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

Should you be judged by your graduate thesis? That very issue is heating up the Virginia governor’s race where Republican candidate Robert F. McDonnell is fielding questions concerning a 1989 thesis he submitted to Regent University in Virginia Beach. In it, McDonnell rails against feminism, homosexuality, contraceptives, and “occult” television shows damaging children. The solution to these problems? The government must empower the (Christian) church.

“…government at all levels must help create the legal and financial conditions to unleash the power of the church to restore broken families and create the safety net of pastoral care for families … every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators.”

The local Democrats are jumping all over this while McDonnell claims that he’s “moderated” his views since that “academic exercise” in 1989 and shouldn’t be judged by it. However, as Wendy Kaminer at the Atlantic explained in a recent editorial, the thesis does bring up some deeper questions about McDonnell, such as what role he now believes sectarian religious beliefs should have within government. Can non-Christians in Virginia trust that he’s “moderated” enough to treat all religions fairly once in office?

The Southern Poverty Law Center, in their Fall 2009 Intelligence Report, focuses on the growth of Odinist and Asatru prison groups in the wake of court decisions granting them “certain rights” that prisons must accommodate. This being the SPLC, the majority of their focus is on racist manifestations of Norse Paganism behind bars, though they do admit that Asatru is largely “benign” in the free world.

“As practiced by Owen and others outside prison, Odinism tends to be a benign form of paganism, tolerant of others and close to nature. Behind the walls, however, it is likely to take on a more sinister cast, and many prison wardens have long regarded Odinism as the religious arm of white supremacist prison gangs. The U.S. Supreme Court has nonetheless ruled that Odinist inmates have certain rights that prisons must recognize. So while a decade ago a pagan volunteer like Owen would have been dismissed as a kook or, at worst, a gang liaison, Odinist inmates today can wear Thor’s Hammer pendants under their jumpsuits and request visits from outside leaders.”

The piece also debates what percentage of incarcerated Norse Pagans/Odinists/Asatru are racists. While one Asatru chaplain (Valgard Murray of the Asatru Alliance) says the number is as low as ten percent nationally, the Texas prison system says that racists are 90% of their Odinist/Asatru population. They also touch on a case where Murray testified against incarcerated Odinists in an ongoing lawsuit, garnering the ire of other Odinist groups. On the whole, this is a fairly even-handed report for a hate-groups watchdog and they should be commended for seeking out and interviewing Asatru/Odinist prison chaplains.

The New York Times gives a rather critical review to the new travel series “Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World” for not being all that, well, bizarre.

“He’s kept “Bizarre” in the title for branding purposes, but based on the Cuba episode, it now barely applies. In the course of an hour his most extreme activities are eating barbecued tree rat and taking part in a Santeria ceremony. The sight of his bald scalp covered in chicken blood is a bit unsettling, but he undercuts it with some all-American mugging and a big thumb’s up for the camera.”

Oooh chicken blood! Santeria! How bizarre! Nothing like exploiting a local religion to amuse your audience. The New York Times also dings Zimmern for conveniently overlooking the politics that led to all the “bizarre” idiosyncrasies of Cuban life (the fishing is great for tourists because Cubans aren’t allowed on boats, people eat tree-rats, all the cars are super-old), after all, we wouldn’t want to get too bizarre and upset the Cuban government now would we?

The Boston Globe reports on the increasing demand for hospital chaplains as patients admitted to hospitals now tend to be sicker and need spiritual guidance in dealing with life-or-death issues.

“Since 2004, requests for chaplains at the Brigham have jumped 23 percent. At Massachusetts General Hospital, requests have grown 30 percent since the hospital began tracking visits in 2006. And at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which expanded its pastoral care program last year, monthly visits are expected to rise to at least 540 this month, a 10-fold increase over the same time last year.”

It remains unsaid in this article, but if demand for priests, ministers, rabbis and imams are growing, it stands to reason that requests for minority-religion chaplains are also increasing. This makes credible and thorough training for Pagan chaplains an increasingly important issue, one that growing organizations like Cherry Hill Seminary (disclosure: I’m on their BOD) are trying to address in their curriculum. As Paganism’s second wave hits retirement and deals with the illnesses that often come with old age, will our movement be ready to meet their spiritual needs?

