Today’s story is an update on last week’s Rutherfordton events where officials denied a permit for a small Pagan-led vigil, citing undocumented restrictions and a coercive “Christian parade” alternative,
When Rutherfordton officials denied a permit for a small Pagan-led vigil, citing undocumented restrictions and a coercive “Christian parade” alternative, High Priestex Mortellus confronted a system that limits minority-faith expression in a traditional public forum during the holiday season.
Almost a year ago, I organized and led a panel at Paganicon called “Pagan Clergy: How to Welcome Sex Offenders and Ex-Felons into Our Communities.” The overall convention theme was Through the Looking Glass: a Journey to the Underworld, so shedding light on marginalized communities within the larger Pagan community seemed appropriate. We do not always see what is beneath in the underworld until we begin looking. As a religious group leader and prison minister, I wanted to see how the larger community would respond to the most frequent question posed by the incarcerated: where can I go to ritual, or where can I find a group once I get out? The panel was a rudimentary attempt to bring together in an unofficial capacity representatives from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), clergy who serve in prison ministry, and the larger community at Paganicon for a long-overdue discussion on what the reception of formerly incarcerated would be in our community.
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