Conservative. Republican. Pagan?
It was an odd news story that briefly upended what should have been a sleepy City Council race in Bayside: the Queens Tribune reported that a conservative Republican was running a strong race in the 19th district and had a chance to win in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. But this was a conservative Republican with a difference: Dan Halloran is the spiritual leader of a local pagan group that worships Norse gods.
Although the Tribune's story had no hint of derision for Halloran's religious affiliation, the newspaper was immediately attacked for its perceived ties to Halloran's Democratic opponent. Other publications were quick to defend the Republican lawyer, some sounding offended that a candidate's religion, however unusual, should become a news story during an election.
But Halloran's beliefs are newsworthy. As far as we can tell, he has a chance to become the first pagan elected to political office in the country's history. (He is certainly the first major party candidate approaching an election with his pagan beliefs already made public.) And while pagans have been growing in numbers for decades, the word "pagan" usually conjures nature-worshippers with interests in faeries and magick. What is a conservative Republican doing with the goddess crowd?
In fact, Halloran and his fellow travelers are more properly thought of as "heathens," not pagans, and the tribal customs they ascribe to are heavy on hierarchy and tradition.
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It's a shame this guys' a Republican or I would stick up for him. This is, however a breaking story for Pagans in politics.