Wiccan Father Still Fights for Parental Rights

I just posted an article to The Watch Alert archive about the Wiccan parents in Indianapolis (Thomas E. Jones Jr., pictured, and Tammie U. Bristol) who, as a part of their divorce decree, were prohibited by a judge from involving their son in their religion. I am incensed by this. This action is being quietly approved of by a lot of people who know nothing of the Wiccan religion. However, had this happened to a Christian family in Afghanistan the Conservative and Christian media would be all over it, using terminology such as "Christian persecution." I'm sorry, folks. You can have it both ways. If it would be a moral crime if it happened to a Christian family at the hands of Muslims in Afghanistan, then it's a moral crime that it happened to a Wiccan family at the hands of Christians in the United States.

Here's the logic of the court; according to Beverly Phillips, spokeswoman for Superior Court of Marion County, "This is not an attack on Wicca or the First Amendment. The judge and commissioner support the constitutional guarantee concerning freedom of religion. But this case is not just about freedom of religion. It's about the court's obligation to protect minor children from certain rituals that might be harmful to their well-being, whether or not those things are affiliated with a religion."

What? You're kidding me! "Certain rituals?" Which rituals would that be? Well, no one is saying it out loud, but we all know the answer to that question. She's talking, of course, about the ritual of killing animals and drinking their blood. She's talking about ritualized child abuse. She's talking about the potential for human sacrifice. Oh, come on. You all know what I'm talking about.

The problem is, these very dangerous stereotypes have nothing whatsoever to do with Wicca. You want to know what danger that child is in by having Wiccan parents? He might be taught to respect the Earth and all living things. He might be taught that anything he does, whether good or bad, will come back to him three times over. He might be taught that God or The Divine (or whatever term you would like to use) is not found in the stuffy halls of some church, but that God is everywhere and is in everything. He may be taught that to talk to God he doesn't have to check first with some priest or preacher to make sure he's doing it right.

Wow. That sounds really dangerous to me.

Christians should be up in arms about this, because the implication that the courts can decide the religious beliefs of our children is a violation of basic, fundamental American principles. If Christians remain silent this time because the rights being violated here are those of a Wiccan family, then they will have no right to complain later on when a court decides that some denomination of the Christian faith is unexceptable to mainstream America.

- Watch Alert Archived Post
- Original Article
Required Reading
- Malleus Maleficarum