Live on Thursday, May 6: Freedom from Religion, The Santeria Nightmare

MikeImagine that you've saved for years for the down payment toward your first home and the day comes that you're finally able to buy your house.  Excited, you move in … only to hear frightening sounds late at night and to discover that an amateur practitioner of Santeria is sacrificing goats and chickens almost directly under your bedroom window.  Slain animal carcasses sit in the alley for a week or more, waiting for the garbage collector and creating stench and swarms of flies.

Imagine that you complain to the city and nothing is done because banning the practice would violate your neighbor's freedom of religion.

Imagine that you're the subject of voodoo hexes and threats of violence because you've dared to complain.

That's what happened to a young lady in Delaware.

Documentary film producer Mike Pulcinella (pictured) found himself as both movie maker and movie subject in a disturbing account about freedom FROM religion.  Mike's girlfriend, who bought the house, eventually lost thousands of dollars because she was forced to sell her house below market value in order to get away from what was going on next door.

Join us for the God Discussion Internet radio podcast on Thursday, May 6, 2010 for the rest of this shocking and disturbing story as we talk with Mike Pulcinella.

Mike's story begs the question,

At what point do people's religious freedoms trump other people's freedoms?

MIke Pulcinella is a documentary filmmaker best known for his underground bodybuilding documentary series Raising the Bar about his brother Dave's quest to become a pro bodybuilder.

His most recent documentary is about a contender to the Mr. Olympia crown called "Kai Greene: OVERKILL".

In 2008 he was involved in a controversy involving religion, law, culture and freedom. Frustrated by injustice of the situation he struck back with the best tool at his disposal. His camera. "Freedom From Religion", a four part YouTube documentary, was the result.  The videos are posted below.

The Dominionism Update and Responses to Pentagon Decision Over the National Day of Prayer.

Leah Burton

One of the threats to religious freedom is the growing influence of dominionism.  Whether it is freedom to practice religion or freedom to not be subject to religions you may not agree with, believers and non-believers alike should be familiar with Christian dominionism and be able to identify its political players at the voting booth.  Given the decision by VCY America to dump Janet Porter's Faith2Action broadcast due to her increasing dominionist theology, the subject is finally getting discussed more openly.  We will be joined by Leah Burton, author and board member of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to talk about the latest in dominionism, to explore what dominionism is about, and to comment on the wave of angry, violent responses from the radical Christian community over the Pentagon's decision to cancel Franklin Graham's National Day of Prayer ceremony.

Call or Chat … Or Just Listen In.

As always, your calls are welcome during the show.  If you can't call in, be sure to log into the web-based chat room and submit your questions or comment there and we'll forward them onto our guests.  The chat room tends to be a fun networking place while the show takes place, so be sure and check it out.

SHOW DETAILS.

Time: Thursday, May 6, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m. PACIFIC (see time conversions below)

God Discussion on Blog Talk Radio:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/god-discussion

Show Page (and Chat Room):

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/god-discussion/2010/05/07/freedom-from-religion-the-santeria-nightmare

Call-In Number: (914) 338-0452

Specific Show Notes: When the show goes live, you'll see a "ON AIR" button … click it and you can hear the live stream through your computer speakers.  If you have SKYPE, click the "click to talk" button and you will be taken to the switchboard.  The chatroom can be viewed and accessed at the show page .

Time Zones: The clock below is set for Pacific time.

Pacific: 7:00 p.m. | Mountain: 8:00 p.m. | Central: 9:00 p.m. | Eastern: 10:00 p.m. (see time zone map)

Current Pacific Time

The Freedom From Religion videos on Santeria.

D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.

More Posts - Website - Twitter

  • http://www.goddiscussion.com admin

    Mike was a fantastic guest — if you missed the show, you can hear the archive by clicking the "Freedom from Religion? The Santeria Nightmare" play button in the Blog Talk Radio widget on the bottom of this page.

    This issue goes beyond freedom from religion … it's something that every homeowner should be familiar with. About half way through the show, Mike reveals some shocking information that might affect every homeowner.

  • http://www.thejoyfulmystic.blogspot.com Sheri

    Freedom from Religion seems to me to be a basic fundamental right. Religious folks think for some reason they have the market on morality, but what I've seen of late is, their sins are taking front and center. To force others to conform to their brand of morality by legislating away civil rights of tax paying citizens, like gay couples, seems so ludicrous to me.

    I had someone complain to me on a forum I was involved in that if gays get the right to legally marry then it will be her tax dollars helping to support them and she refuses to do that. I posed the question, well since they pay the same taxes as you don't you think they should have the same rights as you do, expecially since their marriage won't harm you or anyone else? I haven't heard from her since.

    I suppose it's hard to wrap your mind around a concept that is so foreign, such as gay marriage. But if you think the issue all the way through, it's hard to find valid answers why it shouldn't be legalized. Gay people who are also relgious are caught in the middle. The only way they can have equality is to be free from the religion that many of them love.
    .-= Sheri ´s last blog ..Powerful Energy Work =-.

    • http://www.goddiscussion.com admin

      You're exactly right, Sheri. The Prop 8 trial illustrated very clearly how there is no compelling state interest in banning marriage equality. One of the issues I've been raising with this trial is that in effect, Prop 8 and similar pieces of legislation actually deny some religions their First Amendment rights. For instance, the Metropolitan Community Church (and others) which does recognize marriage equality is denied its doctrinal belief. The amicus briefs filed by pro-equality religious groups make for good reading.

      In the Santeria episode that we talked about, an important question was raised: At what point do my rights end and yours begin? In the situation we talked about on the show, religion trumped the rights to peaceful property ownership of a tax-paying citizen. What was disturbing about the interview was the possibility that this could happen to anyone, anywhere … destroying their property values and destroying their peaceful homes.

      Religions often create "victimless crimes." For instance, blasphemy is an example of a victimless crime. The only "victim" may be the hurt feelings of a religious believer. But there is no actual harm to that person. The gay marriage point that you raised sort of falls into the same category … society is not harmed in any way by it. Of course, there are people who say that it will bring about God's wrath to allow equality for gays and lesbians. Seeing that Canada hasn't been obliterated by God yet, I'd say that type of religious doom and gloom thinking is merely based on superstition and irrationality.