Native American

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

Supreme Court rejects animal cruelty law, upholds free speech
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a federal law that criminalized photographs and other depictions of animal cruelty, saying the law violated free speech rights protected by the First Amendment. Read full story from csmonitor.com

Man faces sexual assault charges in wake of ‘cleansing ritual’
DECATUR - Two 17-year-old women told police they were sexually molested by a 40-year-old man involved in a witchcraft group known as the “Order of the Seeing Eye.” Read full story from herald-review.com

Your Hatred Will Make Me Famous: Making Sense of a Republican Vampire
The aphorism that “politics makes strange bedfellows” gained new meaning last month when self-identified vampire, Satanist, and “Hecate witch” Jonathan “The Impaler” Sharkey announced he would run for president in 2012 as a Republican. Read full story from religiondispatches.org

New Hilton Village store caters to witches, Pagan culture
Apr 11, 2010 (Daily Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) – As you might suspect in a store called The Magickal Attic, brooms, wands and caldrons decorate the space, waiting to be sold. And the owner, Melissa Kepley, is a witch. Read full story from callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com

BREAKING NEWS: Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller dies
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller died in the morning hours of April 6 at her home in rural Adair County, Cherokee Nation officials confirmed to the Cherokee Phoenix. Read full story from cherokeephoenix.org

April is Disaster Preparedness Month
There’s a reason April is Disaster Preparedness Month: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, drought, wildfires, disease outbreaks. Are you ready for the unexpected? Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

The pagan roots of Easter
Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn’t really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Wistful about Wicca
What do you think about Wicca? Does it make you think: “Yikes! Evil witches!” or grounding earth-based ritual or stoned bare-foot hippies or some manner of something in between? Let me know, I am really interested. And don’t hold back. Read full story from women24.com

Derry couples seeking Pagan weddings - claim
Raymond MacSuibhne, of the Pagan Federation of Northern Ireland (PFNI), says the peace process has allowed “interest and participation in Paganism” to flourish in Derry and across the North over recent years. Read full story from derryjournal.com

TV presenter gets death sentence for ‘sorcery’
(CNN) – Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for “sorcery.” Read full story from cnn.com

Asheville Mother Grove Goddess Temple to celebrate spring equinox
ASHEVILLE — After making it through the harsh winter, people in Western North Carolina are looking forward to the warm sun of spring. Some are preparing to celebrate the season’s change with an ecumenical ritual. Read full story from citezen-times.com

Avatar Is The Work Of The Devil, Says Idiot Pastor
Pastor and shit-stirer Mark Driscoll claims that Avatar is the devil’s work, aimed at promoting paganism and primitive lifestyles. Sounds like somebody just needs to make “Tsaheylu.” Of course, after watching the “Na’vi” on chatroulette, he’s got a point. Read full story from io9.com

Tribes need to prepare for inflationary future
NEW ORLEANS – American Indian tribes achieving unprecedented economic progress in the past decade now must brace themselves for future inflation, delegates attending a recent Native American finance conference were warned. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com