Oooo Hooo Witchy Woman
Posted October 3, 2008
That last post about Sarah Palin’s involvement with Pastor Thomas Muthee got a lot of us talking about witchcraft, the ongoing belief in, and fear of, witches in various parts of the world, and the consequences of mob rule and even legislating faith and morality. I’ve recently been reading “Passport to Magonia” and I’m sure the various writings of Jacques Vallee, no doubt, could place this in a greater historical context than I could hope to do in a simple blog post. The fact remains though, that occurrences that most of us would attribute to happenstance, coincidence, or, if it were something truly spectacular, maybe even to UFOnauts or extra-dimensionals, are still interpreted as witchcraft by others (and not just in far off, exotic locales like Kenya, although reports from Africa are more common, either because the media ignores such claims in the US press, relegates them to the “strange news” queue, or because social pressures keep more people from discussing their beliefs openly).
At some point in the future, I may even tell you about some of my own family’s stories regarding contact with malignant spirits they attributed to witchcraft (for instance my late grandmother Bailey always attributed misplaced objects in the home to “those little imps”, a clear ideological descendant of the brownies, boggarts, and house sprites her Scots and Irish ancestors would have believed in), but for now, we’ve got witchcraft links. Below you will find several links to news stories discussing witchcraft in these various forms.
On the political front we have Palin blessed to be free from witchcraft.
In the cultural differences department, we’ve got African albinos persecuted as witches and witchcraft rumors sparking a soccer riot.
We’ve got a little of both, a smattering of xenophobia, and that legislation of faith and morality we discussed, with a witch trial in Saudi Arabia.
Finally we come full circle, and back to our concerns about separation of church and state, and legislating faith (an issue that concerns me, too, as that rare beast, a progressive, liberal Christian) with this commentary on, and video of, Pastor Thomas Muthee praying for Sarah Palin to help tear down the barriers that separate church and state. (Also embedded below.)
Not too long ago, a mother killed her daughter because she believed the girl to be a witch. This wasn’t in Africa either, it was just north of the border in Canada.
I forgot the specifics, I just remember reading about it and going, ‘gee, maybe Canada isn’t all that different from the US after all’, I mean it seems to have it’s share of religious wingnuts as well.
Palin and her association with Muthee, not to mention her association with the New Apostle’s Movement, should give any rational, thinking person a shiver of concern, seeing as the republicans seem to feel someone of such a radical and anti-constitutional frame of mind would be picked to be just a heartbeat away from the presidency should the republicans win.
If you want to see how well theocracies work, just look to Iran, and Afghanistan during the Taliban for an example of ’social liberty’ under theocratic rule.