FROM:
Coalition
of Scholars in Pagan Studies
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, 2011
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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