As a sort of coda to the case of Jose Merced, a Santeria practitioner who took the city of Euless, Texas to court over the matter of animal sacrifice, and won, we learn that the city has been ordered to pay Merced’s hefty legal bills.

“North Texas taxpayers could be on the hook for a $400,000 legal bill, all because their city lost its fight, against animal sacrifice in religious ceremonies. The bill could go higher.  In July, the court ruled in Merced’s favor and ruled the City of Euless must pay his appellate attorneys’ fees. One of his attorneys, Eric Rassbach, estimates the total legal bill at around $400,000. “Quite frankly, they should be upset with their elected officials who signed off on this lawsuit,” Rassbach said.”

Rassbach is from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and no doubt the lawyers working to achieve a “small victory for religious freedom in this country” didn’t come cheaply. Naturally, Euless’s attourney Mick McKamie is vowing to fight having to pay Mr. Merced’s legal bills, and may still be considering if they can bring this matter to the Supreme Court. It is looking like it would have been much cheaper if Euless had simply revised their animal slaughter laws to safely regulate such matters instead of banning them outright. But that horse is out of the barn, and now local law enforcement are barred from enforcing the current law.

“A federal judge has barred a North Texas suburb from enforcing a rule to prevent a Santeria priest from sacrificing animals in his home. In a final judgment this month, U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth also ordered Euless to pay for the costs incurred by Santeria priest Jose Merced. His attorney, Eric Rassbach, said Tuesday the ruling means Merced can resume priest ordination ceremonies involving animal sacrifice.”

As Santeria, and other Afro-carribbean diasporic faiths, continue to grow in North America you can expect to see more conflicts like this in the future. Most animal slaughter laws were designed for a different time and context, and can be discriminatory when used to regulate religiously-motivated animal sacrifices. Eventually, this matter will have to come to the Supreme Court for a definitive ruling, since the previous Santeria-related SCOTUS case, Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, dealt only with laws that specifically targeted the religion. Until that happens, animal sacrifices will often happen under the legal radar, allowing for the sorts of speculation that leads to racial and religious profiling every time a dead animal turns up.

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

Looks like all is not happy in the land of the Cabot Witches, it seems that Laurie “Official Witch of Salem” Cabot accused her daughter Jody Cabot (also a Witch) of forging a check in her name two years ago. A restitution agreement was made, but due to non-compliance and failing to appear in court, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest.

“Last year, Jody Cabot was granted a general continuance in the case on the condition that she pay restitution of $1,328 to her elderly mother. Had she done that, the charges would have been dismissed. But earlier this year, Jody Cabot defaulted on the agreement and the case was put back on the court’s docket, where it was heading for trial. Attorney Steve Reardon tried to convince Judge Richard Mori not to issue a warrant for his client, saying she had stayed home because she had a severe headache that was a result of a past head injury.”

However, this tale doesn’t end in tragedy, Jody Cabot went to court the next day and thanks to her mother’s current reluctance to testify against her daughter a new plea agreement was made. According to reports Jody, as her mother has in the past, appeared in “traditional witch garb” for the hearing. Now that this unpleasantness is done with for the moment, lets remember Jody from (seemingly) happier times when she posed for pictures with sister Penny (taken by photographer Stephen Muskie).

Two teenage female ringleaders of a racist gang accused of orchestrating a spate of brutal attacks against non-Slavic foreigners were sentenced to jail terms of up to ten years. The gang is believed to be an offshoot of a Slavic Pagan group called “Native Belief”, a group accused of bombing a McDonalds and murdering several people.

“The verdicts were the latest convictions of young people for racist attacks in Russia and come amid growing concern over the frequency of attacks on non-Slavic foreigners in the country. The presumed ringleaders, Yevgenia Zhikhareva – a 17-year-old girl linked to pagan sects that worshipped ancient Slavic gods – and Ilya Shutko, 19, were jailed for eight and 10 years respectively, Russian news agencies reported … Zhikhareva is also suspected of involvement in a series of blasts in Moscow between 2008-09, including at a branch of US fast food chain McDonalds, carried out by a pagan group calling itself ‘Native Belief.’ The gang members were accused of carrying out up to four attempted murders and one actual murder of citizens of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan between February 12 and March 7, 2008.”

