Ramah, USA - This small eastern plains town is simmering with religious tension after a pagan group rented out the American Legion Hall for a festival on Halloween weekend.
A Baptist minister tried to rally the town board to stop the gathering, and one woman is circulating a petition demanding that the festival be stopped. Other residents call the situation a witch hunt targeting those with different beliefs and are sarcastically referring to their town as Salem.
‘‘It's mass hysteria,'' said resident Virginia Gurule Baker. ‘‘These people are so close-minded.''
On the other end of the spectrum is Annette Manchego, who said, ‘‘I do not want it in our town or anywhere around our town.''
Last month, the Secret Garden Coven decided to hold a fall festival as a fund-raiser for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Organizer Jerusha Doucette-Johnson said she paid a deposit Aug. 19 on the building. Then she distributed fliers in Calhan, Simla, Ramah and other towns advertising the festival, which will include a ball, craft show and midnight ritual.
The coven of about 10 is primarily from the Calhan and Simla area.
Pagans worship a number of gods and goddesses and don't subscribe to Christian theology. The ritual consists of facing different directions, lighting candles, honoring those who have died and giving thanks for loved ones, Doucette-Johnson said.
There's no violence, she said.
Some in Ramah, named for an Israeli town in the Old Testament, became upset when they saw the flier, particularly the reference to a ritual. The Rev. Tim Tucker of Ramah Baptist Fellowship asked the town board to meet about the matter, and Town Clerk Cindy Tompkins scheduled a workshop Aug. 25 at Town Hall. Trustee Nicole Allen, who is Gurule Baker's daughter, said she protested the gathering because the town has no legal interest.
Doucette-Johnson said Trustee Tara Bell did much of the talking when the meeting began and asked what the ritual was about. Rev. Tucker was there but said nothing, she said. Doucette-Johnson said she tried to explain how her religion worked but felt Bell was aggressive and rude. Bell did not return two calls seeking comment.
The meeting quickly became heated. Doucette-Johnson said some residents thought the pagans would slaughter animals and one man said he didn't want the pagans pushing their religion down his throat. He then asked whether she would be open to a Ku Klux Klan meeting in her front yard, she said.
‘‘That to me was like a threat,'' Doucette-Johnson said.
The same man also said he could organize a cattle drive through the area to ruin the festival, Allen said. Town Clerk Tompkins said the meeting continued for about 45 minutes before she stopped it and proclaimed it a citizens' meeting. Tompkins said she made a mistake in allowing the meeting in the first place and that she and elected officials didn't understand the subject of the meeting before arranging it.
‘‘The town should not have been involved,'' she said. Mayor Tamra Herrera agreed, declining to share her personal opinion of the matter.
‘‘I'm staying completely out of it,'' she said.
Now Manchego is circulating a petition asking the American Legion Hall not to allow the rental. She said she's collected more than 100 signatures from residents in the area and plans to present the petition to the American Legion.
If that fails, Manchego said, she'll hold a protest Oct. 29. She said pagans have the right to practice and gather privately, but shouldn't do so in public.
‘‘We have vulnerable young people that don't need this put upon them,'' she said. ‘‘The festival is a pulling to get people in. Then they can work with the devil himself, which they worship. It is powerful, believe me. They can brainwash you, and before you know it, you're staying for the midnight ritual.''
A representative of the American Legion Hall didn't return calls, but Doucette-Johnson said her group has been told it can still hold the festival. However, American Legion representatives did ask her to remove references to a ritual from a flier. She agreed to do so.