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Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup + Crowdfunding Update)

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 27, 2012 — 20 Comments

Welcome to the latest installment of Unleash the Hounds, in which I round up articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans. Before we get started I wanted to give an update on the Pagan journalism crowdfunding experiment I launched on March 21st. The very excellent news is that not only have I reached my fundraising goal of $1850 dollars to send The Wild Hunt to Chicago in November so that I can cover the American Academy of Religion’s 2012 Annual Meeting, but I’ve surpassed that goal by hundreds of dollars. All in less than a week! Thank you! Your enthusiastic response not only means I’ll be covering the AAR’s Annual Meeting, but that we have a head start on the next crowdfunding assignment (all monies raised beyond the goal will be rolled over into the next campaign).

http://www.indiegogo.com/thewildhunt-AAR

Once the month-long campaign officially ends I’ll update my affiliates page with all those who chose to become underwriters, and update all who’ve donated on other promised perks. Considering the success of this initial go, I think it’s fair to say that I’ll be using this model to fund other assignments. The big question now is, where would you like me to go, and how often do you think I should hold a crowdfunding assignment campaign? I welcome your feedback, and once we have some solid ideas for events you’d like to see me at, we can even hold a poll to gauge reader interest. Some initial ideas for future assignments include the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, and Paganicon in Minnesota. Make your voices heard, and if there’s enough demand, we’ll try to fund them one at a time. Ultimately, I would like to build this up and work towards funding a trip to the 2014 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Belgium.

So again, thank you to my generous supporters. You made this happen. Now then, let’s unleash the hounds, shall we?

PNC Managing Editor, Cara Schulz with Presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson

Pagan Newswire Collective Managing Editor Cara Schulz got to spend the day with presidential candidate Gary Johnson, who is likely to run as the Libertarian Party candidate in November. Johnson famously did a virtual “town hall” session with representatives from Pagan and Hindu media and advocacy outlets back in October, and Schulz got a chance to follow up with the candidate to see if he regretted courting our community’s vote. Quote: “There was no consternation within my campaign about any of the feedback that we got on that event. No consternation.” I recommend reading the entire piece, especially if you’re a Pagan who leans libertarian. You can read all of my coverage of Johnson, here.
Politicker covers Monday’s official announcement of Dan Halloran’s congressional run, including a video clip of the event. Halloran’s prospective Democratic opponents have already started criticizing Halloran’s claims to being an “independent” Republican, but not, thankfully, his religious beliefs. For more on Halloran’s candidacy, check out yesterday’s post.
The Catholic magazine America takes a quick look at the Occupy Faith National Gathering, which was coordinated by the Interfaith Tent at Occupy Oakland. Tom Beaudoin, who is part of Occupy Faith NYC/Occupy Wall Street, mentions that there were “Wiccan-identified participants” and “multiply-identified persons” in attendance. Beaudoin notes that he is “most interested in what actually happens to people’s faith/religion/spirituality when we meet and work with other people of different faiths/religions/spiritualities, in their integrity, working for the common good.”
Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church, is currently in Cuba. I’ve already mentioned the pontiff’s unwillingness to meet with “non-institutional” religions, even though Santeria is a dominant faith in the Communist country. The Havana Times looks at Cuba as religious melting pot, interviewing Babalao Lazaro Cuesta who says “it’s an error for the Catholic Church to consider us deviants. We simply have our own religion: the Yoruba religion.” CBS says the Pope as a “tough fight” against the ubiquity of Santeria in Cuba. Meanwhile, Luis Perez-Simon looks the “Vatican two-step” regarding Cuba and notes that “as successor to St. Peter — the Guardian of the Keys of Heaven — the pope is also a representative ofOggún for the Regla de osha and of Zarabanda for the Palo mayombe Santería religions.”
John Gray at the New Statesman engages in the time-old tradition of blaming pagans for flaws in Christianity. In a review of “Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion” Gray sniffs that the “fixation on belief” in Western Christianity “results mainly from the distorting influence of Greek philosophy.” Greek philosophy, to paraphrase a famous meme, is in your religion, distorting your theology. Perhaps John Gray should look a bit deeper, because Greek philosophy never diminished the value of praxis in pre-Christian religion.
Lawyers for Christopher Vaughn, accused of murdering his wife and three children, are trying to block any mention of his Druid religion from court proceedings. Public Defender Jaya Varghese said that “The word ‘Druid’ alone is prejudicial,” and would “significantly impact” his right to a fair trial. At issue are posts Vaughn made to a Druid listserv in 2007 that prosecutors say point towards motivation for the killings. A ruling on the matter is scheduled for this Friday.
The New York City Department of Education is looking to have around 50 words/subjects removed from standardized tests given in the state, saying certain words can make children feel “unpleasant.” Among the words? “Halloween,” “Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling),” “Parapsychology,” and “Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.” Apparently “Halloween” was targeted because it “suggests paganism.” I now have to wonder if standardized tests in New York had word-problems involving Witches celebrating Halloween or something. Could tests have truly been that awesome? I never got anything like that growing up in Nebraska.
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of the Interfaith Alliance, lets us know that the “war on religion does not exist.” Quote: “Let’s move past the idea that opposing the imposition of one set of religious doctrines on the rest of society is a war on religion. Let’s move past the idea that asking people to follow the laws of our democratically elected government is somehow a challenge to religious freedom. Let’s move past the idea that the fact that a majority of Americans are Christians somehow makes this a Christian nation. Instead, let’s celebrate the diverse nature of faith in this country that has thrived in large part because of the religious freedom guarantees in the First Amendment.”
Unitarian Universalist Association President Rev. Peter Morales writes about his trip to Japan, and participating in a Shinto ceremony. Quote: “As I reflect on all the ceremonies I attended as the ambassador of our faith, the role of ritual in religion is very much on my mind. An ancient faith has rituals with centuries of tradition. These rituals connect people over time and, with repetition, induce a state of reflection and centering.” Rev. Morales then talks about the importance of having ritual in ones religious life, even in the “heretical” UUA.
The Pew Research Center says that a growing number of Americans are uncomfortable with the amount of religious talk that is being inserted into modern Politics. Well, except for supporters of Rick Santorum.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of them I may expand into longer posts as needed.

Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 11, 2012 — 105 Comments

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

The New York Times profiles Baba Heru Semahj, a New York police officer turned Kemetic priest. Quote: “He performs weddings, funeral services and Kemetic cosmological holiday services. He has bestowed his blessings and jewelry on the likes of the jazz bandleader Sun Ra, the controversial Judge Bruce Wright and celebrity clients like Wesley Snipes, Erykah Badu and Ben Vereen, he said. Mr. Semahj had five children with his first wife. His second wife, Queen Afua, is a priestess, healer and midwife who runs a Kemetic-themed wellness consultancy and writes books.” You can find Baba Heru Semahj’s jewelry studio, here.
In Iraq, young men and women who are considered “emo” are being targeted and killed by conservative militias. The Western subcultural style is perceived as a marker for homosexuality and devil worship, and local authorities tasked with protecting social minorities are completely ill-equipped to handle the problem. The New York Times correctly points out that it was the Iraqi government that first labeled emo kids as a Satanic menace that should be eliminated. Activists claim that up to 90 people have been killed so far in this purge, usually beaten to death with cinder blocks.
The Houston Chronicle covers the controversy over Nigerian witch-hunter Helen Ukpabio’s impending visit to Texas. The local churches hosting Ukpabio deny any abusive behavior or child exorcisms within their congregations, and Ukpabio won’t respond to requests for comment. The Chronicle notes that Ukpabio’s website claims “there is hardly any family without witchcraft, “ and Harvard scholar of indigenous African religions Jacob Olupona calls Ukpabio’s teachings “completely unacceptable.” You can read more about Ukpabio and her visit to America, here.
Chas Clifton notes that the latest issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies went to press last month, and its contents are now available online. PDFs of book reviews and of Caroline Tully’s article, “Researching the Past is a Foreign Country: Cognitive Dissonance as a Response by Practitioner Pagans to Academic Research on the History of Pagan Religions,” may be downloaded free. I’m particularly looking forward to reading “John Michell, Radical Traditionalism and the Emerging Politics of the Pagan New Right” by Amy Hale. I got previews of both aforementioned papers at the recent AAR Annual Meeting in San Francisco, and they each should do an excellent job in sparking needed discussions within modern Paganism.
OC Weekly profiles Lon Milo DuQuette on the release of his new solo CD “I’m Baba Lon.” DuQuette, has written several texts on magick and the occult, and recently released a novel entitled “Aleister Crowley – Revolt of the Magicians” (for which I interviewed him). You can hear a live preview of the album, here.
Kirk Cameron finds himself a defender against “totalitarian” gays in David Krayden of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies. Krayden notes that “promotion of homosexual behaviour is in itself a throwback to the attitudes and opinions of ancient pagan civilizations.” It’s a lucky thing that Cameron is an expert in infiltrating open-to-the-public Pagan rituals!
In November, Minnesota votes on a state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Local religion professor Anant Rambachan, a Hindu, points out that Christianity isn’t the only religion that has opinions about divisive social issues. Quote: “Our state is home also to significant numbers of people of other world religions, including my own Hindu tradition. It is important that our voices also be offered in the public square. This amendment threatens to enshrine in law the perspective of particular religions and marginalize others.“ Once you start enshrining Christian morality into law, you inherently limit the religious freedoms of non-Christian faiths.
Local media here in Eugene, Oregon have been documenting the work of Alley Valkyrie, a Pagan and part of Occupy Eugene, who has been fighting Eugene’s “exclusion zone,” saying it unfairly targets the homeless population. Valkyrie herself was recently ticketed for violating the restrictive guidelines, which include sitting and leaning on planters and other structures. Police have backed off that ticket, no doubt trying to avoid further negative publicity. For more on Valkyrie’s work, check out this story on the Eugene Occupy movement.
PNC-Minnesota has an interview up with Paganicon guest-of-honor Christopher Penczak. Quote: “Our great challenge will be how to join the world as an adult religion. I believe in the new age, the new eon, a new era of consciousness. Paganism has so much to offer the world’s religions. To do that we need to speak a similar language and understand each other. We need some similar institutions, whatever they turn out to be. The challenge is how to do all that in a public venue and still maintain ourselves as having mystery teachings.”
Phil Hine weighs in on Queer Pagans, Queering Paganism, and how all that relates to the current dialog over gender in the Pagan community. Quote: “In America, there are signs that the constroversy sparked by the exclusion of transgendered Pagans at Pantheacon this year and in 2011 is also provoking a closer critique of Pagan discourses around sexuality, gender – and despite the surface rhetoric of being “inclusive” – how Pagan praxis actually works against this, producing seperations and boundaries. I see these projects as the beginnings of conversations that I hope will spiral outwards into wider areas…”
BBC radio program “Heart and Soul” looks at the aftermath of last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which in part explores how the disaster has affected practitioners of Shinto. Quote: “Mass graves have meant the impossibility of carrying out Buddhist or Shinto rituals and ‘a spirit of an ancestor who’s not properly memorialised can cause problems for the living because the spirit is unhappy and not looked after properly’.” You can read more about this at The Wild Hunt, here.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of them I may expand into longer posts as needed.

