[MR] Policy on Religion

[Lisa and Ken Theriot]

Magdalena wrote:

[There is a grey zone, here. Is it exceptable to sing,
in latin, a portion of a 12th century chanted mass in
a bardic competition? Would it be OK to sing latin
hymns written by Thomas Aquinas in a bardic?  Is it OK
to do a morality play from period which would have
been presented in Church and which has religious
content?  Is it OK to produce a copy of a pattern
darned altar cloth from 13c germany with religious
theme and enter it in an A&S contest?]


Really no gray zone at all.  All of those things are fine, and as Eogan 
said, would probably be well received.  Further, our rights of free speech 
allow us to demonstrate our beliefs if we choose, even to an unwilling 
audience.  This may include leading your household through camp chanting 
plainsong, dancing in the May at dawn complete with bells and hurdy-gurdy, 
or doing muezzin calls to prayer at a volume from which there is no escape. 
 It might not be polite, but it's not a violation of law or policy.  (I 
recall exiting a performance of the ballet one night to the lyric strains 
of an evangelist with a bullhorn telling us all we were perdition-bound; 
sadly, impolite, but legal.)  Waking people with religious content is no 
different from waking them with raucous laughter or doumbek music; it's a 
social imposition (and may have social remedies!) but it does not violate 
SCA policy.


For a religious observance to appear sanctioned by the SCA, it must be 
presented by someone who could be construed as an officer of the 
corporation.  If a seneschal or autocrat were to get up in court and 
instruct everyone to repeat the Lord's Prayer with him, or if the King were 
to require entrants in Crown lists to kiss a crucifix, THAT would be a 
problem.  Now, if the A&S competition REQUIRED religious content in a 
category, that would be a problem, especially if they specified the 
religion.


Adelaide