This week has been a rare instance of where I’m spoiled for choice as to what I’ll write about. As the week ends, I find that there are lots of stories, editorials, and essays that I’ve neglected. So to play catch-up, I’m instituting The Wild Hunt’s first-ever semi-regular (as-needed) links roundup: Unleash the Hounds!
- Suhag Shukla from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) discusses the problem of “aggressive and predatory proselytization” by various Christian organizations, calling it “a form of violence.”
- Paul Devlin draws his Dumezil, and discusses the mythic resonances of the Coen brothers adaptation of “True Grit” for Slate.com
- Also at Slate.com, Simon Schama discusses the need to preserve Egypt’s cultural heritage during the revolution.
- More commentary on the (previously mentioned) Catholic anti-Pagan tract “Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers”: AoLNews, Death+Taxes, Daily Mail (whoops, sorry, don’t link to them anymore) and my favorite from Dead, Mad, or a Poet.
- English professor and “ordained interfaith minister” with a Buddhist background is apparently an expert on Vodou and Santeria, enough of an expert to claim a bag of animal parts buried in a cemetery is a “sign of aggression” and a “bastardized form of Voodoo, Santeria and Black Magic,” an assertion that isn’t convincing the cemetery director. President of the National African Religion Congress in Philadelphia says it might be Palo, but not Santeria or Vodou.
- The Russian Orthodox Church is allowing clergy to enter politics in “certain cases.” What kind of cases? “In cases where the Church encounters hostility from other faiths and factions.” This was not elaborated on.
- Catholic exorcist booster, and anti-Pagan paranoiac, Father Thomas Euteneuer is embroiled in a scandal over having sexual relations (or as he put it, a “moral failing”) with a female client he was allegedly performing an exorcism on. His official statement can be found, here. Devotees are circling the wagons. Commentary from The Daily Beast.
- A Hatian Vodou priest in New Zealand defends his faith.
- Last week a militant animal rights activist in Florida decided that Santeria was going to be his next target, using a series of (sans-context) photos of abused or dead animals to bolster his case, claiming that Santeros torture dogs and that practitioners revel in drawing out the torture of animals. This week Oba Ernesto Pichardo (who won the famous SCOTUS case) issued a statement denying Santeria tortures animals, and that actions like this could spur a “hate crime” against his congregation. As this story continues to develop, I’ll most likely devote a separate post to it.
- Is Astrology keeping us down?
- Amazing photo essay of Vodou in Haiti.
- Excerpt from the excellent history of acid and psychedelic folk “Seasons They Change.” It’s on my nightstand as we speak.
That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.