I don’t know if you heard, but Barack Obama won the race for president of the United States of America last night. Though “won” doesn’t quite express the historic margins of victory on display here. The Obama campaign won commanding majorities of several key demographics.

“Mr. Obama built a coalition that included majorities of women, independent voters, political moderates, Hispanics, African-Americans, people of most income groups and education levels and voters under age 45, according to nationwide surveys of voters leaving the polls on Tuesday and telephone interviews of some people who had voted early.”

So the pollsters, psychics, practitioners of divination, and other “spiritually advanced people” who predicted an Obama win can rest easy in the knowledge that they were correct. Which brings us to the Pagans. How did they vote this election? Thanks to The Witches’ Voice, we have a rough snapshot of who our community supported in 2008.

Witchvox 2008 Presidential Poll

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pagans overall preferred Obama and the Democratic party, with nearly 3/4ths supporting Barack Obama. This is an improvement of almost 2 percentage points over Kerry in 2004. Republican-leaning Pagans on the other hand seemed deeply unhappy with their party’s nominee. While Bush garnered 17.7% of the Pagan vote in 2004, McCain dropped seven percentage points, with most of those voters migrating to the “None of the above” category. In contrast, only 1.5% of Pagans went with “other” in 2004. Could the appointment of Sarah Palin, with her ties to anti-Pagan “spiritual warfare” churches, have been a poison pill for conservative Pagans?

This election cycle also saw progressive Pagans vote for the Green party in larger numbers, 3.2% this year as opposed to 0.8% in 2004. Support for Ralph Nader, who ran as an independent in 2004 and 2008, remained stable with around 2.5% of the vote in both elections. Among the smaller political parties, the Libertarians were hardest hit this election. While 5.6% went for Michael Badnarik in ‘04, only 2.3% voted for Bob Barr. I can only imagine that Barr’s anti-Pagan past came back to haunt him.

While Pagan Obama supporters must be very happy right now, it wasn’t all good news for us. Paganistan (aka Minnesota’s Twin Cities) saw the reelection of congresswoman Michele “investigate the liberals” Bachmann, a woman unafraid to dump money on anti-Pagan charities. It also isn’t looking very good for gay marriage in California (anti-gay marriage bans were also passed in Arizona and Florida). Earlier this year I explained how these marriage bans interfere with the religious liberties of Pagan clergy willing to perform ceremonies for gay couples.

Despite these political setbacks, I can say I’m truly happy that the age of George “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion” Bush is finally coming to an end. I’m also pleased to see the emergence of a more politically engaged Pagan movement. I look optimistically to the future of America, and the continuing growth and influence of modern Pagans in our world.

ADDENDUM: Nate Silver at the 538 blog has posted exit-polling data from the election and finds that the Witchvox poll numbers are pretty darn accurate (with 73% of religious “other” voters preferring Obama).

Al Gore wasn’t the only surprise appearance at this year’s Netroots Nation conference. Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Bob Barr also happened to drop by. Ed Brayton, who blogs at Dispatches From the Culture Wars, was on-hand and managed to ask Barr a question that has been on the minds of many politically-oriented Pagans. Does he now repudiate his anti-Wiccan campaign from 1999?

Bob Barr: Totally lovin’ the Wiccans now.

“I got to ask Barr a question I’ve wanted to ask him for quite some time. He’s repudiated and apologized for many of his previous positions and I asked him if he would repudiate his absurd anti-Wiccan crusade of 1999, when he wanted all Wiccans banned from the military. He said yes, with a bit of hemming and hawing. He said that he had reports from several military leaders that Wiccans doing rituals on military bases were causing problems and that’s why he did what he did, but that since that time it’s become clear that there are no problems with allowing Wiccans to serve and to practice their religion on military bases like any other religion. I did ask him for any specific problems that were reported to him back in 1999 by these military leaders, but he said he didn’t want to get into specifics. I’m sure that’s because there are no specific incidents and those military leaders who complained to him did so out of bigotry, or because the problems it caused were really caused by bigotry against Wiccans.”

