The Boy Scouts are, one might argue, a very useful organization. They've allowed millions of boys to learn new things and develop leadership skills, which should indeed be commended. However, they've also come under a lot of fire because they don't permit atheists, agnostics, or gays to be members. What that means is that no matter how good you are at starting a campfire or building a soap box racer, if you're an atheist (or even more so, a gay atheist) you're not qualified to be a Boy Scout leader.

Sixty years ago, the Boy Scout's Explorer program was created to give kids interested in law enforcement careers a chance to see how things really worked, and it was a joint effort with the Los Angeles Police Department. Effective in 2010, however, the LAPD will no longer be affiliated with the scouts. Why? Because the Boy Scouts' policy of exclusion clashes with the city of Los Angeles' non-discrimination policies.

David Niose, president of The American Humanist Association, says, "The Boy Scouts are synonymous with American values and patriotism--like motherhood and apple pie. By excluding atheists and secular Americans, they are essentially saying we cannot be good citizens."

Although the BSA doesn't have an "official" position on Wiccans or Pagans, back in 2006 a pair of Wiccan siblings were asked not to come back to their pack when leaders learned of their family's religion.

Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!

Back in October, tragedy struck at a sweatlodge retreat in Sedona, AZ, run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. Three people died, and many more fell ill. It didn't take long for the fallout to being, because in December new allegations surfaced about a woman's suicide during a summer seminar.

Now, documents in the Sedona investigation reveal that Ray and his staff seem to have a lengthy history of ignoring medical issues at their events. Lost consciousness, broken bones, vomiting, and all sorts of other problems apparently have occurred at Ray's events -- and emergency medical assistance was never provided. Part of the homicide investigation revealed that contractor Theodore Mercer, who was hired to build the sweat lodge, told officials he was hesitant about participating this year because of Ray's pattern of not summoning help for people in medical distress.

Mickey Reynolds attended Ray's "Spiritual Warrior" retreat in 2005. He said "it was implied the sweat lodge was safe since Ray had done the ceremonies before... there was no discussion of safety procedures or a plan if something went wrong." Another participant told the Associated Press that "participants never were asked to provide emergency contacts or answer questions about their health, and they never were given a clear picture of the effects of a sweat lodge."

Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!

It's that time of year again, when bloggers around the globe are recapping their favorite stories of 2009. This year, in looking back, it seems that some of our biggest news stories focused on religious freedoms and discrimination. We also saw a lot of shifts in how people viewed religion as a whole. Finally, there were a number of issues surrounding the separation of church and state, particularly when it came to religion in public schools. This year, to start off the recap, I'm going to focus on something a little lighter -- some of the absolutely amazing archaeological discoveries that were revealed this year. All were of significance in that they helped to educate us about how our ancestors lived hundreds - and even thousands - of years ago.

This year was an important one in the world of history and archaeological research. In January, a Catholic church in Italy revealed that it was also the home of a large Pagan mosaic. Researchers were digging around under the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia when they found the mosaic, which measures about 140 square feet, and was probably part of the home of a wealthy Roman citizen. Also in Italy, a large statue of Mithras was found in Rome, when smugglers were attempting to get it out of the city for sale on the black market.

In the United Kingdom, there were a number of amazing discoveries this year as well. Iron Age butter was discovered in an Irish peat bog -- still in its original packaging -- and a record-setting hoard of gold was found under a Staffordshire farmer's field. It was a good year for sacred circles and tombs, too... archaeologists located the remains of a 4,500-year-old wooden structure at the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, and a pair of previously unknown burial sites were found near a car park in Hampshire. A site called Bluehenge was located in Wiltshire, not far from Stonehenge, and the Isle of Skye presented us with a half dozen slab-lined graves.

Also this year, we learned about the grave of the Middle East's oldest shaman, who was buried in a mountainside cave in northern Israel. Hidden goddess statues were found in the city of Hippos, and are believed to represent Aphrodite. Medieval dog sacrifices taught us a bit about the practices of Eastern European Pagans from the Middle Ages, and similar seventeenth-century witch bottles were found in both Greenwich, England, and under a car park in Staffordshire.

We'll talk more about some of the most interesting stories of 2009 in the next post, where we'll look at some of the legal cases that made headlines in the world of religious news.

Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!

This is an interesting little snippet from Illinois. It seems that the Freedom from Religion Foundation was permitted to put up a sign in the state capitol building which read "At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." The group filled out a permit application when a Nativity display was put in place, and officials allowed them to go ahead with their sign.

On Wednesday, however, two days before Christmas, a conservative activist named William J. Kelly announced that he was going to take down the sign, because he felt it was "hate speech" and that it just wasn't very nice at all to have it so close to a Christmas tree. However, when Kelly got to the capitol building and turned the sign around so no one could read it, he was promptly escorted from the premises by police.

Although this seems like a minor incident, it's an important one. Let's face it, there are probably a number of people in Illinois who are not happy about the fact that there's an anti-religious message right there next to the Christmas display. And some of those people may well be members of the capitol police department. What's significant here is that (a) the Freedom From Religion Foundation followed all the rules to get their sign placed and (b) the police did their job by removing William Kelly from the building. Not only that, they told him not to return for the remainder of the day.

It's important that law enforcement personnel everywhere recognize -- as these officers did -- that everyone's right to free speech is protected, even if the majority may disagree with it.

Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!