From: mittle@watson.ibm.com (Josh Mittleman)
Subject: Pentacles (was Re: consort gender)
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1992 19:47:27 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Greetings from Arval!  I had written:

> The swastika and the pentagram may not be registered in SCA armory
> because the corporation does not want to give its sanction to the use of
> these symbols which are intimately associated in the modern mind with
> mass murder.

Raedwynn asked for some clarification:

> I would like you to clarify just why you think the public associates
> "mass murder" with pentagrams? Weird things, bizarre cults, but I have
> never seen a pentacle get the kind of negative reaction one has to a
> swastika.

The Mason murders is one excellent example; there are others.  For example,
a few years ago the media was swamped with reports of a "Satanist cult"
operating across the US-Mexican border, kidnapping young men and women and
slaughtering them.  The pentacle figured heavily in their symbolism.  In
much of this country, the pentacle is seen as _the_ symbol of Satan and
evil.  In the media, it is uniformly associated with Satanism, and the
bloodiest sicko Satanist are always the ones used to illustrate the dangers
of Satanist cults.  I am well aware that the pentacle has other, peaceful
meanings, but the one most prevalent in the common imagery of modern
America is decidedly bloody.

> The society is not interested in whether or not it might give it's
> "sanction" to these symbols by allowing them to be displayed; it states
> quite clearly in the section of the Corpora on religious  freedom /
> tolerance that symbols may not be displayed which might be termed
> coercive, intolerant, etc. by anyone else. 

I'm afraid you've mis-remembered Corpora.  Corpora talks about religious
ceremonies & discrimination of the grounds of religion, but has nothing to
say about religious symbols.

The following passage is quoted from the Board's ruling on the use of
pentacles in SCA armory; if you like I will send you the entire ruling.  As
you see, the ruling has nothing to do with religion or religious symbols;
it has everything to do with whether or not the SCA, Inc. chooses to
sanction the display of the pentacle, and the possibility of damage to the
Society's reputation.

  The Board has a duty of care for the whole organization.  We heard from a
  number of people who have had problems in the communities because of
  perceptions of the SCA as not merely tolerating, but actively
  encouraging, various anti-social activities.  Again, the rightness or
  wrongness of their perceptions is not at issue; those perceptions are
  simply part of the larger environment within which the SCA must operate.
  We can reasonably expect that the SCA will come up against similar
  perceptions in the future, and we cannot reasonably expect outsiders to
  understand the subtleties of authority underlying 'registration,' which
  to them will inevitably imply official recognition, approval, and
  sanction. (quoted from the cover letter to the 4/91 Laurel Letter of
  Acceptances and Returns, which in turn quotes from a letter from the
  Board of Directors)

===========================================================================
Arval Benicoeur                                       mittle@watson.ibm.com
From: Joe.Bethancourt@f4229.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Joe Bethancourt)
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