A Shinto Response to Tragedy, One Year Later

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 7, 2012 — 8 Comments

This Sunday, March 11th, will be the one year anniversary of a massive earthquake and tsunami that brought death, destruction, and nuclear chaos to Japan. A tragedy that the island nation is still trying to recover from. A few days after the disaster began, I explored the religious angle to stories of Japanese citizens dealing with tragedy, and how Western journalists seemed uncertain of how to talk about the spiritual dimensions outside of a Christian context.

Rescue workers in front of Shinto shrine. Photo: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

“As things progress, we can hope that a larger sense of the importance of ancestor worship, tradition, the divine within nature, and the multiplicity of spiritual beings within Japanese culture will shine through in future aftermath coverage. In this disaster there is a rare opportunity to understand how a culture outside the Christian context grapples with universal questions and problems. Religion journalists should rise to this occasion, and minority faiths in the West should ask for the true diversity of faith in our world be accurately and fairly covered.”

In my article, I criticized the Religion News Service’s coverage for being “disproportionately focused“ on Christian reactions to the tragedy in a land where Christianity is a tiny minority, while religions like Shinto and Buddhism dominate. So I’m pleased to see RNS covering Shinto plans to commemorate this anniversary.

“Shinto priests throughout Japan are preparing to hold commemoration ceremonies on March 11 to mark the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that killed an estimated 20,000 people. The Association of Shinto Shrines has issued a suggested prayer to be read during the ceremonies. That prayer, according to the Rev. Masafumi Nakanishi, a Shinto priest, describes the calamity, pleads that there be no more disasters and asks that people live peacefully. [...] Nakanishi said many of the shrines that were spared last year were built just beyond the tsunami’s reach, crediting Shinto ancestors with their safe placement. Many of the surviving shrines were used for disaster relief efforts, with some serving as shelters following the earthquake and tsunami and others serving as collection sites for donations to assist the victims.”

CNN did a feature on one of the shrines that survived in April of last year, I’ve embedded it below.

The RNS piece also quotes Georgetown professor Kevin M. Doak, who says that “the Japanese have a kind of innate, intuitive empathy” which “may be due to Shinto as much as to anything else.” Another insight into the minds of those who’ve been shaped by Shinto, and this recent tragedy, comes from MSNBC.com. In that piece, Kuni Takahashi reports on rebuilding plans and interviews Masanori Sato, the son of a Shinto priest.

“At first I didn’t have a clue where to start, but I slowly began to see things clearly after moving out of the evacuation center into temporary housing,” Sato said recently. “I felt myself settling down a bit. I want to put our village together again. The land has changed but the people are not all gone. We are talking about reviving our community just like it used to be – including both good things and bad things [...] Being a tsunami survivor changed my way of thinking. I guess I learned from it. I realized how important the community is to help each other. I was too selfish before.”

Both of these looks into how Shinto adherents deal with immense tragedy are welcome, though I still wish more time was spent unpacking how Japanese culture, and traditional Japanese religion, shapes views of the earthquake and tsunami. For example, a recent AFP report mentions how this tragedy has created scores of “ghosts,” and notes that “Shinto priests have been called upon to console the souls of the dead and ease their passage into the next world before they purify the places their bodies were found.” Yet no further detail is given into how this process happens, or how the role of Shinto priests have changed in the wake of the tsunami. So much more is here to be said, and heard. I hope those who cover the religion beat rise to the occasion and continually move beyond their comfort zones to hear the voices of religious men and women who may operate outside a context they understand.

