Of Satanism, scapegoats and human rights part 3: Positive response from the NP

To my surprise, the NP responded very positively to the Pagan community in a press release. I am pleased that they state that Paganism is "wrongly associated with Satanism" and a "force for good in society". Even if I do think they are still confusing Reverse Christianity (which can be a source of problems) with LaVeyan Satanism (which is a valid religious path). However they didn't mention Witchcraft, which was specifically targeted by another NP National Executive member.

NATIONAL PARTY SOUTH AFRICA (NP) ON PAGANISM

http://www.nationalparty.co.za/0018.htm/
September 01, 2008

We have noted with great concern that there is a misunderstanding amongst the Pagan community regarding the NP's statement on Satanism.

We would like to state it unequivocally that the National Party does not hold any ill feeling against the pagan community. On the contrary, the National Party would endeavour upon election to protect the rights of the Pagan community. We understand the response from the Pagan community regarding our policy towards Satanism. It is well known that paganism has wrongly, and to the great detriment of the Pagans, been associated with Satanism by ill-informed officials.

However, the National Party wishes to advise that we fully support freedom of religion and that there would be no witch-hunt of any practitioners of Wicca, Odinic Rite or any of the other Pagan practices. Pagans are welcome to celebrate Imbolc, Beltane or any other festival in public, as long as the particular group does not break any of the laws of the Republic.

The reference to Satanism refers to destructive religion that developed as an inversion of Christian beliefs and is an open worship of evil. Paganism does not worship evil and it is a force for good in society. The senseless killing of a 16-year old boy at a school in Krugersdorp under the alleged influence of Satanism has prompted the suggestion that there should be acted against Satanism.

Finally, again we wish to advise that the Pagan community can rest assured that their rights to worship will be protected by the National Party once we have been elected to office.

We sincerely hope this statement has clarified all misunderstandings regarding our religious policy.

JMT Labuschagne
Spokesperson for Religion & Culture Affairs,
NP
http://www.nationalparty.co.za/0018.htm

**************************************

Damon Leff, the convenor of SAPRA, responded as follows:

Dear Mr. JMT Labuschagne / JD Uys

Your press statement of 1 September - http://www.nationalparty.co.za/0018.htm - refers.

The South African Pagan Rights Alliance welcomes your statement of tolerance with regard to Paganism in South Africa.

This Alliance notes however that it is, according to correspondence received from Mr. Uys dated 18 August, the intention of the National Party to suppress Witchcraft - an internationally recognised Pagan religion.

Note with reference to accompanying correspondence between myself and Mr Uys dated 18 August.

Clearly the misunderstanding, to which you refer in your press release, wholly belongs to Mr. Uys who, on behalf of the National Party, undertook to promote a religious policy that clearly and plainly intended to discriminate against identified religious minorities - Satanism and Witchcraft.

I therefore seek further clarification regarding the National Party’s religious agenda, in light of statements made by Mr. Uys which contradict your own statements in this regard on the subject of Witchcraft and self-defined Witches in this country.

I look forward to your considered response.

Yours Sincerely

Damon Leff

with reference previous correspondence between Damon Leff and Mr. Uys

**************************************

Original Message
From: "Damon Leff" <damon@gardenroute.com>
To: <mail@nationalparty.co.za>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:12 AM
Subject: National Party Policy on Religion

Hello

I note that the National Party has made the following statement on its website:"The National Party respects the practice of all religions in our country, but will not tolerate satanism. The NP will outlaw all practices directly linked to satanism."

I would like to enquire the following:

1. What are the practices "directly linked" to Satanism that the National Party will outlaw?
2. Will the National Party recognise Paganism and Witchcraft as bone-fide religions in South Africa?
Yours Sincerely
Damon Leff

National Party South Africa (NP) wrote:

Damon.

We will not allow witches to operate in South Africa under NP Government. We and our supporters can not associate ourselves with anything that are linked to Satanism.

