Getting Focused

Lately, it seems as if my creative energies have been all over the place. I'm halfway through two different books on Heathenry, writing a three volume roleplaying game rules set, putting together an entire set of courses for an online/FTF school I'm setting up, considering starting two part-time businesses (three including the school), maintaining three blogs and three websites, plus the usual job, family, and tribal obligations.

Yikes!

I'm going to be prioritizing these initiatives, evaluating whether or not they're worth the (relatively heavy, most of them) investment in time and energy, and hopefully trimming some of the excess and focusing in on the more important stuff. Hopefully this means I'll have some concrete announcements about things coming up in the near future.

The National Day of Prayer

For those who might not have felt the overwhelming wave of sacredness washing over the country today, May 6th marks the National Day of Prayer. Aside from the day itself, the event has been burning up the news in certain quarters, as a Federal Judge in Wisconsin ruled that the National Day of Prayer is in fact unconstitutional. On its face, it seems like a now-brainer, given that the Supreme Court itself established the "Lemon Test" for determining when public displays of religion are allowed. Basically:

1. The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose;
2. The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;
3. The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

So, let's see. 1, check. There is no secular purpose in a National Day of Prayer. 2, check. Prayer by definition advances religion. 3, check. By the government officially advocating, and indeed actively instructing, its citizens to engage in prayer, we have an entanglement with religion.

The case is, naturally, on appeal.

Here's the actual law:

The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

But a look at the National Day of Prayer website has been quite informative. While there are some who tout the National Day of Prayer as completely ecumenical, it is about as far from neutral on the question of just which God is being prayed to as is possible (the fact that Strom Thurman wrote the bill might be another clue). Here's the money quote:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force’s mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

Everywhere, this event is celebrated as a chance for evangelical Christians to get their message out. I'm pretty sure that there has never been a Wiccan or Asatruar giving a benediction at the White House. The law makes reference to "God" explicitly in the singular, and thus cuts out all polytheists (including, naturally, pagans and heathens). In fact, it even mentions churches specifically.

Let us indeed pray to our many, wondrous, and various Gods that this National Day of Prayer, as it is currently constituted, is the last.

Sumarmál 2010

I just got back from Arfstoll Thjod's Sumarmál celebration at beautiful Camp Netimus, PA*. It was a blast!

The camp itself was terrific as always; the staff were eager to do anything they could to make our event a success, and the food was terrific.

This event was Theodish, and members of no less than three different Theods were in attendance, as well as many guests and newcomers.

There were four rituals along the course of the weekend. Friday kicked everything off with an offering of cakes and ale to the local land wights in thanks for their hospitality. Friday night, Álfröðull theod put on a Freyja ritual, wherein the Goddess was invoked, offerings were made, and blessings bestowed on the assembled folk.

Saturday saw the kids doing a traditional May Pole dance (with live music, including some completely mediocre drumming by yours truly), and then the presentation of the final ritual drama in our cycle; the Return of Odin, which sees the restoration of Odin as king of the Gods, the death of the winter-king Ullr, and the avenging of Baldr's death as Bui slays Hoder, and is in turn slain. It was a blast, especially considering we had no rehearsals and the cast saw the script about 10 minutes before the play. There followed a very powerful Sigrblót, where weapons and other items of appropriate nature were sacrificed in the fire in exchange for victory and success in the coming year. Finally, we had sumbl, which was unique in that it lasted for three hours, but only felt like one. Nobody was "forced" to take the horn for three rounds, making the toasts that were made all the more significant, and the folks in attendance seemed to appreciate that fact.

In and amongst the rituals, there were many other activities, including classes and discussions, an archery competition, and kid's activities. Whew!

This was an exceedingly non-aggravating weekend, it felt. No drama, no petty whispering behind other folks' backs, no bad injuries, no excessive late starts to anything (the only real late-starting event was sumbl, but even then it was over on time, and folks didn't feel rushed). The kids were a dream, usually taking care of one another (and even the older kids taking turns often with keeping track of the smaller ones), and everybody seemed genuinely glad to see everyone else.

We'll be doing this again next year (same weekend; April 29-May 1, 2011), and I hope we'll see even more friends then.
_____
* If any pagan group in the New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania area is looking for a place to hold an event, this is the place to look. I'd be happy to put you in touch with them, or answer any questions about how they handled our group and our event. Just ask.

Repent Amarillo

I don't normally follow the Christian nutjob scene in Texas, but this caught my eye while I was reading Pharyngula; a group called Repent Amarillo.

Aside from having one of the most ghastly looking websites it's ever been my displeasure to have to see (complete with little java snowflakes in the background and an unreadable font color on a dark background), these yahoos seem to have taken it upon themselves to be the religious enforcers for the greater Amarillo area. Anyone care to guess which religion it is?

A couple of things of immediate impact to the Pagan and Heathen community are these items from their "mission". Places and things that will be "targeted" by their "groups' include:

Earth worship events such as “Earth Day”

Halloween events

Idolatry locations such as palm readers, false religions, and witchcraft. Many of the smaller missions listed above may be just prayer oriented missions for tearing down demonic strongholds or they may involve more aggressive use of soldiers and prayer warriors. Some other missions occasionally employed may be “undercover operations” where the groups show up together but are not publicly visible together to effect the outcome of a public meeting such as city commissioners meetings, etc.

