Editor: As a Wiccan author and teacher, I must correct a glaring misconception about my religion that the concerned father, William Niland, and his minister, Tom Buck of Riverside Fellowship Church, have.
Wicca is not about Satanism. Wiccans do not believe in any devil. We feel that the devil is a Christian concept, and that the only real devil lies in the hearts of those who would harm their fellow humans, of any religion, color, gender or preference.
That the father claims to have had experiences with the occult and black magic and equates them with Wiccan practices is a gross error on his part. Wicca is about respect for the Earth, all of her creatures, and about worshipping Deity in both a female Goddess and male God form.
The cornerstone tenet of Wiccan practice is "if it harms none, do as you will." We believe in the threefold law of karmic return, that what someone does, good and evil, will return to them three times over.
True practicing Wiccans strive to do good, despite much persecution from some of the followers of the Prince of Peace, who forget the "Love one another as I have loved you," and "Judge not, lest ye be judged" tenets of their own religion.
My partner, James Blake, and I are living proof of this, as evidenced by the story about us that appeared Jan. 26 in your fine paper, the recent theft of our signs a few weeks ago, and a road rage incident on Nov. 15 in response to a bumper sticker on our car.
Whatever Mr. Niland was involved with in the past, it was not Wicca. As for Mr. Buck, apparently his ministerial training did not include a course in comparative religions.
-- Dottye Anderson, Dade City