Llewellyn Publishing Gets involved in Conflict over religion in Schools

Interview with Steven M Pomije

As reported yesterday, Pagan publishers Llewellyn have gotten involved in a local conflict over religion in schools. The publisher has publicly offered to donate free material for local Pagan groups to hand out in North Carolina area schools should a controversial new policy be enacted by the school board. This seemed like an unusual move for a publisher that hasn't been known to involve itself in local politics, so I contacted the company to talk to the man behind this action, publicist Steven M Pomije.

What was the motivation for getting involved in this case? Why this case and not previous skirmishes over religion in school?

Steven M Pomije: Being the publicist of Silver RavenWolf, Christopher Penczak, Dorothy Morrison and in fact, most of our pagan authors, I always keep up on current news regarding the subject. I came across the article and because I had a spare moment (rare, indeed) we decided to reach out to the Pagan community (a handful of pagan churches and covens received a note from me, which was cc'd to the school board) in the area and offering a few free copies of our books as a resource they could use. I thought it might be nice (and perhaps, useful) to offer a few titles to local pagan organizations so that they could donate them on their behalf to the school libraries or use them for educational purposes if THEY so desired.

As a publisher we are committed to the dissemination of information and recognize that indeed there is much misunderstanding in the mainstream community about so-called alternative religions and we think that our books can help clarify some of these misconceptions. We regularly donate a handful of titles here and there to various pagan organizations and festivals as part of our regular publicity and outreach programs. While we are usually approached by pagan organizations looking for donations, this time we were proactive in our approach. The move was definitely more of an educational motive than a political motive. And as a part of a strong and growing community in the vast and colorful panorama we call human spirituality, we are always enthusiastic about the prospects of sharing ideas and knowledge.

Does this represent a political awakening at Llewellyn? Will Lllewellyn be more active in issues that affect minority religions? Can we expect this sort of thing more often?

Steven M Pomije: We support our community as best as we can, when we can, via publishing the books they're looking for, through donations to festivals, organizations and schools, and such. A large part of our "community" is Wiccan or pagan, and in the current political climate it seems fair to say that simply by being that, or by choosing the faiths we do, we somehow have become "political". By publishing the books we do, does that make us political? Or unusual? Perhaps to some, but that's not our intent. Our goal is to publish the very best books we can on the subjects we choose. Point blank. Logistically, we focus our time and resources on that pursuit.

What texts were you thinking of donating should it come to that?

Steven M Pomije: Silver RavenWolf's Teen Witch and Solitary Witch. Dorothy Morrison's The Craft. Christopher Penczak's Sons of the Goddess. Pagan Visions for a Sustainable Future. Thea Sabin's new book Wicca for Beginners. Joyce and River Higginbotham's Paganism.

There may be some who might accuse Llewellyn of using this controversy to sell more books, how would you respond to that?

Steven M Pomije: I never approached this as a controversial act, but as an educative one.

Llewellyn is obviously the biggest publisher of Pagan books in North America, has the rise of the "Religious Right" been on your mind? How have you been doing in George W. Bush's America?

Steven M Pomije: As a publicist I personally am aware of the rise of the Religious Right and my sense is that it is more difficult to garner media attention for some of our books than it was in the past, but I don't have any empirical data to back that up. I've been with Llewellyn for almost two years. I've worked in book marketing and promotion my whole career and I've been surprised at how resistant some of the mainstream media is to covering our titles. Publicity-wise, it's a bit more challenging in regards to mainstream media attention, but we're consistently in the ring, so to speak, and I think we are well-respected across the country because of that.

April 12, 2006]

Christians, Muslims on alarming path

(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) LONDON _ In the past three months, Muslims around the world have rampaged against cartoons in a Danish newspaper deemed to be mocking Islam, and an Afghan faced the death sentence for converting to Christianity. Meanwhile, two popular Christian preachers in the U.S. stoked the flames by labeling Islam as an evil or violent religion.

The list of provocations from both sides appears to have grown by the day since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, and fears are mounting that the world's Christians and Muslims could be heading toward an irreparable split.

Religious leaders on both sides acknowledge that the trend toward extremism is worrying but insist that a clash of civilizations is neither imminent nor inevitable. They do warn, however, that those advocating moderation and dialogue need to raise the volume internationally or risk being drowned out by the fanatics.

"Somebody has to start the process. Somebody has to take the lead," said Sheik

Ibrahim Mogra, a leading member of the British Council of Muslims, who meets regularly with Christian leaders, including the archbishop of Canterbury, in an effort to keep the two communities communicating.

It's time to "turn up the volume," he said. "The silent majority has been quiet for far too long."