I am particularly intrigued by the use of the phrase "more aggressive use of soldiers and prayer warriors". What might that entail? Breaking the windows at Night Sky? Busting up a psychic fair at the local Unitarian church? (They apparently have a problem with Unitarians, too.) Disrupting a Pagan Pride Day picnic at a public park? Just how "aggressive" are they prepared to go? The imagery on the website certainly suggests it's a step or two beyond just handing out Chick Tracts and silent prayer.

In fact, they've got a whole map of places they're none too pleased with (which Patty Wigington mentioned a month or two ago on her blog). Pagans, sex, the occult, and idolotry! Or, perhaps worst of all, they list all the Christian churches in town they deem to be "heretical".

Although I must say I'd love to see how these guys fare trying to bust up an Asatru or Theodish gathering. See how much of a stomach they really have for fighting.

Stupid Poll Question of the Month

The dullards over at MSNBC.com have a lulu of a poll question up:

Does nature seem as if it's out of control?

Is it just me, or does that seem to imply that nature has, at one time or another, actually been under control by human beings? Have agriculture and the internal combustion engine really made us that full of hubris as a species?

One of the central themes of Germanic cosmology is that the forces of nature are those of chaos, embodied by the Jotuns. They can, on a selective and temporary basis, be tamed by the forces of the Aesir, either by slaying specific Jotuns (as does Thor) or by marrying into the tribe of the Aesir (as we see with several Jotun-wives). But in the end, the forces of order contest at the Ragnarok with the forces of chaos, and at best the outcome can be said to be a draw.

Is nature spinning out of control? Of course! And it always has been. Nothing new about that, earthquakes or no.

An Open Letter to Anna Lucas of Peyton, CO

Dear Ms. Lucas,

I am writing in response to your letter to the Editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette, dated February 13, 2010, entitled "Respect Founding Principles". I must say that your choice of title was quite ironic, as it is very apparent that you yourself have no respect for the founding principle of freedom of belief. For example, when you state,

I am sad that the entire Academy is being conditioned to respect paganism, and that anything Christian is becoming a hate crime.

You are doing a grave injustice to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which does not single out Christianity as having any sort of favored status in this nation, but merely gives protection to "religion":

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

That very deliberate choice must, despite your personal opinion of non-Christian faiths, include all religion. Respect for Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Islam, or Judaism, or, yes, even Paganism is a cornerstone of our nation's concepts of the rights of the individual. First and foremost is the right of every individual to choose his or her own religion, or lack thereof. And the government, particularly in a coercive environment such as a military academy, is duty-bound to respect each and every one of those choices.

When you make reference to "anything Christian is becoming a hate crime" you are being quite disingenuous. The Air Force Academy maintains several facilities for Christian worship, all of them much more grandiose than the simple circle of stones that has so inconvenienced your world-view that, Christianity being the only "true" religion, the government must therefore impose your own personal prejudice by force of law.

You display a shocking double-standard when you make statements such as,

If “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” what authority did Air Force Superintendent Gould have to order Air Force chaplains, engineers and heavy equipment operators to help build the pagan worship site? Superintendent Gould could have allowed the pagans to have their worship ceremonies at the site, but he had no constitutional authority to order anyone of any other faith to move one pound of dirt or one stone.

That is, in fact, a possibly valid interpretation of the Establishment Clause. However, the Air Force Academy also has spent millions of taxpayer dollars building and maintaining no less than three separate chapels for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish cadets. Having thus set the precedent that some faiths are supported, the Supreme Court has maintained consistently that all faiths must thus be supported. I daresay moving a few rocks cost the taxpayers quite a few million dollars less than the construction of three entire chapels. Certainly the pagans have not yet demanded the installation of a pipe organ, let alone two, as other faiths have.

Yet you don't seem to have a problem with that use of taxpayer money. You cannot have it both ways, Ms. Lucas; either it's wrong to fund them all, or it's right to fund them all.

(Photo source: Military Religious Freedom Association)

Your double-standard continues when you state,

If the worship site is on federal property and does not belong to the pagans who are using federal property to worship on, why is it any more a hate crime to place a cross on those rocks than it would be for some overly zealous pagan worshipper [sic] to place a rock in the Air Force Chapel in front of the cross?

Placing a rock in the Air Force Chapel is not a fair comparison; would you think it a hate crime to paint a pentagram on the chapel door? Or place a statue of Zeus on one of the altars? Or paint a swastika on the Aron Kodesh of the Jewish chapel? After all, if they're on Federal property, they don't belong to the Christians or the Jews, right?

You seem to have a mind-set that claims the First Amendment as an exclusive franchise for your own religion. Fortunately, the legal tradition of this nation runs counter to your prejudices and bigotry.

The First Amendment protects all religion, not just yours. That's why it was right for the Academy to create the worship space in the first place, and why it was a hate crime for that space to be vandalized by over-zealous Christians.

We must respect each others right to choose, even though we might disagree with that choice. Once folks like you stop trying to impose their choices on other people, this nation will be a freer place.