Editorial

Editorial: a Pagan Perspective on the American Flag

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UNITED STATES –Today is July 4, which is celebrated as Independence Day in the U.S. It’s characterized by parades, fireworks displays, family cookouts, and widespread displays of regalia in red, white, and blue, evocative of or centered on the American flag. There may be no other flag which is as widely revered and reviled as the one representing the United States of America. It’s a flag with unparalleled ritual significance; the complex rules for its display are enumerated in a flag code, within which are also laid out strategies for its desecration. The flag is the country, and for many that means that its display is indicative of support for the country’s present leadership. “I won’t hang the flag, because I’m not proud of what’s happening in this country,” one Witch recently remarked in conversation.

Editorial

Editorial: This Earth Day, Let the Land Spirits Lead You

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[Columns are a regular weekend feature at The Wild Hunt. Each Friday and Saturday columnists from various backgrounds and traditions share their perspectives and add their insights to the larger conversation in the community. If you like this feature, consider making a small monthly donation or make a one-time donation toward this vital global community venture. Either way, it is your help and your support that keeps daily and dependable news coming to your doorstep each day from wherever its origin.]

This year as we celebrate the 48th annual Earth Day on April 22, hope is a resource that’s coming up short for many environmental activists. Environmental regulations are being rolled back, U.S. governmental departments like the EPA and the Department of the Interior face huge cuts, and land and monuments that have been held in the public trust for a generation are being slashed. April 21-29 is also National Parks Week in the United States, with all national parks offering free admission on the 21st. 

This is a great week to enjoy our national parks; what we have is actually a rarity among most of the countries on the planet.

Culture

Column: Nazis in America

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America has welcomed the Nazis. I don’t mean Nazis in the sense of “everyone I disagree with is a Nazi.” I mean honest-to-goodness Nazis with swastikas on their flags and chants against Jews on their lips. They are here in today’s America, and they’re on the march. How did it come to this? How did the United States of America go from nearly 75 years of celebrating the defeat of the Third Reich by the Allies to insisting that one should never, ever punch a Nazi?

Editorial

Editorial: The dangers and pitfalls of the proposed net neutrality rollback

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TWH –A planned Dec. 14 vote by federal communication commissioners is expected to result in net neutrality being eliminated as the rule governing internet service providers. Instead, access to online services would be governed by a much weaker set of rules, based on expecting corporate executives to stick to their published policies rather than requiring an even playing field. This change would negatively impact any Heathen, Pagan, or polytheist attempting to use the internet to interact with their co-religionists, whether it’s for the sharing ideas or engaging in commerce. The concept of net neutrality is that the information superhighway should not be an unlimited toll road.

Editorial

Editorial: Journalism as Ministry

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“Ministry is fundamentally about serving the congregation, in contrast to being primarily about serving the gods,” wrote Sam Webster. That is essentially the role a journalist fills, and its particularly true for journalists who write for and about minority religious communities, such as we do here at The Wild Hunt. Just as a minister must sometimes stand apart from individual relationships to understand the spiritual needs of the entire community, Wild Hunt journalists commit to the credo that “we don’t stir the cauldron; we cover it.” Determining the difference between interpersonal conflict and newsworthy events requires what is perhaps the most slippery of spiritual tools: discernment. While in many polytheist and Pagan traditions, ministers by any name do not hold explicit authority over others, the respect and deference given them may cause them to be apart from the community that they serve.