Read our responses to key news stories about pagans, and see our archive of PAN Inc in the news.
MEDIA RELEASES | PAGANS IN THE MEDIA
Media Releases
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HREOC Report Finds Discrimination Against Pagans
"We are not interested in converting anyone to our beliefs. The issue for us is simply equity: we think it is fair that we have the same acceptance within the broader community as everyone else. We hope this report will highlight some of the very real issues our community faces."
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Dear Media: What is the big deal about being a witch?
"The media has done its best to put Ms De Avalon on trial in the court of public opinion for her beliefs as well as her actions. I doubt they would bother if she were a Catholic or a Hindu or practically any other religion. What is the big deal about practicing an indigenous European belief like witchcraft? When it comes to the law, people's actions are what matter."
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PAN Leads Pagan Community on Child Protection
"We're making sure the Association complies with or exceeds the expectations of the various state laws that operate around Australia," PAN President David Garland said today. "We run and provide support for many events around Australia for followers of Pagan and nature-based religions. Some of these events cater for families and are open to under-18s. This is an area where we have to get it right."
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Sunday night on Channel 7 sees Temperance Brennan and FBI agent Booth face one of their strangest cases: an investigation into the mysterious world of Wicca and witchcraft. But have the writers and producers of the hit show Bones got their facts straight?
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"The word is derived from 'Eostre', who was the Germanic goddess of the springtime," PAN President David Garland said today. "Her festival celebrated the return of life and growth to the land with the passing of winter."
See a full list of PAN Media Releases
Pagans in the Media
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SMH 20 June 2014
Here comes the sun: pagans celebrate the solstice
As pagans, we feel it’s really important to be connected to the earth’s cycles so that we can help to heal the land and our relationships with the land.
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The Examiner
Nature casts its spell over pagans
Mr Garland said pagans, in all their various forms, had a strong affinity with nature. "Basic pagan tenants are that the sun goes up, the moon goes down, it becomes a full moon and we have the high tides - these things are all indisputable, and have been throughout human history. These were the things that pagans lived by," Mr Garland said.
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ABC Local Sunday Nights
The Goodlife, Wicca And Pagans At Harvest Festival/Samhaine (Part 2)
David Garland (who has a Green Man tattoo) leads Australia's Pagan Awareness Network; an organisation that seeks to increase the profile of pagan practice- but also to correct misinformation about pagan practice.
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ABC Local Sunday Nights
The Goodlife, Wicca And Pagans At Harvest Festival/Samhaine (Part 1)
You're unlikely to be arrested for witchcraft these days in Australia- but our history shows that being simply a witch or Wiccan in Australia carried with it social stigma.
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Newcastle Herald
No more mooning about – call for pagans to come out of the shadows
The Pagan Awareness Network, of which Mr Hepworth is vice-president, is urging its many and diverse faith paths - which include Druidism, Shamanism and Lesbian Feminist Goddess Worship - to nominate paganism as their religious category in this year's census.