24 Jun 2005
Pagans: City-approved text 'inaccurate'

Christians seem to complain a lot about being persecuted for their faith. And no doubt there's a kernel of truth to many of their tales. But I would suggest that before they raise their voices too much, that they take a walk in the shoes of an American pagan, preferably in Palmdale, California.

The textbook for a high school class in this community talks about symbols of "Satan", never mind that few pagan religions even recognize that such a being exists, and include Thor's Hammer(!) and the pentagram as well as many, many other designs identified with pagan pathways in this laundry list of evil:

The chapter includes three pages of signs and symbols identified as satanic , along with text such as, "Because we have seen tremendous evil come from occult involvement, we recommend parents also make occultism a zero-tolerance behavior."

When pagans of all stripes showed up to complain, the author of the text wasn't fazed:

"We're not stomping on a religion," Fry said. "Our only intention is to help parents, and we'll continue to do so."

Imagine the righteous national uproar we'd be hearing now if the text said something like "Because Christians practice ritual cannibalism, we recommend parents also make Christianity a zero-tolerance behavior."

But when it's Wicca or Heathenry bearing the brunt, not only do I hear a deafening silence from most Christians, I see their positive acquiescence. Hel, most of the time it's the Christian Religious Right that's doing it! How would Christians react if kindreds or covens operated "bus ministries" that plucked children off the street for a summer afternoon of fun at "Vacation Edda School"? Why, we'd be castigated as child abductors, pedophiles or worse! Most pagan groups I know of have an extreme reluctance to involve kids (unless the parents are pagans) due to a fear of just this kind of reaction: we've seen it before.

Guess I just felt like ranting a bit this morning, and this piece really set me off. Of course there are many good and decent folks following the White Christ - just as there are some evil spuds who call themselves pagans. I can only hope that one day religious discussions will be moved off of the political map, but as long as idiot school boards like the one in Palmdale insist on defining "bad" religions, and mandating "zero tolerance" on the part of parents regarding them, I'll continue to be outraged.

Simmering hurt over an allegedly incorrect and hurtful textbook distributed by Palmdale's Families in Action program boiled over in public Monday at a meeting of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force.

(link) [Antelope Valley Press]

00:00 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link