Culture

Column: The Dark Heart of Billy Graham

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On the last day of February and the first day of March, the corpse of evangelical Christian minister Billy Graham was presented for public viewing in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. Graham was only the fourth private citizen whose body was honored in a ritual normally reserved for presidents, elected officials, and military officers. The only other exceptions to the rule have been civil rights icon Rosa Parks and two Capitol Police officers who died in the line of duty, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson. Graham is the first religious leader to be awarded this honor by the government of the United States of America. The first clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Laying out a preacher’s dead body in the central building of the nation’s legislative branch does not establish his form of Christianity as an official federal religion, of course, but it is a bold break with 166 years of tradition at the Capitol, and it clearly gives an official stamp of approval to a man who made his living selling one branch of one faith.

Paganism

Column: It’s Poetry in Motion

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I should begin by noting that I think everyone has the right to choose a spiritual path that’s meaningful to them. You’d think that wouldn’t be controversial but a couple of thousand years of history suggests otherwise. Second, let me say that I’m not a physicist, but I have taught statistical mechanics; that would also be the semester I last said “sure, I‘ll help.”

So now we can backtrack a bit. Picture it: grad school, 1992. There was this lowly PhD student who was brilliantly good at statistics sitting in class deeply focused on an advanced lecture on fixed vs.

Paganism

Column: the Question of Community Accountability

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Many definitions and concepts change over time, depending upon the variables present with each the situation. The understanding of accountability is one of those very words that can invoke a myriad different thoughts, feelings, responsibilities and defenses, yet it is something that is prominent in so many personal and spiritual paths. Of course various spiritual paths have differing definitions for such concepts, as definitions change and adapt to the culture of the specific religious community. Within the general Pagan community it appears that accountability has many varied definitions based on tradition; each path frames its role very differently within their own spiritual framework. There are often general discussions of agreement concerning the accountability to gods and spirits, but the same level of universal importance isn’t shown when it comes to the ancestors, physical communities, politics, or interpersonal relationships.

Paganism

Column: Whose Earth is the Earth?

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Forward! And remember
To ask what our strength is worth. In hunger and in piety:
Whose tomorrow is tomorrow? Whose earth is the earth? -Berthold Brecht, “Solidarity Song,” translated by Joe Grimm Feinburg in Songs of the IWW (38th ed.)

As reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press and expanded upon by The Wild Hunt earlier this week, a folkish Heathen group, “Wotans Nation,” has purchased 44 acres of land in Meigs County, Tennessee.

Paganism

Column: the Gifts, and Tricks, of the Crow

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Walking through a high school campus just before lunchtime, I noticed four crows busily searching for scraps of food lying in the grass. One lucky bird had found a particularly large morsel and was enjoying its meal bonanza. Then, one by one, the other three lifted off and vacated the grounds to perch on the nearby building, staring down at their feasting friend. At that moment, the lunch bell rang, and the final crow abandoned his jackpot without hesitation and joined his companions on the roof, moments before the students came streaming into the area, hungrily searching out their own meals. It is easy to write this off as coincidence and anthropomorphization.