Conference hydra::dejavu

940.0. "STAR, your comments and ideas welcome" by NEXUS::MORGAN (Snazzy Personal Name Upon Request) Mon Jan 02 1989 16:40

        A  P R O P O S A L...
        
                T O   E S T A B L I S H
        
                        STAR - Service to Alternative Religions
           
        There is a growing number of the Pagan community who think
    there is a need for a national service group  to meet the present
    and future needs of the Alternative Religious community.
           
        For the purposes of this proposal, the term "Alternative
    Religion" includes Pagan.  
           
        The focus of STAR would be service, not organization. STAR
    would hold no official opinion, present little in the way of
    official policy on any subject and will not be a governing body.
    Star will, however, publish the views and opinions of others in a
    regularly scheduled newspaper or magazine.
           
        The goal of STAR is to have service representatives in all 50
    states and an office in Washington, D.C. 
           
        The services provided by STAR are projected as:
                
        o       Networking at the local, state, national and
                international level,
           
        o       Publishing a national newspaper or magazine and other
                Alternative Religious materials,
           
        o       operate as a media watchdog at local, state and
                federal levels,
           
        o       monitor local, state and federal lawmaking processes
                to guard against the formation of anti-pagan laws,
           
        o       perform as a Pagan rights clearinghouse, passing
                information to problem areas as or before problems
                arise.
           
        o       keep a current list of Pagan sympathetic lawyers,
           
        o       establish an Alternative Religious Academic Interface,
           
        o       establish an Alternative Religious Governmental
                Interface,
           
        o       maintain a published festival schedule with sufficient
                notice for merchants and participants. A function of
                STAR could be helping festival organizers schedule
                their festivals so the maximum number of merchants
                could attend all or several of the festivals with as
                little schedule conflict as possible,
           
        o       offer festival founding assistance,
           
        o       establish a Pagan Entertainers Network to facilitate
                opportunities for Pagan entertainers to earn a better
                living,
           
        o       form and maintain an Alternative Religious Military
                Interface,
           
        o       establish Pagan soup kitchens,
           
        o       establish an Alternative Religious Production Group to
                write, direct and produce high quality videos for the
                Alternative Religious community,
           
        o       form Alternative Religious PACs,
           
        o       organize such events as National Clean up Mother Day,
           
        o       organize other such events as listed above as needed,
           
        o       establish an Alternative Religious Dating Service,
           
        o       support midwifery as a more appropriate method of
                providing pre-natal and birthing care,
           
        o       form Alternative Religious Financial Action Groups for
                insurance, health plans, credit cards (Mother Card),
                using socially responsible financial organizations,
                etc, 
           
        o       establish Alternative Religious Sanctuary Funds to
                create at least one pagan sanctuary in every state,
           
        o       form an Alternative Religious Medical and
                Psychological Service network to promote responsible
                and holistic humane medical practices, veterinarians
                could also be included in this network, 
           
        o       form Alternative Religious substance abuse and other
                support groups.
        
        STAR is to be supported by the members themselves through dues.
    Members could consider their membership as being financially
    recipical.  STAR could exist as a formal non-profit organization or
    as a foundation.
      
        Your input is urgently invited.  Please send your comments and
    ideas to David Paulson at the following address:
           
           David S. Paulson             
           P.O. Box 626                 
           Englewood, Colo. 80151       
 
        or to any of the other supporters of this idea. Below are other
    supporters of STAR.
        
           Ammond Shadowcraft           Soltahr and Falkhan
           6844 Mountain Top Ln.        1311 N. Walnut
           Colo. Spgs,. Colo. 80919     Colo. Spgs., Colo. 80905     
                
        
        
         We appreciate your support and constructive criticism. Please
    respond soon.

    
    	Well, you know what happens to *anything*, once it becomes
    "organized"...
    
    	Someone will have to define what is a "orderly, functional,
    structured whole"
    
    	Someone will have to define the "order", which is by definition
    "conditional".
    
    	Conditions eventually lead to judgments based upon them. Some
    fellow Pagan will get shafted by one of the judgments, which came
    about -essentally - from the organization itself. From some mere 
    mortal's subjective perception of "the way things should be". 
    
    	Though the benefits seem to be many, be aware of the "fine line"
    you're crossing in doing this. Certainly, it *can* work...as some
    of the *-anon organizations do - or how *I assume* they try their
    best to do.
    
    	Joe Jas