So you see, Barr was merely concerned by “reports” he had received. Reports that he doesn’t want to get into “specifics” on. That deep concern is obviously what led him to say things like this:

“A print of the painting, “The Prayer At Valley Forge,” depicting George Washington on bended knee, praying in the hard snow at Valley Forge, hangs over the desk in my office. If the practice of witchcraft, such as is allowed now at Fort Hood, is permitted to stand, one wonders what paintings will grace the walls of future generations,”

Or this:

“And we wonder why we have kids that are drifting around aimlessly when the United States Army allows not faith in God, but witches to worship on military bases by active duty military personnel; and the best that we can tell our young people and our service people is that we have to struggle through this.”

It is obvious that these statements stem from a deep concern about military order, and not from religious bigotry. I mean, it isn’t like he tried to ban Pagans practice from the military entirely, oh wait, you mean he did?

“The $290 billion defense bill allowed lawmakers to fund Stealth bombers and tanks, but for Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), it also meant a chance to keep witches and peyote out of the barracks and bunkers. Barr’s two amendments to the defense appropriations bill would outlaw the practice of Wicca — a form of witchcraft that worships nature — and the use of the hallucinogenic drug, peyote, on military bases … Barr was unimpressed by the fact that some bases, such as Fort Hood in Texas, have allowed the practice of Wicca for three years without any problems. “I perceive it as a problem,” he said.”

If only he had told us then about those super-secret reports (from “military leaders”) that he can’t divulge “specifics” from. Maybe his anti-Pagan amendment wouldn’t have been tabled. But that is all in the past now! Bob Barr loves Pagans, especially Libertarian Pagans, and wants you to vote for him in the upcoming election. I’m sure his new-found support for religious freedom and free exercise will be unwavering from now on*.

ADDENDUM: I neglected to mention that Joe Max at the Chaotic Good blog tipped me off to this story in the comments of a previous entry. Thanks for pointing it out Joe!

* Unless, you know, he gets some “reports”, secret reports, telling him otherwise.

This past Sunday I mentioned that anti-Pagan bigot Bob Barr had been picked as the official candidate of the Libertarian Party, despite a long and inglorious record of un-libertarian actions. Now Michael Idov, writing for The New Republic, files a report from this year’s contentious Libertarian National Convention. An event filled with uneasy allies across the political and cultural spectrum.

“The movement’s embrace of personal freedom is wide enough to welcome a Wall Street wing concerned mostly with deregulation; a sci-fi contingent dreaming of space colonies and immortality; a sizable anarchist (or “minarchist”) faction preaching dissolution of almost all federal agencies; and, in the last few years, a steady, surly influx of 9/11 “truthers.” All and more of these groups are on proud display in Denver. Vendor booths trumpet Native American mysticism, the “inflation-proof Liberty Dollar,” and, perhaps inevitably, Shotgun Willie’s, a local strip club.”

Idov contrasts former Republican Barr’s candidacy with the campaign staff of former Democrat Mike Gravel. Unlike Barr, Gravel has long embraced a pro-legalization, anti-IRS, pro-science stance popular among many Libertarians, though his run was more a snipe at his former party than a serious bid for the nomination. Despite this fact, he did enjoy some popularity among Libertarians, especially those unhappy with the ascendancy of Barr.

“Gravel is candid about his motives and expectations. He’s mostly mad at the Democrats–who, he says, pushed him out of the race for criticizing the U.S. stance on Iran–and would enjoy a platform from which to dish out some mild payback. His floor team includes Neal, a long-haired Wiccan who has a beef with Barr “because he tried to stop Wiccans from worshiping in the military” and granddaughter Renee, 20 years old and in full Goth regalia featuring a spiky dog collar.”

In the end, none of the more ideologically pure Libertarian candidates gained the nomination, and Barr claimed his prize, though not before some last-minute wheeling and dealing. The result has been deep unhappiness among the Libertarian rank-and-file, especially the younger Libertarians who tend to gravitate to the “left-wing” of the party.

