{"id":4985,"date":"2010-10-31T15:53:09","date_gmt":"2010-10-31T15:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=4985"},"modified":"2010-10-31T15:53:09","modified_gmt":"2010-10-31T15:53:09","slug":"bell-diversity-handbook-and-candle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/bell-diversity-handbook-and-candle\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell, Diversity Handbook and Candle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted over at the Corner<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been well over 350 years since the death of the unlikable Matthew Hopkins but should Britain ever get back into the business of hiring a Witchfinder-General (check out the 1968 movie of the same name, incidentally, for some beautifully filmed, if thoroughly nasty, Hallowe\u2019en viewing), he will, if this <\/a>Sunday Telegraph<\/em> story is anything to go by, be considerably more sensitive than this psychotic predecessor:<\/p>\n

It is Hallowe\u2019en and the witching hour is drawing nearer, but don\u2019t be alarmed \u2013 [British] police officers are on the case, having been issued with official guidance on how to deal with witches. The advice is contained in a 300-page \u201cdiversity handbook\u201d which gives officers a range of \u201cdos and don\u2019ts\u201d when approaching followers of a range of religions and other beliefs, from atheism to Zoroastrianism. Instructions include avoid touching a witch\u2019s \u201cBook of Shadows\u201d, which contains their spells, or handling their ceremonial dagger. The online handbook also advises officers not to jump to conclusions if they encounter a situation where a blindfolded, naked person is tied by their hands \u2013 they could merely have stumbled upon a pagan ritual, where such activities are normal practice. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And yes, there\u2019s more. Please read the whole thing \u2013 and do have a very happy Hallowe\u2019en, or, for that matter, Samhain<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lower East Side, NYC, Oct 30 2010 (photo: AS)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted over at the Corner: It\u2019s been well over 350 years since the death of the unlikable Matthew Hopkins but should Britain ever get back into the business of hiring a Witchfinder-General (check out the 1968 movie of the same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[669,634,670,468,376],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4988,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions\/4988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}