From CNN:
Greek Acropolis plan draw religious backlash
“Defying police presence and a thunderous downpour, dozens of Greek pagans huddled near the Parthenon in Athens on Sunday, holding a protest prayer for a museum being built at the foot of the sacred site.
The ceremony, attended by scores of curious onlookers, was performed amid the ruins of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. The ancient Greek religion was outlawed by the Roman empire in the fourth century.
(snip)
” The Greek Culture Ministry forbids ceremonies of any sort at archeological sites. But in January, the pagan revivalists used a second century temple of Zeus in Athens to stage the first known ceremony of its kind in 1,600 years.
Four other ceremonies have been held in unfenced sites. On Sunday, the tiny band of pagans managed to enter the Acropolis’ heavily guarded grounds, paying an entrance fee as tourists and later convincing site guards of their innocuous cause.
The 15-minute midday rite was organized by Ellinais, an Athens-based group that recently won a court battle for state recognition of the ancient religion. The group is now demanding that the government allow it to perform weddings and other rites.”
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This may not be a huge story to people but as a Pagan it grabbed my attention. Living in the mid-west openly Pagan I got a quick education in religious discrimination. Seeing a mainstream organization cover a Pagan protest is astounding. No name calling, no belittling, no sneering insults. Woot!
However I do have a gripe. Why didn’t they capitalize the “p” in Pagan? I can’t imagine CNN writing “christian” or “jewish” or “muslim”. They’re writing about Paganism as a real religion and for that I’m impressed. But they should have written “Pagan”. Also, when they quoted the High Priestess they should have written “High Priestess” and “Goddess”. They wouldn’t have a story and write “pope” or “god”.
In the past I’ve read a lot of shit written about Pagans-that we’re Satanists, baby killers, yadda yadda. In comparison this CNN article is positively glowing. I’ll count it as progress.
Posted by Vixen as News at 11:49 PM CDT