Free Republic

What is Religion? Mark RobertsA recent article in the local paper details an interview with several members of a pagan religion, Wicca. After the celebration of the Spring Solstice they were asked about the nature of their beliefs and faith. “Tell me if this is true,” said the interviewer. “You pick what you like from other religions and throw the pieces together. You might be absolutely wrong, and you know that. But this religion seems true to you, so you believe it is. Is that right?” To the amazement of the article’s author, “the pagans were delighted. They cheered and...

INDIANAPOLIS — A Wiccan activist and his ex-wife are challenging a court order that they must protect their 9-year-old son from what the divorce decree terms their "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." Thomas E. Jones and Tammy Bristol of Indianapolis are fighting a Marion Superior Court stipulation that they shelter the boy from their religion. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union has taken on the case, appealing the December decree to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Jones, a Wiccan activist who has coordinated Pagan Pride Day in Indianapolis for the past six years, said he and his ex-wife were stunned when...

An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth. Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion. Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy's outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his...

An Indiana appeals court must decide if a judge’s order prohibiting a nine-year-old from practicing his pagan beliefs will stand. A Marion County judge issued what some are calling an "unusual" order a year ago in a divorce court. It prohibits the boy from being exposed to "non-mainstream" religious beliefs. The ICLU took the case of Thomas Jones Jr. after a court divorce decree forbade him from exposing his son to his pagan beliefs. Jones says it's just not right for his boy not to be able to participate in his Wiccan practices and holidays. “I don't understand why the...

Marion County Superior Court Judge, Cale J. Bradford, put a provision in a couple's divorce decree that prohibits the couple from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." Both parents practice Wicca, a pagan belief usually associated with witchcraft. The Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights, appears to have gotten the ball rolling on the religious interference by the State of Indiana. The child attends a parochial Catholic school. (It's not clear whether that school is Bishop Chatard, but the article mentions that the father had attended that...

Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture The realm of human imagination is a God-given gift, a faculty of the mind that is intended to expand our understanding by enabling us to visualize invisible truths. In the modern era this zone of man's interior life has moved to the forefront of his experience. With the advent of film, television, and now the near-virtual reality of special-effects videos and other electronic entertainment, the screen of the imagination is stimulated to a degree (both in quantity and in kind) more than at any other period in history. This has prompted a...

Witches have returned to the German forests, dancing naked in groups under the full moon and calling to their gods. The covens vary in size and in how seriously they take their calling, but the numbers are rising, particularly amongst the young. Their religious ideas are described as "pagan" rather than Satanist, and many of the older practitioners have a history in the environmental movement, where they learnt a passionate love of nature. In some cases this has led on to a belief in the natural powers of the forests. The women are convinced they can work magic. This is...

The scent of sage fills the air as a light breeze blows through the leaves of nearby palm trees. Somewhere in the distance, a tractor is plowing a field. The chirp of an occasional bird breaks the calm hush for a moment. A bag of instruments is passed around, and a shrine with Neolithic goddess figurines, babushkas, photographs of goddess statues, and a ceramic plate painted with a spiral design is quietly constructed. Thirteen Israeli men and women are seated in a circle around the artifacts. The earth below is the archeological site of a civilization over 8,000 years old....

CARO, Mich. (AP) -- Five years after it opened, a witchcraft museum has shut its doors. Anonka's Witch Museum was no laughing matter to some Christians when it opened its doors on a downtown street in this community of 4,200 in Michigan's rural Thumb, about 100 miles north of Detroit. "I'm glad the business is no longer on our main street, but I'm disappointed we weren't able to communicate the love of Christ to (the museum's operators)," said the Rev. James M. Solomon, pastor of Living Waters Chapel. This past week, crews removed the museum's gargoyles. Witch Museum operators Tammra...

The U.S. Justice Department believes that Satanism, Wicca and polytheism are religious beliefs. The federal government argued in the Supreme Court Monday that states must enable prison inmates to practice and observe such "religious" beliefs – no matter how unconventional they may be. But many states think the federal view will cause mayhem in prison systems throughout the nation. Ohio state officials argued that a law requiring them to give such special attention and benefits to these, and other, prison practitioners of religion is an unconstitutional endangerment of prison security. And at least one federal court has agreed so far....