Regards

Juan-Duval Uys
Member of the NP National Executive.

**************************************

Original Message
From: "Damon Leff" <damon@gardenroute.com>
To: "National Party South Africa (NP)" <mail@nationalparty.co.za>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: National Party Policy on Religion

Dear Juan-Duval Uys

I saddens me to see you repeat Nationalist Christian propaganda and discrimination against Witches and Witchcraft in South Africa.

You aught then to be aware of the fact that in South Africa self-defined Witches represent a small but visible religious minority. We have government appointed religious marriage officers and officially recognised religious groups and faith-based organisations. Our own faith-based organisation was formed in 2004 in order to protect the constitutional right to religious freedom and belief of self-defined Pagan Witches and to defend and protect Witchcraft as a bone-fide religion. South African Witches do not self-define as Satanists and do not regard Satanism as a Pagan religion.

The South African Pagan Rights Alliance regards your statement to "not allow witches to operate in South Africa under NP Government" as intent to suppress and discriminate against Witchcraft and Witches in South Africa.

This Alliance will therefore not support the Nationalist Party in any form and will, at every available opportunity, denounce the religious prejudiced policies of the National Party.

Yours Sincerely

Damon Leff

Convener: South African Pagan Rights Alliance
http://www.paganrightsalliance.org

**************************************

National Party South Africa (NP) wrote:

Sir,

We dont have a problem with your view on our policy, but we will NEVER regard Satanism or witches as a form of religion.Our major support comes from Christians and Muslims etc, we will never link this party to Satanism or witchcraft. We will make this very clear during elections 2009.

Kind regards

Juan-Duval Uys

Of Satanism, scapegoats and human rights part 2

SAPRA received a response from the Independent Electoral Commission:

You will recall that the South African Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA) and the South African Pagan Council (SAPC) lodged a formal objection with the IEC against the registration of the National Party as a political party on the grounds that the NP's policy on religion and religious education propagate the contravention of the constitutional right to freedom of belief and religion to recognized religious minorities and intend to prevent membership of the NP on the grounds of religious affiliation by excluding identified religious minorities as undesirable.

The Chief Electoral Officer has not upheld our objection against the National Party - the Commission states that the NP's submitted constitution does not contravene section 16 of the Electoral Commission Act - that the NP's submitted constitution does not discriminate on the basis of religion or belief.

Clearly, while the NP's submitted constitution may not contain any discriminatory content, the party's policies on religion as advertised on its website - http://www.nationalparty.co.za/religion.htm - indicate that the National Party has every intention of discriminating against South Africans on the basis of religion, and the NP has already publicly identified the religious minorities the NP intend to suppress.

In correspondence to this Alliance the NP stated, "We will not allow witches to operate in South Africa under (an) NP Government. We and our supporters can not associate ourselves with anything that are (sic) linked to Satanism. We don't have a problem with your view on our policy, but we will NEVER regard Satanism or witches (sic) as a form of religion. Our major support comes from Christians and Muslims etc, we will never link this party to Satanism or witchcraft. We will make this very clear during elections 2009."

This Alliance has 30 days within which to submit an appeal to the Commission's decision.

Ask yourself this question: Should our country's democratic institutions be permitting political parties to openly and brazenly advertise their intention to undermine religious equality on the basis of partisan religious prejudice?

Again, please let me know your thoughts.

Of Satanism, scapegoats and human rights

I was amused to discover that the National Party was relaunching. I was less amused to discover that they tout banning of "Satanism or witches (sic) as a form of religion", apparently lumping Pagan Witchcraft, LaVeyan Satanism, "devil worship" as practiced by angry, dienfranchised teenagers and muti murder together as faces of the same evil, despite a very diplomatic, lucid and clear letter explaining the difference between Pagan Witchcraft and Satanism sent to the NP's Mr Juan-Duval Uys.

