Free Republic

A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals some startling differences between Republicans and Democrats on issues of spirituality and supernatural phenomenon. The study, "Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths," reports that a significant number of Americans practice a mixture of religious beliefs, and "many also blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects." The report is not specifically about partisan differences, but the results of the study are broken down by party affiliation, among many other categories. And the news on...

Fifteen-year-old Katarina Keen won't sing along to "Silent Night" or "Listen to the Stars," two Christian songs planned for her choir's upcoming Christmas concert at Borger High School. But she will sing "Jingle Bells" and "A Carol in Winter." Katarina and her family are Wiccan. The Borger High choirs have given a concert every December, with traditional religious Christmas songs, but this is the first time in director Johnny Miller's 23-year career that any Borger student had issues with the religious themes in the music, he said. A concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday will feature a ninth- and 10th-grade choir...

Real Witches Practice Samhain: Wicca on the Rise in U.S. More Americans Are Wiccan, and Will Celebrate Samhain, Not Halloween, Saturday By RUSSELL GOLDMAN Oct. 30, 2009— Patti Wigington is a soccer mom. She is the vice president of her local PTA. And she's a witch. This Saturday while her neighborhood outside Columbus, Ohio, is crawling with costumed witches in search of candy, Wigington and a group of other local witches will not be celebrating Halloween, but the new year festival Samhain, which also occurs Oct. 31. In her backyard, Wigington and six other local women who make up...

In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcille converted them to Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them evil devil worshippers. As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it.

MINNEAPOLIS—Members of Minnesota's pagan community are celebrating their pride with a weekend's worth of activity. "Twin Cities Pagan Pride 2009" is being held Saturday and Sunday at the Sabathani Community Center in south Minneapolis. Events include an opening ritual, a keynote discussion on "Pagans in the World," a workshop on charms and spells, an "Introduction to Slavic Heathenry," a discussion of Wiccan ethics, and children's [snip] Pagans generally honor or worship a deity or deities from pre-Christian or tribal mythology, practice religion that focuses on earth-based spirituality or focus spiritual attention primarily on the Divine Feminine.

Time to sell your real estate, rid yourself of cherished possessions and purge the evil tendencies of your wicked soul. The world is scheduled to end in late 2012 — at least, according to New Age scholars who look to a 2,000-year-old Mayan calendar for guidance — and it’s time to start preparing. The Mayans, who were scattered across southern Mexico and Central America from about 2000 B.C. until the Spanish conquest of the 17th century, are noted for astronomical insight and for their “Long Count” calendar, which comes to an end, or perhaps resets, on Dec. 21, 2012. Cue...

A coven of witches is accusing the Roman Catholic church of religious persecution after being banned from using a parish social centre for a Halloween gathering. Sandra Davis, High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron Sandra Davis, the "high priestess" of Crystal Cauldron group in Stockport, Greater Manchester, said she was shocked to be told that the pagan group was not considered to be compatible with the church's "ethos". Mrs Davis, 61, booked Our Lady's Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport, for the group's annual "Witches Ball" due to be held in October. She hoped to attract up to 150 people...

COSTA MESA–Leaders from a variety of religions and belief systems declared today that they will continue to fight for same sex couples to marry. Although the 10 speakers outnumbered spectators at a press conference at Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, Christians, Pagans, Jews and atheists alike still pushed to get their message heard: overturn Proposition 8. "Bigotry…and exclusion are not faith-based family values," said AJ Blackwood, a Unitarian Universalist seminary student. The speakers are part of the Orange County Equality Coalition, a group that was formed when the ballot measure to ban gay marriage was introduced last summer.

...but it will be up to the Supreme Court to make a final determination as to whether a 7-foot cross remains standing in a California desert to memorialize war veterans. The cross was first erected in 1934 in what is now the federally protected Mojave Desert Preserve by a group of veterans...w Veterans today say this war memorial and others like it across the country that use religious symbols are under attack by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)...>p> But the civil liberties group says the cross is offensive to Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim and other non-Christian veterans.... "If the plaintiff...

Thursday April 2, 2009 "Abortion is a Blessing": US Episcopalian Lesbian Minister Appointed to Head Prestigious Seminary By Hilary WhiteApril 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an openly lesbian minister in the American Episcopal Church, has caused a stir on the internet with a sermon, posted to her weblog, in which she called abortion a "blessing" and called for the suppression of rights of conscience for health care workers. In her sermon, titled, "Our Work is Not Done," she wrote that there should be no restrictions whatever on abortion: "If we were to find that, while we were...

