Wicca, Child Sexual Abuse, UK, Legal, Film, Transcendental Meditation, ultra-Orthodox Jews, UK
The Conversation: What is Wicca? An expert on modern witchcraft explains.
"Wicca and witchcraft are popping up in pop culture these days, from teenage witches on TikTok to a Marvel comic superhero called Wiccan. It has even led The New York Times to ask: "When did everyone become a witch?"
Wicca, an alternative minority religion whose adherents, regardless of gender, call themselves witches, began in the U.K. in the 1940s. Wicca and Witchcraft are part of the larger contemporary pagan movement, which includes druids and heathens among others. All these spiritual paths, as pagans refer to them, base their practices on pre-Christian religions and cultures.
Ever since Wicca arrived in the United States in the 1960s, it has been growing – sometimes by leaps and bounds, and other times more slowly. It is estimated that there could be around 1.5 million witches in the U.S.
As I am aware from my own research of more than 30 years, however, not all witches consider themselves Wiccans. Based on my most recent survey data, approximately 800,000 Americans are Wiccans. The increasing numbers that have been witnessed in surveys and the growth of groups, such as those on TikTok, suggest that the religion is continuing to grow."
IICSA report finds victim blaming, abuse of power and mistrust of authority to be commonplace
"Children involved in religious organisations, including Sunday schools and madrasas, are vulnerable to sexual abuse in cultures where victim blaming, abuse of power and mistrust of external authorities are common, a report says.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said there was "no doubt that the sexual abuse of children takes place in a broad range of religious settings".
It found evidence of "egregious failings" and highlighted the hypocrisy of religions that purport to teach right from wrong yet fail to protect children.
IICSA's investigation examined child protection in 38 religious organisations and settings in England and Wales, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Methodists, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and nonconformist Christian denominations.
The organisations had "significant or even dominant influence on the lives of millions of children", the inquiry's report said. "What marks religious organisations out from other institutions is the explicit purpose they have in teaching right from wrong; the moral turpitude of any failing by them in the prevention of, or response to, child sexual abuse is therefore heightened."
It added: "Freedom of religion and belief can never justify or excuse the ill‐treatment of a child, or a failure to take adequate steps to protect them from harm."
The report, published on Thursday, followed earlier investigations into the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches that detailed widespread abuse and cover-ups.
Among the cases cited in the report were those of three children abused by Todros Grynhaus, a prominent member of the Haredi Jewish community in Manchester, who was sent by his rabbi for counselling after allegations were made. Grynhaus was eventually convicted and jailed.
Another case concerned a girl who was abused and raped at a madrasa in a "house mosque" between the ages of eight and 11. After disclosing the abuse, she was called a "slag" by others in the community."
Hollywood Reporter: Venice: 'System Crasher' Producer Backs Climate Crisis Comedy 'Our House Is Burning'
"Weydemann Bros., the Berlin- based production house behind 2019 sleeper hit System Crasher and this year's Locarno winner No One's With the Calves, has teamed up with writer Alexander Dydyna (Young Goethe in Love) and director David Sieveking (David Wants to Fly) for its next project, a climate crisis comedy called Unser Zuhause Brennt (Our House Is Burning).
The plot imagines a comfortable suburban family whose lifestyle, and carbon footprint, are challenged by their daughter Zora, a Greta Thunberg-like climate activist. But her efforts to get everyone on board the mission to save the planet stirs up old conflicts and ends up triggering an anti-climate protection movement.
Dydyna's writing credits include the 2018 hit What About Adolf?, a German adaptation of the 2012 French comedy What's in a Name?, and the 2019 musical comedy I've Never Been to New York. Sieveking is best known for his documentaries, including Forget Me Not (2012), a portrait of his mother's struggle with Alzheimer's, and David Wants to Fly (2010), in which, inspired by tran- scendental meditation proselytizer David Lynch, he tracks down TM guru the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
"Paltiel Schwarcz, a leading rabbinical authority among ultra-Orthodox Jews, said informing statutory authorities in the UK of a suspected Jewish child sex offender was generally "a severe sin".
His written opinion contradicts claims made by an ultra-Orthodox leader last year in evidence to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. The report on the inquiry's investigation of child protection in religious organisations is due to be published tomorrow.
Schwarcz, 37, presents several instances in which it is forbidden to report child sexual abuse by a Jewish person to "gentile" authorities. They include when the abuser is married with children, because his family would be "destroyed"... "
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