PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

So: at a recent meeting with Indigenous Canadian leaders, the pope apologized for some of the unspeakable things that some representatives of the Church perpetrated on Indigenous children at residential schools.

Well, isn't that big of him?

Note what he did not apologize for: the spiritual genocide that the Church has, throughout the centuries, perpetrated upon the First Nations of America.

He didn't apologize for it, because he can't. The church that he heads owes its very existence to spiritual genocide. Like Islam, the world's other major imperialist religion, the existence of Christianity as a mass phenomenon has been historically premised on the spiritual genocide of Indigenous peoples.

In this, as in so many other things, pagans stand with the First Nations of the Americas. We must, because we've been there too.

“Pope Apologizes to First Nations of Europe for Church's Spiritual Genocide.”

Welcome back to Watery Wednesday, our weekly foray into news about the spiritual, religious, and cultural communities we all play a part in. This week we take a look at new in the Heathen community, including a recent bout of controversy in Iceland over one Heathen group's plans to build an official temple. Additionally, we've gathered a story about the Catholic Pope's declining relations with political conservatives in the United States as well as a piece about what it's like to grow up in an Alaskan Native community. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Welcome back to Faithful Friday, our weekly look at religions and the faithful around the world. This week join us as we take a tour of Kyrgyzstan, where ancient tombs from the past lie in wait, to South America where Pope Francis confronts the historical misdeeds of the Catholic Church, and Ukraine, where we examine the rise and fall of a Pagan military unit. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Welcome back to Faithful Friday! This week we've done something a bit unusual and have gathered several stories about the irreligious, rather than the faithful. Follow below to read about the rising number of atheist politicians, the blow dealt to lawmakers concerned with religious law by Obergefell v. Hodges, and the impact of "nones" (the religiously unaffiliated) on the modern Republican Party of the United States. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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!

We Pagans often like to think of ourselves as a minority religion, ignored and disregarded by mainstream culture. But we're far from the group striving for equality and representation. This week for Fiery Tuesday we take a look at America's first underprivileged group: the American Indians / Native Americans, who've struggled for centuries against colonialism and exploitation. Read on to hear about some of the most relevant issues affecting natives today, from protecting their rights to their ancient traditions to how they're represented in the U.S. Census. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

In today's Fiery Tuesday post, we concentrate on issues of politics as it connects to religious principles. SCOTUS on same-sex marriage; Pope Francis vs. climate change; May Day history; inequities in CA water use; the personal cost of social activism.

Supreme Court Justices are hearing arguments in a case that's likely to settle the question of same-sex marriage in the United States. This story in the New York Times describes what's at stake.