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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18262
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
7/26/2007
10:54:58 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 6,522
RSS: 16,958
Comments: 9
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Pawtucket Park To Host Pagan Pride Festival
Author: John Castellucci Source: Providence Journal (RI)
Title: PAWTUCKET PARK TO HOST PAGAN PRIDE FESTIVAL
On the face of it, there was nothing irregular about Rhode Island Pagan Pride’s plans for a Sept. 22 autumnal equinox festival in Slater Memorial Park.
There would be opportunities for pagans of all persuasions, including Wiccans, shamans and druids, to practice their religion.
There would be an observance of the autumnal equinox, during which a priestess would call forth the spirits of the four elements and give thanks to Mother Earth.
But something in the organization’s rules gave City Councilor Henry S. Kinch Jr. pause.
It was the statement that there would be “no nudity or inappropriate exhibitionism” during the festival.
If a rule like that is necessary, then nudity or inappropriate exhibitionism must be a problem, Kinch said.
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Community Thoughts: There are 9 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Condescension..... | Jul 28th. at 8:49:07 am EDT
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Rachelle (Coventry, Rhode Island) - Email Me
"The Pagans can have their festival..." ::sigh:: Thankfully I'm able to percieve my own bulls#*t as well as everyone else's. To be so condescending is one thing....to be so condescending AND woefully unaware of it would be untolerable. If given a choice, I'd choose self-awareness (even at it's ugliest) every time.
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| Appropriate Skyclad Spiral Dances Only | Jul 27th. at 8:05:21 pm EDT
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me - Web
Obviously there's more to this story than appears in print, with yet another pagan group promoting frauds about pagan paths, and taking sides over issues where it's very difficult to sort out prejudices of pagans indoctrinated in social bigotry of our larger society, from those just trying to kowtow to corrupt government in order to more easily pursue other laudable goals.
Pagans do dance naked in the woods, on the beach, in the park, and not just in our own homes, but outdoors around them as well. Any restrictions to the contrary are serious violations of our rights.
An ongoing issue in Rhode Island for the past 24 years has been the combined abuses of the Dept of Interior, state, and South Kingston, trying to impose religious discrimination at a traditional nude beach known as Moonstone in what was Rhode Island Audobon land since donated in a backroom deal to the Fed's, in part to drive away both textile fetishist and skyclad persons near the family compound of present and former Rhode Island political families with private cottages nearby. My formal comments in related regulatory proceedings are found in Federal archives and in transcripts of public hearings over several rounds of related issues since the mid 1980's, while another activist in that case is a Boston area Strega High Priest and former associate of Dr. Leo Martello, who operates a naturist Web service and hosts a series of major naturist listservers.
Given that the historic basis of modern Neopagan Charge of the Goddess versions is likely Charles Leland's late 19th century "Aradia, Gospel of Witches", it's hard to comprehend what functionally literate pagan could seriously consider skyclad practices in the woods or as public political protest anything less than overdue to see more often. Perhaps secondary to skyclad rituals or lifestyles as symbolic spiritual purity or an expression of connection to nature as represented by Goddess theologies, "Aradia" finds Diana in her various aspects mandating that until our lives are free of oppression, we SHALL BE naked in our rites.
Some pagan venues, like Four Quarters Farm, are respectful of these issues. There, a strict and clear dress code exists to let everyone know an unambiguous policy. The dress code goes something like this: "There is none". That means skyclads, yuppie garb types, and those needing functional protection like jeans and steel boots to move standing stones, simply respect each other side by side. That is an all ages, family friendly site, which helps pagan kids learn social skills obviously lacking in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island, after Connecticut, was the second and only other state in the nation to enact a "mini-RFRA" in 1993, prior to the ill fated Federal effort to mitigate the Rehnquist court erasing the Free Exercise clause. RI's such law lacked the specific legal process for enforcement which was drafted into CT's, and so has rarely been used AFAIK. In theory, it makes efforts to regulate skyclad rituals or practices as part of pagan paths clearly not legal in RI, though still risky given other issues of corrupt cops and prejudiced neighbors.
