WICCAN NEWS IN THE MEDIA

	"Chris" and at least 100 others drumming-in the Winter Solstice.
	A "former spiritualist [sic] and now Christian evangelist Ben Alexander" commenting that Wiccans are mainly attracted to Wicca because "Witchcraft is autonomous and you can do your own thing..."
	Paul Carden, of the Center for Apologetics Research, another Fundamentalist Christian group, said that "the Wiccan and Druid and...[other] neopagan [sic] next door," are going to come out of the closet, and that conservative Christians are going to have to understand them in order to evangelize them.

There was no mention of sacrificing infants, worshiping the Devil or following Satanism. Cowan wrote the report straight-up. Unfortunately, he was inconsistent in his capitalization. He wrote "Wicca," "Christian," and "Wiccan" properly with the first letter in caps. But he also wrote "Witches," "Witch," "Witch-advocacy group," "Paganism," "Neopagan" and "Spiritualist" with lower case -- a rather disrespectful act. 

Councilman Ronald Payne said that the witches were polite: "It was very calm, a good discussion. The people got to say what they wanted to." After hearing objections that the ordinance was an unconstitutional restraint on religious freedom, council tabled it.

2001-NOV-1: MA: Salem witches exonerated: Five people who had been convicted of Witchcraft  and hanged in 1692-3 were exonerated when Governor Jane Swift signed a bill into law. There were a total of 24 men and women who were hanged, crushed to death or died in prison. In 1711, the state issued a general amnesty that exonerated all but six of the judicial victims. Ann Pudeator was exonerated in 1957. Susannah Martin, Briget Bishop, Alice Parker, Margaret cott and Wilmot Redd were exonerated on NOV-1. (Witchcraft in this context means alleged Satan worshiper; it has nothing in common with modern Witchcraft, often called Wicca, which attempts to duplicate an ancient Celtic Pagan religion. ₉

2001-NOV-28: KS: County commissioners close religious camp: Six years ago, the owners of the Gaea Retreat Center obtained a county permit to convert an abandoned church camp into a alternative religious center. The center is on a 168-acre (68-hectare) area west of Kansas City, KS. It has sponsored the well-known annual Gaea Goddess Gathering and a Heartland Pagan Spiritual event. The Leavenworth County commissioners denied their license renewal, thus putting it out of business. A petition from the community accused the center of permitting public nudity, pedophilia, illegal drug usage, and devil worship. Caretaker Wanda Roths said: "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...We're very quiet, very peaceful. There has never been any trouble out here."

 The owners of the center filed a lawsuit suit on NOV-26, claiming that the commissioners' action is illegal, unconstitutional and in violation of laws protecting freedom of religious expression and practice. According to Reuters: "The retreat denies any illegal activity, and county officials say there is no evidence of any." ₁₀

2001-DEC-5: USA: Pat Robertson attacks the Wiccan religion -- maybe: On his "700 club" program, Robertson interviewed Caryl Matrisciana of Jeremiah Films. They were discussing her recent video concerning the Harry Potter™ books. She is distressed that the books are being read in public schools. She equates the fantasy witchcraft found in these books with an unrelated established Neopagan religion, Wicca. She concluded that schools are violating the principle of separation of church and state. After the interview, Robertson made a list of the main reasons why a country like the U.S. could invoke divine displeasure. He talked "about God lifting his anointing his mantle from the United States of America." The first item on the list was "Witchcraft." It is not known whether Robertson is referring to:

	Fantasy witchcraft (which doesn't exist outside of novels), or
	The religion of Wicca, or
	The hurting or killing people by verbal curses -- sometimes called "witchcraft" in the Bible, or
	Some of the other 14 or so meanings of the word "witchcraft."

Other reasons on his list is the decriminalization of sodomy; the practices of bestiality and incest; and abortion access. ("Sodomy" is a term that is often used by Fundamentalist Christians to refer to homosexual behavior.)

He concluded: "We're doing all the things that God said were so repugnant that the land itself would be repulsed and would vomit its inhabitants out. And, if there was ever a time that we need God's blessing, it's now. We don't need to bring in heathen, pagan practices to the United States of America. We need to call on God and ask him for revival." Some unstable individuals might interpret this as a call to physically attack religious minorities. ₁₄

2001-DEC-8: WI: State hires Wiccan chaplain: Rev. Jamyi Witch, 43, a Wiccan priestess, started work as a chaplain at the Waupun Correctional Institution in early December. She explained that she had changed her name from Welch to Witch "because I am one." She works alongside the other chaplain: Rev. Francis Paliekara, an Episcopal priest. Although Ms. Witch will conduct rituals with the approximately 30 Wiccan inmates, her main job will be to help provide for the general religious needs of the 1,200 inmates at the Institution. A minority of prisoners there, about 400, regard themselves to be Christians; 100 are Muslim. The other 700 either have no religious affiliation or are members of smaller faith groups. She has impressive qualifications, being a mother, a Girl Scout leader, school volunteer, hospice counselor, crisis counselor. She also volunteered in the prisons for two years and has helped train Corrections Department employees about alternative religions. She won out over nine other applicants.

Reaction to her hiring was swift, particularly among Republican state legislators:

	State Representative Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa), a Baptist, heads the assembly committee that regulates prison. He said that he was personally "offended" by Witch's religion. He is studying whether her hiring violated the state's hiring freeze. Walker commented that: "Clearly there are a lot of people who are offended by this...It's a very narrow practice that a lot of people - Christians, Jews, Muslims, - find offensive."
	Representative Mike Huebsch, (R-West Salem), threatened to terminate funding of entire the prison chaplain program. He called Ms. Witch's hiring "hocus-pocus." His press release was headed "Huebsch burns Waupun witch project."
	Deb Tetzlaff manages of religious and other programs at the institution. She was troubled by the reaction. She said: "Religious intolerance really bugs me. We're fighting a war right now over religious intolerance, for gosh sake."
	Selena Fox is the head of Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin. She is one of the best-known Neopagans in the U.S.  Ms. Witch received her training at the Sanctuary. She called Huebsch's remarks about witch burning "very disappointing." She added: "Would people joke about gassing Jews or lynching blacks?. The genocide that happened in old Europe was a very dark chapter in Western civilization and not a joking matter." She mentioned that there are other Wiccan chaplains in U.S. military and federal prisons. She consults with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. Fox said: "The trend nationwide is to make sure Wiccans have equal rights as members of a world religion." She categorized the negative reaction as "the same kind of noise that happens whenever any social barrier is broken."
	Waupun Warden Gary McCaughtry said he would support Ms. Witch. He said: "Basically, a lot of it has to do with the duties and character of the individual, and Jamyi is an outstandingly approachable person - somebody that I wouldn't mind approaching on spiritual matters myself. If biases are present, it's a matter for us to work through those biases." He hopes that legislators will clear their misconceptions about Wicca. He said: "We would hope to engage the Legislature in some discussion. We've followed the required state personnel process. . . . If any activity translates into oppression and harassment, we would be concerned with that." State equal employment laws prohibit discrimination based on religion. 11,12