Paganism: The fastest growing religion in Canada

By Rob Lamb                                                           Psychopomp.org

Although the numbers are still relatively small, Paganism is now ‘on the radar’.

In recent times the influence of religion in Canadian society has been on the wane. People have been leaving ‘the Church’ in droves. Parishes have closed. Fewer and fewer feel the call to the clergy. Older parishioners are re-evaluating their spirituality, and younger ones are finding they have less and less in common with the elders, and policy makers of the church.

We as parents and teachers have over the last 30 plus years have been empowering our children with the burden of choice. We have taught them that the establishment is not always right, and that they do have choices in life. We have taught them to question authority and make their own decisions. We have brought them up in a world of sexual predator priests, and an out of touch clergy. Is it any wonder that the people that grew up in this society are either leaving religion entirely or moving to religions that connect more closely with them on an individual basis?

For those of us who have been involved in Paganism over the years the numbers shouldn’t really be a surprise. Numbers released last week by ‘Statistics Canada’ although less than I expected are none the less still impressive, especially when you take a closer look.

Before looking at the actual numbers there are a few things to have in mind. The sampling for the question of religion was only on the long form, which only one in ten actually got in the 2001 census, so numbers could be skued especially for smaller groups.

Paganism as a category is hard to define. The only footnote about Pagan as a category is that the category ‘…includes persons that report Wicca.’ It says nothing about other trads’ such as Asatru, Vodoun, Druid, Shaman or any of the numerous other Pagan paths that may have fallen in that buried category of ‘Other’. Shaman, and Native Spiritualist is another term that I’m sure caused major problems with categorization. Especially when considering that Aboriginal spirituality was a category as well. Many ‘New Age’ practitioners consider their personal paths Shamanistic, or Native, but have no actual claim to a real Aboriginal path or teaching, and therefore would better be categorized as ‘Pagan’ or a practitioner of a non-traditional ‘Earth Religion’.

I believe it would better serve the Native community to have the Aboriginal spirituality category reflect the true nature of their path. Very few non-natives should be included in the Aboriginal spirituality category. In a time when the Native Aboriginal needs to re-establish the roots that were taken from them they do not need non-Aboriginals to dilute the true numbers that might otherwise be used to lobby the government for funding of everything from Powwows, Gatherings, Medicine Wheels, and Sweats to Education. I hope that next census there is a more clear definition of what a Pagan is and what an Aboriginal spiritualist is so the numbers can more accurately reflect the true numbers.

One more consideration is that many people who may be Pagan are still leery about declaring it on a government census. Although coming out of the broom closet is more widely acceptable than ever before my personal opinion is that there are still a fair number of people who for whatever reason are still not ready to declare it to the government or possibly even to the other members of their own household their Pagan leanings.

Keeping the above in mind here are some of the highlights of what the census says about Paganism in Canada.

-              Although the actual numbers are still quite small, Paganism has grown a record 281.2% in the last 10 years.

(When compared to other religions Aboriginal spirituality comes in second at 175.1% and if you take religions such as Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, and Buddhist out of the equation due to the growth being a reflection of immigration, and categories such as ‘Christian not included elsewhere’ 121.1% and ‘Orthodox not included elsewhere’ 79.9% the closest growth numbers are from ‘Evangelical Missionary Church’ at 48.4% followed closely by ‘No Religion’ at 43.9%.)

-         Nova Scotia’s Pagan population has increased 604.5% and most of the rest of the provinces have recorded growth of between 200 and 550%. (Ontario’s growth is pegged at 231.8%)

-         Although the declared number of Pagans countrywide is only 21,080 if the growth indicators are to be trusted by 2011 we are looking at a declared Pagan population of 59,277 and by 2021 of 166,687.

-         Mainstream religions such as Anglican, Protestant, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and the United Church’s numbers are showing negative growth of between –7% and –35.6%. Even the Roman Catholic Church is growing at less than .5% per year.