Wassup, pagans? Me and the rest of my heathens plan to gather Saturday in Redwood City to celebrate the change of seasons. Well, I might not be there, but the the Druid posse should be in full effect. I don't mean a rival to the now defunct Taliban gang. I mean reconstructed Celtic-religion adherents from the Fellowship of Druidism for the Latter Age. I got the word as a member of the San Jose Pagan/Magick Meetup Group, although I admit I've yet to attend a face-to-face event. It's more a matter of motivating the body off the couch than encouraging...

A reporter for The Nation magazine reported today that the President Barack Hussein Obama support group Code Pink held a witchcraft ceremony to 'cleanse' the White House on President Bush's last full day in office.One of Code Pink's leaders, Jodie Evans, was an early financial supporter of Obama's, serving as a bundler for his campaign and donating the maximum to his primary and general election campaigns, as well as thousands of dollars to the Obama Victory Fund. Code Pink also organized get out the vote efforts for Obama.Code Pink's affiliation with witchcraft was present at its creation--a Wiccan who calls...

The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives. It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books. The study comes amid ongoing controversy over the role of women in all Christian denominations. Last month its governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time, having admitted them to the...

While Senator Barack Obama struggles to keep the public in the dark about the nature of his pro-U.N. Global Poverty Act, a recent "Bay Area Interfaith Leaders' Luncheon" was held to lobby for Senate passage of the bill, whose cost has been estimated at $845 billion. An actual witch who spoke at a "Pagan Pride" festival in San Francisco was one of the listed participants. The witch, known as the "Elder Donald Frew" of the "Wiccan Community," was interviewed by the Reverend Don Lewis of "Witch School International" for a "reality" show called "Magick TV" and is shown talking about...

PLANTS deserve respect, a group of Swiss experts says, arguing that killing them arbitrarily is morally wrong - except when it comes to saving humans or maybe picking petals off a daisy. In a report on "the dignity of the creature in the plant world", the federal Ethics Committee on non-human Gene Technology condemned the decapitation of flowers without reason, among other sins. Still, commission member Bernard Baertsche suggested the body weighed such cruel acts on a case by case basis, noting "the simple pleasure of picking the petals off a daisy might suffice as a reason". Similarly "all action...

Can you summarize the reason for the title, Pagan Christianity ? Sure. The title neatly packs the entire point of the book into two words. Pagan Christianity is actually an oxymoron . . . both terms carry concepts that are mutually exclusive. And that is precisely what we have on the earth today. Modern Christianity, whether Protestant or Catholic, is a blending of pagan and Christian practices and mindsets. The book demonstrates that virtually all of the practices of the modern church have their roots in pagan culture rather than the Word of God. The book contains over 1100 footnotes...

“Paganism” is a term fraught with all sorts of connotations. It originally meant something like “country dweller,” “rustic” or even “hick.” That’s because (contrary to popular myth) Christianity did not spread among the Hee Haw-watchers of antiquity, but among the city dwellers and urban folk. The very last people to receive the faith were the rural folk who clung to the worship of the old gods and the customs of their ancestors long after Christianity had become thoroughly established in the cities. So the term originally referred only to “country folk.” However, because the country folk were devoted to the...

This looks like a good resource: When the day's news is about "witches," many Americans reflexively conjure up images of ugly, wicked hags from stories like "Snow White" and "The Wizard of Oz" – or more recently, the smiling "good witches" of Harry Potter books and films. But none of these fictional fantasies has anything to do with the real thing. The real thing – that is, the stunning phenomenon of more and more American housewives, students, professors, and even soldiers self-identifying as "witches" – is the topic of the January edition of WND's elite monthly Whistleblower magazine. Titled "WITCHCRAFT...

Former Episcopal Priest Explores Christianity and Druidry in New Novel http://www.bloggernews.net/112455 December 17th, 2007 by suzanne evans On March 22nd 2005, The Rev Walter William Melnyk was forced out of the priesthood of the US Episcopal Church after facing charges of “holding private opinions inconsistent with the teachings of the Church.” This allegation, effectively a heresy charge, ended his 23 year-strong vocation as a priest, even though his only transgression was to look into Celtic Christianity and its connection with pre-Christian Druidry. Now, Walter William Melnyk has delved further into those links in a new novel written with Druid priestess...