In a final note, congratulations to Pagan blogger Betsy Phillips at Tiny Cat Pants and Pith in the Wind who is starting a guest-stint at the major-league feminist blog Feministe.

“I’m a heathen, though not a very formal one. I hope we can talk about that, too, why I, the daughter of a Methodist minister, left Christianity and became a polytheist. I know paganism, broadly, is loaded with feminists, and yet, it seems to me, we rarely talk openly about what we pagans believe and why to other feminists.  And for good reasons. I know I feel like a damn fool when I talk about it, but it’s important to me and a lot of the reason I left Christianity had to do with being a woman, so maybe we can just try it and see how it goes.”

You can read all of her guest-posts, here.

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

I think that I was more surprised than anyone when I was invited to participate in envisioning and shaping the future of the preeminent Pagan distance education institution as a member of their board of directors. While there are many online schools, colleges, and seminaries that claim to provide higher education and advanced training to the Pagan community, only Cherry Hill Seminary backs up those claims with a robust and serious-minded curriculum. Their faculty are not only experienced practitioners and clergy, but the majority hold advanced academic degrees in the fields they teach. The school is now engaged in a multi-year plan that will not only see the school start to provide Master’s degrees in Divinity, Counseling, Ministry, and Pagan Studies, but achieve accreditation through the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Their achievements and goals paint a portrait of a school that is avoiding easy shortcuts, or becoming a money-making degree/diploma mill, and is instead heavily invested in making sure our future is filled with well-trained and accomplished leaders.

Naturally, an endeavor like this doesn’t come cheap. We have staff and faculty to pay, infrastructure to build and maintain, and certain benchmarks to meet if we are to achieve our goals. Tuition from students only covers a portion of these costs, and like all higher learning institutions we rely on donors to meet the ever-rising costs of running a learning institution of this type. When I joined the board at Cherry Hill, it was expected that I would take part in fund-raising efforts to show my personal commitment towards making the school as success. While I have no secret contact list of wealthy donors or rich relatives, I do have something of a bully pulpit here at The Wild Hunt. So in this one instance I’m going to briefly stray from news-gathering and editorial pontificating, and ask the thousands of people who read my blog and are invested in institutions like Cherry Hill Seminary succeeding and growing to consider giving a donation during our annual appeal. I understand that times are hard, and that many of you can’t spare much, but if you do have some disposable income, and are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to help us succeed now is the time.

Like many of you, I’m always deeply skeptical of online endeavours that claim to advance our community. I have aligned myself with Cherry Hill because I trust the people running it, and I respect the people teaching for it. If my goals in life were a bit different, I would not hesitate to pick Cherry Hill as a place to receive advanced skills that would prepare me for a future in aiding and guiding my coreligionists towards a better future. If you agree with my assessment, please choose this time to make a donation, small or large, towards our future. If and when you do, please let them know that The Wild Hunt sent you. You may also, if you want to support this mission but have nothing to give at this time, re-post my message on your own blog or journal. We always ask where the advanced material is, and when we are going to advance beyond “101″ lessons, well here is where that need is answered and fulfilled. I hope you’ll join me in helping Cherry Hill shape our collective future.

Cheers,

Jason Pitzl-Waters
The Wild Hunt
Cherry Hill Seminary B.O.D.

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

The Aquarian Tabernacle Church (a Wiccan tradition/church) has sent out a press release concerning new developments regarding the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary. The online school is getting a makeover, and gaining a new vice-president and administrator.

“The Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary, given degree granting authority by Washington state in 1999, is having a face lift this spring … In addition, WSTS proudly announces the appointment of Kirk White as interim Vice President and Administrator of the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary. White, a well known Wiccan author and respected High Priest, is co-founder of the National Association of Pagan Schools and Seminaries, a past co-National First Officer of Covenant of the Goddess, North America’s oldest and largest association of Witches and Wiccans. White also founded and served for 10 years as President of Cherry Hill Seminary. In 2006, Wildhunt.org named him one of the “25 most influential modern living Pagans today”. Since 2007 he has served as a consultant to new and established Pagan seminaries across the United States and we are pleased to have him working with us.”