Sadly there is a strong undercurrent of racism and antisemitism within some Slavic Pagans groups, though that isn’t  universally true. However, it seems that the groups who do espouse racism are becoming increasingly strident and violent. No doubt economic hardship and social upheaval have much to do with this development, but these excuses don’t justify distorting pre-Christian beliefs for racist political causes.

Religion Dispatches brings us two interesting articles on African diasporic faiths, starting with an interview with sociologist Salvador Vidal-Ortiz concerning the recent animal sacrifice court victory for Santero Jose Merced, the place made for gays and lesbians within Santeria, and how perceptions of Santeria are (slowly) evolving in America.

“Generally speaking, when we are talking about racial and ethnic minorities, the United States’ racial (and racist) system tends to find much of what is non-white “suspicious.” That’s why Santería continues to be categorized as a cult by some, and why the media usually frame practitioners as somehow “criminal” in the coverage we see in the news. That tendency is mirrored in entertainment media. For at least the past two decades, portrayals of Santería practitioners in movies and television shows have resisted the opportunity to represent them as religious people and focused instead on Santería as a hypersexual space, recalling earlier representations of Africans as savages. That does seem to be changing, at least incrementally.”

Then, religion scholar Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado takes possession of a Vodou doll/poppet that had several seemingly rational faculty members at her university seriously spooked.

“The doll who sits in my office is not the type of doll you stick needles in. I am not even sure he is a Vodou doll. And yet, his black cloth skin and his scarf evoked feelings of fear and mistrust among a group of university professors. The mythology of evil surrounding Vodou, surrounding black religion, remains. I have nestled him between an image of the Mayan god Maximon and an image of the Yoruban orisha Bablú Ayé. I decided he would feel at home with other marginalized and often misinterpreted religious figures. He has been with me now for twenty-four hours. I am happy to say, as a type this reflection, that my computer is working fine.”

A simple rule to remember is that most mysterious dolls aren’t actually magical poppets, and even if they were, not every poppet is aimed at you. If it were simply some child’s toy I’m glad it ended up on her shelf, where it could be reclaimed some day, and not buried in a hole with rum and gunpowder as on faculty member suggested.

The Taliban are now targeting the Kalash in Pakistan, Indo-European pagans believed by some to be descended from a commingling of Alexander the Great’s army and local peoples, who have survived in prominently Muslim areas thanks to living in remote valleys. Now, an outsider who had been raising money for the Kalash has been kidnapped.

“While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis. But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter. Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum. They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.”

I don’t know if this is a sign of desperation on the part of the Taliban in Pakistan, or simply an escalation in their fervor to eliminate any group that theologically deviates from their extremist form of monotheism (or maybe both). Kalash leaders are attempting to negotiate a release, and it remains to be seen what the government of Pakistan can really do to help, especially amidst recent accusations that the government’s spy organization can’t disentangle itself from the Taliban and that US aid money has been going towards anti-Indian defenses.

In a final note, Boing Boing reports on a legal ruling that may make some Pagan festival/event organizers rest easier.

“The California Supreme Court has denied the appeal of Anthony Beninati, the Los Angeles real estate manager who unsuccessfully sued Burning Man organizers for failing to restrain him from walking into a fire.”

So if some idiot waltzes, jumps, or walks into a fire-pit, you aren’t liable for their stupidity concerning “obvious dangers”.

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

Ben Windham of the Tuscaloosa News travels to New Orleans to visit the tomb of Marie Laveau, perhaps the most famous practitioner/“Queen” of Louisiana/New Orleans Voodoo. He quickly discovers that Laveau’s tomb has become a bigger place of pilgrimage and offerings than any of the local Christian churches.

