{"id":164,"date":"2004-04-18T20:13:00","date_gmt":"2004-04-18T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=164"},"modified":"2004-04-18T20:13:00","modified_gmt":"2004-04-18T20:13:00","slug":"164","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=164","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Dealing with evangelicals<\/strong><\/p>\n

About ten days ago, while I was working at home (revising the book), the notorious M.C. took the dogs for a walk in the woods, leaving me without my first line of defense. As I was pouring a cup of tea in the kitchen, someone knocked at the front door — and it did not sound like her characteristic knock.<\/p>\n

I went to the door. There were two of them: men, thirty-ish, dressed “cowboy formal,” each clutching leather-bound Bibles, the King James Version, no doubt. Their shiny, well-muffled sport-utility vehicle had crept up the gravel driveway, and I, back in my study, had not heard it.<\/p>\n

I opened the door, polite guy that I am. I forget now what my visitor said, but his purpose was clear. “You’ve come to the wrong house,” I replied. No terribly witty, but it worked; they said goodbye and left.<\/p>\n

Encounter number two was by email, from an evangelical Canadian professor <\/a>whom I know just slightly from the American Academy of Religion’s “new religious movements” group. He wrote to say that he was working on a book on NRMs for Thomas Nelson<\/a>, a Christian publisher. <\/p>\n

I do not question that he is a legitimate scholar, not at all, but his phrasing was unfortunate: “I was wondering if you could send me a list of the 25 most influential witches in modern times.”<\/p>\n

In the context, it was a legitimate question, but it hit me all wrong. It was too much like, “Give him another jolt, Boris. He’ll crack and tell us who his associates are.”<\/p>\n

The correct response would be, “Witches? That’s a lot of silliness. There are no witches.” (see Gerald Gardner’s Craft Laws<\/a>, nos. 131-132 in Lady Sheba’s<\/a> version — but those in the linked document are not numbered).<\/p>\n

But, too polite to do that either, I suggested several good reference books, such as the Rabinovitch and Lewis Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dealing with evangelicals About ten days ago, while I was working at home (revising the book), the notorious M.C. took the dogs for a walk in the woods, leaving me without my first line of defense. As I was pouring a cup of tea in the kitchen, someone knocked at the front door — and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-164","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1742,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1742","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":0},"title":"Robots, Foreward!","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Robots are set to explore the Great Pyramid. Just think, ever since the Napoleon's scientists put ancient Egypt back on the map of the public imagination during his 1798\u20131801 campaign, we remain fascinated by this structure. No one knows what the shafts are for. In 1992, a camera sent up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9301,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9301","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":1},"title":"The Trip to Salem: Southern Colorado \u2014 Chicago","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The eastbound Southwest Chief, which originates in Los Angeles, rolls into La Junta, Colorado, at sunset. A near-miss in Chicago: the sleeping car attendant had lined up everyone's bags on the platform, which is a dimly lit. I found my carry-on bag, rolled it into Union Station, down the corridors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":816,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=816","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":2},"title":"This is going out to all my writer friends","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"True, I drink cheap wine. But I eat good meat. There is an expression for my condition: The wolf is at the door. But I want the wolf at the door. I am tired of living in a world without wolves.Charles BowdenBlood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=writing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6492,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6492","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":3},"title":"In Lieu of a Post, a Link to Posts","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I am living behind this door right now and don't much feel like coming out. So here is something else: Go visit this month's Animist Blog Carnival, the \"Wakeful World Book Club,\" devoted to the works of animist author and Druid Emma Restall Orr.","rel":"","context":"In \"animism\"","block_context":{"text":"animism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animism"},"img":{"alt_text":"blue elk door","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/blue-elk-door.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13491,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13491","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":4},"title":"Go Light the Lantern at Your Door","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Go light the lantern at your door and honor those who've gone before. The worlds that part us now are twain for Hallow's Eve is here again. The westering sun grows pale and wan. The day grows dark The veterinary language is actually also faster sick and is not the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1466,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1466","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":5},"title":"Photographer, Journalist: Is it a Career?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A New York Times media-section piece suggests that \"professional photographer\" is a poor career choice if you are just starting out. Since graduation in 2008, Mr. Eich, 23, has gotten magazine assignments here and there, but \u201cindustrywide, the sentiment now, at least among my peers, is that this is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"journalism\"","block_context":{"text":"journalism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=journalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}