According to an email I got the other day (and a video I saw on youtube), the reason the mass shootings at Virginia Tech occurred is because god (the xian god) is no longer allowed in classrooms. I suppose the assumption here is that if we told our teachers to pray with their classes on a daily basis, to read their bibles as holy writ, to teach lessons from the bible, and to be upright spiritual leaders for their classes then the kinds of attacks that occurred on April 16, 2007 would never have occurred.

Perhaps this might be true from a prevention standpoint. Students who have been introduced to the fire-and-brimstone lessons from the bible might be scared into compliance with "god's laws" and not carry out mass murders on school grounds. Perhaps if their teachers had indoctrinated people like Cho Seung Hui, Dylan Kliebold, and Eric Harris, the 49 people who died in those attacks might well still be alive. We will never know.

The implication is, though, that if god is in the classroom, he will protect that classroom from harm. The email/video I saw rolled off several "anti-xian" acts perpetuated on society (taking prayer out of schools, permitting abortion, allowing homosexuals to live their own lives, etc.) that are allegedly to blame for the de-moralization of schoolchildren and the subsequent shooting sprees.

Which makes explaining how a madman was able to walk into an Amish school in Lancaster County, PA and kill 5 innocent children - girls aged 7-13 - a very difficult task indeed. Were the Amish not godly enough for this malevolent god? Or was he asleep on October 2, 2006? Did he just stand aside and let these innocents die?  What is the defense the xian church can use to justify this event?

After each round of school shootings, xian people all rally around the cross and worship the very god that apparently allowed the Amish, Columbine, Paducah, Jonesboro, and Blacksburg rampages to occur. To xians, I suppose, there is some mighty plan involved in seeing innocent children die at the hands of a madman. One would think that the god of the universe (so the xians say) would be a bit more creative in the way he makes a point.

Xians tell me that god's ways are above our ways, and even though we don't understand why god does something that there is a "greater good" to come from all of this. I'm sure the parents of all these dead kids find solace in the fact that their child died a horrible, terrified death just so the xian god could work "all things to good".

Yesterday at the high school where I teach, the students enjoyed Club Day.  Club Day is a monthly opportunity for various clubs around school to gather their members and discuss whatever it is they have in common.  As would be expected, the Chess Club gets together and talks strategy.  The Guitar Club gets together to play music.  Future Teachers of America talk about education issues.  And First Priority gets together to have church.

Yep.  Complete with praise, worship, bible reading, preaching, and praying.

Let me be clear about something.  Thi post isn't about separation of church and state or any such nonsense.  The fact that this club exists and holds church once a month is not an issue with me.  Access to spirituality can only be a good influence, IMO.  However, as I watched them gather and pray and sing, I began to wonder about something:

What if I started an Earth-Based Spirituality Club?

There I was, a non-xian student of Wicca, patiently observing a xian worship service on school grounds and not feeling "offended" or "threatened" by their activities.  I thought about the fact that this club day fell squarely on Ostara, and had there been a E-BSC, we would have been outside casting a circle and celebrating this time of Balance in the turning of the Wheel.  We would have danced in the presence of the Goddess under the light of the mid-day Sun.  We would have made merry, and walked away no less refreshed than the First Priority members did yesterday afternoon.

We all know, however, what the immediate response to an E-BSC would be.  We would immediately become targets of misinformed parents and faculty members who believe that we are worshipping the xian devil.  Every aspect of our rite would be criticized, from the charge at the gate to the Simple Feast at the end.  Every effort would be made to break apart the club as a "bad influence" on children, one leading them into a life of darkness and death.

Bosh!

Perhaps one day, sooner rather than later, I'll step out and offer the non-xian students of this school an "Alternative Religions Club".  All students who don't find their faith in First Priority would be welcome to attend.  Our Buddhist, Muslim, Wiccan, Pagan, and other students could gather to discuss their respective religions in an environment of acceptance and tolerance.  Perhaps then, as we slowly open the door, we can begin to help people understand that we as Pagans are not out to lead children to hell through ritual sacrifice and gratuitous sexual depravity.

Blesséd be,

Scolaí

The mind of the xian right never ceases to amaze and confound me.