Central Middle School principal tells group it won't happen again MIDLAND, Mich. -- A statewide family values group Tuesday praised Midland Central Middle School Principal Paula Geller for pledging to ensure that the middle school's student newspaper will not publish articles in the future encouraging its 11- to 13-year old readers to consider experimenting with witchcraft. Gary Glenn, Midland, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, contacted school officials in response to the Winter 2005 issue of the middle school's Cavalier Chronicle, which included an article entitled "Good Witch or Bad Witch?" in which an 8th grade member of...

An article on witchcraft by a Central Middle School student has a local group concerned. "Most people believe witches don't exist, and I am here to prove them wrong," wrote the eighth-grader, adding that her aunt is a Wiccan witch. The short article was printed in the winter issue of the Cavalier Chronicle. "We think it's inappropriate for a middle school student newspaper to encourage 11-year-olds to experiment with witchcraft," said Gary Glenn of the Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan. The student wrote she has "decided to experiment with this religion and see if this is the way for...

After applying and getting denied twice, the Boston University Nemeton Wicca Student Group was approved by the Religious Life Council as a new religious organization on campus Wednesday afternoon at Marsh Chapel. The RLC denied the group, which applied as a pagan organization the first two times, because paganism is not formally recognized as a religion. But, last semester the organization changed its affiliation to Wicca, which is considered a religion, changing its name to the Wicca Student Group this year. Nemeton President Aubrey Hooser said renaming the group was not an issue. "The majority of the group follows Wicca,...

https://informalclasses.org/index2.html (search on Activity #: 9360.601) One of the fastest growing 'religions' today is becoming more and more a part of our society. Learn the history of the Pagan Mysteries while learning the way of the Modern Witch. This class will cover basic history, philosophy, and the principles of ritual and magick. Bring $25 for handouts and supplies to make an amulet. Men and women welcome. Deanna Linehan is a working hereditary Witch, who has studied Wicca for several years with Gavin Frost of the renowned Church and School of Wicca in West Virginia. (3 meetings) Wicca 101 - An...

The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com READ IT - LEARN FROM IT - PRAY OVER IT - SHARE IT --- Witches Kill Baby January 21, 2005 Little girl had 40 puncture wounds and a snapped neck Pagan tattoos may match baby girl's wounds Photos of couple's religious markings studied in probe of toddler's death Prosecutors have obtained photographs of a Springfield Township couple's neopagan tattoos in an effort to match the markings to puncture wounds on the woman's slain year-old daughter. Daniel Duffield and Vanessa McGlumphy are charged in connection with the neck-snapping death of McGlumphy's 13-month-old daughter Jacqueline Mae Cooper. Aside...

We greet you Spirit of the North. Teach us to plant our feet securely on the earth and to see things as they really are, that the coming of your Spirit may find us standing firm in integrity. Teach us, Spirit of the North, in the solitude of winter, to wait in darkness with the sleeping earth, believing that we, like the earth, already hold within ourselves the seeds of new life. ALL: May the deep peace of mercy be on us forgiving us, beckoning us, encouraging us; and may our readiness to forgive calm the fears. We greet you,...

Danielle Woodwyk says her pagan faith is about love, but worries others may draw darker conclusions from a criminal-sexual conduct case police say involved paganism. The Kentwood mother says nothing in her religion condones the sexual relationship and pagan marriage that authorities say teacher Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36, had with a 14-year-old former student. "We support bonds of love, whatever you feel is right for you, but you have laws to abide by," said Woodwyk, 24. Other members of West Michigan's small pagan community also condemned Miklosovic's alleged use of a pagan ceremony to initiate the abuse. "Paganism strives for responsibility,"...

