The one woman movement to ban Harry Potter in Atlanta is still garnering ridiculous amounts of attention. The suburban mom behind the latest attempt to portray the novels as witchcraft indoctrination textbooks claims she is too busy to actually read the novels, but has plenty of time to wave Wiccan summer camp brochures around at county meetings as evidence the books 'promote witchcraft.'

Pagans in the media

It's not all slander and accusations and toad jokes where Wiccans are concerned, however. While October is a prime month for hauling token Wiccans and Druids into the spotlight, usually with mixed results. (Nothing promotes religious understanding better than letting a random believer off the street speak for an entire category of religions.) This year's controversies have brought about a bumber crop of bizarre stories on Wiccans and Pagans but also a few surprises. The Washington Post is more careful than most (they still make a few generalizations) but seems to get the idea that all Wiccans are not created alike. The description of Wiccans who perform rituals skyclad as "fringe elements" might irk a few, however. Florida's Ocala.com does a much better job of explaining Pagan diversity and manages to avoid most of the major cliches about Pagan beliefs. The Lancasdter Intelligencer skips the educational material but takes a more community oriented tack- rather than 'pagans as harmless outsiders,' it gives a quick rundown of a local gathering and a recipe for Squash soup, just as one migh find for any other local gathering of religious folk.

The UK Independent's David Barret takes apart Richard Rudgley's dubious thesis linking Norse pagan symbolism and modern extemism.

Miscellanious religion news

On a related note, the Post also does a decent job describing a Santeria rite. Although it doesn't do much to explain the religion to outsiders, it thankfully dispenses with the cliched divination-table opener.

A makeshift shrine that sprang up around a Virgin Mary apparition in a tree stump in Passaic, New Jersey, is being removed by the city after parts of the structure collapsed, a move that is not surprisingly causing a huge fuss.

The secrets of Masonry?

Apparently, many words can be given to describe what Masonry isn't, but when pressed to describe what it IS, no takers. Young folk find all this shoulder-shrugging irresistible and flock to the membership rolls.

Links:

Sad: Canterbury Cathedral is crumbling

Bizarre: Blogs are evil (hat tip)

Nifty: illustrated review of Erik Davis' Visionary State