The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied.
by Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
February 19, 2007
A year ago Don Larsen was a Pentecostal Christian minister at Camp Anaconda, the largest U.S. support base in Iraq. But after the February 22, 2006, bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra which triggered revenge attacks between Shiite and Sunni militants, Larsen did an about-face.
"I realized so many innocent people are dying again in the name of God," Larsen says. "When you think back over the Catholic-Protestant conflict, how the Jews have suffered, how some Christians justified slavery, the Crusades, and now the fighting between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, I just decided I'm done. . . . I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned."
Larsen "decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots.
"On July 6, 2006, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year's end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record."
Sounds like Larsen came out on top. He's out of Iraq and at home serving as an artillery officer in the National Guard. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to be the target of bigotry and discrimination.
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