12-03) 17:43 PST SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) -- A teacher and a 14-year-old former female student whom she is accused of sexually assaulting participated in witchcraft together and even "wed" in a pagan ritual, police said. Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36, a teacher at South Haven's Baseline Middle School, was arraigned Thursday on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. If convicted, Miklosovic faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. She remained jailed Friday on $100,000 bond. Miklosovic, a seventh-grade language arts teacher, lives with another woman and their adopted son, authorities said. She was placed on leave from her job....

Beyond the Episcopal Church's Pagan Eucharist Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 10/27/2004 Guess what's no longer linked on the Episcopal Church USA's page for Women's Worship Resources? Both items highlighted in yesterday's Weblog: "A Women's Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine" and the "Liturgy for Divorce." You can actually still read both, but they're now orphan pages, apparently unlinked from within the Episcopal Church website. (Though Weblog should add that they're now linked from just about every conservative Anglican weblog in the country.) One of those liturgies remaining is a "Station of the Cross," which includes these lines...

PUYALLUP, Wash., Oct. 21, 2004 -- A Washington state school district is canceling its annual Halloween celebration, and the explanation has some parents baffled. "Let them have their 30 minutes of dressing goofy and having candy," Silas Macon, a father of two school-age girls, said Wednesday outside Maplewood Elementary School after learning that the grade-school tradition of a party and parade in costume during the last half-hour of class before Halloween night won't happen this year in the district. A letter sent home to parents Wednesday said there will be no observance of Halloween in any of the district's schools....

Witchcraft led to girls' double suicide? 13-year-olds walk in train's path, left note about reincarnation Authorities in Indiana believe witchcraft played a role in the double suicide of two 13-year-old girls who intentionally walked into the path of an oncoming train. Debra Jean Kawaguchi and Sarah Ann Casey were eighth-grade classmates at Knox Community Middle School, and were killed Saturday morning by a Norfolk and Southern freight train. The train's engineer said he saw the girls walk onto the tracks at about 3 a.m., but was unable to stop in time. Authorities say both of the students left notes to...

(WSBT) Two teenage girls from Knox are dead and police say witchcraft was involved. Investigators say thirteen-year-olds Sarah Casey and Debra Jean Kawaguchi stepped in front of a train Saturday near County Roads 800 East and 200 South. Starke County Police say the girls took their lives because they thought they would be reincarnated. Now, police say they're investigating just how deep this cult goes in the community, and they're asking outside experts for help. Investigators say Casey and Kawaguchi got involved in WICCA, a form of withcraft, and the girls believed by committing suicide they would be reincarnated. "We...

GREAT FALLS -- About a dozen pagans gathered at Town Hall on Monday to show support for Great Falls resident Darla Wynne. Last week, Wynne returned home from dinner with a friend and discovered one of her parrots had been beheaded and his heart cut out, she said. A note attached to the back of Little One, Wynne's 8-year-old African gray parrot, said, "You're next!" "I was frantic looking for his little head, and later I did find his heart," Wynne said tearfully. "They want me to leave this town. I feel so responsible for this. I shouldn't have gone...

How modern pagans are reviving the polytheistic religions of the ancient Greeks, Druids, Egyptians, and other civilizations. This year, Andrea Berman will watch the Olympics for the first time in her life. But she doesn't care who will jump the highest, run the farthest or swim the fastest. She'll be watching the games—being held this year in Greece, their ancestral home—for any mention of Zeus, Athena or Apollo. "I will watch it to see if anything even remotely resembles anything I would know as an ancient ritual and tradition," Berman said. "But I kind of have mixed feelings. On one...

(11/06/03 - BROWNSVILLE, TX) — A man who confessed to suffocating, stabbing and beheading his common-law wife's three young children was convicted on three counts of capital murder Thursday. John Allen Rubio, 23, hung his head but otherwise stood emotionless as the verdict was read. He and his common-law wife, Angela Camacho, confessed to the deaths in March. They told police they killed 3-year-old Julissa Quezada, 1-year-old John Esthefan Rubio, and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio because they thought the children were possessed and they didn't want them to grow up evil. Jurors deliberated about eight hours Thursday before reaching a...

