If you would like your name added please contact the Coalition of Scholars in Pagan Studies.
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FROM:
Coalition
of Scholars in Pagan Studies
Contact:
Oberon Zell (Oberon@mcn.org)
TO:
Chicago Manual of Style
ATTN: Anita
Samen, Managing Editor
The University of Chicago Press
1427 East 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637
1427 East 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637
AP Stylebook
The
Associated Press
P.O. Box 415458
Boston, MA 02241-5458
P.O. Box 415458
Boston, MA 02241-5458
To the
Editors of the Associated Press Stylebook
and
the Chicago Manual of Style: A petition
November 30, 2013
Dear Editors,
We the undersigned are
a coalition of academic scholars and authors in the field of religious studies,
who have done research into contemporary Paganism, and written books on the
subject. Pagan studies represents a growing field in
academy and the American Academy of Religion has had “Contemporary Pagan
Studies” as part of its programming for more than a decade. We are approaching you with a common concern.
The word “Pagan” derives from pagus, the local unit of government in the Latin-speaking Roman
Empire, and thus pagan referred to
the traditional “Old Religion” of the countryside, as opposed to Christianity,
the new religion with universal aspirations. Paganism, therefore, was by
definition pre-Christian religion. Over time, with the expansion of the Roman
Church, “pagan” became a common pejorative by Christians toward any
non-Judeo-Christian religion.
In the 19th
century, the terms pagan and paganism were adopted by anthropologists
to designate the indigenous folk religions of various cultures, and by Classical
scholars and romantic poets to refer to the religions of the great ancient
pre-Christian civilizations of the Mediterranean region (as in the phrase, “pagan
splendor,” often used in reference to Classical Greece).
Today, the terms Pagan
and Paganism (capitalized) refer to alternative nature-based religions,
whose adherents claim their identity as Pagan. Pagans seek
attunement with nature and view humanity as a functional organ within the
greater organism of Mother Earth (Gaea). Contemporary Pagans hearken to traditional and ancient pagan cultures, myths,
and customs for inspiration and wisdom.
Thus contemporary Paganism (sometimes referred to as “Neo-Paganism”
to distinguish it from historical pre-Christian folk traditions) should be
understood as a revival and reconstruction of ancient nature-based religions, or
religious innovation inspired by them, which is adapted for the modern world. Paganism
is also called “The Old Religion,” “Ancient Ways,” “Nature Worship,” “Earth-Centered
Spirituality,” “Natural Religion,” and “Green Religion.”
The Pagan community is worldwide, with millions of
adherents in many countries. Moreover, increasing numbers of contemporary Hindus,
First Nations activists, European reconstructionists, indigenous peoples, and
other polytheists are accepting the term “Pagan” as a wide umbrella under which
they all can gather, distinct from the monotheists and secularists. They
are using it positively, not to mean “godless” or “lacking (true)
religion.”
Therefore it is understandably a matter of
continuing frustration to modern self-identified Pagans that newspaper and
magazine copy editors invariably print the proper terms for their religion
(i.e., “Pagan” and “Paganism”) in lower case. Journalists who have been confronted
about this practice have replied that this is what the AP and Chicago Stylebooks
recommend.
But names of religions—both nouns and adjectives—are
proper terms, and as such should always be capitalized:
Religion: Christianity Judaism Islam Buddhism Hinduism Paganism
Adherent: Christian Jew Moslem Buddhist Hindu Pagan
Adjective: Christian Jewish Islamic Buddhist Hindu Pagan
This list could be
expanded indefinitely for every religion in the world. As you can see,
Paganism, like all faith traditions, should be capitalized.
Pagan and Paganism are now the well-established chosen
self-designations and internationally-recognised nominal identifiers of a
defined religious community. The same terms are appropriately lower-case only
when they refer to ancient “pagans” since, in that context, the term does not
refer to a discrete movement or culture. In short, “Pagan” and “Paganism” now
function much as “Jew,” “Judaism,” “Christian,” and “Christianity” do.