“In the more than 160 years since its construction, her tomb has become a shrine, a magnet more powerful than any in this city’s “legitimate” churches. Even visitation to the St. Roch chapel, with its astounding assortment of crutches, shoes and plaster casts of body parts, is eclipsed by the crowds of faithful or curious who come daily to Courtesy of Mary Angelyn Fisher. Offerings of candles, beads, coins, trinkets, tobacco, toys — almost anything you can imagine — are strewn in front of the tomb. Its sides are covered with crosses or X’s, usually in threes. Some are scrawled in red chalk.”

VooDoo in New Orleans, like Witchcraft in Salem, is a thriving tourist industry, so it is difficult to tell how many sincere adherents there are among the various hucksters and opportunistic hangers-on, but there must be a significant number if even a fraction of Laveau’s many offerings come from active practitioners. Then again, there seems to be a strong thread of belief (some would say superstition) in Laveau’s powers among the many “normal” visitors.

“I know one thing, however. I made sure that all of our offerings were left on Marie Laveau’s tomb and that we left with nothing that wasn’t ours. Years ago, I visited the tomb with a friend, a self-styled tourist guide. As we were leaving, I swiped one of the offerings from the grave — a blank piece of metal, the size of a coin. I figured it would make a good luck piece for Alabama’s football season. I don’t know if there was any direct cause and effect but I suffered for two years after I took that slug. I got cancer. I almost lost my job. And Alabama sports tanked. It has been only this year that I’ve dared to visit the tomb again. And this time, it was with a new — and profound — respect for Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans.”

It would be interesting to know all the places of spiritual/religious pilgrimage in our country that step outside the Judeo-Christian norms. The ever-growing popularity of places like Laveau’s tomb seem to speak of a growing post-Christian (and post-secular) atmosphere where an organic process of reenchantment is taking hold. A process that seems to be allowing new and outsider faiths and customs to cement themselves within our cultural outlook.

Remember yesterday when I complained about some apparently secret evidence in a New Jersey case of a grave-robbing, and the subsequent racial profiling of people who “practice Satanic rituals” (ie Santeria and Palo)?

“Capt. Richard Conklin of the Stamford Detective Bureau said Wednesday that police are targeting people of African, Central American, Haitian, Cuban or Caribbean decent who practice satanic rituals as potential suspects in the grave robbing. “We’re starting to look at this as a ritualistic-type incident,” said Conklin … Conklin said evidence recovered at the grave site and in New Jersey indicate the body was taken for ritualistic reasons. For fear of compromising the investigation, he would not go into specifics …”

Well, the police have decided reveal some of the evidence that has them rounding up the usual African diasporic suspects, and it doesn’t exactly paint a convincing picture of Satanic Santeros.

New Jersey police investigators say sacrificed chicken remains were found a quarter-mile from the body of a two-year-old girl taken from her Stamford grave. Sgt. Robert Bracken, a juvenile detective with the Clifton Police Department, said there is still no direct link between a possible ritual and the discovery of 2-year-old Imani Joyner, who died in 2007. Two fishermen found her body Sunday in a sealed garbage bag in the Passaic River, and an investigation led Clifton police to Stamford. Up river in Elmwood Park, authorities also found a bag containing chicken parts and believe them to be part of a sacrificial ritual, Bracken said. “Other towns around us have found sacrificed animals,” Bracken said. “I wouldn’t say it happens every day, but it’s not uncommon either.”

Despite the police admitting there’s no direct link between this grave-robbing and Santeria/Palo, and despite the fact they admit finding sacrificed animals around that area isn’t “uncommon”, and even though Sgt. Bracken said that there was “no evidence of a ritual” found near her body, they are still proceeding with the theory that this is a ritualistic act.

“From all the signs and info we have gathered, that’s where it’s pointed right now,” Conklin said. “If we get other information that points somewhere else, we’ll go that way.” In Clifton, Bracken said police are not narrowly focused on the body theft as a being part of a ritual, but investigators are seeing whether there’s a connection between the obscure beliefs and a motive behind the theft.

