Friday, November 4, 2011

To Be or Not To Be: That is the option

(My apologies to Wm. Shakespeare)

 I really dig freedom. Freedom informs much of my spiritual practice, and indeed makes it possible. My religion brings me a lot of peace and joy. I think it makes me a better person and a better citizen. Because of this, I am in favor of others also being able to practice their faith in any way that brings them joy and makes them better people. I’m also in favor of others being able to not practice any faith at all. As long as everyone is relaxed and groovy, I’m down with however they get that way.

Now, it seems that what brings some people joy is the act of keeping other people from finding joy. I’m not sure that it’s a religion per se, (although it certainly appears to have disciples) or that it makes its followers better people, but I’m no judge of other folks’ spiritual practices. As long as I’m free to howl at the moon I’m pretty content.

Except that’s just it: some people don’t think I should be free to howl at the moon. And they don’t want you to howl at the moon either. These people have been waging a state-by-state campaign of imprecatory prayer, beginning with Hawaii and ending in our nation’s capital, to magically claim the United States for their god. If you’re unfamiliar with the term imprecatory prayer, I’ll just call it what it is: cursing. Now, I’m no stranger to laying a good curse. I’m of the “if you can’t hex you can’t heal” school of thought. But my curses have been few and far between, and only when I felt that my life or my loved one’s lives were at stake. I’ve yet to curse someone over a theological difference of opinion. You might as well curse someone over which way to hang the toilet paper. But these folks are actually engaging in maleficent magic designed to spiritually manipulate the good people in all 50 states of the Union just because they think their god should be The Boss of Everything.

So some like-minded folks and I got together to talk about what, if anything, should be done about these folks. There was a lot of talk, and differences of opinion, and more talk (Pagans are very long-winded) and I’m not sure but I think someone may have pulled their wand on someone else. And the upshot of all this is that we decided
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nothing. That’s right. Nada. About the only thing we could come to an agreement on is that we all liked our country (for the most part) just fine the way it is. We were especially fond of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees us groovy rights like freedom of religion and speech, among others. So some of us decided to use the rights granted by the 1st Amendment to tell the world just what makes our individual states so great. We've been publishing blogs, and notes on Facebook about the individual states the day before that state is targeted to be “prayed” over. We’re hoping that these posts will remind everyone who reads them of just how lucky we all are to live in a secular nation where everyone is free to worship (or not) as they see fit. As of today, I will be joining my fellow bloggers* in posting a state a day until the culmination of the cursing. Feel free to contribute in the comments section your feelings on what makes your state great.


*For more on What Makes Your State Great, pay these blogs a visit:
The Secret Life of the American Working Witch
Cauldron Werx: A Room with a Brew
Confessions of a Modern Witch
The Gods Are Bored
more to come!

Next stop: OHIO!

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I'm a witch and I'm not above hexing. Just sayin'.