Exposing the Christian theocratic crazies (to Deady)

Deady has called my attention to an Alternet post titled Right-Wing Crazies Who Fight Witchcraft and Demons Are Taking Over a State Near You by Bruce Wilson.

I'm already well aware of it, being a regular reader of the excellent Talk To Action group blog, which has special sections titled Resource Directory for New Apostolic Reformation and Sarah Palin & The New Apostolic Reformation.

To everyone: If you happen to be in a good position to educate any mainstream journalists, religion scholars, or other mainstream published writers about the "New Apostolic Reformation" and its theocratic ambitions (and its actual attempts to infiltrate the power structure), I would very much appreciate anything you can do (after educating yourself about this matter, of course). This whole issue needs a lot more exposure.

For more about the religious right wing in general, see Resources for learning about the religious right wing on the website of New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry.

Werewolves (reply to Justin)

In the General feedback thread, Justin wrote:

I would like to ask you if you could please share any knowledge that you might have regarding physical werewolves. Not the ones bound by mythology and superstition.

As far as I am aware, the only "werewolves" that exist in real life are Otherkin/Therians -- people who feel that they are the reincarnation of non-human animals (in this case, wolves) or other nonhuman entities, or who otherwise feel that they are nonhuman souls in human bodies.

As far as I am aware, they do not have any full-fledged superhuman abilities, although they may well be more likely than normal folks to have certain talents.

Forums (reply to Deady)

In the General Feadback Thread, Deady wrote: "Hello, I recently joined your Theistic Satanism forum, but it seems like it's been deserted since the year 2007. Do you have any other groups that are currently active?"

Indeed I am not running Yahoo groups anymore. They are closed, though still available as archives.

These days my efforts are focussed more on building in-person groups than online groups. So far, the most successful of my in-person groups has been the NYC Satanists, Luciferians, Dark Pagans, and LHP Occultists discussion group.

Eventually I plan to build an Online Congregation of the Church of Azazel, once enough suitable people are interested. If interested, please show your interest by posting comments on my blogs and creating your own blog, as instructed on this page.

Irving Davis in Austin, Texas

I just now came across the news story Satanism wrongly used at trial, death row inmate argues by Chuck Lindell, American Statesman, Austin, Texas, Tuesday, July 6, 2010.

Irving Davis, convicted of raping and killing a 15-year-old El Paso girl, has asked a Texas appeals court to throw out his death sentence, arguing that jurors should not have been told about his new religion — Satanism.

First off, I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who rapes and kills a 15-year-old girl.

Nevertheless, the issue of how Satanism gets used in court is indeed an important matter for people of all nonmainstream religions. In particular:

Prosecutor Lily Stroud said the evidence was meant to show that Davis had chosen to affiliate with an organization that condones and encourages human sacrifice and other illegal acts.

Hello??? The particular form of Satanism he is said to have practiced is "the Church of Satan." The Church of Satan does NOT condone illegal acts. On the contrary, I think most Church of Satan members would insist that he deserves the death penalty regardless of what his religion might be and regardless of how it got used by the prosecutor. I find it hard to imagine that the Church of Satan would actually have accepted him as an active member, given the CoS's stance on violent crime, although he may have adopted the CoS belief system (or some aspects of it, at least) informally.

Thus, his interest in Satanism a la the Church of Satan is clearly not evidence of anything having to do with the crime he's convicted of, and its use by the prosecutor was clearly wrong.