As to what is meant by "inappropriate exhibitionism", I'm left equally confused, wondering if this group of local pagans is pandering cult dogma, or truly intent on fostering open respect for pagan diversity? The vendor policies restricting unspecified "adult items" suggest a "we know it when we see it" xtian hate cult type prejudice, and selective blinders over concepts like simulated sex by chalice and athame, or how pagans with world views of broad interconnected webs of life view sexuality as inherent to all life, and binary distinctions as such policy suggests to be inherently unrealistic pandering to xtian indoctrination. Certainly broadswords are "adult items", and it seems they're dancing around that and weapons laws with rules about sheathed steel edges. As to "inappropriate", perhaps we could consult Alliance Defense Fund and ACLJ, though I suspect those RRR groups would claim it's inappropriate for pagans to be visibly living or breathing in society, period. OTOH, we might consult South Florida Free Beaches, which litigated protections of nudity in the context of identifiable political protest, or other naturists who've litigated similar protections, which hold that regardless of other laws, in your face explicit political messages are suitable, as our legal right, for all ages in the public square.
The blog from the apparent Webmistress for this project linked below explains more detail about how the organizers raised issues of live steel and nudity before local officials, and in turn the press. On their Web site linked above, I note the FAQ where one might expect to see policy details is largely empty, while the vendor form could use a review by someone not trying to copy and paste from a Yahoo account without ever inspecting actual links. It's good to see the spread of pagan pride events as positive promotion of our existence in society and civil rights here. Sadly, this project lacks mature thinking in dealing with core ideological issues for many pagans, just as it includes sloppy html coding, and flounders over how to deal with biased government systems and the divergent issues of raising kids in a society which routinely violates its own rules, without first accomplishing revolutionary changes to clean up bad laws and regulations.
The civil rights issue is simple. All of our rights are violated so long as a skyclad spiral dance in the park or sex on the beach are subject to oppression based on Dominionist or Puritanical dogma, though all of us have paths where what we individually do is far less than the scope of what is Constitutionally promised us as protected rights among which to make personal path choices.
Civil rights protections exist primarily not to protect the most liked or commonly exercised rights, but to protect against mob tyranny over those choices which do not seriously harm others, but are often despised or subject to calls for censorship. That censorship in these cases isn't just about what's seen on TV, but our freedoms to live our values as life paths in daily practices.
Find More info -- HERE
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| A Little Reminder... | Jul 26th. at 5:14:56 pm EDT
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Flion (Tallahassee, Florida) - Email Me
I would have reminded him that animal sacrifice is in his bible not mine.
animal sacrifice is quite prevalent in the old testement, if they want to claim the 10 comandments and other choice goodies from the old testement then they get they get to lay claim to their past icky parts as well.
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| A Resounding WTF. :) | Jul 26th. at 2:29:42 pm EDT
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Friday Scott (Middleton, Wisconsin) - Email Me
*shaking head.*
I'd have been so tempted to retort, "Actually, no, nudity's not a problem for us, we were just reminding folks that people of other religions do tend to fetishize it."
:)
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| Regardless... | Jul 26th. at 2:08:50 pm EDT
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Vema (Riverside, Missouri) - Email Me
of what Cat *actually* said (which should be complained about to the newspaper) , are you telling me that non-Pagans NEVER dance around in their homes naked? That none of them have ever given a strip-tease to their partners or gotten out of the shower and felt silly and shaken their groove-thing? Really.
Also, a lot of Pagans I know *do* dance naked in the forest, but hardly ever outside of the context of a festival or ritual, and never on public property.
And anyway, those councilmen were being rude. I can't believe one of them actually said that thing about sacrificing a goat!!! I suppose I'm glad he was all for letting them do their thing in the park, but that last statement was just poor taste.
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| A Retraction...? | Jul 26th. at 12:07:28 pm EDT
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Faery Whisper (West Greenwich, Rhode Island) - Email Me
Just so everyone knows... I never said "They do sometimes dance naked indoors." What I said was; "What pagans do the privacy of their own homes is their own business..."
I've been a journalist for almost 15 years. I know what I'm saying to the press. I don't appreciate being freakin' misinterpreted.
But... Here's a brightside: If there is controversy, it gives us, the pagan community, yet another chance to prove people wrong.
I hope we will respond accordingly.
Sincerely Cat Tyrson
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