“Inside the hall, a hushed pandemonium breaks out. The Libertarian Party seems to be ungluing before my very eyes. After more than a few people loudly declare their intention to defect on the spot, Steve Kubby goes onstage and pleads with them to stay. Boston Tea Party, a fast-swelling offshoot composed of frustrated anarchists, has put together an alternative nominating convention around the corner, for “serious, radical, Libertarians only.” Neal, Mike Gravel’s Wiccan aide, says he’s going to start his own Wiccan-Libertarian caucus back in Michigan. “The values are virtually identical,” he says.”

Will we see a rupture within Libertarianism? Will the Pagans, pot-smokers, and anarchists leave to form their own parties, while the LP-proper evolves into a sort of second home for disaffected conservative Republicans? While I’m not sure Wiccan and Libertarian values are “virtually identical”, the Libertarian Party has been a sort of home for the more conservative Pagans unhappy with the overly Christian and anti-Pagan flavor of the Republican Party. If the Libertarian Party continues to nominate anti-Pagan conservative Christians, where will these men and women go to find a political home?

I’m back! Did you miss me? I had a lovely vacation at my undisclosed location, and I would like to give a huge thank you to my amazing guest bloggers, who went above and beyond the call of duty to write some wonderfully challenging, moving, and insightful things. I urge my readers to add their blogs (found in the blogroll to your right) to your daily Internet travels, in addition to checking out the many published works they have produced.

Now, let’s catch up on the news…

The Libertarian Party has picked its nominee for President of the United States of America. Former congressional Republican Bob Barr. A puzzling choice considering that Barr’s record isn’t one that lends itself easily to Libertarian values of a small and un-intrusive government.

“Barr not only wrote and sponsored the Defense of Marriage act, but also voted for the Patriot Act; proposed the Pentagon ban a religious group from practice in the military: Wicca; and advocated complete federal prohibition of medical marijuana—succeeding in this last with his “Barr Amendment” – which also forbid any future law that would decrease penalties for marijuana use.”

Barr is widely famous as an anti-Pagan bigot who tried to ban the military from allowing equal access and freedoms to Pagan soldiers, which he claimed set a “dangerous precedent” and that toleration of Paganism led to youth violence. This no doubt leaves many libertarian-leaning Pagans in a quandary, since a vote for Barr is a vote for someone who has actively worked against equality for Pagans.

Another religious freedom battle involving Santeria is brewing. Santeria priest Ernesto Pichardo is threatening litigation if the police dept. in Coral Gables, Florida doesn’t release their records of an incident that occurred last summer.

“Ernesto Pichardo, president of the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, has been trying for almost a year to obtain records relating to the interruption of a Santeria ceremony by police last summer. An attorney he recently hired, David Aelion, has filed a public records request for any documents relating to the incident, which took place June 8. Aelion has requested all the incident reports, any internal investigations reports and communications between officers the day of the incident, as well as photographs taken at the scene, inventory reports and all city communications referring to the scene. ‘We want to find out why they were there for quite a few hours holding them [the practitioners] against their will,’ Aelion told The Miami Herald Friday. ‘It is pretty clear that the U.S. Supreme Court allows them to practice their religion freely. Why did it take many officers and that long to find out that they had no right to be there and no right to bother them?’ He said he was preparing for a possible civil rights violation case.”

According to reports, around two dozen officers with guns drawn interrupted an initiation ceremony after a neighbor reported that he could hear animals suffering. Why dozens of cops with guns drawn were necessary to investigate an animal cruelty complaint remains unknown.

Is the Crowley-inspired horror film “Chemical Wedding” so bad its good?

“Fans of terrible movies shouldn’t miss Chemical Wedding, which contains so many wooden performances it should really have been thinned before release by the forestry commission. Director Julian Doyle shoots the whole thing as though it is a Hammer horror film, and most of the actresses have the Hammer hallmark of being extraordinarily unfit for acting. Most of the cast underact. The one, big – and I do mean big – exception is Simon Callow, who appears to have been taking acting lessons from Brian Blessed and, possibly as a result, gone stark staring bonkers.”

Other reviews seem to be sounding similar notes. All we need is some audience participation, and a regular midnight showing, and we’re good to go! But while “Chemical Wedding” turns Aleister Crowley into a serial-killing horn-dog, works in other mediums are seeking to redeem the great beast, and paint him as a vilified patriot.

