Oklahoma Christians Support Satanic Monument

It sometimes seems as if Christians get a bad rap here on Augoeides, for the simple reason that the stories in the news usually feature voices from a loud minority of extremists that, as an occultist, I feel obligated to push back against. However, most Christians in fact don't see themselves as oppressed by the mere existence of other religious beliefs, and understand very clearly that religious freedom isn't free. That is, they know that if they want the freedom to practice their beliefs, they must afford the same liberty to those who follow other spiritual paths.

The recent "Satanic Monument" controversy going on in Oklahoma is a perfect example. While the Christian voices in the media overwhelmingly oppose the monument, Salon has an article up today pointing out that many local Christians support it on religious freedom grounds. That is, they get the point that their extremist brethren have completely missed - religious freedom means religious freedom for everyone.

The announcement sparked outrage from Oklahoma lawmakers, but some residents apparently support the Satanic Temple’s wish to build a statue. “It’s really encouraging. It’s really moving. We do get a lot of messages that start out with the caveat, ‘You know I am a Christian.’ However, and they explain that they appreciate what we’re doing,” explained Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for the New York based organization. “We’ve gotten a lot of messages from people saying that they served or are serving in the armed forces, and they feel that these values are exactly what we fought for.”

News 9 quoted some residents who supported the idea. “This is kind of what America was based on, freedom of religion. And for us to say whether you believe in it or not, that it shouldn’t be there, is kind of wrong,” said one resident, Bailee Boyce.

To some extent I understand why the media seeks out extreme voices. It makes for bigger controversies and better stories. I've mentioned this before, but hardly anybody realizes that the Westboro Baptist Church is barely a church at all - it has about 20 members, all from one family, and thus is smaller than the local Twin Cities OTO body. But from all the press they get, you would think they were a much larger organization rather than an insignificant fringe faction. The problem there is that chasing such stories results in non-Christians conflating the entire religion with the Poor Oppressed Christian minority, which simply is not the case.

Exorcism Online

Here's the latest innovation in exorcism from Teen Exorcist Squad leader Reverend Bob Larson - exorcism via Skype. Never one to pass up an opportunity to take on a demon in exchange for donations to his ministry, Larson takes advantage of the video chat application to perform exorcisms all over the world without those pesky travel expenses. There's no word yet on whether he performs all of the online exorcisms himself, or if he passes some of them off to members of his squad.

The idea of using Skype came from a Scottsdale reverend Bob Larson who claims that thanks to Skype he can take a crack at demons all over the world. So far he claims to have banished 20,000 demons to his nether regions, unless we heard him wrong. We guess that some of those demons would have been doubling up, as demons sometimes share bodies to avoid paying council tax.

Larson said that exorcism is the process of expelling an evil spirit from an individual who has become somehow invaded and demonised by that being, and sending it back to hell and freeing the person. It is not clear how it would work over Skype. While you don't have to worry about flying beds, it is really tricky to spray holy water in anything's face over the net. Your video can also be disturbed by puke splatter.

Despite the tongue-in-cheek commentary, the article does raise a valid point. Magick performed remotely is always going be less effective than magick performed in person, simply because the link to the target is not as strong. Back in the early days of the Internet a number of chaos magicians tried to do group rituals over chat, and the ones that I followed back then proved pretty ineffective - though I'll grant there may be somebody who figured out how to make it work and then never released their findings. It's also the reason that astral initiations may do something, but not nearly as much as real temple initiations done in the physical presence of officers.

My guess is that Larson is falling back on the classic scripture that in Jesus' name all things are possible, the usual Christian explanation for why they expect poorly constructed spiritual technology to function. There's always the possibility that he has come up with a novel method that will prove effective, but given his history and background I highly doubt it.

Pope's Blood Stolen by Satanists?

Recently a reliquary containing the blood of Pope John Paul II was stolen from a church in Italy. Unsurprisingly, the coordinator of an anti-occult group has blamed "Satanists," and in the process revealed himself to be completely ignorant on the subject of the occult. Here's what I want to know - why does it seem like every single anti-occult group out there has no idea how occultism actually works? You would think that if they were serious, they would sit down and study the subject so that they could make informed statements.

“It’s possible that there could be Satanic sects behind the theft of the reliquary,” said Giovanni Panunzio, the national coordinator of an anti-occult group called Osservatorio Antiplagio.

