Brought to you courtesy of "Americans United for the Separation of Octopus and State".
Posted on 06/21/2007 8:38:08 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
WASHINGTON, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of Pagan religious leaders from diverse denominations will gather in Lafayette Square Park on the Fourth of July to advocate for a Pagan military chaplain, request more approved Pagan religious symbols from the Department of Veterans Affairs and call for universal freedom of religious expression.
Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will also address the crowd. "Until Pagans have the same rights as Presbyterians and Pentecostals, religious liberty is not safe in America. The Framers of our Constitution mandated no preference for any one religion over another or for all religion over secularist beliefs."
Earlier this spring, attorneys from Americans United facilitated a settlement with DOJ lawyers representing the Department of Veterans Affairs to end a ten-year struggle over displaying the Wiccan Pentacle on veterans' memorial markers and plaques. Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary, plaintiff of the federal religious discrimination lawsuit which settled the case, says "The Veteran Pentacle Quest victory has demonstrated the power Pagans can have when we work together, and with those of other paths, to uphold religious freedom. United we stand. United we win!"
Currently there are no Pagan chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces, although other minority religions with similar, or fewer, numbers of devotees in the military have one or more chaplains. Rev. Michael Akins of the Military Pagan Network, a retired Army Chaplain Assistant, will talk about the need for a Pagan chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces. He says: "Certainly those who protect the freedoms of all of us deserve freedom of religion for themselves."
Rev. Marcia Drewry of Sacred Well Congregation will speak about leading the first Wiccan Open Circle in Iraq in 2003, and her years of leadership here at home. Rev. Drewry currently leads the Tidewater Open Circle in southern Virginia. She says, "A lay leader is unable to fully minister to the military Pagan community due to regulatory restrictions. So our military members do not have equality of religious rights currently."
Other speakers will outline the next steps in obtaining freedom of religious expression for all Pagan denominations. Steve McNallen of the Asatru Folk Assembly will speak about Thor's Hammer: "Modern-day Asatru has a very high percentage of veterans. We've worn the hammer amulet into combat. It's only right that the same symbol be on our headstones."
Rev. Skip Ellison, Archdruid of Ar nDraoicht Fein, will speak about the Druids' Awen symbol. He says "It is important to remember that freedom of religion means freedom for all religions to worship as they choose."
And acclaimed author and Pagan Elder Diana L. Paxson will lead the first public Pagan ritual performed outside the White House. Paxson's ritual will invoke the Founders of our Nation: "We will honor those who established our fundamental freedoms, especially Washington and Jefferson, and those who built on their ideas, such as Lincoln and FDR, offering our energies to preserve the liberties they fought for and the land they loved. We offer our will to carry on the work of our Founding Fathers and Mothers, to help America become what they hoped it would be."
Immediately following the ritual, Mz. imani, shaman of the drum, will lead a Spirit Drum Circle lasting until 5pm.
Chesapeake Pagan Community is sponsoring this event in collaboration with Caroline Kenner, a Washington Witchdoctor.
They want the same rights as Presbyterians? The right not to pray in school? The right to be forced to fund all sorts of programs that violate their religious principles? The right to have your preachers political views on a candidate muzzled because of the tax laws? The right to be offended by 3 out of 4 television programs on government regulated airwaves? The right not to form clubs in public schools? I could keep going . . .
Exactly! But if they want the rights all religions enjoyed 50 years ago, let them fight to restore those rights to everyone.
We were much better off when it was legal to burn pagans at the stake. These Harry Potter sponge-heads don’t know what real pagan and animist culture looks like. If they did, they would be running very far, and very fast, away from their Druid roots. (I suppose that would require some reading on their part though...)
LMAO!!!!!
The Pagan religion is quite frightening when it gets into the dark arts. I’ve read some things written by pagans on forums. Most all are, with kinda of an exception for one, definitely the most liberal, bitter feminazis you ever want to meet.
Pagans have wonderful childcare programs, or so I'm told...
I'm not sure why this is so funny . . . but it is.
LOL . . .
Star Trek festival and Dungeons & Dragons tournament to follow.
That is one creepy photo.
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