“Using documents gleaned from American, British, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 reveals that Crowley’s clandestine service linked him to the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, the Communist International, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess. Author Richard Spence, a professor of History at the University of Idaho, argues that Crowley–in his own unconventional way–was a patriotic Englishman who endured years of public vilification in part to mask his role as a secret agent.”

Did Crowley court public infamy to cover up his dealings with the government? If so it would certainly cast a new light on some of his actions, and make some detractors re-think his motivations.

Archie Bland of the Independent explores the ramifications of the new laws governing psychic practitioners in Britain. Bland wonders in the article if we aren’t asking the wrong questions as to who is a “bad psychic”.

“…perhaps the question should be recast to consider responsibility. Like the doctor, the sensible psychic’s first rule is probably to do no harm, and while there may be no such thing as a good medium to the ardent materialist, the contrast between those who have a code and those who don’t – between the tactful and the terrifying, the reasonable and the rip-off – is obvious to anyone.”

An interesting and sympathetic look at psychic practitioners and the people who frequent them from an unbiased journalist.

The New York Times has a very nice piece on the dedication of a new Hindu temple on Staten Island in New York (the first for that community).

“For Staten Island’s growing Hindu population, a couple of hours more was not long to wait to finally have its own major temple. After 10 years of worship in private homes and community meeting halls and the not-quite-finished structure of the temple itself on Victory Boulevard, the Staten Island Hindu Temple was formally consecrated in a clangorous three-day ceremony that ended on Sunday. For the 500 Hindu families from all over India who live scattered across the island, the days of having to travel to Queens or Edison, N.J., to worship are over.”

Perhaps we will someday be reading similar stories about the dedication of Pagan temples.

In a final note, the recently renewed gay marriage debate has caused some to connect it with the slow move into a truly post-Christian society. For example, conservative Christian commentator Rod Dreher claims we are living in a “pagan” sensate culture that will inevitably allow for gay marriage and that the best conservative Christians can do is move to a “defensible position” and wait it out.

“Well, it’s cold comfort, but this can’t go on forever. [Pitirim] Sorokin argues that once sensate culture plays itself out, people will have to yield to an ideational model of some sort. It is doubtful that any culture can long survive without strong, traditional families and durable moral norms based in a transcendental source. Our civilization’s prosperity has masked its social weaknesses.”

Of course there is no promise that any future dominant “ideational” culture will be a Christian one. There are myriad ways to approach perceived “social weakness”, and for thousands of years before Christ was born, those ways were “pagan” ways. Meanwhile, Nick Street at Religion Dispatches argues that the battle over gay marriage has little to do with a moral marriage crisis and a lot to do with the erosion of Biblical authority over American culture.

“…the impulse behind the movement’s anti-gay activism doesn’t really have much to do with marriage and sexuality … The real issues are the authority of the Bible and the nature of revelation … a lot is at stake in a political initiative with deep roots in the foundations of canonical Christianity. If religious conservatives can’t persuade a majority of Californians to heed one element in an otherwise obscure list of purity codes in Deuteronomy – and that Jesus’ preaching in the gospels isn’t really complete without Paul’s finger-wagging in Romans – the stitching that holds together the disparate parts of the Good Book will have subtly but irrevocably loosened, along with the Bible’s centuries-old grip on American public life.”

Christian conservatives are using their remaining weapons of fear-mongering and moral revulsion to hold back the post-Christian tide (of which gay marriage is a potent symbol), but it seems that just about everyone agrees that while Christian activists may win the constitutional battle in California, the larger war is all but lost.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!

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

A Connecticut-based animal cruelty task force is leaping into action after six beheaded chickens were found in a parking lot. Some speculate the animals were the results of a Santeria ritual.

“The eight-member Task Force on Animal Cruelty and the Circle of Violence will consider a growing number of animal abuse incidents in the state and their relationship to domestic violence, child abuse and other types of aggression, said Rep. Diane Urban, D-Stonington, who chairs the task force The group hopes to report back with possible policy changes including tougher consequences that could deter animal cruelty, by late this year, Urban said … ‘There is a lot of information that indicates those who display this kind of behavior might escalate it toward wives and children.’”

