Remember Rev. Mother Cathryn Platine and the Maetreum of Cybele? We ran a story on the Maetreum's property-tax battle with the town of Catskill last month. Today, the Catskill Daily Mail has a feature on their brewing court battle -- and why its outcome could reach far beyond Palenville's humble borders.
“They declared war on us and we’re bringing it to them,” Platine said. “If we file a federal suit we will be looking for punitive damages.
“We want to send a message loud and clear that you don’t do this to a minority religion,” she said. “They woke up a sleeping giant.”
Platine claims that the town of Catskill's repeated refusal to grant the Maetreum a property tax exemption is religious discrimination, pure and simple. She's got moral (and some financial) support from an international network of pagans -- most of whom have struggled for acceptance in their own communities, and who gather for news of their religious peers at a digital watering hole called The Wild Hunt. From a recent post on the Palenville drama:
This seems like an excellent opportunity for Pagans in the upstate New York area to show solidarity, and win this organization the same legal considerations that are granted to the “mainstream” faiths in America.
