Are the Pagan dead divine? What has the Pagan community's response to Black Lives Matter been? And does Paganism put too great an emphasis on motherhood or not? It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment on news and commentary about the Pagan community! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
PaganSquare
PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
Religious groups around the world rally to fight global warming. Hindus around the world commemorate the fight between Vishnu and his demonic adversaries with a month-long festival. And practitioners of Shinto in Japan honor their ancestors in the traditional way. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly take on news about religions from around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Community is a valuable thing, but it's nothing without the people who make it up. Today in the Pagan News Beagle we talk about the important people in our community, both those who are no longer with us as well as those who continue to play an important part. Additionally, we talk about how our community is viewed by others and what we project out into the world.
For those who may not have heard, a ceremonial guard on duty at the Canadian National War Memorial on Parliament Hill was shot and killed this past week. The shooter claimed to be a Muslim and in support of ISIL, but there is no evidence he was working with any sort of organized group, and it seems as though he was mentally ill.
As a symbol, he could not have chosen a better target. It was our National War Memorial. The ceremonial guard was a young man who didn't even have any bullets in the gun he was armed with. His companion tried to chase the culprit down.
..."The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities." --Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity
The Maetreum of Cybele is a 501c federally recognized tax-exempt organization, locked in a tax battle with the town of Catskill, who do not wish to grant a tax exemption to an "illegitimate religion." This legal battle has been drawn out for seven years, in an attempt to spend the Pagan monastery out of existence via legal fees. If you're not disturbed by this information, you should be.
...Who gets the right to define you? To label you? Is that right solely your own, or does it belong in some measure to the culture with which you identify? I've considered this question for a long time, and I've concluded that there's no easy answer.
I've long been an advocate for the principle of self-identification: If you choose to identify yourself in specific terms, who are others to challenge it? But things really aren't that simple, are they? What about frauds who have ulterior motives for adopting a label? What about people who don't really understand what the label means?
...-
Nope, not at all awkward, Steve
-
Not awkward at all, Samaire. I'm sitting right across the table from you!
-
Well isn't this an awkward meeting
-
Thanks, Joe.
-
This is some of the best work I've seen on the topic.
The "Witches must die by fire" Facebook group has returned from its temporary removal. I had a thoughtful reader named Morey, who runs social activism groups on the site, suggested reporting the page to Interpol instead of Facebook, in the hopes of holding them to a higher authority. You can report the page to Interpol here: http://www.interpol.int/Forms/Contact_INTERPOL
If you decide to go the Interpol route, include a screenshot (I have one in this blog post) along with the link (https://www.facebook.com/WitchcraftTheBattleLinesHaveBeenDrawn) and the page's title. Talk about the real-world violence against witches - a quick Google search of "witches and Africa" yields stories like this: http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/family-of-witch-hacked-to-death-1.1296038#.UhJ3p5LVBrs - this page is not a troll or a parody, this is someone inciting people to violence, death, and mutilation. If you need a sample letter, feel free to borrow or amend mine:
...-
I just received this in my in-box from Facebook: "You reported Witches must die by fire. for harassment. This page has been remove
-
Yes both pages have now been removed. "Lady Liberty League" and "Circle Sanctuary" both wrote letters to Facebook about the pages.
-
Helpful informational page for explaining why these pages contain credible threats of violence: http://www.whrin.org/
-
My husband had a suggestion regarding this site that I thought we should pass along. He's dealt in security and investigations and
-
I like that idea Caleen but I have read on some of the Facebook pagan pages that some pagans/wiccans are now under personal attack