For many modern Pagans, we feel a natural affinity with our Shinto cousins. Last year we saw Peter Dybing lead an initiative that raised $30,000 dollars for Japan earthquake assistance, a new landmark in our ability to collectively give. I hope that our community will also observe March 11th as a day of prayer and commemoration. That we ask our gods, the spirits, the land itself, to spare Japan from further disasters, and people live peacefully.

In Paganism, Religion earthquake, Japan, journalism, Pagan Japan Relief Project, Shinto, tsunami

Catskill Appeals in Maetreum Ruling and other Pagan News of Note

Jason Pitzl-Waters — April 8, 2011 — 19 Comments

Top Story: The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, who recently scored a major judicial win in their ongoing tax battle with the Town of Catskill, New York, is seeing the fight extended further as Catskill appeals the decision to let the case go forward.

“As we reported in February, Judge Pulver’s decision was a big victory for the self-described witches of the Maetreum, who argue that the town treated them differently from other religious groups when it placed their Palenville property on the tax rolls [...] Despite the appeal, Judge Pulver, who held a preliminary conference in the case yesterday, has set a date for a bench trial. Pulver will hear evidence in the case and rule on it himself on July 20.”

Here’s a statement from the Maetreum of Cybele on the town’s appeal.

“We learned this past weekend that the Town of Catskill appealed the Judge’s decision to the New York Appellate Court. We believe this is their last ditch effort to avoid having to legally grant our exemption for 2011 as the deadline for them to decide on that is fast approaching and the decision left no grounds for denial since the Board of Assessment Review refused the invitation to tour our property last year meaning they have no direct knowledge of how we use our property, literally the only wiggle room they had.”

This is an issue that Catskill is going to fight to the bitter end, and is breaking their budget in the process. While they continue to fight for pennies from the Maetreum, mega-retailer Wal-Mart seems to have no trouble getting a big tax break. I guess it’s about priorities.

Heathens Gather Near Paganistan: PNC-Minnesota interviews Brody Derks of Volkshof Kindred about Heathenry and the upcoming Northern Folk Gathering near the Twin Cities in June.

“June 10-12, we have this event, the Northern Folk Gathering, it used to be called the Midwest Thing, but we have changed the name. Registration includes three days and two nights of cabin camping. We have open activities, and a Saturday night feast. It is at St Croix State Park at the boot camp. This is just outside the Twin Cities. We having folk coming in from Kansas, Michigan, and other parts of the country.

It has a few different aspects. It is a gathering of tribes. The Chieftains do gather and and have meetings. We are part of an alliance of people, tribes, of the Midwest. We come together and make decisions that influence the road that Heathenry takes in the Midwest. There is also a lot of workshops, information about Anglo-Saxon culture. Kari Tauring will be presenting song and Stav. There will also be events for the children. We have plenty of children centered events, and we very much welcome children.”

Derks also talks about why they don’t use the term “Pagan,” and his time as president of the University of Minnesota Pagan Society.

Analyzing Satanism’s (Alleged) Rise: TheoFantastique interviews Jesper Aagaard Peterson, a Research Fellow at the Dept. of Archaeology and Religious Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who studies modern Satanism, about the recent rise in exorcisms and claims of explosive growth among Satanic groups.

“Regarding the rise of Satanism, that depends on how you define it. The article you mention calls it a “surge” and a “revival”. It is true that the 1990s and early 2000s saw an increase of interest in Satanism alongside Witchcraft, Neopaganism, and other religious currents with roots in esotericism and occultism. This has to do with the general re-enchantment of the West in the past 50 years (an enchantment that never really went away, actually, but that is another story), which has developed in dialogue with popular media. It is also true that Satanism is more visible and more accessible because of the Internet, and that it flourishes on the de-regulated arenas the Internet provides. On the other hand, membership figures are hard to come by, and should be seen in relation to degrees of affiliation – a majority of witches or Satanists are tourists or dabblers, and only a small minority affiliate with a group and/or develop a long-term engagement. It is likely that more people are attracted to Satanism than before, and they are more visible today, but actual members still amount to thousands and not millions. In any case, where I differ from the article’s conclusion is in the effect of mediated religion on susceptible youth. Watching a movie, accessing a website or participating in a discussion forum does not automatically make you a Satanist, and it certainly does not make you possessed.”

The conversation here was sparked by a Daily Telegraph article about a six-day conference being held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. According to organizers and exorcists there’s been a “revival” of Satanism and that “the rise of Satanism has been dangerously underestimated in recent years.” For all my exorcism-revival coverage, click here.

The Shrine That Survived: CNN reports on Buddhist/Shinto shrine at Otsuchi that survived the tsunami and a fire.

Stories about indigenous faith traditions from Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami have been somewhat rare, so I’m glad to see this story emerge. Strangely, this story was posted to CNN’s Belief Blog for a short time, but was then removed. I’m not saying there were any nefarious motives, but I do wonder why that happened. Internal turf battle? Editorial decision? As for whether this was divine intervention, I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Reconstructed and Engaged: Over at Patheos.com, the PNC’s own Cara Schulz writes about Hellenismos and why a reconstructed ancient religion makes the most sense to her.