At this point they had better hope it was some crazed rogue Santero or Palero digging up what they thought was a “magical” corpse. Because if it turns out to be some run-of-the-mill insane fellow, or disturbed teenagers, the police will have wasted countless man-hours on a racist, religiously discriminatory, and futile line of inquiry. Even if it was a Palero, or some superstitious adherent to Palo, they are handling this in such a way as to damage relations between law enforcement and these religious communities for a long time.

The downside to being in a faith that avoids public scrutiny is that the paranoid and the gullible will often ascribe dark and evil motives to your actions, invent lurid details while describing your rites, and cause law enforcement and journalists to engage in a distorted religious/ethnic profiling when investigating crimes. Such is the case with Afro-Carribean/African diasporic faiths like Santeria/Lukumi, Haitain Vodou, and Palo. Regularly misrepresented in the press, assorted crimes and misdeeds are often attributed to them incorrectly, even when far more mundane scenarios are likely. This isn’t to say that adherents to these faiths are immune from committing horrible acts, only that there is a huge imbalance in the way they are depicted and treated.

“…it is perhaps reasonable to be reminded of the view held by American Protestant missionaries who performed their evangelizing work in Cuba at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. That is because this has to do with perceptions that have themselves been recycled to the margin of the numerous and deep cultural changes experienced by the US society since then. For these people this involves “satanic cults,” “demon worship” and atavistic and savage African practices, perceptions that originated in the “civilizing mission” of the white man and, ultimately, in racism and the disparagement of that which is different.”

That imbalance is on display once more, and the press seems to revel in the sensationalism and conclusion-jumping that comes with possible crimes committed by members of these diasporic faiths. For instance, the case of three adults who were arrested for endangering the welfare of a 7-year-old child (one of those adults is the mother) after she was allegedly cut, stripped,  and “forced” to watch animal sacrifices.

“Investigators arrested two people who live there — Julio and Zahira Cano — and another woman — Yenitza Colichon — for allegedly cutting Colichon’s seven-year-old daughter with a razor blade. The prosecutor’s office says they sliced the young girl’s clothes from her body and then slaughtered animals in front of her. The ritual apparently happened in May and the arrests were Tuesday, authorities said. Neighbors tell us several children live in the home. A search of the place uncovered a shrine, religious statues, bones, and machetes…”

What the reporters don’t ask is if the child was indeed “forced” to participate, or if she was there by choice. What kind of cut did she receive? Where? In what context were her clothes removed? Was she naked, or were outer garments symbolically removed? If this was child endangerment, why did it take two months for an arrest to happen? What do the other children think? None of these questions are asked or answered in the reports which are happy to leave things at interviews with “shocked” neighbors and re-worded police reports. Perhaps these people truly are guilty of endangerment and abuse, but if they aren’t, they are now vilified in their neighborhood and in the court of public opinion. No greater understanding is reached, no experts consulted. Then again, even when an academic or expert is brought in or quoted, there is no guarantee of a balanced accounting of possible events. As is the case of a recent grave-robbing in New Jersey.

“New evidence in the case of a toddler who was exhumed from her grave and dumped in a New Jersey river this week leads police to believe the body was taken for ritualistic purposes. Capt. Richard Conklin of the Stamford Detective Bureau said Wednesday that police are targeting people of African, Central American, Haitian, Cuban or Caribbean decent who practice satanic rituals as potential suspects in the grave robbing. “We’re starting to look at this as a ritualistic-type incident,” said Conklin … Conklin said evidence recovered at the grave site and in New Jersey indicate the body was taken for ritualistic reasons. For fear of compromising the investigation, he would not go into specifics … they now believe that a person, or persons, practicing a dark form of black magic known as Santeria or Palo Mayombe may be responsible. “Because the baby had some mysticism to it, we believe that it was targeted,” Conklin said. According to Columbia University adjunct professor, Daniel Dawson, who has written extensively on the subject, Palo Mayombe originated in the Congo of Cuba.  Palo Mayombe is rooted in the use of elements from the natural world and is based on the belief that all natural elements have distinctive powers that can be harnessed for protection and for healing, Dawson has written.”

