Holy journey leads to Wicca
"I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned. Registration required, or you can view a few graphs below:
For Gods and Country
The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied.
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 19, 2007; C01
SCHERTZ, Tex.
The night wind pushes Don Larsen's green robe against his lanky frame. A circle of torches lights his face.
"The old gods are standing near!" calls a retired Army intelligence officer.
"To watch the turning of the year!" replies the wife of a soldier wounded in Iraq.
"What night is this?" calls a former fighter pilot.
"It is the night of Imbolc," responds Larsen, a former Army chaplain.
Of the 16 self-described witches who have gathered on this Texas plain to celebrate a late-winter pagan festival with dancing, chanting, chili and beer, all but two are current or former military personnel. Each has a story. None can compete with Larsen's.
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.
Comments (5)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Wow. This is a pretty interesting story, Nancy. Shows that our nation has a long way to go when it comes to freedom of religion. But it's heartening to know that there are lots of folks who are committed to that ideal. Thanks for sharing this.
Posted on February 19, 2007 2:01 PM
eric,
I say this story shows that whatever church this fellow was ordained in has a long way to go in the training of their ministers. He apparently became a minister and even an Army chaplain without ever thinking through the problems of evil and war. It seems to me like that would be the kind of stuff an Army chaplain might want to concentrate on. It wasn't until Feb. 22, 2006, that he realized that there are "innocent people dying in the name of God"? I can only assume that he never studied the Bible with much rigor before then - neither Old nor New Testament shies away in its depiction of violence and sin. Whatever his religion now, I hope he has at least thought through the tough questions with more discipline and courage than he did when he called himself a Christian. Somehow, I doubt it, since he claims he went from a brand new convert to a capable chaplain in only 4 1/2 months - Feb. 22 to July 6, 2006.
Posted on February 19, 2007 10:22 PM
You have some good points, Mike. I think it's safe to say that religion is one of mankind's oldest methods for "compartmentalization" of thought. It is indeed possible for people to concentrate so fully on one train of thought that gray areas and exceptions to rules seem to disappear. That's the only way I could think of for a man to get into a war zone, serving the military, and still be so oblivious to the realities around him that what he found there was in any way a surprise.
Posted on February 20, 2007 6:04 AM
Not only did he not understand the horrors and vicissitudes of war, he obviously had a very shallow perception of sound Christian doctrine. Perhaps he was part of one of these pseudo-Christian liberal denominations that invite Wiccan enthusiasts to their potluck suppers to discuss their commonalities.
Clearly, he is the victim of the tried and true technique of contemporary anti-Christian groups to drag out the same tired old historical examples (Crusades, Inquisition, Reformation conflicts) to “prove” that Christianity is fatally flawed – forgetting that groups and isms of ALL ilks have ample stores of skeletons in their historical closets. As the bumper sticker says, “I’m (a Christian) not perfect, just forgiven.” Though a bit simplistic, it states that fact that Christianity, just like the human race, is a work in progress; but its glorious end is assured by God.
However, Wicca is merely a jumble of errors, abominations and fictions, trying to masquerade as a religion. That Larsen was removed shows that there might still be some semblance of spiritual discernment around. May God open his understanding and bless him with a true knowledge of the Gospel.
Posted on February 20, 2007 10:07 PM
I would think the onus for deciding what is a religion belongs to those who practice it. Cults are religious, even if they are not recognozed as mainstream ones.
Posted on February 24, 2007 10:29 AM