“But this is how we see it – why reinvent the wheel when you can put some air in the one you’re given and get back on the spiritual path? There were reasons why our ancestors interacted with deities in the way that they did. Because it worked. It’s spiritually fulfilling. It makes sense. It allows for a deeper connection with deities and the world around you. It has meaning and depth and beauty. It is timeless. It vibrates in our very souls. But the key is to regularly engage in rituals, observances and practices. To adhere as close to what the ancients did, in order to learn from their wisdom and experience, and then to translate that into a slightly more modern form that is still ‘true’ to its origins.”

Cara also links to a video of a wedding ceremony conducted by Hellenic Pagans in Greece. Showing how ancient traditions give a depth of meaning to these important milestones of life.

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

The Third Wave’s Predictable Wallowing in Japan’s Tragedy

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 18, 2011 — 106 Comments

For some time now I’ve been writing and warning about the Christian Neo-Pentecostal movement known as the “Third Wave” or “New Apostolic Reformation”. Guided by World Prayer Center co-founder and “Convening Apostle” C. Peter Wagner, this small group of Christians helped nurture the career of Sarah Palin, and have been slowly climbing into positions of influence among the ranks of ultra-conservative politicians. So who cares if yet another iteration of the Religious Right supplants an older version? The problem with this version is that they have an almost singular obsession with spiritual warfare and destroying any faith they see as non-Christian. This includes bragging about giving a Wiccan cancer through group prayer and fighting all agents of the global-level demon they call the “Queen of Heaven”.

“Atop the hierarchy of demon spirits are the ‘territorial demons’, and squatting near the apex, over Mount Everest, is a purported global-level demon spirit called ‘The Queen of Heaven’ that prevents, according to Peter Wagner, prayers of Catholics, Muslims, and adherents to other supposedly illegitimate forms of religious belief, from reaching God.”

As you might imagine, a group so focused on cheering the destruction of non-Christian faiths may not be able to resist crowing about the current crisis and tragedy in Japan, a country where Christianity is a tiny minority. First, Ed Brayton of Dispatches From the Culture Wars points to NAR leader Chuck Pierce, who claims his “strategic prayer gathering” has sparked a course of prophetic actions that caused (through God) the earthquakes in Japan.

We declared, “Awake, O north wind! Awaken the north wind, and cause this garden that has been enclosed by the enemy to open up so that these seeds of harvest will come forth.”

We also shared that it will be heard on the news that the nation of Japan is surrounded by wind. This will be a sign that harvest will sweep that nation. At that time I also encouraged the leadership to establish schools of the prophets both on Hokkaido Island (the far north) and Okinawa (the far south) to keep the wind of God blowing and to neutralize the demonic forces that are influencing and holding Japan in captivity.

If you think what this group is doing sounds like malefic magic, I’d be hard-pressed to argue with you. At the end of his missive, one of Pierce’s followers shares the hope that Japan will become the “Land of the Risen Son”. They are ready and waiting to exploit this tragedy for all it’s worth.

Meanwhile, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion zeros in on NAR prophet(ess) Cindy Jacobs, who previously gained our attention when she gloried in the destruction of Haiti, and is now blaming Shinto for the destruction and horror the citizens of Japan are now facing.

“However, of recent years, this link with Amaterasu and sun worship was reinstated in a ceremony in which the new Emperor once again participated and “spent the night with the goddess” after eating the sacred rice. I believe this is one major reason that Japan has gone downhill economically in such a drastic way. [...] this island, Hokkaido, looks like the head of a dragon with the body being the rest of Japan. The people of Asia have worshipped the dragon for 5,000 years. If one looks at the place where the earthquake took place, it looks like the soft underbelly of most vulnerable part of the dragon. Let’s pray that the deep idolatry and the worship of hundreds of idols under the guise of Shintoism, Buddhism, and allegiances to being “sons of the dragon” will be broken and thousands will turn to the Lord.”

Jacobs tries to couch her bizarre anti-Shinto and ultimately anti-Japan rant in concern for the Japanese people, but it’s clear what the priorities are here, the “breaking” of non-Christian religion and the successful “turning” of people to Christianity. When Jacobs isn’t busy finding the bright side in mass tragedy and death, she shares a stage with Virginia’s Republican attorney general, burns indigenous art, and casts out homosexual spirits. Oh, and did you know that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was what killed on those birds recently?

Again, this would all be sad and laughable, a delusion rightly mocked and shunned by the civilized world, were it not for the political clout and influence this movement, and its allies, are currently trying to grasp. Many of us would like to believe that those who disagree with us on various issue are, at heart, decent people with different philosophies about the world. In most cases this is true, but any group that would welcome mass death and destruction as a method to changing minds is spiritually, emotionally, and mentally bankrupt. That this “Third Wave” and other anti-Pagan ideologues like David Barton are given unprecedented access to lawmakers and people of influence is frightening. Any politician who associates with them, who doesn’t condemn and distance themselves from them, are to be held as suspect by anyone who values pluralism and secular democracy.

