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

DVD Talk reviews the documentary series “Women and Spirituality”, which was recently released in the DVD format.

“There’s little doubt that goddess worship has actually picked up significant cultural steam since the original release of these pieces close to 20 years ago. While they’re all a little dated, they provide an earnest look into the history and continued observance of gynocentric worship practices and will be appreciated by those interested in the history of religion and especially women’s movements. Recommended.”

Religion Dispatches looks at the recent (somewhat controversial) appointment of a “Supreme Chief” within Haitian Vodou, and the ongoing quest for respect by practitioners.

“Voodoo suffers from a flaw built into both scholarly and popular typologies of religion, that of hierarchical thinking about religions. Beauvoir argues that Voodoo’s character derives from its location as a “popular religion.” But lacking a sacred text, law codes, or traditions of written commentary, Voodoo is a marginalized tradition – marked as “primitive,” as if religions evolve along a given trajectory-compared to those “world religions” that come to dominate empires.”

While a tiny, and until recently, officially unrecognized, religion, the article points out that Vodou has a “capacity to persist” that may allow the faith to weather the current social and political storms raging in their country.

The caretaker of a Taoist temple in Taiwan has a problem. Too many deities!

“Yang Liang, who takes care of the small Suxi Temple, said yesterday he used to tend to only five land gods, the lowest deities in folk Taoism. Last February, Yang said, he found two statues of Avalokitesvera, or the Goddess of Mercy, abandoned in front of his temple in west Suao … Sheltering the abandoned Goddesses of Mercy probably encouraged those who wanted to get rid of their deities to dump them at the temple … Altogether 12 statues, ranging from Avalokitesvera to Third Prince or San-tai-zhi, were left at the door of the temple Monday. “I can’t take care of that many gods,” Yang protested.”

Yang has posted bulletins around his village imploring locals to please take their gods back, as he doesn’t have the space and resources to care for them all. Perhaps he could ship them to willing polytheists outside Taiwan?

As modern Paganism continues to grow, more local journalists start to notice the Pagans in their own backyard. This coverage starts with the inevitable “meet the Pagans” piece. Here, we have a classic example of this phenomenon from Great Falls, Montana.

“…like the others [Melinda Berry] keeps her faith to herself around here. “I came from California, where no one really cares,” Berry said. “In the UK they were really open and didn’t care. In the military no one really cares. In Great Falls, Montana, people care.” But there is a growing pagan population locally and around the state. At least five to 10 people regularly attend the monthly Great Falls Pagans meetings at Hastings. Some area gatherings have drawn upward of 40 people…”

Though “people care” if your a member of a minority faith in Great Falls, Montana, this introduction is far more friendly than the one that arose in Great Falls, South Carolina.

Following up on a story I blogged about a year ago, the Delhi High Court in India has ruled that naked paintings of Hindu goddesses aren’t necessarily blasphemous.

“Maqbool Fida Husain, 92, a Muslim who has been dubbed “the Picasso of India”, was served with seven private criminal complaints by Hindu groups for the painting Bharat Mata (Mother India), a work representing the nation as a nude woman. The Delhi High Court judged that the picture, for which Mr Husain has apologised, carried no religious content and could not be construed as offensive. “A painter has his own perspective of looking at things, and it cannot be the basis of initiating criminal proceedings,” Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said.”

This is a big step forward for artistic freedom in India, where Hindu-nationalist “moral police” (essentially the Indian equivalent to the Religious Right in America, only more powerful) are on the constant lookout for violations against their conception of “cultural purity”. These Hindu-nationalist groups vow to keep on fighting against Husain and others who transgress against their moral outlook.

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

Is it blasphemous to paint nude deities? That is the center of a widening controversy concerning painter Maqbool Fida Husain, currently India’s most (in)famous artist. Husain, long one of India’s most celebrated painters (including receiving honors from the government), began to find himself deeply controversial after a book of his work published in the mid-nineties pictured Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude. This ongoing issue reached a head recently when a painting he submitted for a benefit auction picturing a nude Bharat Mata (the personification of India as a mother goddess) raised the ire of Hindu nationalists.

A detail from “Mother India” by M F Hussain

“Leading painter Maqbool Fida Husain is losing his home and other properties after failing to appear before a court trying him for hurting religious sentiments by painting “Mother India” as a naked woman. Husain’s paintings have often depicted revered Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude, sparking criticism from nationalist parties and activists. A decade ago, radicals even attacked his Mumbai home.”

Husain, who lives in self-imposed exile due to death-threats and harassing litigation (there are over 900 cases registered against him), was able to get the Indian Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s seizure and it looks like the case against him will be moved to Delhi where there is less moral fervor against the artist.

“The Bench also issued notice to Shrivastava on Hussain’s petition seeking transfer of his case from Uttarakhand to Delhi, where four other criminal cases lodged against him in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat had already been transferred by the apex court. He has sought transfer of his case to Patiala House Courts here in view of “hostile environment” prevailing in Uttarakhand…In July 2000, the apex court had ordered the transfer of similar cases filed against him in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar to the court of an additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in New Delhi and later the Delhi High Court quashed the complaints.”

In the wake of these developments the Indian artistic community has risen up in support of Husain’s artistic freedom, and has condemned the ongoing campaign of harassing litigation against the painter.

“Reacting to the turn of events, the artist community has strongly condemned the campaigns against Hussain. “It’s not just Hussain’s but the entire artist community’s lives which are at stake. Anybody and everybody can file a case against us now. Anyone can infringe upon our lives,” said an upset Krishan Khanna, Hussain’s contemporary … Equally upset and enraged at the “vicious campaigns” against Hussain, other members of the community like filmmaker Syed Mirza, social activist Nafisa Ali, theatre personality M. K. Raina and a host of other artistes, art critics and art gallery owners came together yesterday afternoon and expressed their support for the maestro.”

Even more to the point, Suhas Roya, prominent Indian artist, points out that nudity and eroticism has long been a part of Hindu art.

“Nudes are everywhere in our country – they are part of our history and culture. Khajuraho and Konarak are full of examples of eroticism. But we should be aware that emotions do run high in our country and fanatics do exist. I have done series of nudes myself, but there’s been little publicity. Maybe because Husain said his depictions were of gods and goddesses. Everything Husain does gets a lot of media attention. And sometimes people feel nudes are used as gimmicks to get attention.”

Reading about this case reminds me of our country’s culture-wars over controversial religiously-themed art. From the “Piss Christ” to the chocolate Jesus. But instead of a gallery show getting canceled or funding pulled, the artists are hounded and made to fear for their lives, freedom, and property. It shows what far-right religious ideologues are willing to do when given enough cultural and political power.

Personally, I think blasphemy is a matter between divinity and the individual, not an arbitrary line to be used against those who have different thoughts and opinions. Not to mention that a large percentage of goddess art through many different ages and cultures was never afraid to show life-giving attributes. I’m not the only one to see this controversy as somewhat out of character for Hinduism, the Hindu blog wonders if an unhealthy influence from Abrahamic faiths are to blame.

“The naked body is not something to be ashamed of, in fact it is the temple of the Divine in Hindu theology. It is the Abrahamic religions that preach distaste and hate towards the physical body and therefore require their monastic orders to cover their bodies from head to toe. It will do a lot of good if the Hindu groups realize their folly in following traditions alien to their own.”

Whatever the underlying reason for this storm, one hopes that the courts will drop these charges against MF Husain, and that he will be able to safely return to his home country once more.