kitten228 wrote:So....perhaps I'm just ignorant, I have a few questions, and also a couple comments. I tend to be a bit of a devils advocate, but I promise, I am not being snarky. So please don't take it that way:
Firstly, what are accreditation standards for pagan chaplaincy? Does there exist a pagan chaplaincy program that fulfills the criteria for chaplaincy standards in an institutional setting? Do the people wanting to minister in the prison meet the criteria for chaplaincy (an accredited CPE, as well as an M.Div. or Bachelors in the religion they are desiring to minister??) (Mostly, I'm asking because my husband is in a institutional chaplaincy program currently, and in order to be accepted into the program he had to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree and then he has work as a chaplain extern for 2-3 years before he gets a certification to be allowed to be a chaplain. Most places don't allow any random minister to chaplain, (s)he MUST be CPE certified)
To be honest, I don't really know if there are accreditation standards for pagan chaplaincy since they're refusing to recognize it. Mr. McCollum has said several times that he fits all of the standards for chaplaincy except that he isn't any of the five faiths, so he won't be hired. (see quote from an interview with him below)
Secondly, it seems that as a Christian chaplain, my husband's job is generally not to be any sort of spiritual adviser, but rather to assess the spiritual needs of the individual and provide spiritual care to fit those needs. So, ideally, a chaplain of any of the 5 mainstream religions listed should still be able to chaplain for people outside of those religions, and is expected to provide the spiritual care desired by the individual....yes, I know we don't live in the ideal, and I KNOW my husband would not encourage pagan faiths even if his job required it, so I understand the need for someone of the pagan faith to provide those spiritual needs.
No offense, but I don't really understand the point of this paragraph since you even said "I KNOW my husband would not encourage pagan faiths even if his job required it". You proved your own point, not only in that but by saying "someone of the pagan faith" - paganism is not one faith. This honestly isn't even the best solution as is, since Mr. McCollum is a Wiccan, but obviously he's better equipped (more knowledgeable and more tolerant) to handle the situation than a Catholic. Or most Catholics, I guess I should say, I've never met one who was knowledgeable or tolerant towards paganism, but I suppose one could exist somewhere.
Anyways, like I said, under the umbrella term of "paganism" you have Wiccans, Hellenic pagans, there are reconstructionist groups for nearly every pantheon or culture (off the top of my head: Hellenic, Roman, Gaelo-Celtic, Anglo Saxon, Egyptian), heathens (which is kind of an umbrella term in and of itself for someone who worships the Northern/Germanic/Scandinavian gods), Voudou, some people even put faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, or Taoism under the term "paganism"...do you see the problem here? There are duotheists, pantheists, monotheists, monolatrists, polytheists and people who think gods are just archetypes/metaphors for the seasons and naturally occurring events, and they're all pagans. I fully realize that trying to have a chaplain for each of these would be kind of crazy, BUT I want to say that really having one chaplain for paganism as a whole is a very imperfect solution as is and trying to have a Christian chaplain service pagans is just stupid, since there's an obvious ulterior motive (conversion).
The simple fact is that the VAST majority of Christians (or members other faiths) are not suited for the position because they don't know what they're talking about.
Thirdly, my honest guess is that the reason the state will not hire a pagan chaplain has mostly to do with money. (you know the government LOVES its money....)The majority of people in the U.S. subscribe to those 5 listed religions, or a variation on those religions. If the prison has a budget for, say, 3 chaplains for ALL of the inmates (this is the case for the prison one of my friends is a chaplain at, he is Christian and his fellow chaplains are Jewish and Muslim, which are the 3 most common religions in the prison) then between them they can cover almost all of the inmates. Whereas, if there was a pagan chaplain, he would only be able to minister to a very very small few of the inmates, because most of them are Christian, Muslim, and Jewish (at this particular prison), and a larger chunk of people would not get the spiritual care they require. They are going by the numbers, and see it as spending money on a salary of someone who cannot provide spiritual care for the majority of the inmates. I am NOT saying this is right, I DEFINITELY don't think money and numbers should have ANY bearing on the spiritual care of an individual. But from a "business" standpoint, I can see how it would make sense. And the state/government is always run by money hungry individuals.