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A Wiccan pentacle has joined a controversial nativity scene at Green Bay's City Hall. The manger scene was put up by City Council President Chad Fradette, who wanted to defy an anti-religious group that was protesting another nativity scene in a nearby town. However, the Wiccans said that was an abuse of power and requested that the Wiccan symbol go up next to the nativity. "I want to see all those other faiths that we don't get an opportunity to see in Green Bay, Wis., because we are sometimes relegated to that," said Wiccan Kelly Winters....

A member of the Pagans motorcycle gang was sentenced to 28 years in prison yesterday for killing a Hillsborough man wearing a rival Hells Angels T-shirt in a Manville bar. William "Rodent" Martin, 35, of North Plainfield, faced life in prison when his murder trial began in Somerville in September. But only two days into the trial, Martin and codefendant Peter Ciarletta, 30, of Warren, reached separate deals with the state and pleaded guilty to lesser charges. -snip- The black T-shirt he was wearing on April 17, 2005 was given to him by a friend, witnesses testified. Somerset County Assistant...

(edited by me)(So, murder is freedom?)

Ron Paul, the Anti-Republican candidate for President and a favorite of White Supremacists like David Duke, has unveiled a new defense strategy to counter charges of Anti-semitism. The campaign of the candidate who claims to disdain ethnic collectivism now boasts an organization called "Jews for Ron Paul." If Jews for Ron Paul puts you in mind of Jews for Jesus, you're not far wrong. Because Jews for Ron Paul is a scam. Jim C. Perry, the Executive Director of Jews for Ron Paul and heavily featured as the spokesman for the front group. Like many Jews for Jesus figures, Jim...

Jacksonville, FL (PRWEB) November 9, 2007 -- Pat Holliday's new book "Marine Spirits Under the Sea" a supernatural narrative concerning supernatural cities under the sea. These cities are found under the sea around the world. Dr. Holliday points to testimonies from Scotland, Canada, Bermuda, Jamaica, East Africa, West Africa, South Africa and America. In her book, "The Witch Doctor and the Man Finds Jesus," she says, "Bishop Vagalas Kanco, an African fourth generation wizard, was trained as a wizard, under the sea." "It was Bishop Kanco that first revealed the 'water spirits' to me," said Dr. Holliday, "I had been...

David W. Oliveira/Standard-Times special Participants do the sprial dance , symbolizing the journey to inner discovery, part of the Pagan Pride Festival in Lakeville. LAKEVILLE — Drums pounded, witches danced and smudge wands wafted the aroma of burning sage and lavender on the afternoon breeze. It was Pagan Pride Day on Sunday and the gathering drew a diverse crowd that included musicians, spiritual practitioners, herbalists, crafters and the simply curious to Ted Williams camp. Admission to the all-day event was free but all who attended were asked to contribute a non-perishable food item for local food pantries. "It's been a...

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Elwood “Bunky” Bartlett says a New Age book store made it possible for him to become an overnight multimillionaire. Bartlett, an accountant from Dundalk, said he made a bargain with the multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs: “You let me win the lottery and I’ll teach.”

NOTTINGHAM, Md. - Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett says a New Age book store made it possible for him to become an overnight multimillionaire. He and his wife, Denise, were on their way to the shop where he occasionally teaches Wicca and Reiki (RAY'kee) healing when they stopped at a liquor store and bought two $5 Mega Millions tickets for Friday night's estimated $330 million jackpot. On Sunday, he said one ticket was a winner. "If it wasn't for this place I wouldn't have won the lottery," Bartlett said Sunday at Mystickal Voyage, the New Age shop. Four winning tickets to the...

Bush apologizes to Wiccan widow Published: Sept 2, 2007 at 10:16 AM WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush apologized to a Nevada Wiccan who was left out of a presidential meeting with relatives of soldiers killed in combat. Rebecca Stewart, who sued to have the Wiccan symbol placed on her husband’s grave marker in a military cemetery, told The Washington Post the president called her to apologize. She said she explained to Bush the faith she and her husband shared. Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Stewart said she heard about the private meeting...

Jonathon Albert "The Impaler" Sharkey — 43, Satanist/pagan who is the founder, national chair and commanding general in the 1st Vampyre, Witches, Pagans Party Regiment (2006-present); former U.S. Army soldier; former board member of Hillborough, New Jersey's County Executive Republican Committee; dark priest/ advisor to the Church of the Followers of Lucifer; founder and national chair of Vampyres, Witches, Pagans Against Impaired Driving (2005-present). Gene Amondson — 64, Prohibition party, Amondson has spent the past 20 years dressing up as the Grim Reaper with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a scythe in the other to preach the ills...