(—Graham Harvey Contemporary Paganism, NYUP, 2nd
edition 2011)
The current journalistic convention of
printing lower case for these terms seems to have originated with the Associated Press Stylebook, first
published in 1953. However, a new era of religious pluralism has emerged
over the past sixty years. The terms “Pagan” and “Paganism” are now being
capitalized in a variety of publications, texts, documents, and references,
including religious diversity education resources such as On Common Ground:
World Religions in America, The Pluralism Project, Harvard University, and Inmate
Religious Beliefs and Practices, Technical Reference Manual, Federal Bureau
of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice.
In order to assure greater accuracy in 21st
century journalism, we hereby petition the AP and Chicago Stylebooks to
capitalize “Pagan” and “Paganism” when speaking of the modern faiths and their
adherents in future editions.
Thank you.
Signatories
1.
Cairril Adaire (founder, Our Freedom Coalition: A Pagan
Civil Rights Coalition; founder, Pagan Educational Network)
2.
Margot Adler, M.S. (National Public
Radio; Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1982; author: Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids,
Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, 1979, 1986, 1996,
2006)
3.
Eileen
Barker, PhD, FBA, OBE (Professor Emeritus in Sociology with Special reference
to the Study of Religion at the London School of Economics; Founder and Chair
of INFORM [Information Network Focus on Religious Movements]; author of over
300 publications on the subject of minority religions)
4.
Carol Barner-Barry, Ph.D. (Professor
Emerita, University of Maryland; author: Contemporary Paganism:
Minority Religions in a Majoritarian American, 2005)
5.
David V. Barrett, Ph.D. (London School
of Economics and Political Science; British sociologist of religion who has
written widely on topics pertaining to new religious movements and western
esotericism; author: The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults &
Alternative Religions, 2001; A Brief Guide to Secret Religions,
2011)
6.
Helen Berger, Ph.D. (resident scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis
University; Professor Emerita of Sociology, West Chester University, PA; author:
A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism & Witchcraft in the
United States, 1999, 2013; with Evan A. Leach and
Leigh S. Shaffer, Voices from the Pagan
Census: Neo-Paganism in the United States, 2003; Witchcraft and Magic in the
New World: North America in the Twentieth Century, 2005; with Douglas
Ezzy, Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and
the Search for the Self, 2007)
7.
Jenny Blain, Ph.D. (Recently retired from Sheffield Hallam University,
previously taught at Dalhousie University, Canada, and now on faculty for
Cherry Hill. Co-editor with Graham Harvey and Doug Ezzy of Researching Paganisms, 2004; author of Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and neo-Shamanism in North European
Paganism, 2002; with Robert Wallis, Sacred
Sites, Contested Rites/Rights, 2007; also numerous articles and chapters on
Heathenry and Seidr, and on Pagan engagements with Sacred Sites.)
8.
Jon P. Bloch, Ph.D. (Professor, Sociology
Department, Southern Connecticut State University;
author of New Spirituality, Self, and Belonging: How New Agers and
Neo-Pagans Talk About Themselves, 1998)
9.
Raymond Buckland, Ph.D., D.D. (founder of Seax-Wica; Originator Gardnerian Wica in America; author: The
Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism,
2002; Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, and more than 50 other titles.)
10.
Dennis D. Carpenter, Ph.D. (Associate
Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin; author: Spiritual
Experiences, Life Changes, and Ecological Viewpoints of Contemporary Pagans; co-founder,
Pagan Academic Network.)
11.
Chas Clifton, M.A. (Colorado State University-Pueblo
(retired); Co-Chair of Contemporary Pagan Studies Group, American Academy of
Religion; editor: The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies;
author: Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca & Paganism in America, 2006; with Graham Harvey, The
Paganism Reader, 2004)
12.
Vivianne Crowley, Ph.D. (Formerly professor
at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College, University
of London, specializing in psychology of religion. She is on the Council of the Pagan
Federation where she focuses on interfaith issues. She is the author of many
books on Wicca, Paganism and spiritual psychology, including Wicca: A
comprehensive guide to the Old Religion in the modern world.)
