en-us http://www.intensedebate.com/users/299371 Comments by Baruch http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-witch-and-the-christian-fedex-guy.html#IDComment51271178 Actually, I kinda favor Druids with Pumpkins. (Uh-oh, a schism...) Seriously, I don't expect this driver to lose his job over this incident if it's the first time he's be caught. There's no trespass or vandalism involved. But in this economy a warning of that penalty for repeat offenses might get his attention. Baruch Dreamstalker Sat, 9 Jan 2010 20:41:17 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-witch-and-the-christian-fedex-guy.html#IDComment51271178 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/child-sacrifice-in-uganda-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50916377 We know the witch-hunters in Africa are getting support from some Christians in the US. It would be no surprise if "anti-occult" tropes such as you suspect were carried over. Stay suspicious. Baruch Dreamstalker Thu, 7 Jan 2010 20:56:14 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/child-sacrifice-in-uganda-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50916377 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/a-few-quick-notes-14.html#IDComment50893650 I'm amazed at the implication of the Manhattan Declaration that Christian voices have heretofore not been articulate about abortion, euthanasia, embryonic research, same-sex marriage and conscience clauses. Where have they been? Baruch Dreamstalker Thu, 7 Jan 2010 16:35:02 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/a-few-quick-notes-14.html#IDComment50893650 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50530906 You're right. Commie hunts have no relevance now. The Soviet Bloc is no longer threatening our lives -- in fact no longer exists. Now it's Al Qa'ida, but the right can't do much guilt by association with them. BD Tue, 5 Jan 2010 22:16:03 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50530906 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50522327 Man, you could use the word "witch-hunt" allegorically and reportorially on this one! How long ago was Hay a Communist? My earliest political reflexes from the 1950s compel this query. Baruch Dreamstalker Tue, 5 Jan 2010 20:37:31 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/the-dangers-of-praising-harry-hay.html#IDComment50522327 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50519532 Riverbend, the least you can say about that literary genre is that it forces questions upon the genre community.. How are gender issues treated in the science fiction you prefer to read? If you are a science fiction writer, how do you deal with gender issues? Have you frozen the slice of the 20th Century you adopted as normative and projected it as the future? Or are you really engaged in honest speculation? Baruch Dreamstalker Tue, 5 Jan 2010 20:24:14 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50519532 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50463283 I am definitely male, Clare. Not all men are wedded to patriarchy. Baruch Dreamstalker Tue, 5 Jan 2010 14:57:17 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50463283 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50397771 Mary Daly was not only essential to Paganism, but its flavor UU Paganism might not exist without her. Baruch Dreamstalker Tue, 5 Jan 2010 00:33:18 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/rip-mary-daly-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment50397771 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/bloody-death-pit-or-anti-santeria-vendetta.html#IDComment50107746 MCH, the turkey in your sandwich is just as innocent as the chicken sacrificed by a Santero. You're trying to have it both ways, by selectively moralizing one kind of animal killing while refusing to moralize another. That's the core of moral hypocricy. Pagans who would never sacrifice an animal themselves will defend the right of those who do, because they are consistent in their moralizations, something you will never understand as long as you keep this hypocritical barrier in your mind between categories of animal slaughter. Baruch Dreamstalker Sat, 2 Jan 2010 20:22:13 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/bloody-death-pit-or-anti-santeria-vendetta.html#IDComment50107746 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/bloody-death-pit-or-anti-santeria-vendetta.html#IDComment50107371 Well said, Cat. Baruch Dreamstalker Sat, 2 Jan 2010 20:17:18 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/01/bloody-death-pit-or-anti-santeria-vendetta.html#IDComment50107371 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/the-uu-post-theist-city-councilman.html#IDComment49864284 curt, you would have to go back more than a hundred years to the rise of Humanism within Unitarianism, decades before the merger with the Universalists. Humanists are basically atheists who still feel called to ethics, compassion, charity, the arts -- all the stuff generally classified as religious or spiritual, but without the need for an overarching god. Decades of struggle between Humanists and Christians eventually settled down to a sometimes prickly coexistence under the Unitarian roof. Humanists came to predominate numerically. But there still are Christian UU churches, mostly in New England. Unitarianism was originally a Chritian heresy, identifying Jesus as a man, not a god. Universalism is the heresy that no one, howsoever evil, is damned for all eternity. Both became liberal social-gospel churches in the US, and eventually merged; by then (early 1960s) the Unitarians were the larger partner. UUism formed as an explicitly creedless church. There is even an adult religious education course, "Building Your Own Theology." Baruch Dreamstalker Fri, 1 Jan 2010 00:29:12 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/the-uu-post-theist-city-councilman.html#IDComment49864284 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/santeria-satanist-something-else.html#IDComment49348835 Jason, the reporter of this story is accessible from an email address at the end of the story. If you were to send her a copy of your post, as part of a regular practice in reviewing stories like this, you'd be directing germane questions at the journalists who cover them. In time they might begin to ask the critical questions that we'd all like to see them explore. That would limit the influence of these "expert" types. Baruch Dreamstalker Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:01:52 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/santeria-satanist-something-else.html#IDComment49348835 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48938450 Buddhism so readily soaks up the indigenous pantheon wherever it takes root, the world religion of Buddhism clearly does not hold any *one* deity or pantheon as central, a marked contrast with the Abrahamic religions. Clearly it harbors the *idea* of deity, and space for local associated rituals to be central to the local practice of Buddhism. Baruch Dreamstalker Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:29:06 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48938450 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/disneys-bad-voodoo-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment48926470 Recent news from Dubai suggests that its movers and shakers have been living in a protracted vacation from financial reality. Perhaps it's no surprise that the common people fall for "spiritual" charlatans. (Hey, this all reminds me of another country...) Baruch Dreamstalker Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:30:11 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/disneys-bad-voodoo-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment48926470 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/bad-solstice-math-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment48814314 "[...] without causing an uproar with the local Christians." The first time a Wiccan clergy gives an invocation there may very well be such an uproar. I hope both the couple and the school board are prepared for that. Baruch Dreamstalker Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:44:44 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/bad-solstice-math-and-other-pagan-news-of-note.html#IDComment48814314 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48605677 "their dark, dice rolling master" You a Fritz Lieber fan? Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:39:46 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48605677 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48582741 I don't recall any such flap over The Force in the original Star Wars movie, which was the same notion more intellectualized. Maybe the conservatives just didn't get it... Baruch Dreamstalker Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:39:38 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html#IDComment48582741 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/a-blessed-solstice.html#IDComment48434234 Glad Yule! Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:49:06 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/a-blessed-solstice.html#IDComment48434234 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/the-uu-post-theist-city-councilman.html#IDComment48033644 "These folks, including especially the New Atheists, are far more hostile to Paganism than they are to Christianity!" Unsurprisingly. They thought polytheism had been vanquished and they had only one god to go before nobody believed in any of them. How dare polytheism make a comeback!? Baruch Dreamstalker Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:59:40 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/the-uu-post-theist-city-councilman.html#IDComment48033644 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/slate-coms-not-so-evergreen-content.html#IDComment48008507 It's ironic that Slate republishes an unhistorical document about others' lack of historicity. To the extent that Wicca is still a living-room and back-yard religious the hostess/HPs sacrifices a lot of effort making the place ready for the coven. If the coveners kick in a contribution, that's their sacrifice. Baruch Dreamstalker Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:39:05 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/12/slate-coms-not-so-evergreen-content.html#IDComment48008507