For Gods and Country: The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied
A year ago, he was a Pentecostal Christian minister at Camp Anaconda, the largest U.S. support base in Iraq. He sent home reports on the number of “decisions” — soldiers committing their lives to Christ — that he inspired in the base’s Freedom Chapel.
But inwardly, he says, he was torn between Christianity’s exclusive claims about salvation and a “universalist streak” in his thinking. The Feb. 22, 2006, bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, which collapsed the dome of a 1,200-year-old holy site and triggered a widening spiral of revenge attacks between Shiite and Sunni militants, prompted a decision of his own.
“I realized so many innocent people are dying again in the name of God,” Larsen says. “When you think back over the Catholic-Protestant conflict, how the Jews have suffered, how some Christians justified slavery, the Crusades, and now the fighting between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, I just decided I’m done. . . . I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned.”
Larsen’s private crisis of faith might have remained just that, but for one other fateful choice. He decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots.
On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year’s end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record.
You can read the rest, at the link above. And watch a video of him being interviewed.
He’s a nice man, obviously. He’s been on a “spiritual quest” his entire life, it seems, having studied, sampled, and joined quite a few. But, of all the religions, Wiccan is one (of a scant handful) that doesn’t raise my hackles, piss me off or worry me with “creeping theocracy”.
It’s a given that the DoD is wrong to deny his transfer. But are you surprised? Think: Christian Embassy. I believe that if he had wanted to switch to Islam (which he did once already), they’d give him a hassle but, in the end, they would probably allow it.
“…I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned.”
Duh! When did this occur to you? This is not new, Larsen!
[The top image is a Wiccan pentagram; the second image is a Wiccan “portal”.]
Well, we’re all aware of the history Wicca has of politically and religious suppression of others, especially in ‘Merka. And there is that risk of him becoming one of those Wiccan suicide bombers we hear so much about.
er…”political”
I was unaware of wiccan suicide bombers. Can you post a link about it? I want to learn more about it.
I guess dancing around naked on the solstice is better than trying to make america into a theocracy. Of course, the whole wicca thing was invented by a very homephobic asswipe of a cultist, so an evangelical wiccan has the potential to be just as evil as evangelical cat food.
Job: can you get me a link to the homophobic asswipe please? I’d like to look into it a bit more. Wiki is pretty generic…
Thanks!
Trading one set of deluded beliefs for another still isn’t very bright. Why can’t there be an atheist Chaplin? I supposed that would be a psychiatrist.
Anyway, to say Wicca is more benign is naive, in my opinion. After all, Wiccans believe they can cast spells and create potions to affect people and events. How’s that different from praying?
Wow, from xian to wiccan. It’s like the movie dumb and dumber.
What amazes me is that Wiccans believe that they can perform Magick to get things to go their way, so where are bonfire dances to get the army to come around to the wiccan way of thinking?
BTW, from what I know of wicca, is has no basis in history before the late 19th century at all. That was all made up b.s. to make it seem ancient and more romantic. It’s like an RPG that got out of hand.
Maybe the druids wouldn’t let them in the club?
See Ancient Druid Order in wiki for a laugh. I think I read somewhere that dissension caused a splintering, into ADO and the Ancient Order of Druids and more variations on that theme…
A long time ago I kind of got into dianic wicca. Some really believed a goddess was the creatress and that magick really worked, but the majority of them were hebalist, nature worshippers. They used herbs to cure all illnesses and to help them meditate, but no spell casting. And they focused their rituals around nature and mother earth. Don’t get me wrong some of them did some wierd shit, but nothing harmful to anyone, especially nature. A pretty harmless group that I tend to get on well with cuz I’m a feminist.
I know their are a lot of different sects of wicca now, but it is a new religion with some very ancient beliefs and very similar to christianity. I have even met a few wiccan christians. I lived a good bit of my life in the bible belt and paganism is growing extremely fast there, especially wicca christianity.
Some wicca sects like to pull their beliefs from the late neolithic goddess cults where they practiced male sacrifice. Every winter solstice the god king was sacrificed and eaten by the priestesses. I sure hope they don’t switch the pig back for the real thing(men). lol Wiccan christians tend to lead towards the late neolithic ideas. Now that is scary! lol
Good job of reviewing the article. I blogged a bit on it, as well. As a Wiccan, I can say that the vast majority accept scientific truths (like evolution and global warming). Keep in mind that the most Wiccans are environmentalists, and can’t stand just about everything the Dominionist Xtian Right is doing. One commenter mentioned spells: As far ’spell casting’, the Wiccan Rede states to “harm none”; most accept that casting a spell to change someone’s actions is manipulative and a bad thing. Good blog, btw.
cheers,
Gene
Gene: thanks for stopping by. We hope you’ll make it back here frequently. And don’t be surprised if someone is curious and asks a question or two. I can’t vouch for anyone but myself, but I believe the questions will be intelligent and benign. We’re an educated lot here…
After all, we know all we need to know (and too much!) about xianity. Most of us were “in it” in our earlier lives.
I suppose most of you have ‘hoid’ of the upcoming Discovery channel’s documentary of the
movie coming out about the supposed lost tomb of Jeebus. It’s already causing a whole lot of hackles to raise amongst the various clergy, etc. It’s been all over the cable “news” today.
Of course…even if true…it’s unlikely to change any real hard-core believers’ minds.
I think it’ll just be interesting to watch all the squirming, speculating, and posturing, particularly by all those with their ‘gigs’ on the line!
[i.e…Without the so-called Resurrection and Ascension of Jeebus…as y’all know…their house of cards totally falls apart!] Here goes another, ‘Da Vinci Code’ style, sideshow?
Here’s the YouTube ‘Trailer of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” [below]…you’ll see another bunch of related clips there, also.
It looks like there’s been a whole lot of commotion already…they closed down the commenting on the clip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPNOKiWTouI
Oops! I just posted on it, ChuckA. But your take is much more colorful than mine. I shoulda asked you to write it…
I’ve never heard anything derogatory about Wiccans. I do wish, however, that they’d stop ringing my doorbell all the time.
Ok, here’s something. Wiccans are delusional morons. How’s that?
Seriously, if they think they can cast spells and brew magic potions, dance to the gods and expect some direct result, then they’re as delusional as Xians, Mushjams, or any other believer of nonsense.
So if every US soldier converted to Wicca, they’d all have to be taken out of Iraq.
Sounds like a result.
lol, unfortunately not. The US military generally doesn’t care what you believe. They only ask so they can put your preference on your Dog Tags, so they know what to do with your body.
Reverant said:”They only ask so they can put your preference on your Dog Tags, so they know what to do with your body.”
My husband has atheist dog tags. I think that is so cool. Atheism make a man sexier. IMO
Amy, that IS sexy!
I fell in love with my first husband when I saw him in his US Army uniform (1962). Maybe if he’d been an atheist, we might still be married…
When I was in during the early 80s, they would put “No Preference” on the dog tags.