October 31, 2003, 8:31 a.m. Spells in the City Bewitched is history. Be afraid! Halloween is here. 'Tis the season to be sinister, a dank, dark time of poisoned candy, apples laced with razor blades, Jamie Lee Curtis reruns, Richard Nixon masks, feral children asking for "treats," and, in a quiet corner of my local Barnes & Noble, a table piled with books that go bump in the night. Histories of hauntings lurk near volumes on vampires and a stray copy of Living History that seems, well, strangely at home. O.K., O.K., I admit it. I put it there. There...

<p>ITHACA -- With the right attitude and a bit of magic, another world is possible, according to a Pagan author and activist.</p> <p>Starhawk spoke to more than 200 people Wednesday, encouraging them to take an active role in changing the world for the better. Citing Dion Fortune's definition of magic -- "the art of changing consciousness at will," Starhawk asked people to be aware of "broken things" in today's society, such as increased corporate control and global effects of American policies.</p>

Wicca high priestess battles town on prayer She wants Jesus Christ taken out of premeeting entreaty DAN HUNTLEY Staff Writer GREAT FALLS, S.C. - Wicca High Priestess Darla Wynne won't bow her head: Not for prayers to Jesus Christ. And not to the Great Falls Town Council members who refuse to change their prayer before meetings to accommodate Wynne's non-Christian religion. In this former mill town that lies hard by the Catawba River 50 miles south of Charlotte, a culture clash is churning. On one side is a New Age spiritualist in stiletto heels who has filed a federal...

<p>There is the wild and crazily cute fetish-object success of the Mini Cooper and the minor sensation that is the eco-friendly GOP-smackin' Toyota Prius and the imminent arrival of the insanely funkytiny DaimlerChrysler Smart car in the U.S., maybe, someday soon, let's hope.</p>

Why do Christians dismiss New Age practices and beliefs? Despite being a committed Catholic, Cherie Blair has recently been ridiculed for dabbling in relaxation therapy, while the Catholic hierarchy has underlined its opposition to New Age spirituality with a 100-page document urging its flock to resist the lure of cranky, holistic "experimentation". Yet Mrs Blair, a highly-rated QC, is no fool. As a fully signed-up believer, she may presumably be considered capable of making informed decisions about matters of religion, as she does in other areas of her life. As for the Vatican, its condemnation of alternative therapies and holistic...

While Harry Potter wards off calamity with a flick of his wand, hundreds of students nationwide are casting more than the occasional love spell, as they identify Wicca and other pagan practices as their official religion. Members of Syracuse University's Pagan Society lighted candles in the campus chapel, while curious students signed up for a new class on witchcraft. And at the University of Arizona and Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, believers can be excused from class on Wiccan holidays. Anthony Paige, a recent SUNY Purchase College graduate who started a pagan student group there, said Wicca appeals to some college...

Apparently Mini-Teacups son has been abducted and the father may not be in a good state of mind, please keep Teacup and Mini Teacup in your prayers.They have registered with the National Missing Persons Database and are setting up a search fund at a local bank.

I am asking Freeper help and advice on this. There is a certain Sheriff Deputy in Atlanta who works as a side job at an abortion clinic. The last two weekends, he has arrested "little old ladies" for being on the sidewalk. Ginny was first, and now Louise. The City of Atlanta will not honor his arrest, and he must summons Sheriff Deputy cars to take his "notorious" "little old ladies" to jail. This smells of RICO and other things. Additional, the escorts for the abortion clients are supposedly involved in Witchcraft (one witch and one warlock, if my understanding...

Prepare to bask. Today - summer solstice - the sun lingers its longest in the sky, almost a full 17 hours from sunup to sundown. While most of us will go about our business enjoying the promised partly sunny day, the pagans - witches, druids and such - will take time to celebrate the seasonal shift from cool spring to full-on heat wave. Some will hike up Mount Pisgah at dawn. Others plan drumming circles at dusk and potlucks on Saturday. K.C. Anton planned to sing the sun up at home with his wife, daughter and close friends in a...