“This period of the year is important in the Satanic calendar and culminates in the Satanic ‘new year’ on Feb 1. This sort of sacrilege often take place at this time of the year. We hope that the stolen items are recovered as quickly as possible.”

The theft of the reliquary comes as the Vatican prepares to canonise John Paul II, along with another former Pope, John XXIII, at a ceremony on April 27.

Here's the ignorant bit. There's no evidence, anywhere, for a "Satanic New Year" falling on February 1st. You can find a thorough compilation of the dates named as "Satanic holidays" by various authors here. According to the list, Teen Exorcist Squad leader Bob Larson did name Oimelc, celebrated on February 1st, as a Satanic holiday, but as usual he's simply confused. Oimelc is a Pagan holiday, and Larson is well-known for conflating Paganism and Satanism. Furthermore, even for Pagans, Oimelc is not the "New Year." So it's hard to see where Panunzio is getting his information. I suspect he's just making it up as he goes along.

An Indiana Exorcism

In a story that seems to come straight out of a horror film, a family from Indiana claims to have been terrorized by demons that required several exorcisms performed by Father Mike Maginot, pictured above, to finally remove. What's remarkable about this case is that it has been massively documented by law enforcement and Child Services since 2011, and as such, the article outlines the entire series of events from beginning to end. Read the whole thing; it's a fascinating account.

Gary police Capt. Charles Austin said it was the strangest story he had ever heard.

Austin, a 36-year veteran of the Gary Police Department, said he initially thought Indianapolis resident Latoya Ammons and her family concocted an elaborate tale as a way to make money. But after several visits to their home and interviews with witnesses, Austin said simply, "I am a believer."

Not everyone involved with the family was inclined to believe its incredible story. And many readers will find Ammons' supernatural claims impossible to accept. But, whatever the cause of the creepy occurrences that befell the family — whether they were seized by a systematic delusion or demonic possession — it led to one of the most unusual cases ever handled by the Department of Child Services.

Many of the events are detailed in nearly 800 pages of official records obtained by The Indianapolis Star and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest.

Growing Up Scientologist

Cracked has an article up today by a former member who grew up in the Church of Scientology. Prior to reading it my opinion of Scientology was that while they believe a lot of silly things, that can be said about many religions and my main problem with the group was its overall cultishness and its never-ending quest to relieve its adherents of as much of their earnings as possible. But according to the article, the treatment of children in the organization is a serious problem as well.

Only the barest amount of natural light graced us through the tiny windows, and the teenagers they left in charge weren't exactly child-care pros. They wouldn't even let my baby sister go to the bathroom. Also? No food. My mom had to hide food in our pockets so we didn't starve while she spent hours in their meeting. Oh, and they actually locked all the doors into and out of these meetings. We had to leave early for a doctor's appointment once, and my mom realized this fact rather suddenly when she found she couldn't get out of the service. The whole congregation had been locked inside. So, you know, good thing there wasn't a fire.

Scientology "schools" are another mess altogether. They place a lot of emphasis on something called word clearing. L. Ron Hubbard believed that misunderstood words were quite literally the only possible way for a child to lose interest in a subject at school. Nerdy kids who read during math class can attest to the absurdity of this claim, but it's a lynchpin of Scientologist tech ("tech" is Scientology's equivalent to scripture, crossed with the owner's manual for a 1994 Buick Century). So if you go to a Scientologist school, you can look forward to a lot of time with your dictionary.

Just Like Galileo, Except Totally Different

The controversy over teaching creationism in schools continues to heat up. In two weeks science educator Bill Nye will take part in a live debate on the issue with Ken Ham, CEO of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis. The upcoming event has prompted various reactions across the political spectrum, but the weirdest of them comes from conservative commentator Glenn Beck. Beck compared Nye's opposition to creationism with the Catholic Church's persecution of Galileo.

On Tuesday night, Glenn Beck compared Bill Nye the Science Guy to the people who silenced and oppressed Galileo, one of history’s most celebrated thinkers. Beck’s attack on Nye came in the context of a larger argument about how “you can’t force things on the people.” Despite ample evidence in human history showing that governments indeed can — and generally do — “force things” on “the people,” Beck claimed history will show that anyone who tries to “force things on the people” will be judged negatively by future generations.