While actual animal cruelty might be a warning sign for escalating violence, there is no basis for making the same claim regarding ritualized animal sacrifice in a religious context. A point seemingly lost on Rep. Urban, who conflates sacrificing chickens with dog fighting.

“Whether it’s beheading chickens or dog fighting, it is an alarming sign of people not recognizing the sanctity of an animal’s existence.”

In reality, proper animal sacrifice pays very close attention to the sanctity of that animal’s existence, something your local KFC can’t claim. It should be interesting to see how this unfolds, and if the task force will target ritualized animal sacrifice in the interest of stopping animal cruelty.

The Chicago ABC affiliate reports on the publishing of “The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close”, and recounts some of the exploits of this seminal improvisational comedian.

“A small-town Kansas boy, his early life included stints as a carnie and traveling horror show assistant. Close hung out with a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, and also became the embodiment of the Beat Generation. He overcame alcohol addiction using an extreme form of aversion therapy and gave up cocaine with the help of a banishing ceremony performed by a Wiccan coven.”

Considering the fact that pre-Scientology Hubbard was heavily into ritual magick, and the fact that a Wiccan coven performed a banishing ceremony for him, you have to wonder if Del Close was a practitioner himself.

It looks like the new BBC-produced television series “Merlin”, starring “Buffy” alum Anthony Head, will be appearing on American network television come the Fall/Winter season.

“While most of NBC’s new shows had been previously reported, Peacock surprised with its acquisition of “Merlin”. FremantleMedia is distributing the series, which is being produced by Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine for the BBC. Murdoch recently acquired the Silverman-founded Reveille. BBC will air the show this fall, with NBC running it in the winter. It’s a reversal of the usual Blighty-U.S. programming pipeline.”

NBC will also be pulling in the supernatural Canadian drama “The Listener” and the Biblically inspired “Kings” (about a modern-day King David). Kudos to the network for pulling in some talent from Canada and the UK, lets hope it’s a trend that continues.

George Phillies, a candidate for the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential race, is courting the Pagan vote.

“Bigotry is a key theme of right-wing Republicanism, going back to the KKK and Concerned Citizens Councils,” Phillies said. “Like all other patriotic Americans, Libertarians believe that Freedom of Religion is for everyone. No real Libertarian will ever ask that a religion’s harmless practices be banned. This Fall, please take a stand against Republican bigotry. Please vote Libertarian.”

If Phillies actually clinches the Libertarian nomination, which seems a bit unlikely at this point, he could be the first openly Pagan-friendly presidential candidate to appear on a nationwide ballot. You can head over to Phillies web site to learn more about his campaign.

In a final note, an interesting exchange is taking place on the Christianity Today web site. Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko, Judaic Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, calls out Stan Guthrie, an editor at CT, for his endorsement of the “The Gospel and the Jewish People – An Evangelical Statement”. A document signed by several prominent evangelical leaders that advocates a “loving” and “respectful” re-dedication to converting the Jews. Poupko’s response is forthright, blunt, and gets right to the heart of the cultural and spiritual dilution and eradication at the heart of most monotheistic missionary efforts.

“The basis of interfaith conversation must be mutual sacred rejection, a clear understanding of the irreconcilable differences between the faith communities … I reject what is most sacred to the Christian. I am prepared to die for it, as have my ancestors before me. The Christian rejects what is most sacred to me, and is likewise prepared to die for it. Only after respectful mutual sacred rejection, can we identify those beliefs that we share in common … I don’t want Christians to instruct me on what to believe.”

At the end of the exchange, Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko exclaims that Guthrie, as a Christian, is “capable of understanding me only in your terms.” A common evangelical attitude that can deeply damage healthy dialog and relations between faiths. Poupko’s refusal to acknowledge Jewish conversion attempts as “loving”, while coming from a very different perspective than the Pagan one, is nonetheless an attitude shared by many who wish to grow their faiths in peace without worrying over ever-evolving evangelistic tactics to thwart that growth.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!