Pagan News

Wall of Separation
A Texas-based Christian group is arguing in a California court on behalf of the California Department of Corrections that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects only major religions beliefs, but offers no protection for minority religions. Read full story from auburnjournal.com

Somali radio station defies Islamist ban on music
(CNN) – Somalis in Mogadishu could once again hear songs coming from their radios Thursday, as one of the city’s biggest independent stations resumed playing music. Read full story from cnn.com

Is Italy right to fight for crucifixes in classrooms?
Tons of comments coming in on Italy’s decision to fight to keep crucifixes in classrooms in the face of a European court ruling that such symbols violate students’ religious freedom rights. Here’s one that applaud’s Italy’s effort: Read full story from cnn.com

Annual fairy congress draws diverse crowd
CARLTON — A few have seen fairies. Others have heard them. And many more are hoping, one day, to connect with their realm.

Couple get hitched Pagan style
Steve Beedan, 50, and Kerry Church, 18, invited 70 of their friends and family to their home in Rectory Road to share their Wiccan wedding with them. Read full story from thurrockgazettte.co.uk

Lunar eclipse ‘magnified’ in US
A partial lunar eclipse taking place on 26 June will appear magnified in the US by an effect known as the “moon illusion”.

The eclipse will begin 10:17 GMT when the Moon enters the shadow of Earth. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Advice for employers: Employers have nothing to fear from faith
With recent headlines announcing pagan police officers’ right to attend rites and dance naked, it’s no wonder that employers are unsure about what they are expected to do to support their employees’ religious and philosophical beliefs. With legislation also covering less well-known religions and beliefs, such as paganism, Rastafarianism, druidism, Darwinism, creationism and atheism, there’s understandable concern about tripping up and being taken to an employment tribunal. Read full story from independent.co.uk

Native woman recognized as a pioneer in the aviation field
SAN MANUEL, Ariz. – On a sunny spring day in April a small crowd of people gathered at the San Manuel Airport outside of Tucson. They traveled from as far as Colorado and California to attend the two-day Gyrocopter “Fly-in” event.

In attendance was a woman known as the “Gyrocopter Queen,” 81-year-old Marion Springer, a Choctaw pioneer in the rotorcraft – or rotary wing aircraft – industry. The first female certified flight instructor, she has been flying gyrocopters since the late 1960s. REad full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Pagans use fest to show their beliefs
VALPARAISO – Lizz Frenzel was drawn to the first May Faire Sunday at Taltree Arboretum and Garden because of the maypole.

Fresh from a trip to the Bavarian region of Germany, Frenzel, of Valparaiso, saw maypoles in many of the small towns, though she missed the May 1 celebration of the ancient tradition there. Read full story from post-tribune.com

Mummies galore: 57 ancient Egyptian tombs discovered in secret underground network
Archaeologists have unearthed a labyrinth of rich Egyptian tombs that had been hidden under the ground for thousands of years.

Holy water allegedly sprinkled on atheist teacher
POMPANO BEACH — Two teachers accused of sprinkling holy water onto an avowed atheist colleague have been removed from the classroom, and may be fired. Read full story from sftimes.com

Calif. bill would block Texas textbook changes
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California may soon take a stand against proposed changes to social studies textbooks ordered by the Texas school board, as a way to prevent them from being incorporated in California texts. Read full story from mercurynews.com

Sefton and West Lancashire Pagans hit out at UKIP attack over holidays
The region’s Pagan community has reacted with uproar this week after a political party branded moves to let police officers celebrate their festivals as “madness”. Read full story from champnews.com

BP Contractors and Coast Guard Prevent CBS From Filming Oil Spill Devastation
CBS News reporters have been turned away and threatened with arrest, prevented from reporting on the impact of oil coming ashore in Louisiana, by contractors from BP, apparently working in conjunction with the US Coast Guard. Earlier in the drama of the Gulf oil disaster, US Fish & Wildlife Service cut off access to certain wildlife refuges to limit the impact of troops of journalists marching over nesting habitat, but this seems different. Read full story from treehugger.com

Gulf Oil Again Imperils Sea Turtle
The sea turtle, affectionately nicknamed Thelma by a National Park Service employee, has already beaten some terrible odds. Still in the egg, she was airlifted here from Mexico in the years after the 1979 blowout of the Ixtoc 1 rig, which spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and covered the turtles’ primary nesting place. Read full story from nytimes.com

Humanists join Hertfordshire Police chaplaincy team
The chaplaincy team has 20 members from a range of faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Paganism. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Religion, Bigotry, and Political Hypocrisy
Pat Buchanan, in his usual less-than-charming manner, brought up a point last week about the religious diversity (or lack thereof) of the Supreme Court. Buchanan pointed out that, if Elena Kagan is confirmed to the highest court (as seems likely), there will be only two religions represented on the court – Judaism and Catholicism. He further points out that the court will be one-third Jewish, when Jews account for only two percent of the American population. Now, aside from the highly amusing spectacle of right-wingers advocating some sort of quota system, I think there’s a deeper point here than Buchanan’s “pity the unrepresented Protestant majority” theme. Because, even though virtually no politician would ever admit it, there is indeed a widespread (but unacknowledged) religious bigotry in America. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com