District Suspends Student For Wearing Symbol Of Wiccan Faith

Wicca is an earth-based religion. Practitioners honor the elemental powers of nature (water, fire, air and earth). Contrary to a commonly held misconception, Wiccans do not worship the devil. They don't even believe the devil exists.

 

What really bothers me is how the school district doesn't even say how the pentagram is "distracting." Is it because it is an unusually flashy piece of jewelry? Looking at the picture, it seems harmless enough. although you can't tell how big it is. If it is the size of a small plate, I could see why the school district might object. But if that were the case, you think the school district would be smart enough to say "This girl can wear a pentagram so long as it isn't the size of a disco medallion."

But I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the size of the jewelry and everything to do with the fact that it's a pentagram. And I also think that the school district knows that banning the pentagram won't hold up in court, so they're going to remain vague until the lawyers can cook up a more legit reason.

 

Just to be clear, there is a difference between a "pentagram" and a "pentacle". It is similar to the difference between a regular cross and one that is upside-down. They mean very different things. Unfortunately, the school in this case, like most other cases, doesn't get that I guess.

 

I wish you were in charge of my school, Jeff. You understand things.


Stupid shaving rule.

 

Just to be clear, there is a difference between a "pentagram" and a "pentacle". It is similar to the difference between a regular cross and one that is upside-down. They mean very different things. Unfortunately, the school in this case, like most other cases, doesn't get that I guess.

I'm not sure this distinction even matters. What if a student did have a pentagram and did worship the devil? Would that be banned? I know its a less popular position, but is that any more legally justifiable than banning a pentacle?

 

Good question.

 

surely she should be burnt at the stake

(what about a Kurt Angle you suck t-shirt or some dark shirt from pantera or something, sounds very Terrrence and Philip to me, bet this girl is canadian aswell)



from some websites

It was once commonly believed that a witch's power could be nullified by blooding her or by destroying her blood in a fire, hence the practice of burning at the stake. Sometimes uncooperative witches were burned with green wood, which took longer to kill them. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, was "slow roasted on a spit" (Ashley 154).

By far the most well-known punishment for witches was death by burning, a fate reserved also for heretics. Perhaps the most famous death by burning was the execution of Joan d'Arc for heresy.

St. Augustine (354-430) declared that heretics, pagans, and Jews would burn forever in eternal fire unless saved by the Catholic Church. Partially as a result of this declaration, victims were burned to death in order to give them a taste of what was coming.

In France, Germany, and Scotland, expenses concurred by the trial, the stay in jail, and the burning were billed to the victim's estate or relatives.

The burning of a witch was usually a great public occasion. The execution took place shortly after the sentencing, just long enough to hire an executioner, construct the execution site and gather the fuel. In Scotland, a witch burning was preceded by days of fasting and solemn preaching. The witch was strangled first, and then her corpse--or sometimes her unconscious or semiconscious body--was tied to a stake or dumped into a tar barrel and set afire. If the witch was not dead and managed to get out of the flames, onlookers shoved her back in. Records of trials in Scotland report that burning a witch consumed 16 loads of peat plus wood and coal (Guiley 1989 29, 43, 44).

 

You say that most young kids associate that symbol with the occult so in your mind it is O.K. to deny someone’s rights because of someone else’s ignorance. It’s a school so why not seize the opportunity to teach or educate the kids the truth about the symbol. It is a perfect opportunity to use the school for what it was intended for and that is to educate.

Don't you think a person should have the same right to worship the devil or the occult as other people are allowed to practice Christianity or Islam? Do you think that school would refuse to allow someone of Islamic faith to bring their mat to school and bow to the east? I don’t think so. The last time I checked our constitution guarantees us the right to freedom of religion and no school has the right to deny a student of that right. At the same time no public school has the right to deny education to a child on the basis of religious beliefs.

Here in Dallas a few years ago a school made an issue out of a kid that had a long ponytail half way down his back. The kid kept his hair clean and neatly braided but the school claimed that it did not fit their dress code and that it was a distraction to the other kids and they expelled him. Turns out that the kid’s father had the same hairstyle, as did his father. It has been a while but I believe the kid turned out to be a Native American and the parents sued the school as trying to deny the kid his rights and his culture. Of course the school lost and had to re-admit the young man.

This story is a simple case of a witch-hunt going on in one of our schools today. Someone in charge has decided it is not O.K. for a child to practice a religion that is different from theirs. The person in charge saw the pentacle and through ignorance identified it as a symbol of devil worshipping and decided that it was offensive to the cross that she or he was most likely wearing. Speaking of crosses I can’t help but wonder if the child would have been expelled if she had been wearing a cross? I think we all know the answer to that.

 

When I ran a bbs waaaaay back in the 80's as a kid and visited several others, I came into contact with several Wiccans. These people were some of the coolest people I ever met. I'm sure there are some asses in the mix just like any other group, but I never met one. I think why ignorant people consider them "devil worshippers" is because they call themselves "witches". I remember chatting wth one of the women on her bbs and we talked about the Wiccan faith. She answered question after question I had, but never once tried converting me or forcing her religion on me. She even laughingly told of one of her friends that walks around in public with a big cape on claiming to be a "warlock". If any of you used to visit "The Wizard's Realm" BBS in Houston, she ran that bbs. She was one of the nicest humans I've ever "met".

Wiccans have been persecuted throughout history as being "devil worshippers and satanists" when they really couldn't care less about those things.

From what I recall they worship nature itself and basically have a belief that you can do whatever you want as long as it harms nothing else. I had to look this up, but it's called the "Wiccan Rede" :