The five faiths currently covered under the law are "Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents". Do you really think there are more adherents to Native American religions than pagans in prisons? Again I'm not entirely sure why you said this, since you said it's not right. The issue at hand doesn't have to do with money, it has to do with the fact that they WILL NOT hire someone based on their religion, no matter how qualified (and FWIW, although it's hearsay, Mr. McCollum said that at several prisons he's been to pagans far outnumber Muslims or Jewish inmates).
My solution to this problem is actually further separation of church and state. I think that they state should not fund religious services inside the prison system, but rather, should allow for the presence of chaplains and religious practices inside the prison system that are funded by their own religions. Pretty much the same set-up, only the state doesn't pay for it, the churches do. This way, if a religion is not represented, it is sheerly from lack of involvement and care from that individual church/religion. Also, I think this would calm a lot of moral qualms that taxpayers may have regarding being forced to pay taxes for people to minister religions that they may disagree with. This is idealistic, also, and I'm not sure it would work in practice.
That's not really a good solution either, since smaller religions don't have the amount of members as, say, Catholicism, and thus not the same amount of funding. Personally I think they should either try to be as fair as possible or just have no paid chaplains at all and have them work on a volunteer basis (which I guess might be what you're saying!).
Anyways, Mr. McCollum did an
interview with ACTION magazine for their Imbolc issue.
In the court case, it came out in discovery that many of the inmates grievances were in fact "lost", or otherwise misfiled by the state, removing the inmates legal right to move forward. But even worse, Pagan inmates who have filed grievances to be treated equally, have been intimidated, placed in solitary confinement, received threats, and have been transferred to other institutions, requiring them to start the grievance process all over again.
One Pagan inmate in particular, William Rouser, has been grieving a particular series of discriminatory acts against him and other Pagan prisoners for over 14 years with no relief. Some Pagan inmates have alleged and I believe it to be true, that they have been physically abused or assaulted as a result of their pushing for equal treatment of Pagans. This sort of thing shouldn't be happening in America!
Re: whether he's qualified to be a chaplain or not
Christopher: Another challenge to your right to take part in this case is you have no proof that you would be hired for this position. Isn't that a bit strange as it was they that asked you to serve as an unpaid chaplain all these years? Obviously the California prison system does not just allow anyone into all their prisons to act as chaplain.
Rev. Patrick: This is another example of the state trying to cloud the issue at hand. First, under well established legal precedent, I do not have to prove that I would have been hired for the position, I would only have to show that there is a possibility that I would have been considered for the position if there were a fair and neutral hiring policy.
I am the Director of Chaplaincy at a major Pagan seminary, and that I am the Director and Chair of the National Correctional Chaplaincy Directors Association, training prison chaplains for all faiths on how to be a correctional chaplain, and that I also train the government administrators who over see most state and federal prison chaplains, and that I am a professional member of the American Correctional Chaplains Association, and that I've been serving as the Statewide Wiccan Chaplain for thirteen years. I was selected to be the Keynote Speaker for all of the California state chaplains at the Annual California State Chaplain's Training Conference where the California Department of Corrections pays its chaplains for attending and gives them credit for continued education in chaplaincy. I think it is reasonable to assume that I would have at least been considered for the position.
This is a SUPER SUPER long quote to an already long post, but I think it's worth reading...
Christopher: Has there been any official harassment or discrimination toward you in your duties as chaplain since beginning this case?
