Signs & Portents
A news blog for updates on PaganSquare, Witches&Pagans, SageWoman, Crone, and anything else related to BBI Media's community and web services. Check here for news about our site, information about our social media presence, and any changes in either our services or features. May or may not be run by a sapient serpent.
Pagan News Beagle: Fiery Tuesday, July 7
It's that time of week again: Fiery Tuesday, when we shine a light on the political issues of our time as they relate to religion generally and Paganism specifically. For this week we've gathered a number of stories dealing with either feminism or violence, two of the chief issues of our times. Read on to learn more about the double edged sword of the word "witch," the origins of religious terrorism, and the vital importance of feminism. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Do you use the terms "witch" or "goddess" to describe yourself? Many of use the former, fewer the latter, but they're generally both recognized as terms of self-empowerment within the broader Pagan community. But as with many terms of empowerment, their usage can make others nervous or threatened. This story from elephant discusses the good and the bad of using such labels for ourselves.
Are organizations like ISIL or al-Qaeda truly religious in nature? Or are they really political? This is the question that The Guardian examines in this article about the true roots of terrorism in the Middle East... and the fact that it has as much to do with political unrest and ethnic strife as religious radicalization.
Feminism is a vital and important part of our society, but it sometimes gets a bad rap. This article from The Huffington Post shares a number of comics that outline the continuing importance of feminism as well as some of the double standards feminists are forced to contend with.
We've already talked about the Pope's stance against global warming a lot, but we thought this new piece had a rather unique perspective. In their newest post on the subject, Pagan socialist website Gods & Radicals discusses whether or not the Pope is "pagan" (with a small P) in the sense of rejecting an anthropogenic and capitalist view of the world. Certainly not something we expect everyone to agree with, but an interesting read nonetheless.
When the two topics of feminism and Islam come up at once, discussions tend to get heated very fast. Is Islam anti-feminist? Or are Western feminists ethnocentric? This piece from The Huffington Post examines the fact that, for many Muslim women, the hijab (aka head scarf) is not a symbol of oppression but one of empowerment and liberation, contesting common Western narratives about Muslim women.
Top image by Soman
Comments
-
Please login first in order for you to submit comments