These indicators are only that, indicators. There are many things that can influence the numbers, some of which I mentioned earlier, and many more that I didn’t. But one thing is for certain. Paganism is on the upswing when most other religions are on the wane. A religion or group of religions that were considered at the very least laughable, and at the very most demonic 25 years ago when I started now demands a separate category in the Canadian census on religion! That, in and of itself is reason to take note. The astronomical growth rate is just a bonus. Remember, when you look at the numbers that this may historically be looked upon 25 years from now as Paganism’s official ‘coming out’ in Canada. 

By Roy Wood 
Post staff reporter

It's not exactly a thunderbolt from the heavens, but high-tech wizardry that can match it in sight and sound is changing how the faithful worship the Almighty at many churches. 
Giant video screens, cameras, pyrotechnics, high-tech lighting and digital sound systems are becoming almost as common as baptismals. The technical capabilities at some churches border on the amazing, says Shelagh Rogers, organizer of a convention for church tekkies opening today in downtown Cincinnati. 

Inspiration Technology 2003 is expected to draw about 1,600 pastors and other church officials and members to the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center today through Friday to learn how to adapt technology to services. 

Proponents of the technology said it's the best way to reach a generation reared on TV, DVDs and video games. 

"In order for the church to be culturally current, we have to employ the technology the audience of today grew up with," said Dave Olmstead, director of support and media services at Horizon Community Church in Indian Hill. "Christ used the vernacular of his day. Today we use video." 

Many churches project song lyrics, announcements or images onto large video screens during services. Some houses of worship also present video clips or music videos as part of services. 

With high-tech lighting, cameras and sound systems included in the blueprints for new buildings these days, the quality of sound and lighting at many churches is comparable to technology at concert halls, said Rogers, publisher of Ontario-based Technologies For Worship Magazine. Churches can easily spend upwards of $100,000 on technology, depending on what they want. 

Sessions during Rogers' convention on church technology will provide information about subjects like computer-guided lighting that can follow the pastor around the stage. Other sessions are about digitally steered loudspeaker technology and optimal camera placement for live worship. 

One session even deals with safety with pyrotechnics in worship services -- a topic on many minds since a Feb. 20 fire triggered by pyrotechnics at The Station nightclub in Warwick, R.I. killed 99 people and injured nearly 200 others. 

Rogers says churches with drama ministries are most likely to use pyrotechnics in worship. She recalled a drama at one church where a character pointed her finger and a flame shot out. 

But it's not just big churches with fancy drama ministries that are getting more digital on Sunday. 

"It used to be only five or 10 mega-churches," she says. "But today, any church big enough to use a microphone is probably using some other type of other technology, too." 

At Florence Baptist Church, which draws 1,000 to 1,200 people each Sunday, three TV cameras relay live shots from the service onto large screens. The pastors also use PowerPoint to display graphics or photos on the screens as part of services. 

Florence Baptist installed video screens and cameras because church leaders were looking for a way to fit more people into the building. Putting in the screens meant another 100 people could sit in the balcony and see services 

"We were a little concerned at first," Coleman said. "We wondered if the older people were going to like it. They love it. 

"One of the first comments I heard was, 'I can finally see his lips,' " Coleman said, explaining that an older church member who had a hard time seeing the pastor's facial expressions found them easily visible on the large screen. 

Horizon Community Church, which meets at Cincinnati County Day High School, uses technology to create a service "almost like a dramatic production," said operations manager John Kirby. 

The church places so much importance on the technical aspects of services that it hired about a half dozen part-time employees to run the lights and sound and manage the stage. 

During services, colored backdrop lighting may set the mood for part of the service. The worship band may play softly while a church member tells via video about an experience or a ministry during another part of the service. On occasions the church, which draws about 500 people per week, uses live drama to illustrate its message. 

"Thirty years ago, the pastor would have said, 'Can you picture being on a mountaintop?'" Kirby said. "Today, it's very economical to use a (video) clip to take you to a mountaintop." 

The use of technology crosses all denominational barriers, Rogers says. 

But church leaders who are big technology users are sensitive to the criticism that the message can get swallowed up in the delivery system, or that church services are becoming more entertainment than worship. 

"Some people have been called to entertain, but that's not our calling," Coleman said. "We're not here to entertain. We just use technology to get our message out. 

