UU Logo
Plano, Texas – An LGBTQI+ affirming church in Plano Texas was firebombed last week after right-wing activists reportedly visited the congregation and identified the church as “pagan and satanic.” Local Law enforcement authorities are investigating the attack and referring to it as “an intentionally set fire.”
The Community Unitarian Universalist Church (CUUC) of Plano wrote on its Facebook page that “On Sunday, July 23, 2023, between 12:00 am and 12:30 am, a firebomb attack took place at Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano.” A passerby reported the fire to 911 emergency services.
The church noted that “an incendiary device with a chemical accelerant was thrown or placed at the front doors of the main church building.” No one was injured and the damage to the church property was limited to the front doors of the church’s main building.
The UU church in Plano is not listed among those UU churches with a Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) chapter and they confirmed to The Wild Hunt that there is no CUUPS chapter at their location. CUUPS is an organization dedicated to networking Pagan-identified Unitarian Universalists.
The church said in a statement,` “Church officials have been reviewing building security and working with the Plano Police Department since the intrusion of a hate group in the church building during and after Worship Service on Sunday, June 25. That group has posted videos of their activities inside the church on various social media sites.”
NBC reported that Bo Alford, whose social media channel is “bodittle” and identifies as a “Believer of Christ YouTuber/Boxer/Pro Lib Troller” had attended a service at the CUUC of Plano with friends some days earlier. They reportedly posted a video on YouTube July 12 titled “We Acted LGBT at LGBT Church.” After asking congregants about their beliefs; they said in the video that they wished to expose “false teachers.” The video in question has been deleted on YouTube, though other videos show his political and theological position.
NBC noted that at the end of the video, which had been viewed more than 200,000 times, “the men stand by the church sign and ask viewers to ‘pray for these people,’ calling the church ‘pagan and satanic.'”
Alford denies any connection with the attack on CUUC of Plano.
Alford told NBC News, “First and foremost, my prayers go out to anyone effected [sic] by the fire,” he said in an email to NBC. “As to the accusations, My channel spreads the message of Jesus and his love for us. If you watch the video you will see the members of the church having nothing but nice things to say about us. She enjoyed our conversation and even ended it with a hug. The fact we are being labeled as a hate group and being tied to this fire in any way is appalling.”
Law enforcement has not connected Alford’s visit with the attack.
Plano police told the Dallas Morning News ] that the department “cannot confirm” the fire “as a hate crime” at this time, though the investigation is ongoing.
A representative from the UU church told The Wild Hunt that they have no further comment about the event at this time and directed us to their public statement. In that separate statement, the church wrote,
Thank you all so much for your overwhelming expressions of support! It brings comfort to know we are held in loving care and support all over the country and beyond.
We do not have any more information regarding the incident at this time. Once we can provide more details publicly, we will try our best to do so.
As we recover and rebuild, we are focused on attending to the needs of the congregation and are not doing any media interviews at this time. We truly appreciate all who have reached out to us.
We are still here, drawing on our resilience and resolve to hold out hope for ourselves and this world.
via Ballotpedia (Hung Cao Republican Party)
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – Retired U.S., Navy Captain Hung Cao, a former GOP House nominee who is running for the Republican nomination to then go against Senator Tim Kaine’s (D- Va) seat warned in an interview that “witchcraft” is happening in California.
The comments took place during a YouTube interview with Sean Feucht, a pastor and Pat Robertson protégé who Rolling Stone referred to as a far-right Jesus rocker who made a name for himself protesting Covid, praising Trump, and sticking it to the libs.”
In the interview, Cao identified Lover’s Point in Monterrey California. “There’s a place in Monterey, California called ‘Lover’s Point,'” Cao said. “The original name was ‘Lovers of Christ Point, but now it’s become — they took out the Christ, it’s ‘Lover’s Point,’ and it’s really — Monterey’s a very dark place now, a lot of witchcraft, and the Wiccan community has really taken over there.”
Caos added, “We can’t let that happen in Virginia, especially down in Roanoke, there are God-loving people and in Richmond and in Virginia Beach. We need to mobilize Christians across the nation.” He then moaned that “only a third of the church votes” asking for Christians to push their beliefs by voting.
