News

UU Pagans respond to American political shift

By |

TWH — Following the highly-divisive election cycle in the United States, leaders in the Unitarian Universalist religion have been speaking out about what should come next. For one leader of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPs), the call to “provide sanctuary and resist” can be couched in terms of the time of the winter king, who brings hope in times of cold, dark, and despair. Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, laid out what he believed to be necessary in a letter to UU ministers last month. I believe we are entering dangerous times. I expect that the new administration will unleash human rights abuses aimed at migrants and Muslims shortly after it takes office.

News

Election day overview

By |

TWH – Today is election day in the United States, voters are headed to the polls to decide who will be their president for next four years. This 2016 race has been contentious, to say the least, and unique in many ways. Republican nominee Donald Trump is reportedly the first presidential candidate without any formal political experience to reach this point in the process since Dwight Eisenhower. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is the first female presidential candidate to make it to this point. In addition to trivia such as those, the 2016 presidential campaign has been surrounded by divisive rhetoric, accusations of misconduct and criminal activity, and a host of other often shocking public displays. But today is voting day and the decision will be made.

News

Druid Christy Coleman’s run for the Williamson County School Board

By |

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Druid Christy Coleman didn’t win a seat on school board, but she says she’s learned valuable lessons that she’ll use in for the next election. Coleman ran for the District 3 seat in Williamson county, TN. The District 3 race featured candidates; Christy Coleman, Kimberly Little, and Eliot Mitchell. Mitchell was elected to the seat with 477 votes, Little received 332, and Coleman came in with 236 votes.

Paganism

Column: Panem et Circenses

By |

Political conventions are designed to entertain us while they mount a grandiose manipulation of the viewer. They are spectacles of power. And they give us insights into the American political machinery, which ranges from the hopeful, to the patriotic, to the bizarre. And yes, I did it. I watched the broadcast portion of both major political conventions.

News

Two Pagans run for re-election in local government

By |

Pagan voters in two U.S. regions have the opportunity to do something unusual –  vote for a fellow Pagan. In Virginia, Lonnie Murray was successful in his bid for re-election as Director of the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD). And, in Maine, Thaum Gordon is up for re-election as Supervisor for Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District. The Wild Hunt spoke to both men about their experiences as elected officials and what advice they have for Pagans considering running for office. Mr. Murray, who identifies as an Animist, was first elected as Director of TJSWCD in 2011. His bio lists his past experience serving on the Charlottesville Citizens Committee on Environmental Sustainability, the Albemarle County Natural Heritage Committee, and the Biscuit Run State Park Master Plan Advisory Committee.