Rev. Patrick: Wow, what a great question, and one which I've been waiting five years to publicly share the answer to. I have experienced tremendous harassment and discrimination since filing this case. And of course, as is obvious from the nature of the case, I have also experienced substantial harassment for the last 13 years to boot. First, I'd like to touch on a few of the many hundreds of things that have happened to me as a Wiccan Chaplain over the last 13 years prior to my filing the case. And these, as bad as these are, they don't even come close to equaling the kinds of discrimination that has been leveled towards the Pagan inmates.
I have been spit on by government staff, I had a Protestant government chaplain hold a religious service in a prison that was working in, tell a group of over 100 level IV Christian inmates (level IV being the highest security level inmates within the prison system, i. e. murderer's, rapists, and other violent offenders etc.) that they had a responsibility under God, to make sure that I didn't return to the prison to provide Wiccan/Pagan religious services and that the Pagan services didn't go forward.
On another occasion, I was told by a government administrator who was my direct supervisor, that it was his obligation according to the Bible, to kill me, and then while I was present in his office, he took out a Bible and read to me the passage saying: thou shall not suffer a witch to live! But, setting these and many other incidents prior to filing the case aside, I've had several significant incidents since the filing of the case.
At one institution, the Valley State Prison for Women, a correctional officer assaulted me in the control area, which is an area where incoming staff are locked between two electronic doors while your I.D and such are checked. During the incident, the officer who identified themselves as "Bathed in the Blood of Jesus', told other officers and staff who were all present during the incident, that they had personally seen videos of me killing children and the drinking their blood. They also related to onlookers that I worshiped Satan and that I was evil. Following that, officers told inmates and staff throughout the institution, that I had participated in sacrificing and killing children. You don't have to watch to many prison movies to know what happens to people in a prison environment who have abused children!
There was even more to the incident than I'm sharing, but you get the idea. The incident was so traumatic for me, that even after 12 years of working in the prisons and being threatened and experiencing all sorts of major discrimination, I had to seek professional help for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And all of this took place in a government institution, and was initiated by government officers.
Shortly following this, I was requested by an Associate Warden at a men's maximum security prison in Corcoran, California, to come and facilitate services for a group of Pagan inmates there. I drove several hundred miles to do so and entered the prison as usual with my state identification card and an approved clearance as requested by the Warden. I met with the requesting inmates, and upon leaving the prison I was confronted by a state administrator and taken into custody, and charged with breaking into a maximum security prison without any authorization or escort, and misrepresenting who I was. The prison immediately confiscated my state I.D. during the process and after I was released. It took 8 months of an internal investigation before I was cleared of any wrongdoing, which effectively put an end to all Pagan services in the state.
It is important to note, that the state official who brought the charges which initiated my being taken into custody, committed perjury to do so, and that she, who is also an evangelical Christian, had been a key defendant in the lawsuit for four years prior to the incident. Also, it is important to note, that we had just testified in court that I had an authorized state ID which designated me as a "Wiccan chaplain", and the judge noted that this added credibility to my claims.
It is odd, that shortly following that hearing, which was only attended by the Assistant Attorney Generals and the State's attorney, that I was wrongly accused and my state ID was revoked. Once I was cleared of all wrongdoing, my new state issued ID, had the word "Wiccan" removed!
Following all else that had gone on in my case, I decided to take the State Exam to apply for a Community Partnership Manager position with the state, one which did not have a religious requirement as a condition of employment, and which as a component of its duties, oversaw the religion programs in the prison. I took the official exam, and scored on the top of the list of all candidates, and according to the government rules, I had the first right to be hired for the position. I received a notice from the State Selection Committee, informing me that I was to report to the Valley State Prison for women to interview for the job.
But the prison refused to interview me for the job, even though I was the official candidate with the highest score, and even though government regulations required them to do so. Instead, they hired a Protestant minister without ever interviewing me and again I was denied a chance to compete for a state job. And while the institution and the California Department of Corrections would not return any of my calls or comment on why they circumvented the hiring process rather than interview me, it seems clear to me, that once again, the state is violating both state and federal law because I am Wiccan.
