Posted on 05/27/2007 11:28:37 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
Scotland's University of Edinburgh, after proposing a ban on Bibles and denying a Christian campus group the right to hold a conference on the immorality of homosexuality, has extended the welcome mat to the school's Pagan Society to hold its annual meeting on campus next month.
The pagan conference will feature presentations on a variety of topics, including Magic and Witchcraft in the 21st Century, Pagan Parenting, Pagan Marriage, Pagan Symbolism and Practice and Ancient Greek magic. A workshop in tribal dance will be held at the university Student's Association.
"It will be an opportunity for people to listen to talks on various aspects of modern paganism and socialize with like-minded people in a relaxed, tolerant atmosphere," said John Macintyre, presiding officer of Pagan Federation Scotland. "Most people now recognize that the old stereotypes about witches and witchcraft are way off the mark and there is nothing remotely sinister about it."
"Remotely sinister," it seems, is reserved for Christians at Edinburgh.
In 2005, WND reported plans to begin banning Bibles from Edinburgh student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths.
The ban was a response to student association protests as well as an agenda to equally support all faiths, a university spokesman told the Times of London.
While a Gideon Bible had traditionally been placed in the room of all new students, officials decided they could be offensive to some. Removal, advocates said, was about "respecting diversity," not attacking Christianity.
The previous year, Edinburgh removed prayer from graduation ceremonies.
The decision to allow the Pagan Society to hold its meeting on campus comes a year after university officials denied the same privilege to the university's Christian Union.
Officials banned a course on the dangers of homosexuality the group wanted to teach, saying it was in violation of the university's guidelines. A compromise offered by the university allowed the course to be taught if posters offering differing views were prominently displayed.
The Beltane Festival is held on April 30 each year by up to 12,000 pagans on Edinburgh's Calton Hill to celebrate the dawn of spring, according to the ancient Celtic calendar.
Scotland's University of Edinburgh, after proposing a ban on Bibles and denying a Christian campus group the right to hold a conference on the immorality of homosexuality, has extended the welcome mat to the school's Pagan Society to hold its annual meeting on campus next month.
The pagan conference will feature presentations on a variety of topics, including Magic and Witchcraft in the 21st Century, Pagan Parenting, Pagan Marriage, Pagan Symbolism and Practice and Ancient Greek magic. A workshop in tribal dance will be held at the university Student's Association.
"It will be an opportunity for people to listen to talks on various aspects of modern paganism and socialize with like-minded people in a relaxed, tolerant atmosphere," said John Macintyre, presiding officer of Pagan Federation Scotland. "Most people now recognize that the old stereotypes about witches and witchcraft are way off the mark and there is nothing remotely sinister about it."
"Remotely sinister," it seems, is reserved for Christians at Edinburgh.
In 2005, WND reported plans to begin banning Bibles from Edinburgh student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths.
The ban was a response to student association protests as well as an agenda to equally support all faiths, a university spokesman told the Times of London.
While a Gideon Bible had traditionally been placed in the room of all new students, officials decided they could be offensive to some. Removal, advocates said, was about "respecting diversity," not attacking Christianity.
The previous year, Edinburgh removed prayer from graduation ceremonies.
The decision to allow the Pagan Society to hold its meeting on campus comes a year after university officials denied the same privilege to the university's Christian Union.
Officials banned a course on the dangers of homosexuality the group wanted to teach, saying it was in violation of the university's guidelines. A compromise offered by the university allowed the course to be taught if posters offering differing views were prominently displayed.
"This seems to be a clear case of discrimination," said Matthew Tindale, a Christian Union staff worker. "It's okay for other religions, such as the pagans, to have their say at the university, but there appears to be a reluctance to allow Christians to do the same. All we are asking for is the tolerance that is afforded to other faiths and organizations."
Simon Dames, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, called the university's action an example of "Christianphobia."
"This appears to be a clear case of double standards," he said. "The principles of a pluralistic democracy revolve around an acceptance of competing ideas and universities should be enshrining this principle. Anti-racism groups would never be asked to put up posters saying there are alternative views."
Pagan Macintyre has no sympathy for the Christians' appeal to fairness, stressing that followers of his faith are tolerant and support the university's equality policies .
"Pagans, as a rule, don't believe that sexist or homophobic views are acceptable and discrimination on that basis is deplorable," he said.
John Knox, where are you now?
btt
That’s a broad brush to paint with. I know quite a few pagans who have great respect for the Christian religion. Sadly, those I know of are more tolerant of the Christian religion than most Christians seem to be of theirs.
I suspect that if muslim students at the University of Edinburgh objected to the Pagan Society’s conference, it would be cancelled forthwith...
How can you possibly post something like that after reading the article? Christians are being chased from every corner of the earth!
These pagans may be intolerant jerks. But, not all pagans are that way. It would be the same as saying “Christians are bigots” based on the comments of a few jerks.
People have different ideas of who falls under the term “pagan.” Generally, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and other mainstream religions, who can be called pagans, are mostly tolerant of Christians and Jews, although there are some fanatics who are exceptions. Wiccans and neo-Druids, however, tend to have a great intolerance and lack of respect for Christianity and Judaism.
Guess the Wiccans and neo-Druids I know personally are exceptions then. :-) I have read posts on other boards of Wiccans who do fit into the category of the people in this article. I just have never personally met any like that.
They probably are exceptions, then. The people you know are likely to be people you want to get to know.
Figures,doesn’t it?
Absolutely. And what's more, once the muslims become a large enough minority, their political power combined with their bombings and assassinations of the opposition will enable them to dictate policy throughout Great Britain.
Typical WND article. The “ban” on Bibles consisted of no longer allowing the Gideons to place one in every dorm room; there is no mention of anything preventing students from having their own Bibles in the dorms.
The Christian event canceled was a conference on homosexuality — the Christian Union’s weekly Friday prayer meetings have apparently not been disrupted.
But never mind that. The editors know that most folks don’t read past the top couple of paragraphs. And if you’re not outraged by the second paragraph, the writers of WorldNutDaily don’t feel they have done their jos.
eh - my BS meter is pegged
In History it is the christians who persucuted and burned pagans(witches)—No record of pagans burning christians!!!
How far art thou fallen, thou Christianizer of England and Northern Europe in the early centuries of Christianity!
Quite a bit of hyperbole here, with the claim that the University is “banning Bibles”. The proposal wasn’t to ban Bibles from the dorms, but to ban the placement of Bibles (to the exclusion of scriptures of other faiths) in the rooms of students who hadn’t asked for them. Not a bad idea IMO, because failure to end that practice would have led in short order to Muslims demanding to be allowed to place a Koran in every student room, followed by similar demands from a parade of other religious groups. Christian students would generally already be bringing Bibles to school with them, and generally engage in evangelizing activities that include offering free Bibles to other students who indicate an interest in having one — none of which would have been banned under the proposal.
Huh? The only Christians that Wiccans and "neo-Druids" have any animosity against are the ones that insist on calling them Satanists and otherwise expressing extreme intolerance towards them. I've never heard of any animosity towards Jews on the part of Wiccans and "neo-Druids", and in fact one of the leading Wiccan writers, "Starhawk", was raised an Orthodox Jew, did extensive traditional Judaic studies, and views her Wiccan beliefs as an outgrowth of her Jewish beliefs.
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