Posts Tagged ‘animal sacrifice’

This post is public notice that our family wishes to announce that we are permanently disaffiliated with the Heathen spirituality group entitled the “Falcon Kindred.”  This is not because any of us disavow belief in or devotion to certain of the Nordic deities; far from it.

It is more a statement that we found certain racist and sexist behaviors unforgivable and that the apparent habit of considering drunken revelry and weapons in close consort at every “religious” gathering  necessary gave us considerable pause.  We found it dangerous and in some cases in possible violation of state laws.  I found their utter disregard of the reservations of members (aside from ourselves) disheartening.  The overall impression was one of arrogant presumption to ignore the members for the pleasure of the unelected and appointed for life leaders.

Behaviors observed by my son, who attended several gathers only led to more dismay.  And when rather harsh things were said about my personal intention “to destroy the Kindred” I took it as a sign of a certain paranoia, if not outright delusion.  I also, at one point in my life, left the Catholic Church—but I felt no need to destroy them, nor to make others cease in their devotions to such institution.  My need to disassociate myself from what I viewed as dangerous and addiction driven behaviors is not commentary on Heathen or Asatruar beliefs, but upon the leadership of this particular group.

We owe this group nothing, we offered them our hospitality and they responded with an arrogant attitude with regard to future hospitality and entitlements.  My views on weapons or the length of their stay, or the alcohol abuse were disregarded and my invitation permanently withdrawn.  They would quote me the Havamal with regard to how to be a good host; I would recommend they read the sections on the proper behaviors of guests.  They consider my eclecticism in religion not suitably “pure” for them; so they are spiritual racists in a sense as well as the unfortunately usual way attributed to white supremist groups.  Apparently, because I am devoted to Greek deities as well as Freyja, I am guilty of spiritual miscegenation of some sort.  I wonder if they are guilty of the same for worship of at least one god not of Nordic descent at all?  A worship my son was invited and declined to join.

Furthermore, since my son had created a website and kindly agreed to host it upon his own domain at his own personal expense, this group interpreted this as an obligation not a gift.   Below is his own letter of disaffiliation:

It is has come to my attention that certain members of the Falcon Kindred still seem to hold a personal interest in my person and in members of my family. The intent of this document is to provide the following:

1. That I did in fact leave the Falcon Kindred on my own terms and in good faith.

2. That any ‘intellectual’ properties of the Falcon Kindred were no longer in my sole possession and that the Falcon Kindred Board of Directors, in particular, the President of the Falcon Kindred, could have at any time dealt with the online face of the Falcon Kindred without my help.

3. That I no longer am obligated in any way, shape, or form to provide ANY assistance what-so-ever to any member of the Kindred. And that should I provide assistance, it is out of the kindness of my heart and not through any legal obligation.

I departed the Falcon Kindred and the Falcon Kindred Board of Directors for a variety of reasons. Chief among them were immoral and unethical behaviors which were allowed to prosper in the Kindred without rebuke from the Board of Directors or other persons in positions of leadership. These reasons are few in number, but they are of large consequence and unforgivable import—things which I have never tolerated in my life and will not tolerate now, under any guise, especially that of a religious guise.

With my departure came my full and irrevocable resignation from the IT position on the Falcon Kindred Board of Directors. Materials made for the Falcon Kindred (electronic documents, web site material, etc) were never ‘given’ to the Falcon Kindred. The copyright for these works (with a few notable exceptions) resides with the creator of said works. In other words: I created the works with the Falcon Kindred in mind, but they are STILL MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. My work for the Kindred was my GIFT to them, not any obligation, nor recompensed in any way whatsoever.

The domain name, www.falconkindred.com, was never mine, and still is not mine. In fact, the domain name was never even under the control of my hosting company. Even though my hosting company provided the domain name a temporary home, neither me, nor any member of my family, nor my hosting company ever claimed ownership of the domain name. The domain name has always been registered to Troy Wisehart, through godaddy.com and it was always under his control at that internet location. If the owner of the domain name cannot figure out how to move his website to another hosting company that isn’t my problem.

Finally, when I departed the Board of Directors, I made it very clear that they would need to find another person to fill the role of Information Technology. I provided a recommendation (to which they did not listen) and told them that once I had a point of contact to work with that I would in fact give them the information they needed. However, due to some personal issues (also a point in my leaving the Kindred to begin with), I was delayed in providing information. As such my inbox filled with request after request to give them information. I was hesitant; to say the least, to allow access to my webserver to a person I barely knew. It is unexceptional to refuse access to such personal and sensitive online materials. And when I decided that I was not going to renew my server this year, I informed them that they would need to find their own hosting company. Until said company was found and an account was created there was nothing further that I could do. Again, I must reiterate, I am in NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM REQUIRED TO ASSIST THE MEMBERS OF THE FALCON KINDRED IN SETTING UP THE ONLINE FACE OF THEIR ORGANIZATION.

The above should make clear to one and all that I and any and all members of my family are not only disaffiliated from the above mentioned organization, but also permanently disaffected.