Pagans.net Blogs

Pagan Republican Wins in Queens, Thanks Odin.

According to the article, “Pagan Republican Wins in Queens, Thanks Odin.” posted at Reason Magazine,

Republican Dan Halloran (that’s him at right) won the race New York City Council in Queens yesterday, despite a bunch of last minute articles focused on the fact that he practices Theodism, which involves Norse gods like Odin and Freyr. Says Halloran:

It is our hope to reconstruct the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European peoples, within a cultural framework and community environment.

Score one for tolerance. Sure, it’s just the city council. And sure, it’s New York. But this guy is a full-on Pagan, for Odin’s sake, and he just got elected to a pretty important public office. As a Republican.

Sadly, even the blood-sacrificing privacy-loving Queens councilman can’t quite stomach the dirty little atheists of the world:

I don’t think any of this is really relevant to the City Council race. It’s like talking about what church you pray at. That you understand the divine is the most important part.

(Read More at Reason Magazine.)

100,000 Atheist Britons Seek ‘De-Baptism’ from Christianity

100,000 Atheist Britons Seek ‘De-Baptism’ from Christianity: “Some of these atheists argue that they were baptized when they were too young to make the decision, and now that they’re able to make a choice, they want to renounce their Christian baptism.

‘We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds ($4.35) a pop,’ said National Secular Society (NSS) president Terry Sanderson to Agence France-Presse.

NSS’ de-baptism initiative follows closely behind the British Humanist Association’s ‘There’s probably no God,’ bus ads. Dozens of buses across England carried the atheist ad that encouraged people to stop worrying and enjoy their life since there is probably no God.”

(Via Christianpost.com.)

Cenk Uygur: The Silent Minority

Cenk Uygur: The Silent Minority: “A new comprehensive study by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College shows that this group is now a whopping 15% of the country. Mormons by comparison are a puny 1.4% of the population, and people can’t shut up about the Mormons. The Senate Majority Leader is a Mormon, one of the top Republican presidential candidates was Mormon and even HBO has a whole show devoted to them.

Even though the non-religious are more than ten times larger, other than Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), not one member of Congress would even admit to being in the dreaded minority of non-believers. They are almost never accounted for in any political discussion of religion in the country. The devout view them as amoral at best and destined for eternal damnation at worst. Yet, this kind of abuse and scorn is widely accepted and expected.”

(Via The Huffington Post.)

Witchcraft Growing Faster Than Religion’s Big Three

Your News Network: “While Jews, Muslims and Christians fight among themselves, one religion has darted in front of all the others to become the America’s fastest growing faith.
The religion of the witch trials becomes religion of the future with the membership exploding, according to experts. This is bringing consternation to believers in the Big Three of faith.

One expert claims that the number of Wiccan experts is doubling every 30 months. A recent book entitled ‘Generation Hex’ by author Marla Alupoaicei declares that it will be the third largest religion of faith by the year 2012. This explosion of membership in Wicca has come about because of social estrangement, loneliness and the need to belong according to Dillon Burroughs co-author of the book. Although the West Coast and Salem, Massachussets is experiencing the most rapid growth, groups can be found all over the country, including the South and Mountain states. “

(Via Digital Journal.)

Afterlife? Pagans believe in the here and now

Afterlife? Pagans believe in the here and now: “Wicca, the most widely known form of Paganism, encompasses many traditions. But there are also Hellenes, Romans, Kemetics, Norse and Germanic Heathens (often referred to as ‘satr’), Druids, and others; all of us follow, in one form or another, the customs and traditions of our ancestors.

There are not many of us by the standards of the ‘great’ religions, but I like to think that we have some small voice in ideas about what happens to us after death.

Christians focus on the afterlife, while Pagans have had their eyes set on the here and now. For a Christian, this life is only preparation for another. It is unsurprising, then, that they should focus on questions relating to the afterlife, but Christians often forget that this kind of discourse is meaningless to non-Christians.”

(Via Journal Gazette.)

US election: Sarah Palin featured in church video denouncing witchcraft

US election: Sarah Palin featured in church video denouncing witchcraft: “A new video has emerged showing Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, playing a central role in a church service in Alaska in which witchcraft is denounced.

Thomas Muthee, a Kenyan who is a regular preacher at Palin’s local Pentecostal church in Wasilla, made a passionate plea to defeat witchcraft and other supposed enemies of Palin during a sermon three years ago.

The role of the witchfinder in Palin’s life raises new questions about how much McCain’s team investigated her background before naming her as his vice-presidential running mate.

The new video, available on YouTube, shows Palin standing in front of him at the service, head bowed, her hands held by two members of the congregation.”

(Via Guardian UK.)

Mass Distribution of ‘Obsession’ Raises Flags| Christianpost.com

Mass Distribution of ‘Obsession’ Raises Flags| Christianpost.com: “‘The Interfaith Alliance is profoundly disturbed to hear that 28 million copies of the three-year old film ‘Obsession’ are being distributed via special advertising inserts into newspapers through September,’ expressed the Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, in a statement last week. ‘The film’s targeted distribution is focused on presidential battleground states, and the sponsor, the Clarion Fund a non-profit 501(c)(3), offers no public information on their sources of funding, board of directors, or membership.’

While Gaddy affirmed his group’s belief that everyone has a right to an opinion, the interfaith leader said ‘when a cynical attempt is made to influence our nation’s presidential election by stoking fear of one religious group we believe the media along with public officials, such as the Federal Election Commission, must establish who is trying to influence our politics through religious bigotry.’”

(Via The Christian Post.)

Billboard urges questioning of religion

Billboard urges questioning of religion: ‘Imagine No Religion,’ the billboard message from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, has come to Harrisburg.

The invocation of John Lennon’s lyrics, set as if in stained glass, greets commuters along a busy city corridor at South Second and Mulberry streets.

The campaign to question religions value is focused mostly on state capitals so legislators will be aware they have a free-thought constituency, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, a co-president of the atheist and agnostic group.

(Via PennLive.)

Wicca Experts Encourage Christians to Engage America’s ‘Fastest-Growing’ Religion

Wicca Experts Encourage Christians to Engage America’s ‘Fastest-Growing’ Religion: “While many Christians today are closely monitoring the growth and activity of Islam, especially after 9/11, another religious movement has been steadily growing ‘under the radar’ and could become among the largest religions in the United States in less than five years.”

(Via The Christian Post RSS Feed.)