Watch What You Witch For

The Religious Right has been laboring (and lobbying) for decades to get "religion" back into school. By "religion" I mean "Christianity", and by "Christianity" I mean "Really Scary Radical Right Wing Christianity". The debate over providing taxpayer-funded vouchers for students to attend private, religious schools continues to rage on. The Bush White House has even established a White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives to coordinate the investment of greater sums of public money into religious ventures.

Whether or not this is all a good thing or a bad thing, it is a safe bet that Wicca is NOT what the White House and its faith-based allies were thinking of as they schemed to saturate the public square with religion. Be that as it may, there may be a new Wiccan applicant sending in grant proposals for Faith-Based funding in the near future. Maryland resident Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett hit the jackpot through the Maryland lottery recently. The devout Wiccan has since pledged to use a portion of his new found fortune to open up a Wicca school. Wicca, of course, is a Pagan religious practice derived from ancient Celtic and Druidic belief systems. It has been wrongly characterized as Satanic for centuries by mainstream religious authorities, and persecuted as such. Although American communities are no longer in the official practice of burning heretics at the stake, to this day there is a decidedly negative backlash against Wicca and other Pagan practices on the part of conservative, evangelical Christians.

Bunky Bartlett: WBAL TV 11


However, Mr. Bartlett's actions may mark a growing acceptance of Wicca in the United States. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently approved of the use of Wiccan symbols on veterans' headstones. Now, instead of atheists and monotheists monopolizing the argument over whether to take the phrase "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance, Bunky and the Wiccans can join the fray and argue that the phrase should read "under the gods and goddesses." Even if they don't win that argument, I hope they get a fair chunk of George W.'s faith-based money. Blessed Samhain! Happy Halloween!

-Doug L.

Celtic Harpists


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

"Study Finds Worst Performance in Conservative Christian Schools", by Diana Jean Schemo (CommonDreams.org, July 15, 2006)

Pagan Studies.org

Celtic Druidism (Religious Tolerance.org)

Chalice Centre.net

New Order of Druids (DruidCircle.net)

Wicca: A Neopagan, earth-centered religion (ReligiousTolerance.org)

The Real Meaning of Halloween, by Starhawk (Washington Post OnFaith, October 30, 2007)

Samhain- The Eve of All Hallow (Ireland for Visitors.com)