<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 6/5/01 3:37:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Velsthe1@aol.com
<BR>writes:
<BR>
<BR>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Actually: (From Corpora)
<BR>"6. POLICY ON RELIGION (June 1980, revised July 1988)
<BR>Having no wish to recreate the religious conflicts of the period under
<BR>study, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Incorporated, shall neither
<BR>establish nor prohibit any system of belief among its members. No one shall
<BR>perform any religious or magical ceremony at a Society event (or in
<BR>association with the name of the Society) in such a way as to imply that
<BR>the ceremony is authorized, sponsored, or promulgated by the Society or to
<BR>force anyone at a Society event, by direct or indirect pressure, to observe
<BR>or join the ceremony. However, this provision is in no way intended to
<BR>discourage the study of historical belief systems and their effects on the
<BR>development of Western culture.
<BR>
<BR>"Except as provided herein, neither the Society nor any member acting in
<BR>its name or that of any of its parts shall interfere with any person's
<BR>lawful ceremonies, nor shall any member discriminate against another upon
<BR>grounds related to either's system of belief."
<BR>
<BR>So, You may study all you like, but religion within the SCA is forbidden. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
<BR>No. What I said before is exactly what Copora said, which I have read many
<BR>times. Religion is not forbidden. Re-read the above with a fine tooth comb.
<BR> SCA, Inc., shall not establish an official religion, *nor will it prohibit*
<BR>a belief system (i.e. forbid religion). It can't. This means the SCA cannot
<BR>say "All members must be Catholic, or Hindi, or Jewish, etc." Nor can it
<BR>say, "Muslims cannot participate, etc."
<BR>
<BR>What corpora *is* saying is that a religious or magical ceremony cannot take
<BR>place at an event under such circumstances that it appears the SCA, Inc, is
<BR>sponsoring it and SCA members at the event are required to attend it. But it
<BR>does not forbid religion. In fact, the last part specifically states that
<BR>this is not intended to prohibit the study of relgion. Yet this is what all
<BR>too often happens. We have a whole group of medievalists who are afraid to
<BR>discuss religion in the Middle Ages because of a misunderstanding of corpora.
<BR>
<BR>Saying the SCA forbids religion would imply that any religion person would
<BR>not be welcome at an SCA event or meeting unless he or she checks that
<BR>religion at the door. And I know many SCAdians who would simply refuse to do
<BR>that. I understand that there is to be theology track at the next
<BR>University. Vivat! So many times I have sat through a class on the English
<BR>Rennasiance, or the Crusades, for instance, where the teacher tiptoed around
<BR>the religion issue and never discussed it, because he or she was afraid that
<BR>it would not be welcome in the SCA. Hogwash!
<BR>
<BR>Aye,
<BR>Eogan
<BR>
<BR>Tighearn Eoghan Og mac Labhrainn, OPE, CP
<BR>Sacred Stone Pursuivant Extraordinary
<BR>Web Master et A&S Minister, Hawkwood
<BR>bard na hAlba agus Atlantia
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