13. Carole
Cusack, Ph.D. (Professor of Religious Studies, Chair Studies in Religion, Arts
and Social Sciences Pro-Dean, University of Sydney, Australia; co-editor, Journal of Religious History; co-editor, International Journal for the Study of New Religions; author: Invented Religions, 2010)
14. Marie
W. Dallam, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Honors College, University of Oklahoma;
Co-Chair, New Religious Movements Group, American Academy of Religion)
15. Frances Di Lauro, Ph.D. (Lecturer, Undergraduate Coordinator, Writing
Hub, School of Letters Art and Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The
University of Sydney, Australia)
16. Maureen Aisling Duffy-Boose (President
Emeritus, Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) 2005-2010; VP
Emeritus, Pagan Pride International 2003-2013; Board Chair, Utah
Pride Interfaith Coalition 2002-2005; Founding Priestess, Four Dragons
Clann, 1734 Witchcraft, 2011)
17. Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., Ph.D. (Emeritus Professor of Religion, University of Southern California; author of Religious & Spiritual Groups in Modern America, 1974, 1988; Many Peoples, Many Faiths, 1976; 10th edition with Barbara McGraw, 2014)
18. Douglas Ezzy,
Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Sociology, University of
Tasmania; published extensively in academic journals and academic monographs on
contemporary Paganism, Witchcraft and religion)
19. Holly
Folk (Associate Professor of Liberal Studies, Western Washington University,
Bellingham, WA)
20. Rev.
Selena Fox, M.S. (Senior Minister, Circle Sanctuary; founding editor, CIRCLE
Magazine; co-founder, Pagan Academic Network; diversity educator, U.S.
Department of Justice; author: When Goddess is God (1995); contributor
to Religions of the World (2002), Encyclopedia of Women and Religion
in North America (2006), U.S. Army Chaplains Manual (1984), other
works)
21. Elysia Gallo (Senior Acquisitions Editor for Witchcraft, Paganism,
and Magic at Llewellyn Worldwide; Vice President of Twin Cities Pagan Pride)
22. Wendy Griffin, Ph.D. (Professor Emerita and Chair of the
Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at California State
University, Long Beach; Academic Dean, Cherry Hill Seminary; Founding Co-chair of the Pagan Studies
Group for the American Academy of Religion; Co-editor of the Alta Mira's Pagan
Studies Series; editor: Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Healing,
identity and Empowerment, 2000)
23. Raven
Grimassi (Director of the Fellowship of the Pentacle,
author: Encyclopedia of Witchcraft,
2000, and other award-winning books on Pagan-related themes)
24. Charlotte Hardman, Ph.D. (Honorary Fellow, retired senior
lecturer, Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University; co-author: Paganism Today 1995; Other Worlds 2000)
25. Graham Harvey, Ph.D. (Head of Department of
Religious Studies, The Open University, UK; President, British Association for the Study of Religion;
co-author: Paganism Today, 1995; Contemporary Paganism,
1997; with Chas Clifton, The Paganism Reader, Routledge, 2004; Food, Sex and Strangers:
Understanding religion as everyday life, 2013)
26. Irving
Hexham, Ph.D. (Professor of Religious Studies at University of Calgary,
Alberta, Canada; author with Karla Poewe: New Religions as Global Cultures,
1997; Understanding World Religions, 2011; and many other works on new
religious movements)
27. Ellen
Evert Hopman, M.Ed. (Druid Priestess; Co-founder and Vice President for nine years, of The Henge of
Keltria Druid Order and co-founder and Co-Chief for five years of The Druid
Order of White Oak; author with Lawrence Bond, People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak
Out, 1995; with Lawrence Bond, Being
a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today, 2001; and other volumes)
28. Lynne Hume, Ph.D. (Associate Professor and Research Consultant, University of
Queensland, Australia; Faculty, Cherry Hill Seminary, Bethel, VT; author of Witchcraft
and Paganism in Australia, 1997; The Religious Life of Dress,
2013; co-author, with Nevill Drury of The Varieties of Magical Experience,
2013)
29. Ronald
Hutton, Ph.D. (Professor, Department of Historical Studies, Oxford University;
author: Triumph of the Moon: A History of
Modern Pagan Witchcraft, 2000)
