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Maine Pagan Wins Right To Wear Horns In ID Photo

Feb 1, 2017

A Maine pagan priest won the right to wear goat horns in a state-issued identification card on Dec. 14, months after the Bureau of Motor Vehicles told him to remove them for an ID photo.

After telling the Bureau that he had contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, Phelan Moonsong, 56, received his horns-inclusive ID in the mail within days. The Bureau had previously told him to appeal its decision to Maine’s secretary of state.

Moonsong argued that the horns, which he has been wearing since 2009, are a part of his religious attire.

A Maine Pagan Priest Can Wear Horns In An Official Photo

Dec 29, 2016 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation

A Maine pagan has won the right to wear goat horns in a state-issued identification card. This is an example of the government treating all religions equally, and that’s a good thing.

Phelan Moonsong, 56, is a Pagan minister and a devotee of Pan. He has been wearing the goat horns since 2009, when he picked them up at a gathering of Pagan men.

To Moonsong, the horns are important religious attire.

Persecution-Free Park: Religious Freedom Still Not Under Attack In America

Jul 28, 2016 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation

I just got back from a week-long vacation with my wife and son. We were in Acadia National Park in Maine.

On our second day in the park, I noticed something unusual outside of the Hulls Cove Visitor Center: Three Jehovah’s Witnesses were standing outside the center on a patch of grass offering people religious literature. Among them was a magazine explaining the Witnesses’ creationist view of how the world came into being.

Maine Education Official Under Fire For Past Pro-Creationism Remarks

Dec 1, 2015

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) has appointed a man to be acting education commissioner who in the past has expressed support for teaching creationism in public schools.

Dr. William Beardsley is the former president of Bangor-based Husson University and is considered a close associate of LePage. Beardsley’s academic credentials are not in doubt, but his understanding of basic science is questionable: He expressed unequivocal support for teaching creationism during his unsuccessful 2010 bid to become the Republican nominee for governor.

North Woods Trouble: Maine Governor Names Self-Avowed Creationist Education Commissioner

Oct 20, 2015 by Sarah E. Jones in Wall of Separation

Maine’s controversial Gov. Paul LePage (R) may have appointed a creationist to serve as the state’s acting education commissioner. Dr. William Beardsley is the former president of Bangor-based Husson University and is considered a close associate of LePage. The governor’s administration announced the appointment yesterday.

Beardsley’s academic credentials aren’t in doubt. His understanding of basic science is less certain: He expressed unequivocal support for teaching creationism during his unsuccessful 2010 bid to become the Republican nominee for governor.

Marriage Mischief: Religious Right Lawyers Give States Bad Advice

Nov 28, 2012 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation

Travel back in time with me for a moment. It’s 1956, and we’re in the Deep South. An interracial couple approaches the county clerk to apply for a marriage license. The clerk says, “Oh, no! Don’t you know that the Bible mandates separation of the races? I refuse to give you a license because it violates my religious beliefs.”