Witch Trials And Tribulations In The Land Of The Free
Posted in Civil RightsMarch 29, 2007 at 4:59 pm (UTC)
People accused of witchcraft in America aren’t executed anymore (we are 300 years and a First Amendment away from Puritan Massachusetts). These days they just lose their jobs.
Don Larsen discovered this the hard way. A year ago, Larsen was a Pentecostal Christian minister serving as an Army chaplain in Iraq. But then he converted to Wicca, whose members are self-described witches, and applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces.
Today Larsen is a former Army chaplain back home in Idaho. As reported last month in The Washington Post, the Army not only denied his request to change religious affiliation, but also removed him from the chaplain corps (despite an outstanding record) and sent him packing.
The Army denies any discrimination against Wiccans and cites a maze of Catch-22 bureaucratic reasons for Larsen’s dismissal. But earlier attempts by Wiccan groups to obtain a military chaplain have also failed - in spite of there being more than 130 other religious groups on the approved list.
True, Wiccans make up only a small percentage of military personnel (around 1,900 by the Pentagon’s count, though the real numbers are likely much higher). But other religious groups with similarly small numbers already have chaplains.
This isn’t the only example of unfair treatment of Wiccans in the military. After nine years of “reviewing the process,” the Department of Veterans Affairs still hasn’t approved the pentacle - a five-pointed star that symbolizes Wiccan faith - as an “emblem of belief” that can be placed on government headstones of Wiccan soldiers.
Despite the fact that the 38 approved emblems include religions of every stripe (and atheism), the VA will not add the pentacle. Does this mean Wiccan soldiers are good enough to die abroad, but not good enough to be buried with respect at home?
The military’s stubborn refusal to recognize Wicca may have something to do with the firestorm of criticism that greeted news stories of Wiccan meetings on a Texas military base about eight years ago. Then-Gov. George W. Bush wanted the military to bar Wiccan ceremonies, saying, “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion.” Some outraged Christian conservative leaders called on Christians not to enlist or re-enlist as long as Wiccans were permitted to worship on U.S. bases.
Although military officials have continued to allow Wiccan worship (under the First Amendment, they have no choice), they are undoubtedly reluctant to stir that pot again. After all, the governor is now the president.
Antipathy towards Wicca isn’t confined to the armed forces. Fear of witches, it seems, is popping up everywhere.
Last year a group of Georgia parents accused their local schools of promoting Wicca by having Harry Potter books in the school libraries (just the latest battle in the ongoing anti-Harry campaign). In December, the State Board of Education ruled that the books could stay.
In February, a Delaware judge upheld a finding of religious discrimination against a department store that dropped a course taught by Wiccans in the store’s “campus of classes” program.
And this month a former teacher on Long Island, N.Y., testified in court that she was fired after public school officials accused her of being a witch. According to the teacher, who says she doesn’t practice witchcraft, the principal was angry because she taught about the Salem witch trials and wouldn’t participate in Christian activities that he promoted. As Wicca grows - and it’s one of the fastest-growing religions in America - so will conflicts over witches. That’s because most of what people think they know about witches and Wicca is wrong. Contrary to popular myth, Wiccans have nothing to do with the “evil arts” or Satanism. Nor do Wiccans conform to the stereotypes rooted in fantasies from “The Wizard of Oz” to “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.”
If it isn’t what many people think it is, then what is Wicca? Although no religion is easily summed up in a sentence, most Wiccans would probably agree that Wicca is a nature-based religion rooted in a conviction that the Divine permeates all life. For a fuller explanation, Wicca Demystified by Bryan Lankford is a good place to start.
For First Amendment purposes, however, it doesn’t matter what military officers or school principals or other government officials think about Wicca: It is their constitutional duty to protect the religious freedom of all Americans, including witches. 3-29-07
Source
- Haynes, Charles C. Witch Trials And Tribulations In The Land Of The Free. (2007, March 29). North Country Gazette, NY. Retrieved March 29, 2007.
March 31st, 2007 at 2:43 am
That then Gov. and now Pres. needs to get his head out of the sand and relize that unlike other religions we don’t PUSH our beliefs down everyons throat.
We are peace loving, nature worshiping, people we are NOT about evil as most would beleave. (they watch too much t.v.)
If he really cared about the American people he would relize that we also have a part of the make up this great country we live in.
