Subj : Pagan Bill of Rights
To   : TODD HENSON
From : Sean Dennis
Date : Tue Mar 13 2001 10:39 am

TODD HENSON wrote in a message to SEAN DENNIS:

 TH> Ah, I do remember a controversy at Fort Hood. Maybe you can refresh
 TH> my memory. Were the 
 TH> people indeed prevented from practicing their beliefs amongst
 TH> themselves, or was the complaint 
 TH> over whether to have a Wiccan equivalent of a chaplain available to
 TH> them? 

Both.  There were actual Army chaplains of the Wiccan faith (actually, only 
one) on the post.  Also, on post, the local Wiccan/Pagan faith group was 
holding a weekly ritual/class.  That really pissed off the Judeo-Christian 
groups big time.  There was some congressman (from the South and very obviously 
a "good ol' boy") just going banannas about it.  I thought it was quite 
hilarious.

Also, the local new age shop was picketed by a local Baptist church, but the 
funny thing, it was all children picketing, not adults, save for the single 
preacher.  It reeked of a setup and it seemed to me that the adults had better 
things to do?  The shop in question was not necessarily a "witch-oriented" 
shop; they carried witchy items as well as other "new age" items as well (i.e. 
crystals, herbs, incense).

>  TH> I'm not aware that pagans are being denied their rights in America.
> 
> Oh, they are, believe me.  Especially in the military.

 TH> I require more than a "they are". :-)

Hmm, good example.  Requesting time off to recognize a Wiccan/Pagan holiday 
(Samhain, for example).  I had "WICCA" listed as my religious preference (it 
was on my dogtags)... I tried and tried and tried, but I couldn't get it off to 
spend with my wife and her Wiccan friends.  The battery commander said it 
wasn't a real holiday.  Needless to say, I got hold of the post chaplain and 
bitched to him about it (and breaking several rules of protocol in the process 
:).  My BC was repremanded and he did let me go, albeit begrudgingly, for other 
rituals/circles/holidays that I deemed necessary.  I ALWAYS put in minimum two 
weeks' notice to my BC concerning that.

Then again, I was in an artillery unit... that should explain a bit of the 
mentality right there, heh.

>  TH> When are pagan rituals interfered with in America?
> 
> Try Fort Hood, Texas, again.  Let me try to see if I can find the article
> through some friends and I'll post it here... it was an outright shame.

 TH> Yeah, that would be informative.

It was in the Fort Hood Sentinel and the Killeen Daily Herald.  I don't have 
URLs for those newspapers at the moment, but I'm sure a Google search would 
turn something up.

Later,
Sean

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