February 2007 - Alternative Faith

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Alternative Faith - February 2007

Muslim Complaint #5,765,435 and Climbing

February 23rd 2007 16:29

The Muslim community, but not all of it, has decided to begin their complaining in another country besides the US. The latest list of demands are targeted at Britain and their State school system. The Muslim Council of Britain has released a demand to “ban” all “un-islamic” activities in the schools. They actually want ALL children to be taught in a Taliban type condition, whether Muslim or not. What would be affected by the “ban”? School plays, vaccinations, games on the playground, swimming lessons, and parents’ evenings. There is a kicker to this as well. During the holy month of Ramadan they would want specific things banned. These things include: no teaching of science that deals with sex, exams and immunizations, parents’ evenings, and swimming lessons. The main focus was on the fact of banning swimming lessons for Ramadan. Why? Because they are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours of this month and the children could accidentally swallow a mouth full of pool water. Also, during the off-Ramadan months, during swimming lessons they would expect boys to be clothed from “navel to neck”, girls would be covered completely (minus face and hands), and they may even ask for same-sex swimming sessions.

Have you heard enough? Well, they sit back and take a breath because I’m not done listing their outrageous demands yet. They also want all contact sports (football, basketball, etc) to be held only in same-sex groups. I’m not talking about the actual football team; I am referring to playing football or any other contact sport in gym or elsewhere during the school day. They even go as far as demanding that field trips be same-sex as well, “to encourage greater participation from Muslim pupils”. But wait…there’s more….

On top of all of this, they also want an Arabic language class, the Koran to be recited during music classes, prayer rooms with washing facilities, no dancing or drama activities for the Muslim students, students should be permitted to grow beards, and while in art class any Muslim student should not have to draw people because it is forbidden under some Islamic laws.

Quite a ballsy list of demands, don’t you think? Now before any of you go off half-cocked, I do understand that they want their children to be able to attend a public school and still follow their beliefs. Good for them. BUT they should not make demands to change everything to fit THEIR needs and only their needs. So sorry little Robert but even though you are Catholic, you will now be taught the Islamic way and you will have to abide by all religious rules they set forth into motion. Poor little pasty Catholic kid.

Supposedly they are not asking ALL schools to make these changes, just the ones with the Muslim majority. But where can they draw the line with what school to change and which one not to change? If the change is made in any public school then the children that are the minority in the other schools will eventually demand change as well. Let’s face it, there are approximately 400,000 Muslim students in the UK and 96% attend public schools. So how many schools could actually be considered NOT having a Muslim majority then?

Instead of demanding change take place in public schools that are not COMPLETELY Muslim, why don’t they form their own schools like they have here in the US? Most of the Muslim schools here are referred to as “Arabic” schools and that is where Muslims can send their children and feel comfortable knowing that they are adhering to Islamic laws while being educated.

I could only hope that this goes through in Britain so maybe they can begin pushing the notion over here in the US as well. I would like nothing more than to send my children to school and force them to learn the way Islamic law states they should learn. Shoot, maybe we could even convert to make them all happy! Isn’t that what they truly want in the end anyway?

Blessed Be

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Posted By: Miss Faith - Category: General Religions

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Review of TLC's "My Unique Family"

February 20th 2007 14:08

Bravo

Last night was the first chance to view “The Witches Next Door” on the TLC show “My Unique Family”. The show was an hour long and focused on the Rev. Kendra, her husband, and their 2 children. Kendra is a High Priestess of Duxbury’s First Church of Wicca and as a Priestess, decided to dress in black and wear a “priest” collar. To some this may be offensive and at first it does look a little “odd”. But after a few minutes I figured out why it seemed “odd”. It wasn’t only because she was not a Christian and was wearing something like this, it was because we are so used to seeing only men wear this, and mostly in Catholicism. However, not too long ago there was a woman that became a bishop in the Episcopal Church and yes she too wore the collar and dressed as the men do. Did it look odd at first? Yes it did. But only because it was something you weren’t used to seeing.

So why should Rev. Kendra be looked at any different for what she wears? She is basically the same “level” as a priest or even a bishop, just in a different religion. And as far as I know, Catholics and Episcopalians or any other Christian group, does not own the full rights to wearing a collar as part of their holy uniform. So, even though people may have been offended by they way she dressed or thought it was “odd”, I say it’s no more “odd” than various catholic clergy wearing uniforms that look like dresses of different color (all which are men…in what looks like a dress).

Anyway, I thought the show was great. There were really no Pagan bashing, except by a couple of the town’s people that didn’t like the idea of witches living and functioning there. For the most part, many of the people actually began to understand what Wicca actually is and found it not to be as “scary” as they thought. I think one of the really great parts was the interview with their neighbor (the Catholics). The woman openly said how much she liked having them as neighbors and thought their religion was very peaceful and earth based. She even allowed her daughter to play with the witch’s daughter without any fear of damnation. It was pretty amazing.

