Ansteopality Revisited

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

<snip re: Satanic SCA and mundane persecution based on imaginary devil
worship in SCA>
>Your facts are close enough.  These incidents were serious enough to 
>cause me to have to be flown to two board meetings at kingdom expense 
>to advise the board on the situation.  I wasn't going to get into this, in the 
>hope that this silly thread would just die on its own.  But, consider the 
>damage that could be done to us if any of the persons you mention got 
>hold of these missives.  We do not need to be even joking like this 
>on an unsecure channel!   The guy in El Paso represents an 
>organization that  IS very likely to be monitoring this forum, and 
>trust me, he has NO sense of humor.   I suggest that we knock it off  
>before we buy more grief.
>                                      Jeremy, Lord High Chancellor 

Heilsa, Jeremy.

        I think you are way off base.  The stupid guy in El Paso is gonna
think we're devil worshippers no matter what we do.  Not joking about the
subject will not change that.  Furthermore, I think everyone is aware that
the idea is a "thought-experiment" and has been being milked for the
entertainment value.  The thread began based on the premise that living in
South Texas with the heat, stickers, scorpions, rattlesnakes etc. is in some
ways akin to dwelling in Hell (that's the one with two "L"s. Hel with a
single "L" is a cold place.)  I don't know that you meant your "tone" in the
paragraph above to sound like a disapproving daddy, but that's sure how I
read it.  I submit that anyone who believes that anyone posting on the
"Principality of Hell" topic was or is a Satanist is severely
humor-impaired, and may in fact have an IQ lower than the average human body
temperature.

        Everyone is perfectly aware that names and concepts belonging to
gods (whether of good or of evil) are Right Out heraldically.  This means
that there is, to coin a phrase, no chance in Hell that "Principality of
Hell" would ever become a reality.  The whole discussion is for amusement,
and in fact, many people have been amused.

        The positive benefit of the whole thread is to show, by ridiculous
example, how much fun developing real principality names, awards, and
heraldry can be, and it has in fact gotten folks started thinking about
names and such that they think would be neat.

        You say, "But, consider the damage that could be done to us if any
of the persons you mention got hold of these missives."  What damage?  I've
heard fanatic folks on talk radio since the seventies off and on claiming to
have been eye-witnesses at SCA Satanic rituals.  Have any of them ever
harmed the SCA?  Not if we just ignored them.  I'd sure like to hear
examples of real, actual damage that you think the SCA can suffer because of
some religious kook in El Paso or wherever.

        The funny (?) thing is that the Christian absolutists who decry the
SCA based on our heathen ways are in a lot of cases correct.  The SCA has
historically had many members who practiced Wicca, Asatru, Druidism and
other non-Christian religions.  There are no doubt members of the Christian
Right who'd be glad to tie Wiccans to the stake and burn them as witches.
The SCA's own laws prohibit members' religions and religious beliefs from
being forced on others in the group, which means that we tolerate these
non-Christians, and in fact, if we had members (as we probably do somewhere
in the organization) who actually believe in Satan and worship that entity,
as long as they didn't do it in public at events, it's OK.  Plus, the last I
heard, the Constitution protects freedom of religion.

        Lighten up, will ya?  It's a JOKE.  If you'd really like to see the
Principality of Hell thread die, why don't you submit your own principality
name, plus some suggested awards and heraldry?  That would be creative and
useful, and would probably serve to divert attention much better than
shaking your finger at us and tsk tsking about how naughty we are being.

Wassail,

::GUNNORA::


Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
===========================================
Ek eigi visa (th)ik hversu o(dh)lask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna
heldr hversu na Hersis-A(dh)al