Non Fluffy Wicca

So, what do you think? If the statue is really Ganesh, is it the state sponsoring religion? What does the Canadian Constitution say about separation of church and state? And what are Concerned Christians really "concerned" about? Does their concern have merit?

A dancing elephant statue at the Calgary Zoo has kicked up controversy after a Christian group condemned the figure as an inappropriate religious icon. Zoo officials say they have no plans to replace the Ganesh statue — which has stood near the elephant enclosure for at least two years — despite calls for its removal from Concerned Christians Canada. The group sent a letter to the zoo earlier this week, calling the statue an image of a Hindu god that has no place in the publicly funded zoo. "The zoo is not a place of religious expression," said Concerned Christians' chairman Jim Blake. [From Indian God Statue at Calgary Zoo Offends Christian Group]

Posted by mikki at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(from Cory Doctorow by way of John Rogers on Twitter)

[From "Don't trust anyone you meet online. You could regret it."]

[From "Don't trust anyone you meet online. You could regret it." - Wil Wheton's Blog]

Posted by mikki at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fact that this type of crap even came to court is pathetic. Dipshit walks into a fire and then....OMG...GETS BURNED! Who'd a THUNK such a thing could actually happen?!? Unfortunately, this is what happens when you allow people with no sense of responsibility to attend events, and then have a legal system where you have to pay thousands of dollars to defend yourself against teh STUPID!

And people wonder why CUEW has an ethic of Self Responsibility and tries to assess whether or not you have a brain before allowing you to join.

Anthony Beninati sued the organizers of Burning Man because he said they failed to restrain him from walking into a fire. He lost the lawsuit. 'Beninati's complaint stated that when he approached the bonfire, the flames were still roughly 40 feet high. He walked around the bonfire three times, each time "circl[ing] a little closer to the fire." Eventually, he walked still closer, into what was variously described as an area of "embers," "low flames," "burning remnants," and "a spot where there was fire on either side of him." Basically, he had walked inside a huge bonfire. Then, as you might have expected, he tripped on something and fell into the actual fiery part of the bonfire, burning his hands. 'In his deposition, Beninati admitted he knew "fire was dangerous and caused burns" before he walked into one. He knew there was some possibility of falling into said fire. He admitted no one affiliated with the defendants asked him to walk into the fire or told him it would be safe to do so. But he testified that he did not think it would be dangerous to walk into the fire, although he knew it "was not 'absolutely safe, because there [was] a fire present.'" And, as noted, fire is hot.' [From Man who walked into Burning Man fire loses lawsuit]

Posted by mikki at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Religious “Bigotry”:


By James French



It has become quite common since the beginning of the civil rights movement for dominant groups to claim that criticism on the part of those less privileged constitutes a form of “reverse” prejudice. The element that gets missed in this kind of semantic appropriation is the power dynamic, and the very real material disadvantages that the group against which the charge is being made faces. When the focus of the discussion moves from the sort of body a person inhabits to the ideas they hold in their head and the beliefs in their heart, it tends to get more confusing and less helpful.



The problem with religious bigotry is that it assumes a particular invariable character on the part of a person’s belief system and then further conflates this projected assessment with the person who holds that belief system. It is thus a true “double whammy” of sloppy cognition. To start with, any large religion is going to have multiple variations. Christianity, for instance, is really an umbrella term for dozens of diverse faiths with the figure of Jesus Christ at their center. Attributing anything more than a few generalities to this broad category simply ensures that you will not understand any of its constituents with any depth.



That being said, there are variants of certain religions (particularly Christianity and Islam) which contain demonstrably toxic and even sociopathic beliefs. Whatever the mainstream beliefs of Christianity in our own time, it is safe to say that these have been somewhat diluted by the Enlightenment and other movements of intellectual progress which made any literal interpretation of the Bible intellectually untenable. Why one form of Christianity was the sole religious and political power in Western Civilization, the result was unequivocally disastrous. When Voltaire enjoined his countrymen to “remember the cruelties” he was writing with less than a century between himself and what he referred to.

Posted by mikki at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Theodish Candidate Runs for NY City Council:


While Dan Halloran isn’t the first openly Pagan candidate running for political office, he may be the first to actually have a shot at winning. Halloran, who is running as an “independent” Republican against Democrat Kevin Kim for a seat on the New York City Council, was recently outed as a prominent Theodsman by the Queens Tribune.



Dan Halloran, the Republican candidate for City Council facing primary winner Kevin Kim in the 19th District, already has a leadership role in a vast community that very few people know about -- or understand. Halloran is the “First Atheling,” or King, of Normandy, a branch of the Theod faith of pre-Christian Heathen religions assembled in the Greater New York area. A group of dedicated fellow pagans swear their allegiance to him through oaths of fidelity, allowing luck from a series of ancient gods -- specifically the “Norse” or “Germanic” gods Odin, Tyr and Freyr -- to pass through the King to his kinsmen … When asked Wednesday about his faith, Halloran was uneasy. “I am not comfortable with injecting my religion into my politics,” he said. “I grew up born and raised Roman Catholic. I went to Jesuit schools. Most of my life has been in traditional Irish household.” He added, “I don’t think any of this is really relevant to the City Council race. It’s like talking about what church you pray at. That you understand the divine is the most important part.”

Posted by mikki at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

University offers religious club with new outlook:


By Brittney French



The witches at Webster University are coming out of the broom closet.



A new on-campus organization, the Webster Pagan Grove (WPG), allows all students who are interested in paganism, witchcraft and other religions to join forces.



"All are welcome who come with an open mind and are willing to learn about the topic for free," said Brian Barbagello, a senior informations systems major and president of the WPG. "We hope to reach out to anyone who would be interested in our group as a learning institution."



The WPG is a spiritual group that was created last spring by a group of about 10 students who were enrolled in a Wicca and Neo-Paganism course.

Posted by mikki at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taiwan tribe opens witch school:


An aboriginal tribe in southern Taiwan has started a school for witches to preserve unique rituals in danger of vanishing as society modernises, an organiser said on Friday.



Witchcraft is an important part of the Paiwan tribe's cultural heritage, but the number of active practitioners has been dwindling fast, according to Wong Yu-hua, a social affairs official in Pingtung county.



'We are witnessing the disappearance of the ancient ritual. We are trying hard to preserve it,' she told AFP by telephone.



The Paiwan tribe, which numbers about 86,000 people, has less than 20 witches, down from more than 100 half a century ago as Christianity and other outside faiths take hold.

Posted by mikki at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)