"Doctrinally, we are very conservative, some might even call us fundamentalist," Coleman said. 

The Rev. Tim Kuenzli, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mount Healthy, said technology doesn't change his message. He writes one sermon that he preaches at both a traditional liturgical service and a contemporary, more tech-heavy service. 

"The message hasn't changed," said Kirby. 

It is not likely that the message will get lost in the technology employed during services, said Steve Briner, a Comair pilot who attends Christ United Methodist Church in Florence. 

Technology "affects worship positively," he said. "It's a total enhancement of the way the church functions."

Bullied George Orwell 'killed' Eton boy using black magic
By Catherine Milner

George Orwell spent his life believing that he had killed a fellow pupil at Eton using voodoo, according to a new biography.

The late Sir Steven Runciman, the medieval historian, revealed in a letter written shortly before his death that he and Orwell practised black magic on a wax effigy of Philip Yorke, an older boy who had been threatening and offensive.

They were horrified, however, when Yorke first broke his leg and then, months later, developed leukaemia and died.

The incident was uncovered by Gordon Bowker, whose biography of Orwell is published by Little, Brown. In the course of his researches, Bowker interviewed Runciman, who had befriended Orwell when he was sent to Eton in May 1917.

Orwell, who had entered Eton on a scholarship, was bullied on a number of occasions. Rather than accept it, however, he appeared set on revenge and was happy to accept Runciman's suggestion that they do so by using the occult.

Orwell - whose real name was Eric Blair - had become fascinated with the subject after reading several volumes of ghost stories. These including The Leech of Folkestone, from The Ingoldsby Legends by R. H. Barham, about a maid making a wax image of her mistress and skewering it with a pin - to lethal effect.

Runciman said: "Our making a wax effigy of an older boy whom we disliked for being unkind to his juniors was, I am ashamed to say, my idea . . . Blair found that interesting and willingly collaborated. It was he who moulded the melted candle into a very crude human body.

o stick a pin into the heart of our image, but that frightened me, so we compromised by breaking off his right leg - and he did break his leg a few days later playing football - and he died young."

Although Runciman was unclear how quickly the voodoo apparently struck, records show that Yorke died of acute lymphatic leukaemia in July 1917, only three months after Orwell had entered Eton.

"He wanted t

Prior to this confession, Runciman had never previously mentioned the incident, which left him with a terror of the supernatural. Orwell, too, seemed profoundly affected. He never wrote or spoke about his experience or Yorke's death; however, he did tell friends that he changed his name from Eric Blair because he thought that his enemies might use his real name to work magic against him.

Bowker said that Runciman had contained his feelings of guilt at Yorke's death all his life and had never spoken to anyone about it. The voodoo incident only came to light when the biographer, who had gone to interview Runciman because he was a schoolfriend of Orwell, became intrigued at a throwaway comment that he made about the incident.

A year later, two months before he died, Runciman unburdened himself in a confessional letter to to Bowker. The historian, who came from a aristocratic family, had lost contact with Orwell after they left Eton. He later became one of the pre-eminent medieval historians of all time at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was knighted in 1958 for his contributions to historical research.

"I suspect many people will pooh-pooh black magic," said Mr Bowker, who has written a number of acclaimed biographies, including those of Malcolm Lowry and Lawrence Durrell, "but they will have to accept Runciman's version of events."

Peter Davison, who edited the 20-volume Complete Works of George Orwell, said yesterday: "This new discovery is fascinating. Orwell is always presenting us with surprising aspects to his character. He always had an interest in things not precisely of this world and this is the earliest manifestation of it. I am sure it affected him greatly - he would have been very sensitive to its possibilities and complications."

Orwell, who died in 1950, remained interested in magic and mysticism throughout his life. Although they do not feature in his best-known novels, 1984 and Animal Farm, in Orwell's 1939 novel Coming Up for Air the lead character discovers that the pretty market town of his youth is reduced to a suburban sprawl and rants: "I'll be a ghost . . . Maybe I can work a bit of black magic on some of these bastards."