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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20629
[Crime]
Date Posted:
5/12/2009
11:47:22 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 5,865
RSS: 15,335
Comments: 11
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Vandals Cut Pentagram Graffitti Into Lawn Of Massillon Church
Author: Charita Goshay Source: Cantonrep.com (OH)
Title: VANDALS CUT GRAFFITTI INTO LAWN OF MASSILLON CHURCH
Members of St. George Greek Orthodox Church were shocked to find someone had cut a large pentagram into a one-acre plot adjacent their church.
The Very Rev. Constantine Valantasis, pastor, said his parish’s plans for a community garden there will not be derailed by the weekend vandalism that has desecrated the space.
Members discovered the pentagram following Saturday evening worship services at 364 First St. SE.
“Initially, I was disappointed,” said Valantasis, pastor at St. George since 2005. “However this was intended, it’s a satanic symbol.”
Additional Article Link: [Click HERE]
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Community Thoughts: There are 11 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Too Bad.. More Division..... | May 12th. at 9:02:46 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
If this was a prank, at least it's a mild one in comparison to some in the past that have been perpetrated, and they now have a use for a power mower. I agree with one poster who stated that if it was a vacant lot that the church intended to use, but didn't own, then there should be no complaints.
As for the symbol, I agree. It doesn't take a Pagan to carve a pentagram. It could have been done by anyone. From some kid to someone with a real grudge. They will have to see later on what comes out. Frankly, I' d be more worried if it was flaming dog poop.
It's really too bad though that Pagans and the church couldn't reach out to each other. After all, a garden with veggies and flowers to replace weeds and broken glass could be a tribute to the community in general- and to nature in particular.
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| Come On Now | May 12th. at 7:49:40 pm EDT
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R. Cicero (Seattle, Washington) - Email Me
It's kind of funny, isn't it? Actually, I think it's very funny, a very good prank. Vandalism? Come on. Flaming dogpoop is a prank. Spray painting and breaking windows is vandalism. Mowing the grass can be beneficial. Making crop circles can actually be more damaging, and that's a prank too. Does it not appear that somebody with a sense of humor put some thought into this? I mean, it doesn't take a pagan to create a pentagram, does it? It could be the work of a a smart-ass kid, a clowning atheist, or even some devious Christian with a pastor beef. As for all you pious pagans getting your knickers in a twist, who's more sanctimonious--you, or these orthodox bible thumpers? I really don't know. Do you really think those holy rollers want to invite your witchy, earth-loving ass to a picnic and politely discuss religious differences?
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| Idiots..... | May 12th. at 7:05:38 pm EDT
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Aritimi Morgana (RotterdamJct/Schdy/Scotia, New York) - Email Me
Gods help me if I get my hands on the little pimples who did this. I don't care if it was a church, synagogue or mosque, this kind of garbage is pathetic. If I were the priest of a religious center and had this done to me, you bet I'd be just as angry. I suppose some can laugh at this, but at the same time, it once again gives us pagans a black eye. The idea that pagans are stupid, vandalizing little punks is being trotted out again and we sit on our hands and try to wish it away.
This is why pagans need to stop cowering in our little broom closets and be proactive when people accuse us of these kinds of actions.
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| Meh. | May 12th. at 5:43:45 pm EDT
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Lori Dake (Chicago, Illinois) - Email Me - Web
Just stupid kids acting stupidly. Nothing to see here, folks. Do hope they get their fannies tanned with the flat side of a broadsword though.
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| ... | May 12th. at 5:27:29 pm EDT
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web
They did put a lot of planning into this. What the Pagan community of that area needs to do is stay clear of that area. Buy another vacant lot, put a barbwire fence around it, and use that as actual sacred space, not for a juvenile prank on a death cult.
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| Plot Adjacent | May 12th. at 5:19:49 pm EDT
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Tacitala (Akin, Illinois) - Email Me
The piece of land was described as "adjacent" to the church's grounds but not specifically as a part of the land the church owns.
I know community gardens are occasionally set up in vacant lots as well as private land. If the land belongs to the church, then the people who did the mowing need slapped for giving the Pagan community a more of a bad rep. than it already has in the area (especially at that church) . If the field was/is a vacant lot, the church shouldn't have reason to complain.
Does somebody have more information?
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| 2 Wrongs Do Not A Right Make | May 12th. at 2:10:37 pm EDT
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karrie9 (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Email Me - Web
No one should vandalize.
No one should trash a symbol (pentagram) , demonizing it, either.
Kudos the the journalist for including level headed educational background on the pentagram throughout time and across different cultures and religions.
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| The Space Is Properly Blessed Now, Isn't It? | May 12th. at 1:56:04 pm EDT
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R. Cicero (Seattle, Washington) - Email Me
In fact, it was very fine before, as an untouched piece of land. To mow a symbol into grass is hardly vandalism, though to these extreme tight-ass orthodox types it's obviously a capital metaphysical crime. But I've had a good laugh over it.
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| What Would St. George Do? | May 12th. at 1:45:04 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
"The pentagram, believed by some to hold magical powers, also has been embraced over the centuries by various pagan religions, occultists, magicians, Rosicrucian Christians and Freemasonry, and was once an early symbol of the five wounds of Jesus on the cross.
Satanists adopted the inverted pentagram, which is usually accompanied in illustrations by a goat’s head.
Today, the pentagram is most commonly associated with the Wiccan religion. For Wiccans, the pentagram represents fire, air, water, earth and spirit."
The Satanists might use the Pentacle Inverted, to represent the horns, ears and beard of a goat's head, so this pastor is obviously looking at the image from the wrong perspective.
I'd like him to take a moment, to see this as St. George would. We hear about St. George and the Dragon, practically the patron saint of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and they might have been incarnations of the same god, but the Hero George was the earlier figure, fighting a dangerous dragon, likely an Komodo or a Croc, after his horse ran away, and in violation of royal edict. Later, when Rome declared that anyone found to be a Christian would be executed, and this was likely announced at that very spot, where the earlier George killed that dragon, it was the next day, that George stepped forth, and declared himself a Christian. That an evening intervened opens the possibility, that he'd gotten himself Baptised in the interim, he being a real Greek. It was the confusion of the two stories, with a Christian Shrine at the site that a hero of the same name slew a dragon, that led the English to include the Cross of St. George on their flag.
If this preacher has been damning the Pentacle, as Satanic, cutting it into the lawn is exactly the sort of thing St. George would do.
Arawn Graalrd
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| I Do Hope... | May 12th. at 11:55:38 am EDT
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Ypsiroselee (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - Email Me
I do hope that local Wiccans and other pagans come out to St George's in a show of solidarity with them. I think it is very important for Fr. Constantine to know that it wasn't us, and more importantly, to erase any doubts that less informed folks have about u.
Using a sacred symbol of one faith with a purpose of defiling another faith hurts both, (indeed all) faiths and practices.
If by change that person were a Wiccan, and in a coven of mine, he or she would be lucky to be merely bound for that.
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