Hampton Roads gets a fair share of titters because certain devout locals with access to a cable audience claim to get weather reports from God himself - and inaccurate ones at that. Fair enough. But for all Pat Robertson’s eccentricities, he cannot compare to the loonies in Greece who are attempting to revive the worship of Zeus.

To hear the pagans of Athens explain it at a recent ceremony outside a 1,800-year-old temple, Zeus-worship would fit right in on an average American college campus. While celebrating the nuptials of Zeus and Hera, high priest Kostas Stathopoulos intoned, “Our message is world peace and an ecological way of life in which everyone has the right to an education.” The only things they didn’t include were universal health care and a commitment to fight homelessness. (more…)

After a break of 16 centuries, Greek pagans are worshipping the ancient gods again - despite furious opposition from the Orthodox church. Helena Smith asks them why they’re so keen to revive the old religion

It was high noon when Doreta Peppa, a woman with long, dark locks and owlish eyes, entered the Sanctuary of Olympian Zeus. At first, tourists visiting the Athenian temple thought they had stumbled on to a film set. It wasn’t just that Peppa cut a dramatic figure with her flowing robes and garlanded hair. Or that she seemed to be in a state of near euphoria. Or even that the group of men and women accompanying her - dressed as warriors and nymphets in kitsch ancient garb - appeared to have stepped straight out of the city’s Golden Age. (more…)

For many years, as I sat in synagogues, someone on the bimah would make an off-handed reference to the evils of idolatry. Many Jews who would never think of condemning the religious practices of Australian aborigines, Peruvian shamans or Buddhist nuns, and who might even enjoy the art in a Catholic church, give sermons about how worshipping images or praying to multiple deities is the root of all evil. Traditional teachers often equate idolatry-that is, worship of multiple gods, worship using images, or worship of components of the natural world-with murder, child sacrifice, and incest. Less traditional ones still condemn idolatry, but identify its evil with the worst kind of misguided materialist beliefs (worshipping one’s money, for example). In Torah study sessions, I have seen individuals share their private ideas about God’s tangibility or presence in nature, and even point out these ideas when they appear in a Biblical text. But then, someone asks “Isn’t that pagan?” as if the conversation is now over. Paganism is bad. Even a hint of paganism is bad. That is the Jewish position.

What is so bad about paganism? For some Jews, it is a matter of ethics. Many have argued that paganism, because of its multiple gods, its focus on nature, and/or its multiple images of God, does not promote ethics or unity among humankind and therefore leads to atrocity. Yet both pagans and “monotheists” (a difficult distinction, as some pagans are monotheists) have massacred innocent people, conquered countries, enslaved the poor and members of other nationalities and races, etc. Some pagan societies are peaceful, and some are violent and warlike; we could say the same for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian societies. I value Jewish theological and ethical traditions, and believe that the Torah comprised a powerful critique of the religions of its time and region. Yet looking at history, it would be hard to make the argument that monotheism promotes universal brotherhood and sisterhood or that it is more ethical by definition than polytheism. Nevertheless, I hear these arguments all the time in shul. (more…)

In the heart of the Midwest, on February 10th, will bring a rare alignment of the planet Saturn and Witch School will be opening their doors for a special day of teaching and celebration. People from all over will come to ask questions of the teachers of Witch School, and anyone can ask questions at this event.

“People have questions about Wicca and Witchcraft,” according to School President Don Lewis. “We have answers that we are willing to share with the public. It is time for people to stop acting out of fear, and to understand that we have a beautiful and complex faith that honors the divine. We are offering this Teach-In to give people a safe way to ask those questions.” (more…)