Pagans unite for their faith

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BY SUSAN EMERY
Times Correspondent | Sunday, August 24, 2008 | (6 comment(s))

PORTAGE | Members of the pagan religion found it especially meaningful to celebrate their faith surrounded by trees at Woodland Park.

"We're very nature-oriented," said Chesterton resident Patricia Riley-Churilla, a pagan since 1972. "We see nature as a symbol of our gods being with us, and we see the earth as a living organism."

Riley-Churilla was one of hundreds of local pagans who turned out Saturday for the annual Northwest Indiana Pagan Pride Day. The event, which draws pagans, followers of nature- or earth-centered, pre-Christian religions, featured vendors, information booths, workshops, children's events, a food drive to benefit the greater community and a harvest ritual.

"We want people of the pagan faith to come out and network, and we also hope that people who are unrelated to this spiritual path will come out and see that we're just regular people," said Riley-Churilla, who served as co-coordinator of the event.

The festival also featured classes on various topics including heathenism, tarot cards, astral projection, ghosts and pagan holidays.

Children's activities included a scavenger hunt, a "stuff-a-goddess" workshop, musical meditation and making God's Eyes with popsicle sticks and yarn.

Kele Ivey, of Griffith, who considers herself a "nondenominational pagan," volunteered at the children's activities table.

"It's good to see this many people (of the pagan faith) come together," she said. "We get to network and catch up with each other. It's a lot of fun."

Hammond resident Glen Karwick, priest of the Wolves Den coven, also enjoyed the day of fellowship.

"The main concept behind this day is to support one another," said Karwick, event co-coordinator. "We also try to help out the community with a food drive."

For more information about Pagan Pride Day, visit paganpride.org.

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Jaeger wrote on Aug 30, 2008 3:27 AM:

" To Tamara and Patricia: The word pagan does not define a religion, it is a generic term from long ago that simply means someone who isn't Christian, Jew, or Muslim. These were the 3 big religions from when the term was used. As such, it shouldn't be capitalized because it isn't a proper religion itself, it includes many religions. If the author were to specifically refer to Wiccans, Druids, or Zorostarians I'm sure that they would have capitalized the names of the religions. Please don't chide the author of this article out of ignorance, but educate yourselves instead as the ignorance lies within yourself. "

Patricia wrote on Aug 27, 2008 11:44 AM:

" The word "pagan" is commonly not capitalized. This is mostly due to programs such as Spell Check, which only recognize "pagan" as a generic term, meaning a follower of some religion other than Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. It does not recognize the word as a proper noun. It's like saying "she" instead of "Suzie."

I thought Ms. Emery did a fine job on this article, treating the subject with respect and a smile. I am one happy Pagan. "

DJ wrote on Aug 25, 2008 10:20 PM:

" I'm quite sad that I knew nothing of this until today when I read the little paragraph in the "In Brief" section. It definitely sounds something that I'd be interested in checking out, as I'm heavily interested in astral projection and things of that ilk. "

kalyre wrote on Aug 25, 2008 1:53 PM:

" I must agree with Tamara on the author's oversight with regard to the respectful capitization of the word "Pagan". The floaver of the article was, however very good. "

Tamara wrote on Aug 24, 2008 9:53 PM:

" Nice article, thank you for your clear and non-sensationalistic reporting.

I would encourage Ms. Emergy to capitalize the word "Pagan" if she is going to refer to it as a bona fide religion. You wouldn't say christian, jewish or baptist, would you? "

Amie wrote on Aug 24, 2008 8:33 PM:

" This was a great article. Thank you! "

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