From: alizard@pil
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: being a pagan can be fun...
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 00:09:20 PST

Anyone who would like to argue about the existence of anti-pagan
persecution in the US can argue with the original posters of
these messages...
Blessings...
                                           A.Lizard

             reposted with permission from Dreamdance - A.Lizard

4/5          Email
Title:       Okay, I promised this to you a while ago...
Date:        Fri Jan 01 17:29:05 1993
Origin:      Unknown System (Unknown) []
From:        Iluinn Dreamdance #30 @9950 WWIVnet
To:          A.Lizard #9 @5103 VirtualNET     0 days old


  [Reply To] Gee.....
[Written By] A.Lizard #9 @5077


Anyone who thinks the Inquisition is dead hasn't had to deal with the
Department of Social Services.

During the summer of '92, I had a run-in with them...my downstairs neighbor
was a Fundamentalist Christian who, after seeing the pentacle I wear, would
literally walk around his mini-van to avoid me.  Seems he got it into his
head that my pentacle meant I was a Satanist, and that my two children were
suffering because of it.

One day, as my wife was about to leave for work, there was a knock at our
door. We opened the door to reveal a woman, who informed us she was from the
Department of Social Services, here to investigate us for child abuse.

After my initial astonishment, I enquired as to the nature of the alleged
abuse, the specifics of the charge(s).  I was informed that an anonymous call
had been placed to DSS, saying that my children were living in an "unhealthy
environment".

The social worker then remarked that she saw no evidence of an "unhealthy
environment"...other than some laundry in the hallway (I had been in the
process of sorting clothes to wash them), the house was clean.  The children
were clean, and weren't bruised or anything like that.  She was there for
about an hour (making my wife rather late for work!), and then left, saying
that she had no idea why the claim was filed.

After asking several of our neighbors about the matter, I came to believe it
was my downstairs neighbor who was responsible...and, when I asked him, he
told me that he *had* called...because "Children don't need to be raised in a
house of Satan", or some such.  He told me that he found my pentacle, and my
religion, offensive.

I tried to explain to him that I was a Pagan, not a Satanist...but he'd have
nothing of it.  I told him that DSS had come to investigate us, and he was
"glad".  He wasn't so happy to find that the social worker found the claim to
be unsubstantiated.

DSS kept us under investigation for a month, during which time we were
literally uncertain as to whether or not we'd still have our children after
the investigation was finished...after all, the social worker had originally
stated that they shouldn't even be investigating this, and the charges would
be immediately dropped.  They weren't.  In fact, it took them a full month
*after* the investigation was concluded to officially drop the charges.

So we had a two-month period during which we were being told various
ambiguous, and sometimes conflicting, things about the status of our case and
its probable outcome...and during which the custody of our children was
placed in doubt.  It was *not* a pleasant experience, I assure you...and,
frankly, when the social worker told us that DSS could take our children
without a trial, I was...well, at first, scared...the context in which this
was given to me made it seem like this might happen...but then I began to be
angry.

Put bluntly, my situation was that some asshole had jeopardized my family
because of his religious views.  My children could have been taken from me,
and there wouldn't have been a whole hell of a lot I could have done about
it. All because my neighbor thought--mistakenly--that I was a Satanist, and
that that particular religious preference should somehow invalidate my civil
liberties and the sanctity of my family.


Well, there it is...I apologize if it's a bit over-blown or
melo-dramatic...actually, it's very difficult to talk about without (still)
becoming very angry; it still hurts to think of what *could* have
happened--and, unfortunately, *has* happened to other Pagans.



-----
Pagan and Proud!

---
25/25        [18] Networked  Wicca / Druidism
Title:       Oh gods...
Date:        Thu Dec 31 18:11:04 1992
Origin:      Brainless Wonder (Florida) [813-971-5013]
From:        Moonshadow #136 @8353 WWIVnet


RE: Well, I first got my green button...
BY: A.Lizard #9 @5077

Changeline questioned me about this too.  It's hard to remember that even
though a story may have been told a number of times on the net, newcomers
will not have heard it.

In June of 1990, a coven at Moon Lake in New Port Richey, Florida had
undergone several months of harassment from neighbors.  This harassment
culminated in gunfire during a moon ritual (new moon, I think--help me out,
locals).  The story hit the St. Petersburg Times, but was small and written
with such a negative slant, that anyone reading it was supposed to assume
these witches were liars and "deserved" what they got.  Well, from many
different quarters people started protesting the story--letters to the editor
were rampant.  Then the t.v. stations started getting involved. Then Current
Affair did a piece on them.

The upshot of all this media coverage was that local pagans were able to look
around and realize--hey, I'm not the only witch in the Tampa Bay Area!

Then at Midsummer the call went out that Coven Astra Australis was opening up
their covenstead to bring the community together and discuss ways of helping
the New Port Richey group...Lothlorien.

And thus the Pagan Allied Network was born...

Moonshadow


---------------- end of quotes ----------------------

I assume the fundie vs. Circle Sanctuary thing is already common knowledge so
I'm not reposting it.

If you are victimized by this sort of crap or want to help a pagan
anti-discrimination organization, contact AMER (Alliance for Magical and
Earth Religions) at:


Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions
P.O. Box 16551
Clayton, MO 63105
(314)994-1026
(they would prefer a stamped self-addressed envelope, especially
if you are asking for info)

or via E-mail:

Internet amer@Blue.Kludge.com     
VirtualNET 728@5103  WWIVnet or Icenet 728@5077  WWIVLink  728@15050
Fido-Net: AMER@1:161/233  AdultNET 728@5103

note- expect a few days to respond on any of these E-mail addresses including
the Internet one, Blue.Kludge.com has a VERY slow mail feed.

                                                 A.Lizard
====== 93 ====== sum saurus, sum saurus, sum maximus saurus! ====== 93 ======
 (slogan contributed by Jessica Mc Geary)  (translated by Murray Altheim)
Mail to me should be sent to:       |  There are no fnords in this sig file.
alizard%tweekco%boo@PacBell.COM     |  autoreply to address I posted this
     ^^^ preferred site ^^^         |  from only if you want to wait a
PacBell.COM!boo!tweekco!alizard     |  solstice or two for my answer.
alizard@gentoo.com                  |              Kallisti!
     ^^^ backup site                |  PGP2.0 public key available on request

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Image Limited VBBS (510) 831-3634 [MUDS] Free Internet Access.
Subs-On Request/PCP Via CALOAK...     VBBS 5.608

Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.atheism,talk.religion.misc