I DO NOT wish him any bad will just that he would open his eyes and see that this country isn’t just made of one race or religion.
Like their 10 comandments we also havewhat we call a Wiccan Rede.
He needs to find it and read it.
Blessed Be
March 31st, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I have to wonder if our President napped all the way through History and Government classes in all levels of his schooling. Had he been awake and paying attention he might have learned a little something about why and how this country was founded and the ideals that helped form the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Our founding fathers held up a premise that this be a country free of the religious coercion they had suffered at the hands of the Church of England, and that all who came here would be free to practice their religious beliefs without intervention or harassment from any government body.
Perhaps because for most of his life Pres. Bush has been allowed to side step his wrong doings (money and power buy lots of privilege). His history of alcoholic binges before and reportedly during his office as Governor of Texas were glossed over, his own daughter’s alcoholic binging and questionable behavior during their nights on the town were quickly dispatched and quashed. His military record is highly questionable about what he ACTUALLY did (or better said DID NOT DO) during his hitch has never been truly backed up by any creditable proof… yet this self serving, ego-maniacal, buffoon wituout qualms or regrets readily sends any young man or woman he can into a battle that serves only HIS glory! The rest of the world knows what we all know at the core, that this war has NOTHING to do with 9/11. It has had little to do with Osama Bin Laden since the first month or so of military action, yet he is still trying to send more and more of our youth into a war that is unwinnable..and makes us look like despots to the rest of the world.
Then here at home he wages another war against his own citizens, with his attempts to rewrite the sacred instruments of our freedom and undo our relationships with the rest of the world. He has launched attack after attack on the Constitution, the First Amendment in particular, and the Geneva Convention. Gradually stripping away the protections provided us for religious freedoms so he can back door his attempts at legislation to declare the United States a “Christian Nation”. That was never the intention of the founding fathers, and NEVER SHOULD BE. America is a beautiful potpourri of mixed religions, and no one religion should ever be declared as Supreme above the others. That was exactly why the First Amendment was added to the Constitution, so that no government body could apply preference to ANY religion, or to strip away the rights of anyone to practice their religion without interference or discrimination, or to deny them access to their faith.
The US Army leaders are showing their own weakness if theybuckles to these attempts to subdue a gentle, nurturing religion like Witchcraft or Wicca! .. .and YES MR. BUSH .. it IS a RELIGION!! If you can stamp Wiccan on their dogtags, then you should have no problem providing these young heroes the clergy of their faith. Stop your “blackballing” anyone who applies to become Wiccan Clergy, not just in the military but in our Prisons as well. Stop sending your subliminal little messages to the military and the Veteran’s Administration, and to our Prisons that you do not want Wicca provided any privilege as a VALID religion. If you can’t come to the realization in your own mind that it is, that is your problem Mr. Bush, and you as Commander in Chief have no RIGHT to project YOUR “beliefs” on any body or agency under your command. Your DUTY is to UPHOLD the Constitution AS IT IS WRITTEN … not how YOU interpret it, or chose to REDESIGN it.
All I can say is it will be a great day for this country when this Administration is sent packing from the White House!! I just hope that our next President can help heal the blight this nation has suffered in the last 7 years!!
June 16th, 2007 at 2:35 am
Lynne you go. I have nothing but praise for your comment.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
The first time i read that article in the newspaper about the gravemarker argument i was OUTRAGED! Just because Wicca is stereotyped, people have this cruel image of wiccans or witches and now we can’t even have equal rights?! That is not fair and it is totally against the law! This country has been seriously messed up because of the government in the past 7 years. Our founding fathers pledged to create a country with no religious boundaries. Supposedly we are all to have equal rights no exceptions.However we forgot that people are stupid, whether it is religion, race or looks people have stereotypes and they avoid you because of what they grew up believing. and that is NOT fair! I am wiccan myself and george bush has no right to say that wicca isn’t a religion. He needs to learn a bit about it before he makes such a poor judgement. Contrary to popular beliefs, wicca is a nature loving religion and its rituals are not harmful in any way. Most things in wicca deal with keeping things healthy and pure. He also has no right to try and ban wiccans from going into the army. It is against the legal rights of all americans. I cannot wait until 2008 when the elections will (hopefully) put a more sensible president in office.
SO MOTE IT BE!!!