2002-APR-8: CA: Newspaper reports anti-Wiccan demonstration: The Antelope Valley Press of Palmdale, CA, reported on what the called "Wiccagate:" a demonstration by Christians against a group of Wiccans who were rededicating the Witches Grove: a store in Lancaster CA which sells Neopagan material. The ritual also involved the celebration of the spring equinox, and honored the Pagan Goddess Brigid and the God Thor. "Store proprietors alleged that Christian protesters bumped participants in the Wiccan ritual, screamed Bible verses and blared Christian rock music in the store's back parking lot, where the rededication ceremony took place." ₁₁ Cyndia Riker, a Wiccan high priestess and owner of the store, said that the Sheriff's Department took five hours to respond to a phone call for help. One of the Christians alleged to have taken part is Billy Pricer, a volunteer sheriff's chaplain and pastor of Life Changers Christian Center. He was reported as saying that the event was "totally blown out of proportion." He said that the protest was not organized. However, Riker said that representatives from three local Christian churches arrived in rental cars at about the same time and that some of the protestors communicated via walkie-talkies. Pricer is reported as saying that the protestors only went there to pray in public for the Wiccans.

The lesson? If you are a non-Christian and plan to hold a public ritual, we suggest that you request police protection in advance. As a minimum, have a member videotape the entire ritual.

2002-APR-16: MS: Religious conflict over breathing exercises and guided imagery: Students at South Park Elementary School in Vicksburg, MS, are learning breathing and posture exercises. Students at a nearby school are engaging in guided imagery and creative visualization as they pretend to leave their bodies and visualize themselves as a unicorn, prancing through a quite meadow. Some parents have linked the learning and posturing exercises with Yoga and thus with Eastern religion; others have linked the creative visualization with New Age religion. Both groups have asked that the classes be terminated; some parents have pulled their children out of school. Mike Corely, a reporter at WQBC radio, said that Vicksburg isn't shielded from New Age spirituality simply because it is in the Bible belt. He said: "If I wanted to go in and teach a similar class based on the Word of God, I (would be told) that I couldn't do that because it would be based on religion." ₁₂ (Actually, as the U.S. Constitution has been interpreted by the courts:

	Teaching Eastern religious belief by itself is unconstitutional.
	Teaching Christian religious belief by itself is unconstitutional.
	Teaching an exercise or visualization class that included little or no religious content, as in this case, is probably constitutional.
	Teaching an exercise or visualization class that is partly based on the Bible, partly on Eastern religion and partly on a non-religious foundation probably would be constitutional.)

2002-APR; various dates: England: Murder may have ritual abuse component:  The roeao of a boy was found floating in the Thames River in London England. Claims surfaced that the child was a human sacrifice to Obeh -- a Nigerian sea god. Others claim that the child was killed during a Vodun ritual. Some claim that there were signs that a religious ritual involved. At this time there are more theories than facts available.

Week of 2002-APR-22: India: Mass Hindu-Muslim violence continues: According to the New York Times: "In the last week, more than 40 people have perished in the continuing violence, in the western state of Gujarat. The official death toll in the last two months has risen to 900. More than 100,000 people, mostly Muslims, are estimated to have fled to relief camps. On Tuesday, [APR-30] Parliament will debate whether the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party -- which has led a national coalition government for most of the last four years and controls the state of Gujarat, its last major state stronghold -- has been complicit in the carnage."

"Indian officials were particularly stung by the leak of a confidential assessment by British diplomats who estimated the death toll at 2,000, more than twice the official tally, and said the anti-Muslim violence had been planned and carried out with the state government's support." ₁₃