FRESNO, Calif., June 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- Pottermania will sweep the globe with the July 2007 release of both J.K. Rowling's seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the fifth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. With millions of copies poised to fly off bookshelves ("Accelerato!), forecasts are that the latest book will become the fastest selling title in history. Global interest in the boy wizard will soar higher than Quidditch players seeking Golden Snitches. While most consider all anti-Potterism to be downright Mugglish, concerns remain among many parents, especially in light of...

WASHINGTON, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of Pagan religious leaders from diverse denominations will gather in Lafayette Square Park on the Fourth of July to advocate for a Pagan military chaplain, request more approved Pagan religious symbols from the Department of Veterans Affairs and call for universal freedom of religious expression. Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will also address the crowd. "Until Pagans have the same rights as Presbyterians and Pentecostals, religious liberty is not safe in America. The Framers of our Constitution mandated no preference for any one religion over another...

NBC Universal will devote a whopping 75 hours of air time to showing Al Gore’s "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis.” And if Gore decides to run for president in 2008, the event would be "one of the largest ever, if not the largest, in-kind contributions to a presidential campaign,” according to The Media Research Center’s NewsBusters.org, a Web site dedicated to combating liberal media bias. In addition to devoting all of NBC-TV’s Saturday, July 7 prime time to the concerts, CNBC will carry seven hours of coverage from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. EDT, Bravo will...

The term "bleeding-heart liberal" has been bandied about for years, in an effort to illustrate the faux or at least hyperbolic sense of compassion attributed to those on the left.  The lefties in America and Europe would like to be known as those who care, unless you happen to be a Bible-following Christian, a conservative or a fetus. The information age has facilitated the dissemination of all things cultural, spiritual and intellectual.  One of the most important developments in the West has been the study and practice of Eastern religions and "ways."  Zen Buddhism, for instance, is thought of by...

No matter how much liberals try to dress up their nutty superstitions about global warming as "science," which only six-fingered lunatics could doubt, scratch a global warming "scientist" and you get a religious fanatic. These days, new religions are barely up and running before they seize upon the worst aspects of the God-based religions. First, there's the hypocrisy and corruption. At the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York, Al Gore said: "The central organizing principle of governments everywhere must be the environment." The environment would not, however, be the central organizing principle of Gore's own life. The only place Al...

Mr Bush will speak about social justice and equality President George W Bush is in Guatemala for a one-day visit, after a stop in Colombia where he pledged his personal support to its fight against drugs. He will discuss security, trade and immigration with Guatemala's president. This is the fourth stop in Mr Bush's tour of Latin America, which has seen protests at every stage. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has used a parallel tour of the region to speak out against what he calls the interference of the "American empire". Mr Chavez started his tour last week in Argentina,...

Some neuro-scientists see evidence that man is genetically hard-wired to be disposed to religious conviction. If this is so, it might explain why amongst even the French — the most secular culture on Earth — only 25 percent claim to be atheists, and a full 60 percent believe in a spiritual component to life. It might also explain why the environmental movement tends to veer toward a religious, rather than a scientific, sensibility. This oft-observed aspect to environmentalism in general, and global warmingism in particular, has been shrewdly analyzed in a new book, "The Future of Everything: The Science of...

The Pagan Society in Iceland, Ásatrúarfélagid, has objected to the State Church offering school children social support in form of so-called “soul watch interviews.” The interviews are part of an initiative called Vinaleid (“Path of Friends”), which is open to all school-age children. The program enables students to visit the deacon in the local church to talk about their problems, and do not need allowance from parents to do so, as reported in Fréttabladid. Jóhanna Hardardóttir, a pagan priest on Kjalarnes peninsula, southwest Iceland, told Fréttabladid that she has noticed considerable discontent among parents with Vinaleid. She says children who...

Muslim’s association ‘surprised’ at absence of land The Muslim’s Association of Iceland has sent out a press release in which it expresses its surprise at not having been awarded land to build a mosque in Reykjavík, while the Reykjavík District Council has signed a declaration of intent to award the Russian Orthodox Church and the Pagan Society of Iceland land to build places of worship. This is reported in the main online media. The Muslim’s Association first applied for land to build a mosque seven years ago, but has received no definitive answer from the city. While the Association would...

