THIS AND THAT
By Christopher Blackwell

Normally I cover just one subject to cover in my editorial, but this time I'll make an exception.

For anyone that doesn't keep up with the e-mails for our members, we have Darla Wynne, one of our directors. You may remember she fought a long, five-year battle against religious discrimination just for being a Wicca in the small town of Great Falls, South Carolina. Her suit against the town council went all the way to the Supreme Court. She won when the Court refused to hear it.

Life is still difficult for her. Someone recently slashed six of her tires, even though things have been somewhat quieter since the suit ended. But as I write this she faces another problem and so do about a thousand of her fellow townspeople.

One of the old mills, that had once been the livelihood of the town, caught fire. Not that unusual with an abandoned building, but far more dangerous than it might have been. The fire has burned for a week as I write this on the second Tuesday of the month of June. This has gone on with new flare-ups breaking out for a full week. They will have to bulldoze the walls to put it out.

Because of the threat of toxic contaminants, Darla and most of the residents of Great Falls were forcefully evacuated. Darla managed to get all her animals out and taken care of, but she has not been able to go home and when she will be able to is unknown. First the fire must be put out and then they will have to check for possible toxic contaminants left behind. So far they have not measured any.

You may notice the two guest editorials from Eric. He is a seventeen year veteran in the Army and a Pagan who takes care of his fellow Pagans as well as other soldiers presently in Iraq.

I asked him if he had any articles that I could use in our newsletter and he sent several that he had posted in his own newsletter. I feel fortunate to have them.

We Pagans today, particularly Wiccans, are often antiwar and this causes questions about how a Pagan can serve in the military, despite the fact our ancestors honored their warriors. Eric can give you his side of the story and perhaps can let you see why we need not to forget our own warriors.

Any veteran can tell you war is far worse than anything a civilian can imagine. This is true for those who fight and those who have the misfortune to be living where war is happening.

The information about this war is carefully being cleaned up by both the government and the media, papered over with slogans. So what is it like to be fighting a war as a Pagan?

While things are better for Pagans now then they have been in the military, it is still no piece of cake to be Pagan in the military, be you Wiccan, Druid, Heathen, Reconstructionist, or Shaman. So as long as I can get articles and editorials from the front lines I will try to let people like Eric tell their story.

There is a Chinese curse: May you live interesting times! We certainly live in interesting times for America, our society as members of minority religions. But I have lived through several such periods. The question is, so what do we do in such times? Moaning and complaining cause no change and just make us feel helpless and dispirited.

I will tell you only what I am doing as I type this. As I write this I have filled in my membership papers for the groups that I think are helpful in these times, be they Pagan or not. I am continuing my membership in the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and I am renewing my membership in AREN. I will take part in the activities of all the groups, especially by mail, e-mail and fax. Being in the middle of nowhere is no excuse to sit on the sidelines and moan how helpless one is. I never have done that.

Dianne Sasse, our cartoonist, has consented to become my advisor on European affairs and our reporter on European news. I am looking forward to her help. It is impossible for one person to do everything. So it is great to be building a team to make this newsletter better.

Sandy Brundage, our copy editor, advisor, and domestic correspondent, is back from a nice trip and is working hard to undo my usual errors in grammar and tense. She is also working on an article that I am looking forward to as well.

I hope you will enjoy this edition. Please feel free to give feedback or suggest possible additions to our newsletter. I would be happy to publish your opinion and ideas.