Teacher Fired for Teaching Witchcraft

OK, so she wasn't really teaching witchcraft.  She was proposing a question.  The fact that she wears black a lot and has copies of Harry Potter in her room do not make her a witch.  No matter the case, she needn't be fired from her job because she differs philosophically and religiously with the status quo.

I am a teacher.  I am a witch.  Does the latter make me less effective as a teacher, despite the time spent in classes and 13 years experience in the classroom?  I think not.  If anything, I am the better teacher for not having a subversive agenda in seeking to make all of my students similar in thought to myself.  Few are the xians who don't attempt to insert their beliefs in some form or another into their classrooms.  I see it happen all the time.

My principal became aware of my non-traditional beliefs after he caught sight of a pentacle I was wearing last summer.  To date, I have only lost a position on the Leadership Team at school (and the accompanying $500 stipend).  Given the opportunity, he could make my life rather unpleasant, making me the subject of one of these types of lawsuits.

I look to the Eternal Source to prevent such a turn of events.

Blessings,

Scolaí

This past Saturday, we had the opportunity to celebrate the full spectrum of the lunar cycle in a matter of hours.  Maiden, Mother, and Crone all in one night.  Under the reflected light of the Full Moon within a circle of friends, I paused for a while to contemplate on where I am, where I've been and perhaps more importantly where I am going.   I love it when my adult life causes me to recall my childhood, and I love it when I see who I am in the light of who I used to be.

As a child I was deeply fascinated with the moon.  I was the kid who asked for a telescope for my birthday so I could explore the surface of the moon in detail.  I drew pictures of the moon, craters and all, in class when I should have been doing mundane things like worksheets and math problems.  Some nights I would just sit and watch the moon - silvery and smiling in its fullness.  I especially loved the first crescent on a cold winter's night when that little sliver of Moon nestled in with a brilliant Venus in the red-orange sunset.  Gods, those were beautiful nights.

I was raised in the xian tradition by my parents who saw the Moon as little more than a chunk of rock in the vastness of space.  Despite their attitudes, I knew there was more to Her - that she had the power to awe and inspire.  I was a Pagan as a child, I just never realized it until recently.

The other day I heard a song that I used to listen to as a kid - "The Highwayman" by Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.  The song is about life, death, and rebirth - reincarnation.  I am not a fan of country music, but for some reason I liked this song.  Now I know why. 

Another song I liked as a kid is by Howard Jones (of "No One is to Blame" fame).  The opening phrase is the following:

A very Pagan idea - find Deity within.  For years as a xian, I sought God in some ethereal plane distant and separate from mankind.  I always believed that God was far, far away when all along as a child Deity was speaking to me from within myself.  It took me 35 years to realize that I am Divine - I am a God

I hope you, too, find the God and Goddess within.

Namaste and Blessings,

Scolaí

Another thought on cherishing life.

Yesterday the town saw it necessary to remove a splendid old Oak from the roadside.  I bore witness to several men lopping off it's many branches and feeding them into a shredder.  The stump will be ground down to ground level and buried without fanfare under a layer of soil.

Unlike a human, the tree does not die immediately upon having its bulk cut off.  The roots that connect Him to His Mother live on for days and weeks.  While I am trapped at work from daybreak to midnight, my wife and children will attend to the dying Oak, reassuring it that all will soon be finished.  Soon it can grow afresh in the Summerlands, where its branches will never know blade or axe.

Humankind is so detached from the natural world.  Those who would cut down a tree for the sake of aestheticism have never felt the pulse of a tree; they've never placed their hands upon the trunk and felt the steady "thrum-thrum" as the tree takes in life from the Mother.  They've never known that a tree has moods very like humans - often content and often irritable. 

To most humans, trees are non-living, non-sentient creatures that can be added or removed from a location on a whim.

I shall visit my friend, the Oak by the River, who has seen hundreds of years of human activity, from the Natives who cherished and valued the Natural world to the current brigade of marauders who fell trees because they are inconveniently located.  I shall place my hands upon His trunk (He is a generally grumpy tree) and tell Him of His cousin's fate, and we shall mourn together.