Bringing Kirk White onboard seems like a move for WSTS to gain some more credibility as a Pagan seminary, though that might be hampered by the fact that the school’s dean is Belladonna “Wife Swap” Thompson. It should also be noted that “degree granting authority” isn’t the same thing as accreditation. So always check to see who exactly your teachers are, and what qualifications they have to be teaching you the subject at hand. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I am on the BOD of Cherry Hill Seminary, but I have no particular animus or rivalry with WSTS.

When is “witchcraft” our “Witchcraft”? By that I mean, what do journalists and authors like Bob Morgan mean when they say a young woman was kidnapped and initiated by a “a coven of witches”? A South Alabama paper reports on the e-publication of a book by one of their reporters concerning a young woman who claims to have been held hostage for years by a Californian “coven” called “The Brotherhood”.

“At the age of 15, Nikki Russo checked into a California hospital for treatment of an eating disorder. It was in this hospital that she was eventually abducted by a nurse, initiated into a coven of witches and thrown into a dark world filled with drugs, alcohol, abuse and intimidation. Nikki Russo hopes The Pomegranate Seed will be a warning to readers not to take anything for granted where cherished institutions are concerned. Today, Russo’s story and struggle to recovery is chronicled in the new book The Pomegranate Seed — Nikki Russo’s Sojourn Through Institutional Failure and the World of the Occult.”

Morgan is apparently sensitive to accusations of “Satanic Panic” since he first reported on Nikki Russo, and claims that the book is filled with legal documents and depositions. However, neither the initial 2007 report by Morgan, or the 2009 piece on his subsequent book, goes into any detail as to what exactly this “Brotherhood” was practicing, and how they are linked with California’s occult community. This lack of detail is all explained as a way to honor the victim, but it also denies us any clear notion as to what this group was. I have no doubt that Russo was abused if she says she was, I’m just skeptical concerning how “witchy” these “witches” were.

World of Wonder shares with us some “homo history” in the form of ancient examples of same-sex marriage.

As Africa was the birthplace of civilization it should come as no surprise to find that the earliest known reference to same-sex marriage in history can also be found there. Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were royal manicurists in the court of Pharaoh Niuserre during Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. The artwork in their tomb leaves no doubt that they were viewed as a couple. The men are depicted in near constant embrace. They are shown with their noses touching (the most intimate embrace permitted in Egyptian art of the time, a form of kissing). Even their names speak to the intensity of their bond. When the names Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep are put together, it translates into “joined in life and joined in death.”

Just goes to show you that there is nothing new under the sun, and that different cultures and times had different reactions to same-sex relations. To claim a singular constant for legal and social public bonds is myopic at best and revisionist at worst.

I understand that some people don’t like Barack Obama, but the intense white-hot loony anger he invokes in some people is just plain amusing (when it isn’t frightening). A recent letter published in a Virginia newspaper now compares our “Marxist” president with Pagan hero Julian the Apostate!

“God has given America her very own 21st century ‘Julian the Apostate’, better known as the Marxist, Barack Obama. Now before any of Obama’s supporters hastily come to his defense, consider the fact that his ideologies are blatantly Marxist, yet, he is not alone in his Marxist tendencies … If the reports of Obama’s Marxist passion were not enough to wake up the Christian community to the fearful danger of a ‘Julian Administration’, the issues of abortion and homosexuality should have made it crystal clear that professing Christians should not accept such an individual as the leader of America. The community of Christendom should have rejected such a blasphemer out of hand. Yet, for the sake of party, race, historical precedence or simply a hatred for the prior administration, those Christians professing allegiance to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe have grossly erred in their judgment, and along with hypocrites, heathens and traitors are responsible for destroying the roots of traditional American Christianity … At the outset of the Obama administration, a vicious war was declared against both Christ and all those that call themselves by His Name. Even now many of those Christians who supported him initially are finding themselves the target of his wrath. His goal is, and always was, the eradication of Christianity through government policies aimed at solidifying a Marxist, Totalitarian, immoral Statist order. This is nothing short of fascism.”

Ah! I love the smell of paranoid conspiracy theories in the morning, it smells like victory. Somehow I doubt Obama is going to “eradicate” Christianity, but if paranoid pastors keep invoking Flavius Claudius Julianus, they may not like what his spirit (once called) will do. This is the fellow who wrote “Against the Gallileans” after all.