Haredim promise violence if parade takes place, tell J'lem police chief 'will not give up, dialogue or negotiate' Haredim keep threatening to strike the gay parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem in two weeks. Most recently, Jerusalem Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ilan Franko met Sunday with Haredi leader Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss. Franko asked to learn about the stance of Haredi rabbis who declared their intent of a 'Million Man Protest' against the parade. Police did not release details of the meeting. A source close to the rabbi said that Weiss told Franko that he cannot promise the police chief...

http://vampirefreaks.com/gallery.php?u=fatality666

“Your son and daughter might be the next Hansel and Gretel,” should have been the warning label on the Guide to Paganism supplied to British prison governors by the Pagan Federation. Michael Spurr, director of operations of the Prison Service, approved the new norms, which allow pagan British inmates possession of incenses and an amulet, the services of pagan “chaplains,” and the practice of rites and chants in their cells, London’s Times reported on October 17th of last year.  Pretence of Antiquity Witchcraft and paganism have been growing worldwide, especially the practice of Wicca, for which courses one can now...

STARING into the terrifying thunderous tumult of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, it's easy to see why its sheer primal energy has fascinated people for centuries. Now Edinburgh folklorist Stuart McHardy has suggested a startling new theory - that the awe-inspiring natural vortex between the islands of Scarba and Jura in Argyll and Bute was the true origin of the Holy Grail. At its wildest, some say the whirlpool forms a spectacular swirling cauldron 300 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The cause is hidden beneath the waves – a giant rock pinnacle rising from the depths to within 95 feet of...

STAUNTON, Va. — A pagan religion that some experts say can be interpreted as encouraging violence is gaining popularity among prison inmates, one of whom is scheduled to be executed this week for killing a fellow prisoner at the foot of an altar. Michael Lenz is scheduled to die Thursday for the death of Brent Parker, who was stabbed dozens of times at Augusta Correctional Center during a gathering of inmates devoted to Asatru, whose followers worship Norse gods. At his trial, Lenz testified that Parker had not been taking the religion seriously and had to die to protect the...

Open House announces cancellation of parade, which was scheduled for August 10, but says other gay pride events will take place as planned. ‘We are determined to fight for our right to march in Jerusalem this year,’ organization’s director says The Open House Organization announced Friday that the World Pride parade, which was scheduled to take place on August 10 in Jerusalem, has been called off due to the war in Lebanon. However, the other gay pride events will take place as scheduled, the group said in a statement.

Word `blessed' offensive to Ontario Ministry of Transportation By Judi McLeod Friday, July 14, 2006 The ultra, politically correct, Kingston-based License Renewals Unit of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation finds the word "blessed" offensive. Christian Cornelia J, Magcalas wanted the word BLESSED4" on her license plate. The Ministry of Transportation deemed the word unpalatable for the constituency it serves. "Since the introduction of this program in 1983, the Ministry has taken the position that we would not knowingly issue any plates with words or slogans which other citizens might consider offensive or inappropriate," supervisor Sandi Wood wrote in response to...

At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart. That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion -- a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle -- to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers.

New York -WABC, June 7, 2006) - Satanic messages were sprayed outside the main entrance to St. Joseph's seminary in Yonkers overnight, just hours after the end of June 6, 2006, widely marked as the satanic mark '666.' Seminary officials say they cannot recall any incident of vandalism at any point in the seminary's 110 year history. The seminary has been visited by religious leaders including the late Pope John Paul II. (Copyright 2006 WABC-TV)

COLUMBIA, Md. -- Federal, state and local officials who participated in the Maryland Gang Summit yesterday agreed that cooperation is key for fighting the increasing number of criminal gangs in the state. Gaithersburg Police Detective Patrick Word said yesterday that there are currently about 10,000 gang members in Maryland. The gangs that exist in Maryland include the Bloods/United Blood Nation, Black Guerilla Family, Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, Tiny Rascal Gangsters, Street Thug Criminals, Hells Angels, Vatos Loco, Pagans and South Side Locos, he said. "We knew the gang problem was in every single county of Maryland," U.S. Sen. Barbara A....

Where It All Began The very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients also, nor was it wanting]rom the inception if the human race until the coming if Christ in the flesh, at which point the true religion which was already in existence began to be called Christian. -ST. AUGUSTINE, Retractiones THIS ASTOUNDING STATEMENT by St. Augustine, one of the most brilliant thinkers in the earliest centuries of the Church, utterly refutes the traditional view that Christianity, though of obvious Jewish roots, virtually fell from the skies as a radically new, unique, all- surpassing religion...