While I’m on the subject of Japan, and its struggles, I would like to remind everyone that the Pagan Community is holding a fundraiser for the work Doctors Without Borders is doing there. There is a goal of $30,000 and we’ve almost hit $20,000! Let’s send a message of hope and solidarity to counteract the hatred and fear. Let’s send a message that the true spirit of Japan will never die, and will certainly not bend to these vultures who pretend to preach the word of Christ.

In Paganism, Religion Christianity, Chuck Pierce, Cindy Jacobs, earthquake, Japan, New Apostolic Reformation, Pagan Japan Relief Project, Shinto, Third Wave, tsunami

Tragedy and Crisis Outside the Christian Context

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 15, 2011 — 45 Comments

With the world’s focus turned to Japan as it deals with the aftermath of a cascade of earthquakes, a massive tsunami, and dangerously damaged nuclear reactors, press and commentators are starting to touch on the question of religion, and how belief is informing Japanese reaction to these events. However, this approach as been somewhat tentative so far, partly because we’ve been riveted by the immediate disaster response, and partly because Japan’s religious makeup is so very different from that of the United States and other Western nations. In Japan, Christianity is a tiny minority, while religions like Shinto and Buddhism dominate, and several smaller syncretic faiths thrive. In addition, Japan is highly secular, with few of the culture war issues that seem to constantly haunt us.

Rescue workers in front of a Shinto shrine. Photo: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

Rescue workers in front of Shinto shrine. Photo: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

CNN was one of the first mainstream news outlets to foray into how religion interacts with these current events, with Religion Editor Dan Gilgoff exploring how Japanese faiths confront tragedy.

“Japanese are not religious in the way that people in North America are religious,” says John Nelson, chair of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco. “They’ll move back and forth between two or more religious traditions, seeing them as tools that are appropriate for certain situations. For things connected to life-affirming events, they’ll turn to Shinto-style rituals or understandings,” Nelson says. “But in connection to tragedy or suffering, it’s Buddhism.”

Next to weigh in is USA Today, with religion reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman focusing on the role of tradition, and how Japanese Buddhism isn’t necessarily the Buddhism many Americans would be familiar with.

“Such talk of gods and hell kings doesn’t sound like the meditative Buddhism better known in the West, cultural anthropologist John Nelson said. He’s an expert on Shinto and Buddhist shrines and chairman of the department of theology and religious studies at University of San Francisco [...] ”Japanese Buddhism is similar to Western religions with deities that can be petitioned and can intervene in worldly affairs, and there are many mechanisms to appeal to them, to pray for miracles,” he said.”

Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic points to a short essay by former Anglican priest and journalist Mark Vernon, who meditates on the difference between the Shinto and Christian responses to natural disasters.

“In Christianity, human beings are at the centre of nature: creation is for humanity, along with other creatures, and it’s humanity’s task to care for it. Hence, in part, the offence we feel when nature turns against us. In Shintoism, nature is recognised as infinitely more powerful than humankind – as in the wave – and that humankind is in nature with the permission of the gods but with no particular concern from the gods. Shinto rituals show respect for the gods of nature, befriending the enormity of the forces, if you like.”

From there we have many smaller nods and mentions, the Telegraph explores the “tradition of rebuilding the great Shinto shrines,” the Washington Post evokes the image of a woman praying at “a small Shinto-inspired shrine to her ancestors,” while ABC News noted that local funeral homes “volunteered to provide traditional Shinto rites to the dead, donating white shrouds and cremating the bodies,” before becoming overwhelmed by the demand. Disappointingly, the Religion News Service’s coverage has so far been disproportionately focused on Christian reactions to the tragedy. One hopes that more robust reports on Shinto and Buddhist perspectives are forthcoming.

As things progress, we can hope that a larger sense of the importance of ancestor worship, tradition, the divine within nature, and the multiplicity of spiritual beings within Japanese culture will shine through in future aftermath coverage. In this disaster there is a rare opportunity to understand how a culture outside the Christian context grapples with universal questions and problems. Religion journalists should rise to this occasion, and minority faiths in the West should ask for the true diversity of faith in our world be accurately and fairly covered.

In one final related note, I also want to point to an article up now at PNC-Minnesota, where Hawaiian Pagan Lamyka, a former resident of Japan, is interviewed about how Hawaii’s experience with the tsunami triggered by the Japanese earthquake was, in her opinion, ignored in favor of California by the media.

“Hawai’i is seen as ‘foreign’ by many Americans, as evident by people’s reactions to the President coming here for holidays. We’re never included in national dialogue, probably because it’s incredibly obvious that we shouldn’t be part of the USA to begin with. Hawaiians have been protesting since being illegally usurped, fighting for our rights since statehood, and continue to fight for sovereignty rights denied to us. We’ve had protests here numbering from 50,000-60,000 but never once made national news like in Wisconsin.”