The Catholic Church silenced Galileo for claiming that the earth revolves around the sun, a scientific fact that stood in opposition to a silly literalist interpretation of several statements in the Bible. Likewise, the theory of evolution is an established scientific fact that stands in opposition to a silly literalist interpretation of Genesis. But obviously Beck has the sides precisely backwards, with Nye on the side of science and Answers in Genesis on the side of Biblical literalism.

Also, the dispute between Galileo and the Catholic Church had nothing to do with anyone, government or otherwise, forcing anything on "the people." Galileo published a defense of heliocentrism, which in modern America would be called exercising his right to free speech. The church took offense at his statements and put him on trial, eventually forcing him to recant. Again, the takeaway is the exact opposite of Beck's - large organizations like the Catholic Church can try to force scientific knowledge underground, but it always comes out eventually.

UK Storms Caused By Gay Marriage?

This article just goes to show that religious nuttiness surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage is not unique to the United States. A British city councillor recently claimed that current severe weather in the UK is God's retribution for the passage of a same-sex marriage bill. I'll ask the question one more time, since I never get anything resembling a satisfactory answer. If homosexuality really is the main issue that the Christian God cares about, why did Jesus - who was the Christian God, according to mainstream Christian theology - say nothing about it?

"The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war," wrote David Silvester to his local newspaper, the Henley Standard. "I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill." He assailed the Prime Minister David Cameron for his arrogance "against the Gospel" and said "It is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods."

An unusual shot of old-timey religion in the arse of Britain's smarmy, well-groomed political scene, Silverster was initially supported by his party. After news reports appeared, however, he was suspended by the UKIP, which released a statement condemning his remarks. “We cannot have any individual using the Ukip banner to promote their controversial personal beliefs which are not shared by the party,” said Roger Bird, the party's regional chairman.

The difference between Britain and the United States on this issue, then, appears to be that across the pond nobody takes David Silvester very seriously, not even his own party. In many regions of the United States, political parties continue to stand behind people who make similar ridiculous statements. If God really strikes back whenever a law contrary to the Gospel gets passed, it's hard to see why he wouldn't be angrier about laws that reward the rich at the expense of the poor - which get passed all the time both here and in Britain. But maybe those are causing some of the bad weather too.

Forgotten Pharaoh's Tomb Discovered

The golden age of Egyptology was in the early 1900's, when the Valley of the Kings was explored and its tombs excavated. Recently, though, a previously unknown tomb was discovered near the ancient city of Abydos that held the remains of a forgotten pharaoh. This ruler was identified as Woseribre Senebkay, and the tomb represents the first tangible evidence of a short-lived independent Abydos dynasty, which up until now had remained hypothetical. Aside from the skeleton the tomb was mostly empty, and was likely looted long ago. The pharoah's body was originally mummified, but it decomposed further after apparently being ripped apart by grave robbers.

The modest tomb is the first physical evidence of the Abydos Dynasty, a reigning lineage that had been suspected to have existed, but never proven. "It's exciting to find not just the tomb of one previously unknown pharaoh, but the necropolis of an entire forgotten dynasty," Wegner said in a statement.

The archaeologists first uncovered hints of Senebkay in the summer 2013. That field season, the researchers discovered an enormous red quartzite sarcophagus (or coffin) at the site of Abydos. It was clear that the 60-ton behemoth had been removed from its original tomb, but no one could tell who had first been buried inside.

Continued excavations revealed a story of ancient Egyptian recycling. As it turns out, the original owner of the sarcophagus was a pharaoh named Sobekhotep. Most likely, it belonged to Sobekhotep I, the founder of Egypt's 13th Dynasty around 1800 B.C.

Sobekhotep I was buried in a pyramid in Abydos. A century and a half later, pharaohs apparently began looting Sobekhotep I's tomb for their own purposes. One unknown king snagged the huge sarcophagus. Another king picked up a cedar chest, covered up Sobekhotep's name, and used it in his own tomb. The recycling ruler's name? Senebkay.

It remains to be seen if somewhere in this newly discovered necropolis an intact tomb might still exist. If so, the discovery would be highly significant, similar to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. The Abydos dynasty reigned hundreds of years before Tutankhamun, with Senebkay's tomb dated to 1650 BCE and Tutankhamun's to 1323 BCE, and it would be fascinating to compare and contrast the artifacts entombed with bodies from such different periods. Excavations at Abydos are ongoing, and I'll be keeping an eye on them.