In a final note, since yesterday was Earth Day plenty of reporters were out looking for a religious angle. These ranged from those who interviewed Pagans about their connection to the Earth, to snarky bloggers mocking right-wing hysteria that Earth Day was a conspiracy to get red-blooded Christian Americans to start worshipping Gaia.

“Earth Day, Green Week, Global Warming, Cap and Trade, Radical Environmentalism, Gaiaism. These and similar beliefs are rapidly becoming a state sponsored religion. This is a worldwide religion, not just an American movement. The end goal of this religion is to halt the industrial and economic advance of man, and to make man subserviant to Gaia, the earth as a living super-organism: Earth as God.”

I can’t believe our super-secret conspiracy to slowly re-paganize the Earth has been discovered! Curses! Foiled again! How will we ever spread our plans for a worldwide religion based on a living super-organism now!

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

In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to announce that I have been voted onto the Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary, the first and only graduate-level educational institution for Pagan ministry in the world.

“Last week the Board of Directors voted to receive three outstanding new board members, Tony Mierzwicki, Jason Pitzl-Waters, and Diane Edgecomb, who has been elected Treasurer. We are honored that they have agreed to serve with us, as each of them brings a distinguished background to their Cherry Hill service … All of these individuals bring rich and broad experience -life, professional and Pagan – with them as they enter the sacred trust of volunteer leadership for Cherry Hill.”

I’m honored to join the governing body of this institution. I look forward to using my talents during my three-year term to assist them as they work towards gaining degree-granting authority from the State of South Carolina, and ultimately, accreditation. I believe that Cherry Hill’s goal of raising the bar for the education of Pagan ministry reflects the same ethic that urged me to improve the standards of journalism by and about modern Pagans.

Cherry Hill Seminary is currently in the midst of their 2008 Annual Appeal. The money raised will allow them to maintain their standard of excellence, pay for much-needed supplies, and work towards long-term goals. I urge my readers who are interested in Cherry Hill’s mission to read this page about why you should consider giving. To pay online, or set up a recurring monthly donation, head to this page. All donations are tax-deductible (and tell them The Wild Hunt sent you).

For those of my readers not particularly interested in such things, not to worry, The Wild Hunt will not become a press organ for the seminary. In addition, all future stories that directly involve Cherry Hill Seminary will carry a disclaimer making plain my involvement with the organization.

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

The Vancouver Sun looks at how colleges in Canada are adapting to the changing realities of our religiously diverse society.

“At Carleton University and the University of Western Ontario, the official calendar listing holy days when students can be excused from classes or exams includes those central to Wicca and Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that originated in Iran and is now estimated to have about 200,000 members worldwide … In an effort to serve students’ spiritual needs, the University of Toronto counts two pagans, two Hindus, two Buddhists and a First Nations spiritual leader among more than 20 chaplains associated with the new multi-faith centre that opened last year. It features half a dozen prayer, meeting and worship rooms, says director Richard Chambers, along with facilities for foot-washing and a de-pressurized space that allows for fire and incense during worship ceremonies.”

The University of Toronto’s Pagan chaplains are Brian Walsh, who serves Celtic and reconstructionist groups on campus, and Catherine Starr, who serves the Wiccan community there. So if your thinking of going to college in Canada, this article is practically a guide for potential Pagan students.

A South African teen who killed a classmate with a sword and blamed it on Satan has brought forth the old “Satanic Panic” peddlers.

“[Pastor of Destiny Harvest Church in Umhlanga, Marc] Bredenkamp, who has been helping children involved in Satanism for the past 20 years and has housed recovering witches, said Satanic groups operated on fear and people could not get out because the group threatens to kill their family or do something to them. Apart from numerous death threats and attacks from Satanic groups, Bredenkamp recalled the time his eight-year-old son was abducted by Satanists. He said they threatened to kill his son and wanted him to offer his life in exchange for his son’s. He approached the young girl who had abducted his son and began praying for her. In so doing, he helped expel the evil spirits from her.”

“Uncle Marc” is a classic Satanic Panic con-man who used to be a part of the now-disbanded South African Police Service Occult Unit, and loves to warn of the dangers of heavy metal (and wearing black clothing). Bredenkamp is no doubt enjoying the renewed media attention, though he is “disappointed” that schools no longer tolerate his nonsense.

