Column: When Silence Befalls Democracy

Perspectives

When I came to work in South Florida Friday morning, there were TV satellite vans parked in front of the building. The office was quiet when I walked in. There’s always a buzz going on in the newsroom, always chatter, so it was unsettling to hear nothing. After a while people started gathering in small groups, sharing memories of Rob. There were tears, and laughter, and stories of this gentle, good-natured person who always had great writing feedback for his colleagues, this guy who liked to go out and play catch on his lunch break.

Pagan Community Notes: Ten Commandments, Dianne Daniels, The Druid Network and more!

DENVER, Colo. — A conclusion has come to a story that we first reported in 2014. Wiccan Priestess Janie Felix and Pagan Buford Coone with the full support of the ACLU challenged their home city of Bloomfield’s installation of a Ten Commandants monument on public property. The ACLU argued that city officials “accorded preferential treatment to the monument’s sponsors, disregarding many city ordinances and policy requirements that would regulate the monument’s installation.” The case was heard in early March 2014, and the U.S. District Judge ruled in favor of Felix and Coone in August of that year. At the time, Felix told The Wild Hunt, “We are delighted .

Religious Requirements to Hold Public Office?

It may not surprise anyone that the word “God,” “Almighty God,” or similar, is written into the constitution of all 50 states. In most cases, such words are found in the preambles and in the, often required, oaths of office. The mention of “God,” or the like, is used predominantly in reverent thanks or acknowledgment of a divine goodness. However, what most people do not realize is that eight of the states also include a religious component to a citizen’s eligibility to hold public office and, in two cases, to testify in court or serve on a jury. These states include Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.