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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20420
[Religious]
Date Posted:
3/4/2009
2:19:27 pm EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 2,700
RSS: 21,881
Comments: 6
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Franklin Man Banned From Bringing Knife To Church
Author: Josh Mitchell Source: Smoky Mountain News (NC)
Title: FRANKLIN MAN BANNED FROM BRINGING KNIFE TO CHURCH
A member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Franklin is prohibited from bringing his hunting knife to church after another member saw him with the blade at a Sunday service and got worried.
The knife carrier, Charles Rowe, said there is no reason to be alarmed by his utensil. He simply wants to wear his knife to church because, “It’s part of me and part of who I am.”
But even in Appalachia, where mountain men once thrived, Dr. Bill David, the complainant, said knives still shouldn’t be allowed in church.
David said he has no reason to believe that Rowe would do anything violent with the knife.
Rowe is a pagan and has been attending the Franklin Unitarian church for about four years. Prior to that he attended the Unitarian church in Richmond, Va., since the early 1990s, he said.
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Community Thoughts: There are 6 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| UU Hypocrisy | Mar 6th. at 3:39:55 am EST
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me
It sounds unlikely that if someone clubbed Dr. David and Virginia Wilson in the head with a flaming chalice, it might be possible to knock some sense into either of them. UU-ism isn't a religion well suited to people with the unaware prejudices or immaturity coping with unresolved personal trigger issues either of them are displaying in this case.
Anyone who follows the UU Principles and pursues a responsible search for truth knows or discovers that human body parts ("personal weapons") and natural and man made tools and objects used in rituals or around a kitchen, building, or grounds of a church ("blunt objects") constitute the majority of tools and other objects used as weapons per NCIC compilation of police report data, and so banning humans and much of what allows the church itself to operate would be the first steps to an honest and rational (albeit psychotically misguided as most are) "weapons ban" that restricts most likely actual weapons. Knives come in fourth in criminal weapons of choice statistics, whereas it appears in this case the symbolic and cultural meaning of the knife at issue are equivalent to that of an athame to many pagans, as well as raising issues of how UU-ism can be a host for eclectics who are often religious solitaries participating in a social community.
One might also inspect how UU principles call for respecting the inherent worth and dignity of persons on paths other than one's own. That might place a beyond-PETA vegan at the same pot luck table as a deer hunter who personally butchered venison for another dish on the same table. The appearance in this article is that there's a lynch mob attempt using star chamber tactics for one faction of prejudiced people to treacherously coerce their values on others, in direct contravention and with flagrant disregard for how UU Principles call for them to act with far greater tolerance and maturity.
When President Wilson states "the knife scared David", she expresses an attitude useful for Vatican genocide commanders to manipulate blind followers, that's out of touch with reality. A passive object does not in and of itself cause emotional reactions in observers, but at most can serve as a trigger to preexisting issues of the observer. In this case the observer is old enough that one might suspect dementia or other aging issues diminishing his ability to maintain mature function, or respond to therapy for the trauma attributed to a family incident as a possible trigger for his reactions. Why has no one suggested treatment or other means to address those issues, rather than hide behind closed doors to develop a dysfunctional and discriminatory weapons policy that fails to equate a CUUPS member's athame with a flaming chalice with items of equivalent meaning to those on other paths, while differentiating all of the above, and other common objects around the church including human body parts commonly used as weapons, from actions where many common objects can be used as weapons but where it's intent and action, not any inherent trait of multi-purpose objects, that distinguishes actual threats from necessary or desirable tools and natural objects?
This UU Board's actions are all the more despicable and misguided, as the same type of attitude used to pretend Mr. Rowe should be censored is repeatedly used as an excuse to perpetrate religious discrimination over arbitrarily designated speech within religious or ethnic cultural rights of others as if "harmful to minors". In those cases, it's not the speech or visible existence of people and life paths behind it that harm minors, but rather the conflicts between witnessing such reality, and what some churches or parents indoctrinate that conflicts with the realities of lives of neighbors in our diverse society. UU's, unlike many of those child abusing cults whose monoculture dogma inherently conflicts with a diverse society, assume core Principles that require them to foster a religious community where differences among individuals are welcomed and coexist in the same community. The Franklin UU group may have so-called leaders in deep denial, as to how indoctrinated their actions appear show them to be like rabid fundies using passive-aggressive manipulation tactics to oppress select members and their paths, even while espousing idealistic UU models of social justice for a diverse society that call for them to do the real work of avoiding policies or practices that by intent or effect stifle core values or path practices of members that harm no one, even if some don't like dealing with it responsibly and based on truthful facts.
Many peaceful people are trained killers, and with that training become far more aware of many food chain and safety issues and related ethics than those who evade that element of becoming a responsible adult. A difficult question no serious religious leaders can answer out of context, as many weapons policies pretend can be done, is when use of defensive force elevates levels of violence, or reduces or averts likely far greater violence.
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| The Weapons Are Outside | Mar 5th. at 7:54:38 pm EST
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Opus the Poet (Garland, Texas) - Email Me - Web
In the parking lot. Motor vehicles are 80% lethal above 30 MPH against a pedestrian or a cyclist rising asymptotically as speed increases. Dirty Harry's favorite caliber is less than 10% lethal (9 out of 10 wounds from a .44 Magnum are non-lethal) . So why are they worried about a knife?
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| I Carry Mine | Mar 5th. at 8:06:41 am EST
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Eran Rathan (Old Town, Maine) - Email Me
everywhere, except into the Federal Building (though I have on a couple of occasions, and when questioned about it, I put it in a sealed container) .
A knife is a tool. It is not a weapon until there is the intent to use it as a weapon. And almost anything can be used to harm, kill, maim, or injure another person, if the intent is there, after all, it is basic magical theory: Intent becomes Will, Will becomes Action. But if there is no intent, the point is moot, and the object is just a tool.
Eran Rathan
(The other thing is, I made mine, I use it in its practical applications every day, as well as using it as an athame) .
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| Fear Can Become A Crutch | Mar 5th. at 7:48:18 am EST
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Liriel (Lehigh Acres, Florida) - Email Me
when individuals allow it to control their lives.
If you have been bit by a dog, do you let it keep you from interacting with all other dogs?
Irregardless of whether this church will allow weapons or not, I hope the members can over come their fears and not pass them on to others.
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| Oh Please | Mar 5th. at 1:31:31 am EST
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Denise (Bremerton, Washington) - Email Me
how many times in these little and sometimes not so little country churches do alot of people,especially men at lest carry a pocket knife with them.Now true to carry a regular hunting knife in a sheath is a bit unusual ( it's not considered quite so dressy) , but I have seen and heard of some instances of this happening.Personnally I feel that perhaps that in even smaller communities people are getting paranod, never mind what's happening in larger ones.
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| Depends On The Church...... | Mar 4th. at 8:03:54 pm EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Pagan ritual often uses an Athame which is a knife. So not all religions forbid a knife on premises. Still, it is best to get the basic rules of the church or gathering concerning weapons on church grounds.
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