Yet another perspective that should likely get more attention by the mainstream media. Do check out the entire article, and share your perspective.

ADDENDUM: You can find resources for donations here, and here.

In Paganism, Religion Buddhism, earthquake, Hawaii, Japan, journalism, PNC-Minnesota, Shinto, tsunami

Quick Notes: UUA Japan Relief, Gender and Transgender Book, and the Air Force Academy

Jason Pitzl-Waters — March 14, 2011 — 5 Comments

I just have a few quick news notes for you this morning.

UUA Japan Relief Fund: Those still looking for locally-focused and Pagan-friendly options in their donations towards aiding Japan in the wake of Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, the Unitarian Universalist Association has set up a fund that sounds very promising.

“Following Friday’s devastating earthquake and resulting tsunamis, the UUA has been in contact with our religious partners in Japan to express our concern and our willingness to partner with them in recovery efforts. Our partners, including Rissho Kosei-kai, Tsubaki Grand Shrine, the Konko Church of Izuo, the Tokyo Dojin Church, and the Japan Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom are all in discernment about the specific efforts they will be taking to support recovery work, and the UUA will walk with them in the directions that are ultimately chosen. Please join with UUs throughout the United States by contributing to the UUA’s Japan Relief Fund which will support the work that our Japanese partners pursue.”

A partnership of UUA, Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese religious freedom organizations would seem to help avoid the allegations and scandals that some international aid organizations are encountering, and work towards immediate and locally directed assistance. For more ways to stand with Japan during this time, see my previous post on the subject.

Call For Submissions: Sarah Thompson and Gina Pond from Circle of Cerridwen, who initiated the protest and discussion over the exclusion of transgendered women at a public women-only ritual during this year’s PantheaCon, are hoping to take the ongoing discussions on the issue of gender and transgender within our interlocking communities to the next level with the publication of an open-submission freely available book.

“The recent events surrounding Pantheacon 2011 and the internet-wide debate that followed it have raised awareness publicly of the issues surrounding gender and transgender in the wider Pagan community. This book will comprise a number of chapters, some invited and most by open submission, which will give all sides of the debate an opportunity to clearly state their positions. In a sense, the book will serve as a written equivalent of a talking-stick debate, whilst also making it possible to capture the sense of this historic time, as accurately as possible, in the words of the people involved. Though space is limited in the print version of the book, we hope to make all submitted papers that meet the submission criteria available for download on the web. The publication will be on a not-for-profit basis, with proceeds (if any) donated to a suitable charity/nonprofit (to be determined). Invited chapters are being solicited from as many key people as possible.”

Chapters from all sides in the ongoing discussions and debate are welcome, details can be found at the Circle of Cerridwen’s page devoted to this project. Chapter submissions for “Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism” are due by June 21st. I’m glad to see attempts to move these discussions forward in a responsible manner, and hope that many of the more vocal contributors to the discussion at The Wild Hunt will look into writing a chapter for this new work.

New Religious Climate Study at Air Force Academy: Word has come that retired Air Force general Patrick K. Gamble will be conducting an “independent, subjective look at the overall climate at USAFA relating to free exercise of religion.” The Air Force Academy has long come under fire for instances of religious intolerance, favortism, and aggressive proslytization from an entrenched culture of conservative evangelical Christianity. Problems that Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says won’t be addressed in this new review.

“The problem at the school is not with any restriction on the free exercise of religion, but with unwanted proselytizing by fundamentalist Christians, a violation of the constitutional concept of the separation of church and state, he said. Gamble said he had not ruled out looking at the separation issue. He said his review team is still getting organized and its scope hasn’t been determined. “We’re going to take a blinders-off look, and nothing’s off the table, but nothing’s on the table, either,” he said.”

In recent years the Air Force Academy has tried to change its image as an aggressively Christian organization, and much was made in the press about their support for the installation of a Pagan worship area, though perhaps even more press was generated at the subsequent vandalism of said site. That circle was a response to a genuine need among Pagan cadets, one that has permeated all aspects of life there, and I can only hope that this nascent support for minority religions by the Air Force Academy can help counteract the larger culture of intolerance that many encounter.

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

In Paganism, Religion Air Force Academy, books, charity, Circle of Cerridwen, earthquake, gender, Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism, Japan, Military, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Shinto, transgender, tsunami, Unitarian-Universalism, UUA

Quick Note: Japan’s Last Mediums

Jason Pitzl-Waters — August 21, 2009 — 2 Comments

Martin Fakler at the New York Times profiles the ever-dwindling numbers of Japan’s itako, shamanistic female spirit mediums who communicate with the dead. Tolerated by the Buddhist and modern Shinto clergy they predate, they have dwindled down to a mere handful, down from around 20 a decade ago.