First of all, “Satanic” Haitains and Cubans? They don’t even try to mask their ignorance of African diasporic ritual.  As for Daniel Dawson, whose specialty seems to lay in art and cultural matters, she isn’t directly interviewed, and gives no opinion as to whether she thinks the culprits are practitioners of Palo. Her credentials are merely used by the writer to build the case for a ritualistic grave-robbing. 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. If reporting on crimes that may be linked to African diasporic religions don’t get better, all those dark rituals we don’t understand could lead us to do some ugly things we may regret later.

I’ve seen some pretty bizarre reporting and editorializing in my day, but this particular instance exists on a plane all its own. Remember my story last week criticizing how assumptions were made by law enforcement concerning Santeria and animal sacrifice? At the time I dinged the Newport Beach police for chalking up the dumping of several dead animals on the beach to Santeria (and then ignoring the matter on “religious grounds”) despite a scholar warning that the deaths were inconsistent with Santerian ritual.

“Paul Apodaca, who specializes in folklore, mythology, American Indian studies, and California, Southwestern and Mexican culture at Chapman University, said the inconsistencies in the incidents raises questions. “The different manners of the disposal of the remains of the animals, some careful, others not, some beheaded, some not, some interred with other materials, some not, makes this description seem not to be a Santería ceremony carefully following a ritual but someone with a disturbed personality making personal variations,” he said. “Bona fide religious sacrifices are highly ritualized methods and the remains of the animal are carefully disposed of to preserve the sanctity and affective power of the ritual.” Police said Apodaca is entitled to his opinion, but there’s nothing to lead police to believe the killings are malicious and they are not investigating the incidents.“

So the same paper that ran the initial story, The Daily Pilot, then decides this would be a great opportunity to ask the following question to a Religious Science New Age church leader, a United Church of Christ pastor, and a Jewish Rabbi.

“Recently, the remains of a few animals have been found in Newport Beach. Officials say they were likely beheaded as part of a Santería religious ceremony that includes animal sacrifice. Authorities say they won’t intervene because the courts have protected this sort of practice. What do you think of this and should the law regulate this sort of ritual?”

Notice that the question doesn’t mention the fact that an expert (quoted in their own paper) thinks these killings were done by a disturbed individual and not Santero/as, only that “authorities” think it’s “likely” they were part of a Santeria ceremony. So how does this panel of people, who know next-to-nothing about Santeria, respond to “what they think” and if the practice should be “regulated”? The Religious Science pastor gives a rather hedged defense, but claims Santeria will have to eventually change its practices, the UCC pastor (who seemed to actually read the initial report) has “mixed feelings”, while the Jewish Rabbi unleashes with both barrells at those evil, evil, practitioners of Santeria.

“The rituals of the remains of animals is familiar to what the Germans did to the Jews years ago. The experiments carried out by German scientists on Jews who then were considered to be sub-human animals is thus come to life again. Both cases are cruel and inhumane, not to speak of immoral. For obvious reasons, such acts today should be stopped by us. They are unethical, unhealthy for our planet and serve no purpose but to disgust people. Foolish experimentation or sacrifice of parts of animals is barbaric. Human rights are being flagrantly disregarded, and such acts should be stopped immediately: No cruelty to animals. The atrocities committed by the German in World War II of experimentation and mutilation should be so abhorrent, we should never consider using similar rituals ever to be repeated on animals in our society today. Also, the animal’s remains is a violation of Earth Day as well. I feel that appropriate laws should be enforced to stop the performance of these disgusting rituals.”

Do Jewish Rabbis get some sort of special dispensation for making reductio ad Hitlerum arguments? I think this may be the first time I’ve seen practitioners of Santeria compared to Nazi scientists. It is also strange that this outraged religious leader doesn’t mention the fact that his own faith practices ritual slaughter on a massive scale. Too bad the paper didn’t think to let him in on the fact that there is some doubt that these killings were even performed by a Santero/Santera, and that the cops may be claiming “religious exemption” to avoid doing a lengthy investigation, his response might have been a bit more measured in tone concerning a faith he obviously knows nothing about.

