Posted on 11/28/2001 5:56:58 AM PST by Cagey
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Reuters) - A Kansas retreat that caters to witches and pagan rituals is fighting for survival amid community talk that naked witches may be weaving magical spells in the moonlight.
The owners of the Gaea Retreat Center, a 168-acre camp west of Kansas City that is home to such annual events as the Gaea Goddess Gathering and a "Heartland Pagan Spiritual event" filed suit on Monday in Leavenworth County District Court after county commissioners effectively put the retreat out of business by denying it a renewal of its land use permit.
"They say they're afraid of us, what we do here, the sound of drums. ... They don't know how lucky they are to have us as their neighbors," caretaker Wanda Roths said. "We're very quiet, very peaceful. There has never been any trouble out here."
The Leavenworth County commissioners denied the renewal for the permit, issued six years ago, in late October after a community petition raised accusations that the retreat fostered public nudity, pedophilia, and illegal drug and alcohol use. Neighbors also expressed concern about devil worship.
The suit claims the commissioners' denial is illegal and unconstitutional, as well as violating laws protecting freedom of religious expression and practice.
Lawyers for the county declined to comment.
The retreat denies any illegal activity, and county officials say there is no evidence of any.
Roths said there are "clothing optional" locations on the retreat grounds, and witches, Wiccans and other pagans do sometimes hold nighttime meetings around bonfires. But the retreat at times also attracts more traditional religious followers, she said.
Gaea, which means "Mother Earth," offers sanctuary to a variety of alternative religions and lifestyles, according to Roths. "We accept anybody," she said.
Before its current incarnation, the sprawling site was a church camp.
I'm not trying to convince you of anything. However, your first post here insinuated that this article was about sex and I pointed out that sex was not even mentioned in the text of the story.
You then asked me if I have children and how. I could ask you if you take a shower fully clothed, but I don't really want to get that personal.
Secondly, I was commenting on historical fact.
I know you were commenting on historical fact. You were doing so to show that you approved of those historical facts, were you not? Those historical facts, with which I am well acquainted, included limited religious freedom for non-Christians. I was pointing out that I cannot understand what philosophical distinctions you are using to distinguish Christianity, Judaism and other religions. I can only think of a religious justification for that type of distinction. But that isn't adequate for a political system.
I don't look for support from the government in Christianity. Neither did anyone in the Bible, and usually they got the opposite. You read like someone who thinks life is fair and impartial and no one ever gets a raw deal. The bible calls our court system, "the courts of the unjust" so go ahead and defend it all you want. But not to me.
BB, I get tickled at how threads like this bring out those whose mantra is "rights for me, but not for thee..." Got that boy whupped into shape yet?
There are quite a few whom I'd not care to imagine dancing in the nude. Or in spandex, either, for that matter.
But for the sake of argument, if God doesn't like nudity then why are we born that way? :^)
1) The sodomites form part of the people.
2) The people can boycott, scream, shout, refuse to do business etc etc. They can also try to get laws passed banning the activity they object to. They cannot simply use brute force to get people to leave.
I didn't realise that this was a tricky concept.
Any second now the libertarians will log in, with something like, "First, they come for the naked witches. Then..."
As much as I find all forms of witchcraft absolutely nauseating, if they want to have a private reserve for them to get naked, eat yogurt, and chant "boogie-woogie" until the sky falls in, that is fine with me.
I would hate to see what our country would be like if Christians came under attack for playing guitars, and praying 24/7 for the release of women held hostage in Afghanistan.
Be thankful that these hippie throwbacks are sparing us the unplesantry of having to view their filth.
Perhaps you've never heard of the ACLU or the NEA or any of those other groups who hate Christianity and yet want to force me to send my kids to 12 years of public/government school.
Sometimes people can be so stupid! I hope this petition wasn't circulated by some local pastor, but I'm afraid it probably was.
Public nudity? Not if it was on the private grounds. That's the difference between public and private. Don't want to look at nude witches? Don't trespass.
Pedophilia? If you can prove it, don't close the center, prosecute the pedophiles and I hope they rot in jail.
Illegal drug and alcohol use? If it's drug use, prove it and prosecute. If it's alcohol use, there's not much use of alcohol that is illegal as long as you're not driving.
Devil worship? If these neighbors are truly Christian there is nothing to fear from devil worship. Let them beat their brains out. Besides, that's a freedom of religion issue and there should rightly be nothing you can do about it - as long as nobody is sacrificing people.
As the professor in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stated so well, "What do they teach them in these schools?"
(Boy, I hope none of the petitioners were home-schooled.)
Shalom.
You know I'm not saying that so now who is lying about whom.
There is (apparently) also no proof that any of these activities are actually occurring. According to the article:
The retreat denies any illegal activity, and county officials say there is no evidence of any.
Are you suggesting that rumors of illegal activity should be enough reason for county officials to shut them down ?
Where's the beef?
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