The Danville Commercial News in Illinois reports on the Correllian tradition Lustration ceremonies taking place this weekend in Rossville.

“[Rev. Don] Lewis conducts the ceremony, but a First Elder — a woman from Danville — performs the actual Lustration blessing. During the ceremony, Lewis also invokes an oracle, which means he receives a prophecy or message from the ancestors. Messages may involve events taking place in the next year or next few years. Some messages might talk about emotions.”

This event of “purification and blessing” will also highlight a new clothing line entitled “Wycked Velvet” (not to be confused with the similarly-named erotica web site).

While I’m on the subject of central Illinois, my former employer, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is featuring an exhibit on the paranormal and occult sciences at its Main Library.

“…the occult collection contains more than 16,000 items relating to occult sciences and parapsychology and was originally endowed by Merten J. Mandeville in 1966, a retiring professor of commerce. Not all the items that are part of the exhibit today were around when the collection started, but it continues to grow. “(The exhibit) is everything ‘X-Files,’” said JoAnn Jacoby, former selector for the Merten J. Mandeville collection. “It includes works on paranormal phenomena, werewolves, the possibility for occult powers, witchcraft, astrology and 19th century spiritualism,” she said.”

For more information about UIUC’s occult book collection, check out The Merten J. Mandeville Collection in the Occult Sciences’ web site.

Greek Pagan group Ellinais (aka The Holy Association of Greek Ancient Religion Believers) is planning to hold a service to Athena at the Acropolis this Sunday to protest the removal of statues and ask the goddess to protect the sacred site.

“Peppa’s Athens-based group, Ellinais, is campaigning to revive ancient religion and has defied Culture Ministry bans to hold prayers at several ancient temples. She said she would not seek state permission for the ceremony, to be held near the ancient Parthenon temple, built between 447-432 B.C. in honor of Athena. ‘We will just sing three hymns. It won’t be a big ceremony,’ Peppa said. ‘I don’t know how many of us will be there. People are afraid. The fact is that we are subject to religious persecution.’”

It was only in 2006 that Ellinais was granted the legal right to exist in the Orthodox-controlled country. There is still great resistance to the group, and they have had to partake in civil disobedience in order to worship at the old sacred sites.

The Delaware News Journal interviews Cherry Hill Seminary co-founder Kirk White at the sixth annual Delmarva Pagan Pride Festival.

“[Pagans] having outgrown the stages he called “forming and storming,” paganism now is “norming,” or becoming like some religions. Although pagans may continue to believe in magic, he said, “if we’re not careful, we’ll become the big white circle on Main Street where all the pews face forward.” He urged listeners to be of service — whether their calling is dance, music, drumming, ministry or filling out paperwork for government agencies so events such as the festival can take place.”

Also interviewed is author and Wiccan elder Ivo Dominguez Jr., who helped organize the event.

That is all I have for now. Have a great day!

Cherry Hill Seminary and the Lady Liberty League have released a joint press-release concerning Pagan chaplain Patrick McCollum’s upcoming presentation before the US Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, DC.

“The Rev. M. Patrick McCollum will be part of a six-member panel of experts presenting to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Friday, February 8, 2008, on Religious Discrimination and Prisoners’ Rights. The panel is being convened to shed light on the nature and extent of the problems which have arisen in this context and to discuss what can be done to resolve inmate grievances in United States prisons … ‘It is an honor to be invited to participate in the dialog and to share a Wiccan’s point of view,’ said McCollum in a recent interview. ‘Those in minority faiths are seldom [offered] the opportunity to be heard, even when the issue concerns their rights. I am hopeful that this invitation is indicative of what we can expect going forward; that there is truly a desire on the part of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to ensure that inmates receive equal treatment, and a willingness to better serve minority religions.’”

McCollum’s historic testimony comes at a time when the issues concerning minority faiths in prison have never been more visible. Lawsuits are being fought over the hiring of Pagan chaplains to service the growing number of Pagan inmates, the issue of Pagan syncretism and dual-adherence in prisons is becoming a heated topic, and numerous legal challenges are taking place as Pagan prisoners try to carve out more rights for themselves.