Before I was simply criticizing the police for chalking up these animal killings to “Santeria”, but now this newspaper is culpable in damaging relations between faiths by blithely spreading misinformation in order to spice up an editorial feature. How many people are now going to be convinced that pracitioners of Santeria are lawless amoral killers? This is highly irresponsible journalism, even for an editorial feature. How will this affect the law-abiding Santeros/Santeras who quietly practice their rites in private? There a serious consequences for labeling every dead and dumped animal as beloning to a “Santeria” (or “Voodoo”) ritual, and we are starting to see the fruits of that lazy reporting.

Lately, it seems that every time a dead and mutilated animal shows up suspicion immediately turns towards Santeria and other Afro-Cuban/Caribbean faiths that engage in animal sacrifice. This is despite the fact that academics who study these religions repeatedly claim that randomly mutilating and dumping various dead animals isn’t their style.

“Paul Apodaca, who specializes in folklore, mythology, American Indian studies, and California, Southwestern and Mexican culture at Chapman University, said the inconsistencies in the incidents raises questions. “The different manners of the disposal of the remains of the animals, some careful, others not, some beheaded, some not, some interred with other materials, some not, makes this description seem not to be a Santería ceremony carefully following a ritual but someone with a disturbed personality making personal variations,” he said. “Bona fide religious sacrifices are highly ritualized methods and the remains of the animal are carefully disposed of to preserve the sanctity and affective power of the ritual.” Police said Apodaca is entitled to his opinion, but there’s nothing to lead police to believe the killings are malicious and they are not investigating the incidents.”

So these cops in Newport Beach ignore a warning that a deranged individual could be on the loose because it’s easier to chalk it up to “Santeria” and ignore what could be warning signs of a disturbed mind’s escalation. The Santeria excuse within law enforcement (and animal control) has become so popular that even when it’s blatantly obvious it isn’t a Santero/a’s work officials are hesitant to let go of a convenient scapegoat.

“Denton Infield of Newark’s Associated Humane Society, which is contracted to pick up animals from 30 area municipalities, he said he has seen a large increase in calls from the town of North Bergen to pick up dead and abandoned animals in the township. He said that in his seven years as manager of the shelter, this has never been an issue before … He said his agency has been called to retrieve dead dogs, cats, skunks, raccoons, sheep, and goats throughout North Bergen. Infield said his agency has filed complaints with the New Jersey Department of Health to get to the bottom of the situation … Infield noted that sometimes, livestock like goats are found dead in the area because animal sacrifices are part of the Santeria religion, which is practiced in this area. However, the recent trend seems different because of the other animals found.”

Yes, it “seems” different. Not, is totally out of line with what practitioners of Santeria do, but “seems different”. Since when do African diasporic faiths sacrifice skunks, raccoons, and cats? Either this Humane Society official is wildly ignorant of what normal Santeria sacrifice entails, or is so hung-up on a group that he knows sacrifices animals that he can’t let them completely off the hook. This all makes me wonder how many sadistic teenagers, distrubed adults, and potential serial killers are escaping suspicion and notice because everyone is so worried about what practitioners of Santeria are doing with goats and chickens inside their home.

According to the recent ARIS data the Afro-Caribbean religion Santeria (aka Lukumi) is one of the “Other Religions” experiencing growth in a time of overall Christian contraction and rise in followers of “no religion”. Some sources assert that there are close to a million adherents to Santeria in the U.S.A., putting them in close demographic parity with modern Pagan faiths. But unlike modern Pagans who have (mostly) worked their way up to a certain level of journalistic deference and respect, mainstream coverage of Santeria has often focused heavily on tensions created by (legal) animal sacrifice, accusations of “dark” practitioners illegally killing and dumping animals, and sensationalist “Satanic Panic” reporting.