Anyway herewith the South African Pagan Rights Alliance's formal press release:

http://www.paganrightsalliance.org/press.htm

The National Party intends to suppress Witchcraft should it win the 2009 elections. So says Juan-Duval Uys, Member of the NP National Executive. In correspondence to this Alliance Mr. Uys stated,"We will not allow witches to operate in South Africa under (an) NP Government. We and our supporters can not associate ourselves with anything that are (sic) linked to Satanism. We don't have a problem with your view on our policy, but we will NEVER regard Satanism or witches (sic) as a form of religion. Our major support comes from Christians and Muslims etc, we will never link this party to Satanism or witchcraft. We will make this very clear during elections 2009."

The South African Pagan Rights Alliance and the South African Pagan Council (SAPC) objects to the religiously motivated intention of the National Party to suppress Witchcraft and to discriminate openly against South African citizens who self-define as Witches.

Read the formal objection by SAPRA and the SAPC against the National Party's policy on Religion and Religious Instruction in Schools HERE <http://www.paganrightsalliance.org/Complaint%20against%20National%20Party%20policy%20on%20religion.pdf>

SAPRA and the SAPC object to the registration of the National Party as a political party on the grounds that the National Party's policies on religion and religious education:

(1.) propagate the contravention of the constitutional right to freedom of belief and religion to recognized religious minorities, and

(2.) said policies intend to prevent membership of said party on the grounds of religious affiliation by excluding identified religious minorities as undesirable.

Read SAPRA and the SAPC's formal objection to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) HERE <http://www.paganrightsalliance.org/Objection%20to%20IEC%20registration%20NP.pdf>

Voice your own objections against the National Party's intentions to suppress Witchcraft HERE <http://www.nationalparty.co.za/contact%20us.htm>

Please read this and please tell them (and me) what you think of this intention to ban religious practices that the NP are clearly none to informed about.

Tragedy

If you are in South Africa, you will have read about the "Satanic" murder committed by a schoolboy on Monday.


My sympathies go out to the children and the parents involved, also to the other pupils in the school. But I have a number of problems with this highly publicised "Satanic" killing.


Firstly, how did a teenager bring a sword into school unchallenged?


Secondly, a sword murder does not come out of nowhere. Did no-one ever notice that this boy was emotionally/psychologically distressed? He apparently had an obsession with ninjas and made masks that represented, among others, child abuse. Didn't alarm bells ring for anyone??


Thirdly, "devil worship" is, in my experience, a reaction against an oppressive religious upbringing and not to be confused with LaVeyan Satanism, which, although incompatible with my ethics in a number of regards, has absolutely nothing to do with worshipping Satan, or any other deity for that matter. The Church of Satan certainly does not advocate murder.


Fourth, does "bad Satanic music" cause violence or does a teenager listen to it because he/she is unhappy already? A lot of empirical research still needs to be done on this topic but so far it would seem that "a broad array of risk factors unrelated to popular culture (e.g., depression, access to guns, substance abuse, etc.) ... seem to be precursors of such drastic acts" (Roberts, Christenson, and Gentile, 2003) and that parents are not absolved of their responsibility to be aware of their children's emotional states: "If you like your child’s friends and his/her grades are fine, then there’s probablyvery little to worry about from the lyric content of the songs he/she likes...Thus, if your child is listening to angry-sounding music for three hours each day, that may signal a reason for concern. It may be likely that your child is angry about something and is dwelling on those feelings." (Roberts et al, 2003).

Update: While composing this I found this article - the words of Morne Harmse's parents. I feel sorry for these people but especially for the boy. Being bullied as a child, being quiet and introverted by nature, low self-esteem, stress, ill-chosen coping mechanisms - I am not surprised at the end result. I am just sad and disappointed that two young lives have been destroyed by a disaster that could have been prevented.

I will rant and rave later at what I perceive to be the inadequacies of our current school system, and increasing levels of disengagement between parents and their children. I will also express the fears I have concerning the renewed wave of Satanic Panic we seem to be experiencing. For now I will just keep in my thoughts all those affected by this tragedy.