Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Voodoo House in Philly

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" I'm your host, Anne Johnson. And my new sidekick is Lil Scratch, the netbook that lets me blog from school!

I could blog from my school computer. But honestly, given the content of this site, would you do that? Maybe when I'm tenured.

A few weeks ago a lurid story emerged from Philadelphia about a house full of animal bones, and an altar made of turtle bones, and all sorts of weird animal abuse on display. The "experts" on the Philly police force concluded that some sort of ritual slaughter was going on there. Duh. But the implication is that the so-called ritual slaughter was for the purposes of a religion of some sort.

We at "The Gods Are Bored" have no idea what exactly was happening in that house. We're just ticked that so much hoo hah was made over it.

In a city the size of Philadelphia (especially when you add its suburbs in PA and NJ), nary a day  goes by when someone, somewhere, is torturing an animal. You've got your dog fighting, your cockfighting, your road kills, your pet hoarders, and your research labs. You've got cats half starved in dumpsters and poorly-bred puppies in posh pet shops. For the love of fruit flies, you've got Vietnamese fighting fish in 6-ounce cups! can't even move their fins!

None of this makes the news ... unless the hoarding is severe. But stick an altar in it, and wow. That's news.

We at "The Gods Are Bored" go on record as saying that we live in the 21st century, and animals should be treated humanely by all religious and secular people. Does your deity need a bloody dove to make Him happy? If so, find a new deity. If you are using worship as an excuse to torture animals ... get a life and a new deity.

Aren't there at least a few praise and worship pantheons out there that don't need the screams of dying animals to appease them?

In the meantime, the Philly press should be covering better stories and not making a fuss about an empty house with some bones in it. This is a city that records more than 300 murders a year. I guess writing about that gets boring.


The moral of today's sermon: Be kind to animals, and if you're not, don't blame some deity. Times change, and smart deities change with them.

Now it's time to go to night school. Smart money says Mr. Bigwand will be bragging about living through a massive earthquake by using his superior ingenuity.

13 comments:

Hecate said...

Here's hoping Mr. Bigwind gets a sore throat and cancels class.

Alex Pendragon said...

I don't think the Santarians are gonna like you for that.......but hey, get in line. The Christians don't like us because we don't nail our dieties to crosses......

yellowdoggranny said...

what people will do in the name of their deity..sigh*

A Wild Celtic Rose said...

My cat IS deity, just ask her

Souris Optique said...

In Vodou, the animals are slaughtered humanely and then eaten by the congregation and community. I have yet to figure out why this is OMG SO HORRIFYING to anyone who isn't vegan.

Dancing With Fey said...

I'd want to know more details about the case before judging. I don't know much about Voodoo, but if the animals are killed humanely (as Souris says, and as I've heard before), the bodies are treated respectfully, and not an excessive number are killed, I'm not complaining. But if the animals weren't killed humanely, my response would be different.

Michael -- No, our deities just sometimes hang for nine days from a tree. (I'm referring to Odin.)

Wild Celtic Rose -- I made the mistake of naming my cat after a trickster god. He knows he's named for a god, unfortunately.

A Wild Celtic Rose said...

Sarita.

You didn't....

dare....

name him....

[shudder]

LOKI?

Dancing With Fey said...

LOL No, that was my mom's first idea, but after a bit of research (I wasn't as familiar with the gods then) I vetoed that idea.

No, I named him Kokopelli, though I call him Kokopelle.

My mom has a coworker who named her cat Loki. This coworker let me borrow her spinning wheel last summer, and guess what? On the morning of the day I got ahold of it, she discovered that Loki had chewed apart the belt on it. lol I am very glad I had more sense than my mom about naming the cat.

Dancing With Fey said...

Oh oh oh Wild Celtic Rose, I just found your Bad Kitty blog. I love it!!! :)

A Wild Celtic Rose said...

HA, As someone who used to live in the Desert Southwest, I hope that after he was named Kokopelli he was neutered right away.

He's not as much a trickster as he is a fertility god and "sower of the scared seed".

Niall MacSiurtain said...

Likewise without knowing more details its hard to make a stance on this. Voudou has always been reported as very human towards animals, while many neopagans don't hunt or kill their own food anymore many do still have feasts with blessings. I think its best not to over eat.

Dancing With Fey said...

Kokokpelle was neutered fairly quickly...but he still tries to sow the sacred seed with our female cat, much to her displeasure. (Actually she asks for it half the time, so she doesn't have my sympathy. Weird kitty. She goes out of her way to get his attention, then pitches a fit when he takes her seriously. Typical cat, I guess.)

Jane Kaylor said...

sore throat is not a lot of fun its just uncomfortable and difficult to swallow.

usually, i would take the Nim Jiom Cough Syrup (www.geocities.jp/ninjiom_hong_kong/index_e.htm ) which has a thick consistency formulation. it coats the throat and includes herbs that are particularly good for that application.