You do realize that the whole "suffer not a witch to live" stuff is a translation error don't you? Original word meant "poisoner". Since "witches" made potions, and weren't exactly favorites of early Church fathers, they got pinned with it.
LeVay was just some ghoul that wanted a way to espouse a secular humanist (ie; Man is God) position in the most flamboyant way possible by utilizing the antithesis of the Christian religion. He even co-opted the inverted pentacle which was an old Temple of Solomon symbol for a "focus on the physical realm". Stirring the batter even further, he combined in some Babylonian mythology and called it the Sign of Baphomet.
15 years? Time for a refresher course.
Now you got me curious, I once even heard that from some of my Southern Baptist family the suffer not a witch to live thing. So for kicks and grins I decided to look it up. The actual word is Kashaph (kuf shin pay-sophit) in hebrew, it means "To whisper a spell, i.e. to inchant or practise magic:- sorcerer, (use) witch(-craft) from magic:-sorcery, witchcraft.
So the actual translation in Exodus (the book of the story of departure of the nation of Israel from Egypt) is at EX 22:18 is well over 1000 years BC, or before Christ, LONG before there were any Church fathers.
Now my pagan friend, do you practice magic, enchant, whisper spells? It says nothing in hebrew about poisons or potions. -grin-
Anyway thanks for bringing it up, it was fun looking it up.
The reason that the comandment was given is that the use of demons, (which yes, I know is not wiccan), or their effects (which is the power behind it all, trust me), is against the Creator because THEY Chose to be against the Creator. Those who do not stand with God, fall without Him. He commanded that the practice of trucking with the enemy stop within the people he chose to be his representatives on earth.
It is a lot like outlawing heroin. The inclusion of it tends to corrupt society. So it is made illegal. Now if a man refuses to stop truckin with the enemy in a time of war he is called a traitor and is hung. Given the choice between the death penalty and cutting off contact with Oslama Bin Laudin, would you trust your neighbor if he refused to stop calling him on the telephone and wore America sucks t-shirts?
Same thing...
By the way, I personnaly think that wicca is not that far from discovering Christ and the Creator, I know one Wiccan that ended up doing it that I rather like. And your statement of the history of LaVey shows you do know what you are talking about. LeVay is a jerk as you say, kinda like saying Madonna is a Christian cause of her name and the crucifix she wears.
Your "Christian" training is a bit weak though. -grin-