30. Christine Hoff Kraemer, Ph.D.
(Instructor, Theology and Religious History, Cherry Hill Seminary; author of Seeking the Mystery: An Introduction to
Pagan Theology, 2012 and Eros and Touch from a Pagan Perspective:
Divided for Love’s Sake, 2013)
31. James
R. Lewis, Ph.D. (co-founder of the International Society for the Study of New
Religions and editor-in-chief of the Alternative Spirituality & Religion
Review (ASSR). Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tromsø in
Norway; Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wales, Lampeter;
author: Magical Religion & Modern Witchcraft, 1996; The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New
Religions, 1998; Peculiar Prophets: A
Biographical Dictionary of New Religions, 1999; Witchcraft Today: An
Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions, 1999; with Murph Pizza, Handbook of
Contemporary Paganism; The Oxford Handbook of New Religious
Movements; with Jesper Petersen,
Controversial New Religions; The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of New
Age Religions; Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy; Legitimating
New Religions)
32. Scott
Lowe, Ph.D. (Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies at University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Co-General Editor, Nova
Religio)
33. Sabina
Magliocco, Ph.D. (Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at California State
University, Northridge; author: Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism
in America, 2004; Neopagan Sacred Art
& Altars: Making Things Whole, 2001)
34. Ven. Rev.
Patrick McCollum
(Director
of Public Chaplaincy, Cherry Hill Seminary; Chaplaincy Liaison, American Academy of Religion; Minority Faith Chair, American Correctional Chaplains Association; Executive Director, National Correctional
Chaplaincy Directors Association; President, Patrick McCollum Foundation; Religion Advisor, United States Commission on Civil Rights; Recipient, Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of
Pluralism; publications: California
Department of Corrections Wiccan Chaplains Manual, 1998; Courting the
Lady, 2000; Religious
Accommodation in American Jails, 2013)
35. J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D. (Institute for the
Study of American Religion; The
Encyclopedia of American Religions, 1991; with Isotta Poggi, author of Magic,
Witchcraft, and Paganism in America: A Bibliography, 2nd ed., 1992; Religious Leaders of America, 1999)
36. Brendan Myers,
Ph.D. (Professor at CEGEP Heritage College,
Gatineau, QC, Canada; faculty, Cherry
Hill Seminary; author of The
Earth, The Gods and The Soul - A History of Pagan Philosophy: From the Iron Age
to the 21st Century, 2013)
37. M.
Macha NightMare/Aline O'Brien (American Academy of Religion; Nature Religions
Scholars Network; Marin Interfaith Council; United Religions Initiative;
Interfaith Center of the Presidio; Association for the Study of Women and
Mythology; Biodiversity Project Spirituality Working Group. She also serves on
the Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary; the Advisory Council of the
Sacred Dying Foundation; former Adjunct Faculty at Starr King School for the
Ministry. Books: The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals,
Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over (with Starhawk) 1997; Witchcraft
and the Web: Weaving Pagan Tradition Online, 2001; Pagan Pride: Honoring
the Craft and Culture of Earth and Goddess, 2004)
38. Joanne
Pearson, Ph.D. (co-author with Richard H. Roberts & Geoffrey Samuel of Nature
Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, 1998; (ed), Belief Beyond
Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age, 2002; A Popular Dictionary of Paganism, 2002; Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual Sex
and Magic, 2007)
39. Christopher Penczak
(faculty member at North Eastern Institute of Whole Health; founder of the
Temple of Witchcraft, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit church; co-owner of Copper Cauldron
Publishing; author: The Living Temple of Witchcraft, 2008; 2009—and over two dozen other books)
40. Sarah M. Pike, Ph.D. (Professor of Comparative Religion,
California State University, Chico; author of Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and The