“They have survived government efforts to stamp them out, as well as the continuing disdain of many Japanese, who look down on them as charlatans who trade in superstition. Even the deputy abbot at Bodai-ji, Mount Osore’s temple, said the itako were not connected to the temple, which he said only tolerates their presence. Now, however, even these last remaining itako are vanishing. Only four graying itako appeared at Mt. Osore’s weeklong summer festival this year, three having died of old age in the last year. Worse, the only practicing medium younger than retirement age — 40-year-old Keiko Himukai, known among believers as the last itako — stopped coming this year for health reasons. “We can see a very ancient flame dying out before our eyes,” Ms. Himukai said in a separate interview.”

Fakler goes on to interview Keiko Himukai, the youngest (and some say last) itako, who hopes that perhaps this current fading away is the prelude to some sort of rebirth.

“She said she felt guilty about not going to Mount Osore. However, she said she may no longer be able to attend because of health problems, including a chronic stomach ailment. Instead, she said she wanted to write a book or make a movie about the itako. “The end can also be the beginning of something new,” said Ms. Himukai, who wore a plain gray suit with pants and spoke in a whisper.”

You can read more about the itako, here, here, and here. There is even an itako manga/anime character. Whether a rebirth of this uniquely Japanese spiritual practice happens remains to be seen, and if it is reborn, if it will greatly resemble the currently waning tradition. In the meantime, it is nice to see Martin Fakler and the New York Times pay some attention to the itako.

In Paganism, Religion Buddhism, itako, Japan, shaman, shamanism, Shinto

The Return of Shinto

Jason Pitzl-Waters — May 19, 2007 — Leave a comment

The Washington Times reports that after years of shrinking popularity post-WWII, the Shinto religion in Japan is making a comeback, in part thanks to the Internet.

“With an assist from the Internet, the ancient religion of Japan, Shinto, is experiencing a comeback among the Japanese. “We see more people coming here,” said a priest at the Meiji Shrine in the middle of Tokyo. “We see more weddings, more people bringing their babies for blessings, more requests for prayers to be rid of a curse or to prosper in business, more people taking part in festivals such as shichi-go-san,” in which children of ages 7, 5 or 3 are feted.”

Shinto is the native religion of Japan, and deals mainly with the worship of Kami spirits. In addition to the spirits of nature, ancestors and important personages (like the Imperial family) are also honored. Some worry that this upturn in Shinto observances is tied to a renewed interest in Japanese militarism, but it looks like the majority are trying to keep their Shinto practice apolitical.

“Another, perhaps less noble, reason for the Meiji Shrine’s appeal is its freedom from political contention like that surrounding the Yasukuni Shrine, where the spirits of Japan’s war dead, including several convicted war criminals, are enshrined. Japanese leftists, as well as legions of Koreans and Chinese, have criticized Japanese politicians for visiting Yasukuni, saying it glorifies past Japanese conquests in Asia … In contrast, Japanese officials regularly take foreign leaders to the Meiji Shrine without raising eyebrows; President Bush visited the shrine when he was in Tokyo in 2002.”

This revival hasn’t happened overnight, and there have been several cultural forces urging a renewed interest in Japan’s ancestral faith. This includes the efforts by acclaimed Japanese artist and animator Hayao Miyazaki who has incorporated Shinto perspectives and myths into several of his widely popular films.

“Being true to the Shinto insight that all phenomena often become polluted and are in need of cleansing and purification in order to manifest their vitality, Miyazaki has this strange array of creatures come to the bathhouse to be restored to their original freshness. This is made especially vivid when a “stink spirit” [in the film "Spirited Away"] actually the kami (or nushi) of a badly polluted and smelly river, is cleansed of all sorts of trash including an old bicycle. Once refreshed, the river’s mask-like visage says to Sen “It feels good” (English version: “Well done;” cf. below). Sen sees the true nature of this river kami through the purifying waters — at that moment her kokoro is clean and bright and she witnesses the forceful dragon-like river kami sail away white and pure.”

Also benefiting a Shinto revival is the fact that like all polytheistic faiths, Shinto has no problem incorporating outside religious traditions. As a result many followers of Shinto also practice Buddhism.

“Moreover, Shinto and Buddhism coexisted after Buddhism was imported from China. Japanese, unlike Westerners who belong to only one denomination, see no conflict in following the tenets of both faiths.”

With increased public support and practice of Shinto, it should be interesting to see how this affects Japanese culture (and Japan’s cultural exports). It seems that polytheism is once more on the rise in the land of the rising sun.

In Uncategorized Japan, Kami, Polytheism, Shinto

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Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

A Shinto Response to Tragedy, One Year Later

Catskill Appeals in Maetreum Ruling and other Pagan News of Note

The Third Wave’s Predictable Wallowing in Japan’s Tragedy

Tragedy and Crisis Outside the Christian Context

Quick Notes: UUA Japan Relief, Gender and Transgender Book, and the Air Force Academy

Quick Note: Japan’s Last Mediums

The Return of Shinto

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