Free Republic

Wiccans encircle an altar of fruit and bread as day turns to night in Central Park. The lush strains of a nearby performance of Puccini's "Turandot" blend with the prayers of an ancient Celtic harvest festival. Wicca is a modern reconstruction of the pre-Christian nature-based religions of Europe. "There is an exquisite, ecstatic sense of the sacred," said Phyllis Curott, lawyer, author and the priestess of the Temple of Ara. "You literally feel your heart open. Being in the circle is like being in the womb of the great Goddess."

INDIANAPOLIS - A judge who ordered two Wicca believers to shield their son from their "non-mainstream" faith overstepped his authority, an appeals court said Wednesday in dismissing the order. The Indiana Court of Appeals said state law gave a custodial parent the authority to determine a child's upbringing, including religious training. A judge could find that certain limitations were needed to protect a child from physical or emotional harm. The parents' appeal, brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, claimed among other issues that the decree was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define mainstream religion. But the appeals court...

WASHINGTON - A religious liberties lawsuit brought by a Satan worshipper, a Wiccan witch, a white supremacist, and an adherent of an ancient Viking religion is drawing the impassioned support of major national religious groups as it approaches a hearing before the Supreme Court. The case is potentially the most important religious liberties case on this year's docket, impacting how far a state can go to accommodate the religious practices of its citizens and whether Congress can require states to be more accommodating. The case was filed by a group of Ohio inmates - Jon Cutter, J. Lee Hampton, John...

Vol. 8, No. 14 December 2, 2004 PC Protection Racket by Sally Pipes, President and CEO At long last the presidential election of 2004 is history. So hectic was the final week before the vote that one rather strange story failed to elicit some much needed analysis. Some viewed it as comic relief, but it was more than that. In the town of Puyallup, Washington, school officials banned Halloween celebrations in class. In a dumbed-down nation, one can certainly sympathize with such a move on the part of educators. Such activities generate a lot of waste material and deprive students...

A Wiccan defends Christians I am a practicing Wiccan with a significant religious and specifically "Christian" history, and I share in Pastor George Morrison's shock and dismay! The premise of the Yule celebration, known by Christians as "Christmas," is a celebration that enjoys contributions from many cultural and religious sources. To Christians it is a time of acknowledgement of the birth of Jesus Christ and all that he stood for in his life – specifically, manifestation of a giving spirit coupled with personal sacrifice. All the pageantry and ritual associated with this specific holiday is an aggregate of historical multicultural...

(CNSNews.com) - Frustrated by an unsuccessful campaign to achieve religious recognition from the Boy Scouts of America, a Seattle-based Wicca church has launched its own youth program, which is based on tolerance for different beliefs, including differences in sexual orientation. SpiralScouts founder Pete 'Pathfinder' Davis believes that many of the things the Boy Scouts are doing are "socially inappropriate." He said he created to the SpiralScouts to "fill the void left by prejudicial treatment of other established children's programs." Davis, who serves as the Archpriest of the Wiccan Aquarian Tabernacle Church, said his main argument with the BSA is that...