This section of my web dedicated to providing links to current articles in the news about Wicca and the general pagan faith. My goal is to include what is currently happening in the Wiccan World today, both positive and negative. If you have a submission, or a URL PLEASE e-mail me with the info.

Monday October 30 5:50 PM ET School Suspends Girl for Casting Spell

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters)

An Oklahoma high school suspended a 15-year-old student after accusing her of casting a magic spell that caused a teacher to become sick, lawyers for the student said on Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union said it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on behalf of student Brandi Blackbear, charging that the assistant principal of Union Intermediate High School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, suspended her for 15 days last December for supposedly casting a spell. The suit also charged the Tulsa-area Union Public Schools with repeatedly violating Blackbear's civil rights by seizing notebooks she used to write horror stories and barring her from drawing or wearing signs of the pagan religion Wicca. ''It's hard for me to believe that in the year 2000 I am walking into court to defend my daughter against charges of witchcraft brought by her own school,'' said Timothy Blackbear, Brandi's father. His daughter is now a 10th grader....
To read the rest of the article go to...School Suspends Girl for Casting Spell

August 25, 2000 Paganism Finds Growing Interest Among UK Children

More than 100 young people, mostly girls, approach the Pagan Federation in the UK each month for advice on witchcraft, the interest of many of them stirred by children's television programs and books relating to the subject. This article talks about how they are seeing more children seeking answers about the religious aspects of the craft, and not just how do I cast a spell? An interesting article on changing trends.

Encyclopedia Britannia on Witches

Here is a link to Encyclopedia Britannic that makes reference to witches as "evil..with only ill intents". Also here is an 800 number to the editorial department if you would like to call about this. 1-800-323-1229. They are releasing their next printed edition in 2001 and I, for one, would like to see a correction.

Upset by Hindu Prayer

WASHINGTON - A major conservative group is complaining that an invitation to a Hindu priest to give the prayer at the opening of a House session is another sign of the nation drifting from its Judeo-Christian roots.

"Our founders expected that Christianity - and no other religion - would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples' consciences and their right to worship," said the Family Research Council, an advocacy group for conservative causes.

"They would have found utterly incredible the idea that all religions, including paganism, be treated with equal deference," the group said in a comment posted on its Web page.

Last Thursday, a Hindu priest from Ohio delivered the opening prayer to the House in conjunction with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's addressing a joint meeting of Congress.

The guest of Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Venkatachalapathi Samuldrala was the first Hindu to give the House invocation.

"As for our Hindu priest friend, the United States is a nation that has historically honored the One True God," the council said. "Woe be to us on that day when we relegate Him to being merely one among countless other deities in the pantheon of theologies."

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a religious-liberty watchdog group, said the statement "reeks of religious bigotry" and showed a "remarkable lack of respect for religious diversity."

Bridget Fisher, spokeswoman for Rep. Brown, noted that there are 1.4 million Indian-Americans in the country and that it is "unfortunate that the Family Research Council interprets the Constitution to say that religious freedom means Christian supremacy."

The House has a full-time chaplain - a Roman Catholic priest - but occasionally invites guests to deliver the opening prayer.

2000 Witches Bless Harry Potter!

Hogwarts! The world of Harry Potter is rich with mystery, magic, fantasy & and witches. Real witches say the book series is doing its bit to end witch oppression. A great article written by Buck Wolf of abcnews.com.

10/21/99 Success of Harry Potter bowls author over

This is an article about author J.K. Rowlings who writes the famous Harry Potter series about a boy wizard. Apparently, there has been a lot of controversy over the books popularity, in that it will steer kids towards practicing witchcraft.

9/18/2000 ~Vatican Statement stuns other religions

Pull back or reach out? Interfaith statements seem to differ markedly US News Article By Jeffery L. Sheler

Arguably no pope in history has done more than John Paul II to advance ecumenism and interfaith relations. Under his leadership, the Roman Catholic Church has reached out to Anglicans, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox Christians and has built historic bridges to Jews, Muslims, and others. So religious leaders around the world were shocked and dismayed last week when the Vatican issued what many found to be a stunningly impolitic statement declaring the Roman Catholic Church to be the only "instrument for the salvation of all humanity."

In a bluntly worded 36-page document approved by the pontiff, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asserted that non-Christian religions are "gravely deficient" as a means of salvation and that most non-Catholic Christian denominations, because they do not accept the papacy, "suffer from defects" that disqualify them as "churches in the proper sense." Although church officials said the document was addressed mainly to Catholic theologians and was not intended as a slap at other faiths, it prompted some religious leaders to question the Vatican's commitment to inter-religious dialogue. Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said the statement seemed to ignore the recent progress made in some of the Vatican's own dialogues with Anglicans and others. The Anglican Communion, he said, "does not for one moment accept that its orders of ministry and Eucharist are deficient in any way."

Confusion. The document bears the pope's endorsement, but some veteran Vatican watchers questioned the extent to which it reflects his thinking. "It can be confusing," says Jesuit scholar Thomas Reese, editor of the Catholic magazine America, "to people who see the pope working and praying with leaders of other faiths, and then read a document like this." Some observers further suggest that the statement is an attempt by Vatican hard-liners to "nail things down" in hopes of influencing the policies of the next pope.

Meanwhile, also last week, more than 160 Jewish leaders signed a landmark statement acknowledging Judaism's shared roots with Christianity and calling on Jews to give up distrust of Christians. The statement, drafted by the Baltimore-based Institute for Jewish and Christian Studies and signed by representatives of all major branches of Judaism, was described as the first major response to recent efforts by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to improve Christian-Jewish relations. "We respect Christianity as a faith that originated within Judaism and that still has significant contacts with it," read the statement. While it spoke of a "humanly irreconcilable difference" between the two faiths, it noted that Jews and Christians worship the same God, seek authority from the same book, and accept the moral principles of the first five books of the Bible. Still, some signers of the Jewish document described the timing of the Vatican statement as an unfortunate coincidence that underscored the fragility of interfaith relations. "The heart of the Jewish statement," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, was the suggestion "that both sides can recognize a measure of religious legitimacy in the other."