newsbriefs: through May 16th
The best way to get all the news is by joining uew-s and uew-l, as I forward some stories there when I haven't time to blog them....
TITLE:Staying in the 'broom closet': Fearing backlash or bias, Wiccans keep faith a secret
LINK:http://blog.al.com/forthelove/2007/05/staying_in_the_broom_closet_fe.html
EXCERPT:While Neela Banerjee writes that Wicca, a pagan religion celebrating the divine in nature, is among the most popular religions to have flowered since the 1960s, many adherents still hide their beliefs from family and friends.
Title:Inquiring minds want to know
Link:http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=2230&TM=83520.75
Excerpt:A Wicca recently got the U.S. Department of Defense to inscribe a five pointed star on the tombstone of a fallen soldier. Are there any Wiccas in town who would be willing to go public and share their faith with us?
Comment: Bravo to this guy for being willing to admit he doesn't know stuff. Seriously. That's not meant in a snarky way.
Title:Letters: Doolittle, schools, etc.
Link:http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/181148.html
Excerpt:Let me say up front that I am a liberal, gay, pagan Democrat, a kind of poster child for the people the right wing would love to see shipped off to an island somewhere, so I never in a million years thought I would be writing a letter to defend Rep. John Doolittle.
Comment: Mr. Gorman represents a reasonable voice, a rarity on letters to the editor pages, he deserved a shout-out, just for being Pagan and not calling himself Lord Flaming Lips Hottybottom.
Title:Wiccans Keep the Faith With a Religion Under Wraps
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/us/16wiccan.html?em&ex=1179460800&en=4c7ecd214919e356&ei=5087%0A
Excerpt:DUMFRIES, Va. — Above the woman’s fireplace hangs her wedding picture, taken in a Lutheran church years ago. Below it, on the mantelpiece, is a small Wiccan altar: two candles, a tiny cauldron, four stones to represent the elements of nature and a small amethyst representing her spirit.
Older Stories below the cut...
Title: Ronald Hutton - Wicca and other invented traditions
Link:http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2537290.ece
Excerpt:When I met Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at the University of Bristol, at the British Library, he had just come from lecturing to a group of sixth formers at the Camden Centre. When I asked what he had been lecturing on, he answered briskly: "Oliver Cromwell." For an author who's just published a book on Druids, and whose earlier work (Triumph of the Moon, The Stations of the Sun, Shamanism) centres on paganism, wicca, ceremonial magic and seasonal rituals, this seemed fairly mild stuff.
Title:One Christian's Perspective on The Harry Potter Series
Link:http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/11/183825.php
Excerpt:Witchcraft was unacceptable then and it is unacceptable for believers today. I believe that and, ultimately, know that practicing "witchcraft" or "Wicca" as many call it today, is fundamentally (no pun intended), a rejection of God. That said, I know quite a few people who are Wiccans, including one who is a High Priestess, and I'm happy to count them as friends. I disagree with what they believe, they know I disagree, and we have some good debates regarding our beliefs.
Title:Mystery solved as locals discover 'The Secret'
Link:http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/A_LIFE/705120301
Excerpt:"I've been searching for a long time: in meditation, in the metaphysical properties of gemstones, even in Wicca," said Marsha Lavagnino, 57. "And then I find this, and I just don't need to have all this other stuff anymore."