British Muslims and Christians initiated efforts to improve communication well before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but religious leaders said the task gained a new sense of urgency after the bomb attacks last summer on London's transportation network by a group of Muslim extremists.

At a local level, communication remains strong and cordial between Christians and Muslims, the sheik said, but such a dialogue is severely lacking at the international level, where it is most needed.

Not everyone is optimistic about the prospects.

"I'm not trying to be inflammatory against the Muslim people at all. I just sense that there is such a diverse difference of theological understanding and difference between their beliefs and our beliefs," said Ed Ethridge, director of missions of the conservative North Texas Baptist Association.

"There probably will always be those on each end of the spectrum, where you have your radical fundamentalism, that will create a continued rift between the two sides," he said.

Polls suggest a trend toward isolationism and away from dialogue. A survey last summer by the Washington-based Pew Research Center found that majorities across Christian-dominated Europe, Russia and North America believe Muslims in their countries do not want to assimilate.

The poll also confirmed that people in countries dominated by one of the religions tend to view the other faith unfavorably. Both sides perceive each other as being prone to violence.

John Voll, associate director of the Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding at Georgetown University, said the rapid expansion of television and the Internet have sharply affected Muslim-Christian relations and increased the potential for misunderstandings.

"What we have is the ability of people in, say, rural Afghanistan to know about the publication of cartoons about the prophet Muhammad in a minor publication in a small country in northwestern Europe," Voll said. A few decades ago, the Danish cartoon incident probably would have passed unnoticed.

"People have not quite gotten used to the full implications of that kind of immediacy," he said. But for extremists, it has become a vital tool for provocation. "It means that anybody who hates people of another distinctive religion is going to be able to find a vast inventory of all those reasons why they hate those other people."

While Arabic satellite networks have outraged Christians by repeatedly airing diatribes by Muslim extremists who advocate holy war against the West, Christian broadcasters have rankled Muslims with harsh characterizations of Islam.

Last month, evangelist Pat Robertson criticized Muslims rampaging over the cartoon, saying, "It just shows the kind of people we're dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It's satanic, and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with."

He added that "the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination."

Another evangelist, Franklin Graham, said during a U.S. television interview last month that his views of Islam have not changed after having described it as "a very evil and wicked religion."

Shortly afterward, news broke about a capital-punishment trial in Afghanistan of a Muslim who converted to Christianity. Under heavy pressure from Western governments, an Afghan judge eventually dismissed the case after declaring the defendant mentally unfit to stand trial.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Christians in the Dallas area, as elsewhere in the United States, reacted with outrage.

"I was disappointed," said Ethridge of the North Texas Baptist Association. The trial "expresses a judicial, judgmental, hostile attitude toward Christianity" that ran contrary to the democratic values Afghanistan claimed to have adopted, he said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Each side has launched Web sites attacking the behavior of the other. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, regularly publishes complaints about religious discrimination against Muslims but also denounces religiously motivated terrorism.

That has spawned a Web site called Anti-CAIR, which asserts that CAIR has close links to groups on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. The accusations have prompted lawsuits and countersuits.

Other Web sites run by devout Christian organizations take an even harsher stand toward Islam, while a wide range of Arabic sites urge Muslims to join the war against Christians as well as Jews.

"The fundamentalists on both sides of the religious divide . . . view each other with a good deal of hostility," said Gillian Collins, secretary of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of Great Britain, which is affiliated with the American, British and Canadian peace activists who were kidnapped in November in Iraq. The American was killed, but the British and Canadians were released last week after 117 days in captivity.

"We have our own explicit beliefs, but that's not quite the same thing as branding someone else's faith as evil," she said. "Sometimes it's easier to be an extremist if you don't want to take the time to think."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Ethridge said extremism is not the only factor contributing to the growing gap. "Their goal is to convert any people they meet to Muhammad and the Muslim religion. That's their whole modus operandi, just like for us as Christians," he said.

"They believe that they're right, and we believe that we're right," he added. "I don't `believe' I'm right _ I already know I am. And that's what makes the big gap between us."

___

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Wiccan not allowed to have symbol on his military grave.

Apparently fighting for freedom doesn't give a National Guardsman the right to have his expressed on the tombstone?
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Honoring a Wiccan Warrior FoxNews report

Nevada National Guard Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in September 2005. Now, his widow wants to honor his sacrifice with a plaque on a military memorial wall. But the Department of Veterans' Affairs does not recognize the Wiccan religion, which Stewart practiced, and will not allow the symbol of his religion to be included on the plaque. Is this religious discrimination? Watch the video and tell us whether you give the DVA's decision an Up or Down vote.