[MR] it's perception...not just the facts...

[Baroness Gwynwilf]

If you hold up a five pointed star within a circle, anyone is going to call it a pentagram. Call it what you want, but it's still a pentagram and commonly viewed as a satanic symbol.  And this is put forward by wicca, witches, and in every movie, TV show, book, and news story about the occult. Go onto the web site for the church of satan and bingo, the pentagram is on the main page. 

  Any christian religion, Jewish, Mormon, etc are offended as highly by it as the swastika. It is in it's very nature, the strongest anti- Christ, anti God symbol there is. It is the most widely recognized symbol of idol worship and satan.  There is no educational opportunity here.  It is and for the foreseeable future, will be an affront to most of the recognized, major religions on the planet, and most of the people on the planet are offended by it. 

It may be a done deal now, but the SCA has reversed itself before, and probably will on this when we start getting bad press over it and just wait when we show up at St Urho, or Twelth Night at St Ann's and other events held at churches. We will be asked to leave and not come back, and we have a shortage of event sites. Remember that a lot of the church sites are the ones that still allow alcohol.  You are not going to educate Pastors or Ministers on the good side of the pentagram. Even if they know it was a former christian symbol, you go on the internet and you find...

"The Pentagram As A Christian Symbol
Up until medieval times, the five points of the pentagram represented the five wounds of Christ on the Cross. It was a symbol of Christ the Savior. This is in stark contrast to today where the pentagram is widely viewed by modern Fundamentalist Christians, as being a symbol of evil."

Showing up with pentagrams on, is only asking for trouble, and as you pointed out, we already have enough. We have already been banned from all the boy scout camps in the barony, and a Church could have us banned from all their sister churches, and I saw it happen when I was senechal of Kappelenburg.  And that was because they thought we were mid-evil. Even to this day, I try not to use the word medieval, among mundanes. 

It all boils down to how we are perceived, and churches and local governments are going to rule against us every time. Even if we claimed religious freedom, we could end up with locals shooting over our heads with rifles, and live ammunition,like what happened at an event in what is now Hawkwood. The locals thought we were witches, tore down the SCA signs and came after us. The only thing that saved us then, was my cousin was the local sheriff, but even he told us not to leave the park after dark, and to go as soon as possible, Sunday morning. Needless to say, we have never held an event at that park, or even in that county, since. Yep, it's backward, but we do live in the south. there you go...we can debate this forever, but time, and history, always has the final word.