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WASHINGTON — Last Thursday at the United We Stand summit at the White House, President Biden announced new and renewed measures to combat hate, including these attacks targeting people of faith.
While a variety of faith groups and religions were represented at the top, there was one glaring omission – no Pagan or adjacent Pagan representatives were invited to speak or even recognized as part of the communities. wider denominations. Among the religions represented were Catholic, Evangelical, Hindu, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
There were several interfaith organizations, but again none specifically recognized or included adjacent Pagan and Pagan religions, with the exception of Jordan Dresser, President of the Northern Arapaho Tribe.
This is nothing new so to speak. True Pagans, though they appear to outnumber Unitarians, Sikhs or even Wiccans in the samples from Pew Research’s most recent survey, are rarely, if ever, included in official government religious events.
The graph above notes a much higher percentage of error for smaller faith groups, but the number of Pagans overall has increased over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing down as more and more more people seem to be moving away from other mainstream religions.
This may be the result of the fact that many witches and pagans have chosen to fly under the radar, but whatever the reason, decisions that involve religious communities rarely, if ever, offer a place for table of the pagans.
Nearly five hours of the United We Stand summit are available online through the White House YouTube channel.
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ASTANA, Kazakhstan – The 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions was held in the capital Astana, formerly named Nur-Sultan. Among the things the nearly 100 delegations representing majority faith communities from 60 countries agreed on in their statement at the end of the two-day event was to work for a better world.
The declaration they adopted will be presented at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly which began on September 13 and at the high-level week which will take place from September 19 to 23 in New York.
One of the most relevant teachings of the declaration for Gentiles and those who are Gentile-adjacent was the embrace of religious pluralism and tolerance:
10. We note that pluralism in terms of differences in skin color, sex, race, language and culture are expressions of God’s wisdom in creation. Religious diversity is permitted by God and therefore any compulsion to a particular religion and religious doctrine is unacceptable.
In theory, that’s a good sign. Whether or not it is adopted in actual practice, and whether or not it is applied uniformly to minority beliefs and practices, remains to be seen.
Another takeaway was point fourteen which, at the very least, recognizes the importance of science, medicine and technology, even if the statement is tempered by a desire to intervene on religion.
14. We welcome the progress made by the world community in science, technology, medicine, industry and other fields, while noting the importance of their harmonization with spiritual, social and human values.
Among the other 35 points in the declaration are several references to equality with respect to women’s rights, the wealth gap and respect for the rights of others and their spiritual beliefs and practices.
There were also many points that called for peace and taking action to avoid or end aggression, wars and other violent conflicts in the world.
A Halloween-themed 5K race in Tequesta Florida recently advertised its event with a problematic backstory. The backstory states that Justin, a 9-year-old camper at the event site, Camp Tanah Keeta, was found “dismembered, near the shore of the camp’s main lake.” As part of the fictional story, “One of the camp counselors tried to find Justin shortly after he left, but his footprints disappeared into the brush. It wasn’t until the next morning that Justin was located.While many people suggest that Justin must have been attacked by a wild animal, the Wiccan markings on his body make it hard to believe.
The Wild Hunt contacted event organizer Chirs Harris: “The backstory offered by the website appears to suggest that victim ‘Justin’ was the subject of human sacrifice by Wiccans. Does the Reserve approve of this backstory? »
Mr. Harris explained that “We used Wiccan in a way synonymous with Witch. Basically, we imagined a Hocus Pocus-like story, where witches sacrificed children to regain their youth.
TWH noted that “Wicca is a faith, and the statement is reminiscent of ‘the Jewish markings on her body make it hard to believe'”.
Mr. Harris later replied, “Thanks for the explanation, Manny. We do not want to contribute to a misunderstanding of Wicca and will do our part by changing this description.
The new backstory removes Wicca and any reference to Wiccans.
For those looking to date a new ally, The Haunted 5K will take place on October 1, 2022.
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