Search for Community, 2001; New Age and Neopagan Religions in America, 2004)
41. Richard H. Roberts, Ph.D. (Emeritus Professor of Religious
Studies, Lancaster University; co-author with Geoffrey Samuel & Joanne
Pearson of Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, 1998)
42. Kathryn Rountree, Ph.D. (Professor of Anthropology, Massey
University, New Zealand; author of Embracing
the Witch and the Goddess: Feminist Ritual-makers in New Zealand,
2004; Crafting Contemporary Pagan
Identities in a Catholic Society, 2010; Archaeology
of Spiritualities, 2012)
43. Michael Ruse,
Ph.D. (Lucyle
T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Program in the History
and Philosophy of Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL;
author: The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet, 2013)
44. Geoffrey Samuel, Ph.D. (Cardiff University,
UK, as well as an honorary attachment at the University of Sydney; author: Civilized Shamans, 1993; co-author with Richard H. Roberts & Joanne Pearson of Nature
Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, 1998; The Origins of Yoga and Tantra, 2008; Religion and the Subtle Body in Asia and the
West, 2013)
45. Bron Taylor,
Ph.D. (Professor
of Religion & Nature, University of Florida; Fellow, Rachel Carson Center
for Environment and Society; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München;
Editor, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture;
author of Encyclopedia of Religion & Nature, 2005;
Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, 2010;
Avatar and Nature Spirituality, 2013; Civil Society in the Age of
Monitory Democracy, 2013)
46. Robert
J. Wallis, Ph.D., FRAI, FSA (Professor of Visual Culture; Associate Dean, MA
Programmes, School of Communications, Arts and Social Sciences; Convenor of the
MA in Art History and Visual Culture; Richmond University, the American
International University in London; author of Shamans/neo-Shamans, 2003; and numerous articles on contemporary
Paganisms, neo-Shamanisms and their engagements with prehistoric archaeology in
Britain)
47. Linda Woodhead, M.B.E.,
D.D. (Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University, UK. She
studies religious change in
modern societies, and is especially interested in how religion has changed
worldwide since the late 1980s. Between 2007 and
2013 she was Director of the “Religion and Society” research programme in
Britain, which involved 240 academics from 29 different disciplines
working on 75 different projects. Her books
include Everyday Lived Islam in Europe (2013), A Sociology of
Religious Emotions (2011), Religions in the Modern World (2009), The
Spiritual Revolution (2005) and A Very Short Introduction to
Christianity (2004). She is a regular commentator and broadcaster on
religion and society.)
48. Michael York, Ph.D. (Faculty, Cherry Hill Seminary; retired Professor
of Cultural Astronomy and Astrology with the Bath Spa University’s Sophia
Centre; he directed the New Age and Pagan Studies Programme for the College’s
Department for the Study of Religions and co-ordinated the Bath Archive for
Contemporary Religious Affairs. He continues to direct the Amsterdam Center for
Eurindic Studies and co-direct the London-based Academy for Cultural and
Educational Studies. Author: The Roman
Festival Calendar of Numa Pompilius, 1986; A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-pagan Movements, 1995; The Divine versus the Asurian: An
Interpretation of Indo-European Cult and Myth, 1995; Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion, 2003; Historical Dictionary of New Age
Movements,
2004)
49.
Oberon Zell, D.D. (co-founder and
Primate, Church of All Worlds, 1962 [incorporated 1968; 501(c)(3) 1970]; co-founder,
Council of Themis, 1968; Publisher Emeritus, Green Egg magazine, 1968-ff; co-founder, Council of Earth
Religions, 1974; founder, Universal Federation of Pagans, 1990; founder, Grey
Council, 2002; founder and Headmaster, Grey School of Wizardry, 2004;
Secretary, Sonoma County Pagan Network, 2010-2013; author: Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard, 2004; Companion for the
Apprentice Wizard, 2006; with Morning Glory Zell, Creating Circles & Ceremonies, 2006)
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