“[Wood] said Sunday’s abduction and beating were not the first she had suffered in recent days as a result of her leaving the group last year to become a Christian … She was later taken to another home, believed to be in Flagler Estates, where her captors took drugs and performed a devil-worship ritual … Wood also told investigators the men and a petite blonde woman named “Sky” took her to an open field near a home where a bonfire was burning. They were “preparing” for the autumnal equinox, she said. “They needed me to help call the spirits,” Wood told investigators…”

However, slowly but surely, some brighter glimmers are starting to appear. Particularly in areas where adherents to Santeria are highly concentrated, and within the Spanish/bilingual Hispanic/Latino press. For example, the Chicago bilingual newspaper Extra profiles Latina scientist and journalist Irete Lazo concerning her new book “The Accidental Santera”. A fictionalized account of her real-life journey towards Santeria.

“The fictional story – laced with tension, laughter and beauty – follows Gabrielle, a Puerto Rican-Mexican career driven scientist, struggling to have a family with her equally busy scientist husband. Yet, one day while on a conference in New Orleans, Gabrielle has a few drinks too many and dances with the possibility of infidelity. Shocked by her actions, she goes on a chance reading in a voodoo shop where she learns that it is time to reconnect to her Puerto Rican roots and become the santera she was always meant to be.”

The writing of sympathetic fictionalized conversion/discovery stories by adherents is a common literary trope. Just look at the long shelves of “Christian fiction” at the local bookstore, or at the writings of Pagan (and Pagan-friendly) authors like Stewart Farrar, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Rosemary Edghill. The emergence of “Santeria fiction” writen by an actual adherent is a sign of a faith that has been largely secretive in America starting to reach out and change the greater narrative concerning their beliefs and customs. Perhaps signalling a more robust engagement with the press that triggers a more sympathetic “rediscovering” of the faith. Might we start to see Santerian equivalents to the Lady Liberty League, the Witches Anti-Discrimination League (now AREN), and other related organizations, join Ernesto Pichardo on the front-lines of changing perceptions? If so, I hope we can see acts of solidarity with our spiritual “cousins” among the larger Pagan movement as they chart this often bumpy course towards better mainstream representation.

If you ever needed an example of how journalism can change the religious aspect of a story, look no further than the media outlets currently doing retrospectives on the kidnapping and killing of Mark J. Kilroy twenty years ago. Kilroy was a University of Texas pre-med student on spring break in Mexico. On March 14, 1989 he was kidnapped and ultimately killed by a group of drug traffickers lead by the charismatic and insane ex-fortune-teller to the stars Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo.

“Kilroy arrived at South Padre Island on March 11 with friends Billy Huddleston, Brent Martin and Bradley Moore, joining the tens of thousands of students who each year made the trek to a warm sun, alluring beaches and unfettered nightlife on both sides of the border. Sometime during a visit to Matamoros on their third day in the Valley and into the early morning hours of March 14, Kilroy became separated from his group. They never saw him alive again … Constanzo’s followers selected Kilroy at random. Most of the other victims were competitors in the drug trade.”

Now, here’s where things get tricky. Constanzo adhered to his own twisted and distorted variant of Palo Mayombe, and ran his drug operation like a cult (complete with brainwashed followers), with numerous ritualistic human sacrifices (mostly competitors) being done to “feed” his magical power. The Mexican press dubbed Constanzo and his followers “narcosatánicos” (Satanic drug dealers), sensationalistically linking Constanzo’s warped Afro-Carribean practice with Satanism. Now, twenty years later, The Brownsville Herald’s report takes the time to unwrap the tangled story interviewing anthropologist Tony Zavaleta, an expert in African diasporic religions who advised police twenty years ago and witnessed first-hand the horrifying work of the cult. Zavaleta makes it clear that Constanzo was a madman engaging in a twisted and isolated distortion of Palo.

“…they also found evidence of “Palo Mayombe,” an imported Afro-Caribbean religion. It would be engrained into their memories. Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, the ringleader of the drug gang, gave the religion a “bad name” in the “self-styled” manner in which he practiced it, anthropologist Tony Zavaleta said … He has met with Palo Mayombe practitioners during the past 20 years in the Rio Grande Valley, other Texas locations and Mexico City and, “They all, with no exception just lament what Constanzo did and he caused them so much harm and so much damage (to their religion).” Zavaleta said he recently talked to a “santero,” a person who practices Santería, who also is a “palero” and a “padrino.” And in talking about the 20th anniversary of the Rancho Santa Elena massacres “he went into a rant about Constanzo, about ‘ese loco,’ ” Zavaleta recounted.”

