There Are Less of Us Than You Think

September 17, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

According to Grey Matter Research, Americans think our country is far more religiously diverse than it actually is. In a survey of 747 adults the research and consulting firm found that most underestimated the size of Christianity and over-estimated the size of atheists, Muslims, and other religious minorities. “The typical American adult pegs religious affiliation in the U.S. as follows: 24% Catholic, 20% Protestant, 19% unaffiliated, 9% Jewish, 9% atheist or agnostic, 7% Muslim, 7% Mormon, and 5% from all... Read more

Open Thread (Off to Pagan Pride)

September 16, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

As I mentioned yesterday I’m off to the Columbia-Willamette Pagan Pride in Portland, Oregon. Once there I’m scheduled to have a public discussion with Anne Newkirk Niven, editor of Witches & Pagans, about Pagan media (3-4pm for those attending). Also, if you haven’t already, check out the article The Oregonian about the Pagan Pride event, featuring an interview with your’s truly. Because I’m about to hit the road, I don’t have time to do a normal update today, so consider this an open thread to discuss whatever... Read more

Wiccans, The Band (Plus Some Pagan Pride)

September 15, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

I think that modern Paganism has hit some sort of landmark when hip(ster) touchstone Vice Magazine features a new music column spotlighting a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan headlined by a band called ‘Wiccans.’ “Last night I walked into Encore Records, the best record store in Ann Arbor and one of the best anywhere, where Wiccans front women Aran Ruth and Kelly Jean Caldwell had cleared a space on the floor to spread out a flowery blanket on top of which... Read more

Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

September 14, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up. Yesterday, herdsmen and women in Germany celebrated their annual cattle drive down the alpine mountains. According to Getty Images this tradition “dates back through centuries, and in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria alm culture has a deep resonance in folk history.” If the entire... Read more

Have We Forgotten How to Be Secular?

September 13, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

According to Jacques Berlinerblau, associate professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, more biblical verses have been invoked by presidents and presidential candidates in the past four years than they have in the previous two or three decades. Berlinerblau posits that our society may be forgetting how to be secular, or what “secularism” even means, and has written a new book entitled “How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom” in order to address the issue. “Weary of religious conservatives... Read more

Update: Send Patrick McCollum to Awakened World 2012

September 12, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

With just 12 days left to go, the campaign to raise funds so that Pagan chaplain and activist Patrick McCollum can attend Awakened World 2012 in Rome, Italy as a facilitator and representative of modern Pagan faiths has raised nearly $3000 dollars towards its $3,500 goal. We’re in the home stretch! I believe we can collectively raise another $590 dollars to hit this goal before the deadline, and send one of our hardest-working and worthy activists and voices to this international gathering of religious leaders. Here are... Read more

Existing in a Changed World: Pagan Reflections on 9/11

September 11, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

Eleven years after the September 11th terror attacks on New York and Washington D.C. the tragedy still informs our lives. The Democratic National Convention placed the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden on the forefront of our current president’s achievements, and of course the war in Afghanistan, started because they sheltered Bin Laden, is scheduled to be waged until 2014. Indeed, one could argue that geopolitics in the Middle East was irrevocably shifted after September 11th, leading to the current tenuous situation... Read more

Druid Liturgy in Paralympics Closing Ceremony

September 10, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

The London 2012 Paralympic Games closed on Sunday, featuring a performance by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Coldplay. Artistic director Kim Gavin, Music Director David Arnold and Designer Misty Buckley showcased a seasonal theme for the closing ceremony which “took the audience on a journey through Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.” httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRHMmM2z7c Part of the seasonal-themed closing ceremony, spoken by Rory Mackenzie, a representative from Help For Heroes, was in fact written by Druids from the British Druid Order (BDO). “We were sworn to secrecy beforehand,... Read more

Sunday Reading: Selections from the Patheos Pagan Channel (and More!)

September 9, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

While you enjoy your brunch, why not peruse some interesting articles and essays to be found at our Pagan channel? httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1g0Z0APed0 “A Typology of Pagan Groups” by Aidan Kelly: “Given the commonality of the basic Gardnerian liturgical pattern, it is useful to propose a typology based on how closely the various Pagan groups resemble the Gardnerians, resemblances created because it was the “Gardnerian magnet, as Chas Clifton labeled it, that set off the Pagan Renaissance in the 1960s.” “Encountering Pagan Deities”... Read more

What Do I Believe Anyway?

September 8, 2012 By Jason Pitzl-Waters

“I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn’t even know that I’m alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.” – Neil Gaiman, “American Gods” From time to time, due to the popularity of my blog, folks have been... Read more