From:  Jack Ofshadows To: All Msg #91, 20-Oct-89 11:25am Subject:
Religious Persecution

   WIN, WADL, and other efforts, have been compleatly ineffective
in stemming the tide of Witch Hate  in  America.    If  anything,
these efforts have given the persecutors a clearer focus on their
targets.    The   rate  of  destruction  of  pagan  religions  is
increasing.  For  every  dollar  raised  by  propagan  groups,  a
million dollars  is  raised by the Witch Hunters.  They are on TV
hundreds of hours a week.  They outnumber us 1000 to one.  It  is
only  in  the current atmosphere of isolation and self importance
that some pagans  allow  themselves  to  make  believe  they  are
accomplishing anything.

   The  real  fuel  for  the fire (sic), comes from the *secular*
arena.  Just as the late Commisioner Anslinger  built  his  power
base  on  antidrug  hysteria  key  police officials are using tax
dollars to build their own personal power  bases  using  satanist
media hype to their own advantage.  Pagan Political Spokespersons
can  scream  all they want, disrupt Witch Hunter's symposiums all
they want, the police officials building empires  of  fear  don't
care.   They  get  prime time media coverage on the 6 Oclock news
almost daily, use government printing plants and tax  dollars  to
publish their lies, are viewed by the public as heroic protectors
of  children,  and  they  are winning the powerful positions they
desire.  They are  getting  their  distorted,  biased,  and  self
glorifying,  viewpoint  into  the  minds  of the population while
Pagan Archivers continue to sit in the middle of piles of  little
scraps of newsprint.

   Public  grandstands,  by  pagan  spokespersons,  identify more
targets for hit lists.  The desire to educate the police falls on
deaf ears.  They quest for power, not  the  truth.    Powerhungry
police  have  found  a  dispised,  politically powerless minority
(satanists) which they can make into a convienient boogieman, and
use to get millions of dollars in appropriations and hundreds  of
thousands  of hours of manpower (authority) given to them to stop
"satanism."  We  are  not  only  up  against  Cristian  Evangical
Fanatics,  but  also  powerhungry  police  officials who have the
backing of the Federal Government.

   We, who follow a venerable old tradition of remaining  hidden,
have evolved  the  best ways to avoid the authorities.  We do not
throw our existence  and  beliefs  in  their  faces,  we  do  not
challange the  authority  of  the  Witch  Hunters *directly*.  We
quietly wait for the current swing of the political  pendulum  to
swing  from  the  Fascist direction it is going towards now, back
towards the liberal side, which allows us to breath  easier,  but
still be on our guard.

   Pagans  will not be arrested for being witches, when they come
for them; that would make possible reversals of  convictions  due
to  the  Freedom Of Religion clauses in the Constitution-it would
give pagans a legally defensable position.  Instead, they will be
busted for drugs, and the Hunters will bring the "evidence"  with
them, just like they did to the O.T.O..  The police will say they
"found"  the heroin, and the "suspects" will say it's not theirs-
a dialogue seen in trials of Pushers every day.  It will  be  the
word of a "satanist" against theirs- the suspect will loose.

   The  only  way for us to survive the comming pogom is to go as
deeply underground as  we  can,  ***and  from  that  position  of
strenth, write  letters,  donate  cash, and do magic***.  But, my
reading of these "spokespersons" is that  their  self  importance
knows no bounds and they already see themselves as Martyrs.

   Martyrs die  very  well,  so  they do so.  The Goddess' Hidden
Children are hard to catch, so the craft will survive.