razor-sharp mind – belies her years. “On my natal chart the moon is in Gemini, which is the sign of youth and the young-at-heart, and I know that has something to do with it,” she says. Her home is filled with unusual ornaments, most of which represent figures from mythology or the Goddess herself. There are also dozens of pictures of Patricia as a glamorous young woman. One particularly striking image is that of Patricia sitting naked on a stool for her initiation. “That’s what you have to do when you’re initiated – you go as you were born into life,” she explains. “There’s nothing dirty about it.” As with any qualification, becoming a High Priestess takes time and training.”

Crowther has a new book, “Covensense”, that was released this year. According to one review it contains some “narrow convictions” that will please some BTWs, and frustrate some of the more eclectic Wiccans out there. Personally, I think it’s wonderful that she’s still writing books, no matter how opinionated they might be.

Turning from Solstice-related stories for a moment, I want to quickly highlight two interviews with Pagan-friendly band Faith and the Muse, who’s latest Shinto-inspired album, “Ankoku Butoh”, was a top pick in my year-end best-of list. First Liz Ohanesian of the LA Weekly chats with them about the new album, then gets them to pick their favorite supernatural J-Horror films.

“Japan has one of the oldest traditions of ghost tales, even as far back as 1776, scholar and artist Toriyama Sekien attempted to categorize them in his illustrated series of collections of ghosts and spirits. But their origins can be found even earlier, and coincide with oral tales of Nature spirits – these are actually classic Goddess tales, found not only in Japanese Shinto belief, but in Celtic, Nordic and even Native American mythology – all the same foundation of the consequences that await when one messes with Nature. J-Horror has its very own Nature Mother, with snow-white skin and unbelievably long black hair, the vengeful spirit of the Woman Wronged.”

It’s an interesting-sounding round-up of films, especially for those who thought J-Horror began and ended with “Ringu”. For more Faith & The Muse goodness, and to order a copy of “Ankoku Butoh”, check out their official web site.

The Philadelphia Daily News has a cautionary tale about getting into arguments over religion. It seems that after two men had an argument over whose tradition of Santeria was better, one decided to end the argument permanently with a sawed-off shotgun.

“Hernandez, of Camac Street, North Philadelphia, shot Luis Freire, 55, because they had argued over whose version of the Afro-Caribbean religion Santeria was better, according to the statement, which the prosecution presented as evidence. “Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s a sad commentary that killings happen over disputes ranging from heated arguments about religion to minor disputes over someone looking at someone the wrong way,” said Assistant District Attorney Brian M. Zarallo.”

Needless to say, Christian Hernandez’s strain of Santeria, whatever it was, won’t be well-served by having a convicted murderer in its ranks. It certainly makes the Internet flame-wars and rampant snark within the Pagan community seem sedate by comparison.

In a final note, the Suwanee, Georgia, school board is wrestling with how to handle public invocations after two substitute teachers, both Wiccans, asked for fair and equal treatment. This led to rumors that invocations would be eliminated entirely, an aim that was denied by the couple.

“Locals John and Rene Checkett addressed board members Tuesday and noted it was in no way their “aim or goal to remove prayer from our school system.” A story in last Friday’s Democrat quoted Rene Checkett to that effect, after rumors to the contrary drew a standing-room only crowd to a scheduled Dec. 15 board meeting. That meeting was canceled due to lack of public notice. The issue, Rene Checkett explained, was fair treatment for those with minority religious views. The couple, both Wiccans, met with Supt. Jerry Scarborough and board chair Jerry Taylor behind closed doors Friday to make their case for fair and equal treatment, particularly in regard to district policies. Both Checketts are substitute teachers. Taylor addressed a full crowd at the 6 p.m. meeting and made clear the district’s intent to handle the matter. “As a school district we need to adopt a policy that deals with religious activities in our school system that adheres to the rights of everyone based on the law of the land, which protects everyone,” Taylor said.”

The school board is going to be unveiling a new policy on public invocations in January, and it should be interesting to see how they address the concerns of religious minorities without causing an uproar with the local Christians.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!