Charles Arnold is a well known American author of several books, including Ritual Body Art. His tireless energy and knowledge has greatly enhanced Witchgrove and the Pagan Headstone Campaign. Mab of Dream conducted the following interview.
When people hear your name, they tend to hone in on either the decriminalization of Wicca in Canada or your book 'Ritual Body Art'. Do you ever get tired of talking about these subjects and have you developed a standard response to mention of them?
No, I never tire of them. There has been a lot of argument over exactly what was accomplished in Arnold vs. Humber College and all I know is what my lawyer, the press and several members of the Ontario Legislature told me as to what was accomplished. I can say that I actually hear nothing from Canadian Pagans about the case and it has been pretty much forgotten in the intervening years.
As for ritual body art, it is still one of my great passions and I don't get as many opportunities to practice that type of magick as I would like. It, too, seems to be slipping out of Pagan consciousness; being replaced by purely decorative designs in paint or henna.
What achievements of yours are people missing by honing in on those two?
None, really. I can't be recognized as a poet because I have only created two or three new poems in the last several years. I do feel that my current project, the Pagan Veterans Headstone Campaign, should get more recognition. It may sound odd but I have always gone out of my way to focus publicity from my various efforts onto those projects rather than myself. Perhaps, if I had acted differently while fighting Humber College I would be far more widely recognized and published but that really never was my goal.
You became very anti-war in your outlook after your experiences in Viet Nam. Was there a specific moment or incident, which caused you to think 'this isn't right'?
There were several, both in Vietnam and afterwards. Perhaps my first job back in the US after Vietnam, planning more such lunatic involvements, had something to do with my outrage. Then again it may have had a lot to do with knowing about Operation Delta, Special Operation Group B-52, and their activities where they committed rape, murder and other atrocities while acting the part of Viet Cong had something to do with it. I still wonder why none of those hundred or so American servicemen who were involved in these war crimes have never been prosecuted and why the government has tried so hard all these years to keep this entire matter so quiet. That is certainly no way for this country to heal.
Are you actively anti-war or is it a personal passively held view? If the former, can you tell us about some of your anti-war activities?
According to FBI, Military Intelligence and other groups, I was very actively involved. I joined GIs United Against the War in Vietnam about six months after I arrived at Ft. Bragg and I eventually wound up being the senior spokesperson for that group and one of the senior editors of Bragg Briefs, an anti-war newspaper that we distributed quite illegally around the post. I also became involved with Vietnam Veterans Against the War. There are numerous instances where, off duty and in civilian clothing, I attended anti-war protests. I was even a widely sought after anti-war speaker at college campuses across North Carolina and elsewhere.
In your opinion, is war ever justified? If so, what would be your criteria for justification?
Absolutely! If I'm not mistaken, many of your readers live in Great Britain. If your readers do not understand war being justified, they should ask their parents and grandparents. Had Britain and the United States become involved in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the elected government, it is possible that World War II might never have happened. Later, with Germany's constant aggressions, it was absolutely necessary to go to war. The same can be said about Second World War involvement with Japan. There were no reasonable alternatives. Throughout history is example after example of necessary war. At the same time, there are at least five or ten times as many wars that were completely unnecessary.
On a related issue, you are currently spearheading the Pagan Headstone Campaign. Would you like to tell us a little about it and why people should be involved?
The Pagan Veterans Headstone Campaign is asking the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to grant Pagan veterans the same recognition that is granted to nearly three dozen other religious and other groups. We merely ask that they supply headstones to the families of Pagan veterans with a Pentacle on the headstone rather than leaving it blank. Seventeen different Christian symbols are allowed, as are symbols of the Native American Church of North America, Eckankar, Baha'i, The American Humanist Association, the Atheist Association of America, and other groups both long established and quite new.
The situation does not just include a free headstone for any veteran with an honorable discharge; it also includes each and every headstone in America's numerous veterans' cemeteries. Even if the family of a veteran pays for their own headstone, it may not be placed in a veterans' cemetery if it includes a symbol not approved by the VA.
If Pagans are good enough to fight alongside of members of other faiths, shouldn't they be entitled to the same respect as is given to those others in death?
You describe yourself as an activist. Are there any other campaigns that you are involved with, which haven't already been discussed?
Yes, there are; and not all of them are very popular. One of my other main involvements is with the Pagan Copyright Defenders and similar groups. It is my firm belief that the intellectual property that we create belongs to us and we should do with it as we will. Unfortunately, there are some less scrupulous members of our community who will steal the work of another; take it and use it without permission. Some of these folks claim that it is perfectly all right to pirate another's work because they don't make money from it or because they do include the name of the creator, or, as is often the case, they claim the right to steal material and repost it on their own sites because their sites are 'educational.'
For my part, I work with other Pagan authors, writers, artists, musicians, etc., from around the world, watching out for one another's works and reporting them when found, informing site owners and electronic lists of what the law states, and, in some situations, reporting intellectual property pirates to both Internet servers and to legal authorities.
Right now my other major project is trying to reach a contract for the sale of six new books and booking speaking engagements at Pagan and alternative events to promote both community building and my writing projects.