Issues of religious freedom in places like prison or the military, two places where Pagans have been making waves lately, are bellwethers for the eventual entry of modern Paganism into the social and political mainstream. The days of non-Christians feeling left out are slowly coming to an end. In its place will come greater visibility, political power and influence, and harsher scrutiny from those opposed to our growth. If you think Mormons and Muslims have it rough now, just wait till Pagans, Buddhists, and Hindus start making themselves heard.

So when McCollum swears to the Goddess to tell the whole truth, and gives his testimony on Friday, he will be talking about Pagans in prison, and the chaplains who want to serve them. But he will also be inching modern Paganism that much closer towards full inclusion and participation in deciding how America looks at minority faiths.

ADDENDUM: Speaking of Pagans in prisons, you might want to check out Get Religion’s coverage of the recent Christo-Pagan inmate story.

ADDENDUM II: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released its own press release on Friday’s panel discussion, and has included a full list of scheduled speakers.

“Abu Qadir Al-Amin, Imam, San Francisco Muslim Community Center; Carolyn Atkins, Warden, Maryland Correctional Institution-Jessup; Frank Cilluffo, Director, Homeland Security Policy Institute, The George Washington University; Lane Dilg, Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief; Gary Friedman, Chairman, Jewish Prisoner Services International; Alex Luchenitser, Senior Litigation Counsel, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State; Patrick McCollum, Statewide Wiccan Chaplain, California Department of Corrections; Steven T. McFarland, Director, Task Force For Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice; Patrick Nolan, Vice President, Prison Fellowship; Joseph Pryor, Chaplaincy Administrator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons; and Gregory Saathoff, Executive Director, Critical Incident Analysis Group, University of Virginia.”

For info as I come across it.

Anyone who is familiar with modern (or “neo”) Paganism will tell you that it isn’t a monolith. Instead it is a grouping of faiths, cults, covens, and organizations that have been deemed similar enough to fall under the banner of “Pagan” (or “Heathen”), but are often quite different in individual theologies and approaches to ritual. So it has always been difficult to discuss “the community” is sweeping terms, or apply methods of (relatively) more uniform faiths (Christianity for example) to it.

That said, as we grow the demand for professional pastoral services in a number of contexts has also grown, but most institutions that provide pastoral training do so from a Christian context (albeit from a variety of political and theological points of view), and many Pagan clergy have been unable to find adequate training within their faith communities to deal with the level of pastoral work that is required in institutional settings. So I was very interested to learn that Cherry Hill Seminary (a primarily online school that helps supplement Pagan clergy, and aspiring Pagan clergy, with professional ministry skills) has announced a new Chaplaincy Program geared towards meeting the growing demand for trained Pagan chaplains.

“Cherry Hill Seminary, the first graduate-level Pagan ministry training institution in the U.S., announces the addition of a Chaplaincy Program directed by Patrick McCollum, who served as the first Wiccan chaplain in the California prison system … The program, a two-year certificate administered by the seminary’s Public Ministry department, seeks to train Pagans in effective ministry in hospitals, hospice work, prisons and the military.”

In the press release McCollum speaks directly to the need for a well-trained Pagan chaplaincy.

“There are a tremendous number of requests for Wiccan chaplains across the United States … The need has grown exponentially within correctional institutions just as the interest in Wicca and Paganism has grown within the rest of the nation. The problem is that many of the current chaplains are not trained in spiritual paths other than Judeo-Christian religions. And, while there are well-intentioned Pagan people who would like to go and minister to those in correctional facilities, most have no professional training to deal with life-and-death issues and they seldom have the right answers to address the conditions these prisoners face.”

Perhaps a robust ecumenical Pagan chaplain-training program is the answer to the questions (and controversies) concerning Pagan clergy that have been kicked around for years. In that manner each individual tradition and faith can have the independence to appoint clergy (and decide for themselves if they want to move to a paid-clergy model), and then have the option to pursue Pagan chaplaincy training if they want to work in hospitals, prisons, and other institutions where training outside the theological/ritualistic norms of their faith(s) would be called for. A formalized training to point to will certainly be helpful as more Pagan groups try to gain official access within military and hospital settings.

The program starts with the Fall semester. For registration and pricing details you can head to the Cherry Hill Seminary homepage. In addition to Patrick McCollum, overseeing the program will be Brighde Indigo, Malendia Maccree, and M. Macha NightMare (who has a post up about it at her blog).