Now, compare that excellent bit of journalism by Emma Perez-Trevino with the report by local television station KVUE.

“…the work of a satanic cult, the leader, a Cuban-American who promised drug traffickers protection in exchange for human sacrifices … the satanic cult’s so-called godmother was a student at Texas Southmost College, now U.T.-Brownsville … Many still refer to it as the work of the devil, just across the border from a Spring Break paradise.”

Even though KVUE also interviews Zavaleta, they don’t include any information from him about the formation of this cult, satisfied to call it “Satanism” and move on. Now think about how many people saw that television newscast as opposed to reading the two in-depth pieces from The Brownsville Herald and you start to see how religious misinformation starts to spread. I suppose “Satanist” has a bit more “zing” than “twisted and isolated offshoot of Palo Mayombe”, but it isn’t correct and clouds the true facts of this horrible event. As horrible as this case was, and no doubt as much as ethical practitioners of Palo and related faiths wish this wasn’t in their history, the truth can ultimately benefit them. If labeled “Palo”, ethical journalists can at least find and interview modern practitioners who can explain the distorted nature of Constanzo’s insane cult. But if they are “Satanists” then people make all sorts of troubling associations, and most likely triger interviews with “Satanic Panic” peddlers who have a vested interest in inflating a largely imagined threat (or genuine modern Satanists who will have little to no knowledge about the case).

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports on a resurgence of interest in Vodou among younger Haitian-Americans. Looking to reconnect with their cultural heritage, they are often drawn by half-remembered childhood memories of their parents and grandparents attending rituals and practicing Vodou.

It is hard to quantify the religion’s growth because Vodou is often practiced at home, said Elizabeth McAlister, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University, who has written extensively about Vodou. But research shows the religion is becoming more prevalent among well-heeled first and second generation Haitians, as well as people of various backgrounds, she said. Ruby LaCroix, 39, of West Palm Beach became intrigued by Vodou when she began to study Haiti’s history in college. She left Haiti when she was 8 years old and had questions about some of the traditions she grew up watching her grandmother practice. “I was looking to find out more about myself, about being Haitian and what that means,” she said.

One thing that I felt was striking about the article was the attitudes of these new practitioners. Much like the largely European-based modern Pagan faiths, there is an emphasis on fighting misconceptions, taking pride in their religious choices, and a slow shedding of insularity among practitioners.

Gone, for most, is the shame that used to be associated with the stigmatized religion. Unlike some of their parents who practiced Vodou in secrecy, the newcomers to the religion invite friends to Vodou ceremonies, have altars in their homes and work to shatter the stereotypes.

One wonders if a similar trend also manifesting among younger Hispanic, Latino, and Brazilian-American practitioners of Santeria, Candomble, and other related traditions, or if this is a uniquely Haitian-American phenomenon. Whatever the extent of this new interest in African diasporic faiths among younger people, it does seem to signal a willingness to step outside a purely Catholic/Christian identity among immigrants within a generation or two.

Ricardo Petit-Homme left Haiti when he was 4, and was raised a staunch Catholic. “From christening to penance and then confirmation, I did it all,” the 30-year-old interior decorator said. But not that long ago, he felt spiritually disconnected. He had dreams that needed to be interpreted, questions about his purpose and a burning desire to connect more deeply with his roots. He turned to Vodou.

It’s interesting that even younger Haitian-Americans who had no prolonged exposure to Vodou see that faith as a more genuine expression of their culture and roots than the Catholicism that is so dominant throughout the Caribbean. It is little wonder that I see Haitian Vodou (and other diasporic faiths) as a “cousin” to the modern Pagan faiths. There is so much overlap, not only in matters of theology and praxis, but in the motivations and attitudes of the newer converts. It should be interesting to see how this trend develops, and if we’ll see a gradual growth of networking, activism, and shared resources not only among the various African diasporic faiths, but with other religious minorities who have similar goals.