Cao then asked for financial support to continue his campaign.
In the video, Feucht remarked, “Your history is like breaking stereotype after stereotype… And you’re conservative, and you love God, and you love America.”
Cao, who is a Vietnamese refugee interjected excitedly that he is also African-American because he said “I grew up in Africa too.“
The July 2023 just-shy-of-full Super Moon over TWH headquarters in Miami
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – August will see two supermoons. The first full moon will be the Sturgeon Moon which will reach its peak illumination at 2:32 p.m. EDT on Lughnasadh (August 1). The Sturgeon Moon is so named according to legend because of the sturgeons caught in the North American Great Lakes and Lake Champlain (originally named Pitawbagw in Abenaki and Kaniatarakwà:ronte by the Mohawk).
The Algonquin and Ojibwe refer to this moon as the Corn Moon, the Dakota call it the Harvest Moon; and to the Assiniboine, it is the Black Cherries Moon, a reference to ripening chokecherries.
The August blue moon will also be the largest, being closest to the Earth. The short distance between the Earth and the Moon, or perigee, will not occur again until November 2025. The moon will appear 30% brighter. Blue moons – two full moons in the same solar month – occur every two to three years or on average every 33 months.
Announcements & Upcoming Gatherings:
On August 19, 2023, Southern California’s newest Divination Conference will take place. The inaugural event is presented by COMPASS, the Southern California Divination Conference will include presentations, discussions, and panels on many forms of divination from reading oracle and tarot cards, keys, geomancy, astrology, runes, and so much more. A curated selection of vendors awaits our attendees. DiviCon will take place at the Holiday Inn Santa Ana-Orange Co. Airport, 2726 South Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
Western MA Pagan Pride Day is one of many Pagan Pride Day events that take place worldwide. As a nonprofit organization, we strive to establish awareness of earth-centered spiritual traditions in our local communities. People of all faiths (or none) and walks of life are invited to join us on Saturday, September 23, 2023, from 10:00 am through 6:00 pm. There is no admission fee to the event, however, we ask that you bring a cash donation for our charity drive. We will be collecting cash donations for our favorite charity, the Northampton Survival Center. You can come expecting to find information about paganism in many of its forms, experience open harvest ritual, musical entertainment, workshops (classes), and many vendors for a fun, family-friendly community-driven event. There are a number of restaurants and cafes in the area, so plan to come and stay a while! Updates are also able on their Facebook and Instagram sites.
Lehigh Valley Pagan Pride Day will take place on September 30, 2022. They wrote “Our event is Lehigh Valley Pagan Pride Day in Easton Pennsylvania. There will be vendors of all kinds, classes, and food. We also have guest speakers who are authors.”
Event information and updates are available on their website.
If you have an announcement to share with the community, send it to The Wild Hunt at pcn@wildhunt.org
Positively Noteworthy
The famous gulper eel gained new fans last week as a video from a few years ago made the rounds again on Tiktok and other social media. The scientist at the Ocean Exploration Trust was exploring Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) in northwestern Hawaiian Island in 2018. PMNM is the largest contiguous marine protected area in the United States.
UNESCO says of PMNM, “The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Mokumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons.”
The scientist watched as the gulper eel did what it does best to many oohs and ahhs.
Tarot of the Week by Star Bustamonte
Deck: The Mind’s Eye Tarot, by Olivia Rose, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
Card: Four (4) of Pentacles
This week has the potential to hold elements of avarice and the overprotectiveness of material objects to the point that it prevents the ability to enjoy those possessions, as well as cause stagnation and stall forward momentum.
Conversely, the ability to share and express a generosity of spirit can allow for a level of freedom to accomplish goals, provided the giving is not detrimental to the giver.
The Wild Hunt is not responsible for links to external content.
To join a conversation on this post:
Visit our The Wild Hunt subreddit! Point your favorite browser to https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Wild_Hunt_News/, then click “JOIN”. Make sure to click the bell, too, to be notified of new articles posted to our subreddit.