PAGAN ANTI DEFAMATION NETWORK
(AFFILIATED TO SAFF)
JULY 1996, NEWSLETTER.
The Fundamentalist campaign against Pagan/Occult belief systems is unfortunately alive and well. Network information gleaned by P.A.N.'s monitoring system proves conclusively that our adversaries are, as usual succeeding in misleading the populace against minority religious philosophies like ours.
Latest reports on the Charity Commission's refusal to recognise Paganism as a valid religion, gives further evidence on Xist plans to totally marginalise us. Invalidity discredits the Old Faiths and of course leaves them wide open to more vilification and personification in the future. This is a most serious assault on Pagan freedom of belief and a retrograde step for us all. There have been too many anti-Pagan incidences to possibly list here since we last had an article in Elements, however we shall mention the latest occurrences of vilification for the benefit of readers. Several N/W and National newspapers tried to blame local graveyard desecrations on Paganism, by linking the vandalism's to Pagan festivals such as Summer Solstice et al. P.A.N. has fortunately managed to quell most of the hysteria by contacting Police/media and putting the relevant facts into the right places. C.R.O. (Christian response to the Occult) were behind one of these obnoxious cases, this vile fundie outfit misled a Doncaster paper into printing comments attacking Witchcraft connecting the destruction of 200 graves to Beltaine rituals etc. In Southport Summer Solstice Cults/Black Magic (meaning Pagans of course) were accused of partially exhuming an old lady's body. P.A.N. managed to stamp on this insidious diatribe and actually received a somewhat apologetic letter from the beleaguered editor of the newspaper that printed the defamatory article. We also had our criticisms of the anti-Pagan sentiments published in another local paper that sensibly decided to phone us 'before' getting carried away by the 'Witch-hunt hysteria'. The most worrying attack on Occultism came from the SUNDAY MIRROR which penned an article on animal sacrifice, graveyard desecration, Devil worship & Crowley.
We believe there are further Satanic Seminars to be held soon. Police, Social Workers etc. will yet again be instructed in how to spot Satanic/Occult abuse in children (i.e. their parents involvement in: Tarot, Ritual Magic, Runes, Weejee, Dowsing, and anything else that Clergy inherently perceive as being unbiblical / Satanically inspired.)
For far to long so-called ‘Pagan leaders’ have ignored the essential work of ANTI-DEFAMATION; unenlightened newcomers to Paganism have been sadly misled by them into believing that everything’s just 'ROSY', and that the Satanic Ritual Abuse Myth (S.R.A.M.) is now over. Anyone who tells you this is either badly out of touch with reality, or just a plain 'GOOFBALL.'
P.A.N. has had many victories in discrediting the fundie campaign, but we need YOUR help URGENTLY.
Please write in to find what YOU can do to aid your brothers and sisters in the cause for Pagan defence NOW. 2 first class stamps ensure a rapid response to your enquiry.
Disclaimer:
PAN realises that the vast majority of Christians are not fundamentalist or evangelical in make up and we only criticise religious extremists who seek to disenfranchise other faiths whilst bolstering their own. PAN does not in any way condone violence against any persons or property and we must state that we have always worked towards a more tolerant and equal society.
Email pagansuk@yahoo.co.uk