I don’t want to give away EVERYTHING that happened because it airs again tonight at 10, but I will discuss some of the things I truly enjoyed. Really, it was kind of refreshing to see Wiccans portrayed in a positive light on national TV. I know they had to take 200 hours of filming and edit it down to fit into the one hour show, so I wonder if there were even more positive footage that was left out. I think all in all, TLC did a pretty good job keeping it positive though. They didn’t make the family out to seem nuts and feared by everyone in the town, so that’s a plus right there.

I also liked how Rev. Kendra got to speak freely about various things that have to do with Wicca and Paganism. She was actually able to talk about the “real” things and TLC didn’t edit it to make her sound wacko.

The only 2 things that I think actually “hurt” the show was: #1) When they showed her first and foremost wearing all black and a “priest” collar. I’m sure this didn’t set well with some people, like I mentioned before. But she was able to tell everyone why she wears it. So that was a plus. And #2) The way they showed her children virtually begging for her attention. They showed the kids talking about how much time she gives to the parishioners and not really to them. HOWEVER…keep in mind the fact of editing 200 hours down to less than and hour of show time. There could have been more to this than what they showed…there normally is when it comes to “real” TV.

But really, I think it was great. Very positive. And I think TLC did pretty good with the editing, not know what the rest of the footage was. The funny thing is, what if this was the “worst” of the footage they could pull together? What if there wasn’t any “oddities” for then to show so this was the worst they could do. Funny to think about how “normal” a wiccan family can be, huh? Kendra’s husband stated he does IT consulting and they had a very nice and NORMAL house. The family dressed completely normal, aside from her wearing the “uniform”, but that’s only because she is a high priestess. And trust me, I’ve seen some of the REALLY odd things a high priestess can stroll around the streets in. Wearing all black with a white collar is nothing. So they are just a normal everyday family, but just “Unique” enough to be put on “My Unique Family” on TLC.

If you didn’t catch the show last night, then try to catch it tonight on TLC at 10PM. Learn more about everyday Wiccans and see for yourself that we all don’t run around chasing garden fairies and magical invisible dragons.

Blessed Be

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Posted By: Miss Faith - Category: Wicca

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Give Me that Old Time Religion

February 15th 2007 16:09

The Sanctuary of Zeus

After 16 centuries of the Greek Gods being cast aside and not being worshipped, they are once again in the spotlight of religious icons. Greek Pagans have begun worshipping the Greek Gods and Goddesses once again. Needless to say, the Orthodox Church is none too happy.

On February 1st, Doreta Peppa entered the Sanctuary of Zeus, wearing a flowing white robe and garland laced in her hair. Along with her were a group of people dressed as warriors and nymphs. The scene seemed like it had been ripped out of a Hollywood movie, but it was actually a homage to the great Greek Gods. Doreta began speaking Orphic hymns then raised her arms upwards and announced her devotion and love to the Gods of Mount Olympus. This had not been done since the 4th century, especially since the Christian Roman state outlawed the practice of Paganism.

Doreta stated that “Sixteen and a half centuries is a very long time to wait. After so many years of Christian persecution we were finally able to call on Zeus, our king-god, to bring peace to the world ahead of the [2008] Olympics. For us, it was a very, very big thing."

The ceremony lasted approximately 1 hour and included such things as white doves. Not too soon afterwards, the Greek Orthodox Church was up in arms over the entire ordeal, especially since this has caused a growth in Paganism and worship of the old Greek Gods once again.

I say “well done” to Ms. Peppa and her group of courageous companions. It seems that she has set the wheel in motion to bring back the one true “old religion”. Good for all of us Pagans, bad for the Christians. Why bad for the Christians? Because they have already begun losing members of their congregation in the Orthodox Church. People are wanting to get back to their roots, which means brushing the Church aside and worshipping the Gods and Goddesses.

I’m sure there will be more fall-out over this as it grows more and more widespread. But the Christian church is virtually helpless to stop it. All they can do is “pray” and possibly complain and make threats. It’s going to be interesting to see what the outcome will be from all of this.

Blessed Be

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Posted By: Miss Faith - Category: General Paganism

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Catholics Slam Bloggers…

February 8th 2007 15:42

You can take the title for what it’s worth and could possibly mean or not mean. However, I will tell you what it is supposed to mean. Catholics have their panties in a bunch over 2 bloggers hired by the Edwards campaign to blog for Edwards. Enter one Bill Donahue…no not the guy that used to have a talk show. That was PHIL Donahue. Bill Donahue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Apparently they got word that the 2 women bloggers for Edwards weren’t very PC or even nice in a few blogs they were writing. It highly offended the Catholics because it made lewd references to the blessed Mother and other things. This man DEMANDS that Mr. Edwards fires the 2 women IMEDIATELY.

The women that are the center of this story are Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan. McEwan posts at Shakespeare’s Sister and apparently Mr. Donahue found a blog she wrote back in Feb of 2006 where “She questioned what religious conservatives don't understand about 'keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds and our families?'” Marcotte writes on Pandagon where apparently on Dec of 2006 she wrote “The Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics.”
[ Click here to read more ]

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