Magickal Childe Molesters

The potential for child abuse is endemic within any organized, or even not-so-organized religion, and unfortunately Wicca and other branches of Paganism are no exception, it would seem. It's easy to understand how this can happen. Pedophiles and ephebophiles are easily drawn to such areas of endeavor as children or youth ministries, where they can all too often ply their trade-well, unmolested. It is an area where, once they gain the trust of the religious community, and of parents, and their children, they have ample opportunity to engage in conduct which can easily be described as sexual grooming, oftentimes with horrendous results.

As I said, this happens within all religions, and this is including Christianity. And no, I am not talking only, or even mainly about the Catholic Priest Pedophile scandal of recent years. There are multitudes of examples of this happening within other denominations, including among such fundamentalist groups as the Baptists.

And, it happens among pagans, as recently pointed out by Rob Taylor of the blog Red Alerts, who passed the information on to Jason of The Wild Hunt Blog, which engendered a rather lengthy and intense comments section devoted to the topic.

In this particular case, a man by the name of James Douglas Ray advertised on Witchvox, in a listing the site (or perhaps Ray himself) has since removed, that he was in search of a coven in the Arkansas area. An investigation conducted by an anti-pedophile website revealed that this man may have been active on several pedophile message boards, where he has promoted open advocacy of pedophile rights, and stressed that a child as young as ten might be able to handle sexual penetration by an adult.

This man, it was revealed, lives in Arkansas, where he owns and runs an RV Park, and is a volunteer firefighter. Now, frankly, I find that hard to believe, as this person is reported to weight in the neighborhood of 384 pounds, but I suppose he could work as a dispatcher, or perhaps in some maintenance or equipment manager capacity.

(Oh, and just as an aside-to my way of thinking, the notion of this man sexually penetrating a young child, as disgusting and revolting as that would be, it literally pales in comparison with the idea of this 384 pound sack of shit just being on top of a child pressing down and humping with all that obesity. I would even go so far as to say the very thought of this whale being on top of a child makes the sexual aspects seem almost trivial. I doubt this fat ass tub of lard has seen his own dick in over a decade, and when you get right down to it, I doubt anybody else has).

Is he just one of a relative few, or is he representative of a larger sub-culture within the pagan population? I fear the worst. I am very much afraid that, like all religions, there are many of these people who have found a home, and more importantly, a cover to disguise their heinous activities under the cloak of spirituality and by fostering the illusion that here might well be an adept spiritual guide and mentor. It is a situation that is rife with the potential for abuse-and for tragedy.

As such, people, particularly parents, need to be aware of this, but I am very much afraid that all too many of them have blinders on, and would prefer to keep them in place. Let somebody else watch out for their kids for them. That's what the law is for, right? The law exists to protect us from these kinds of people.

And true, there are myriads of laws meant to do just that. At the Federal level, there are laws involving use of the mail, wire services, phone, internet, etc., as well as interstate travel for the purpose of transporting minors across state lines, or crossing state lines for the purpose of meeting underage children for sexual or other illegitimate purposes.

We don't need any more laws at the federal level, and there should be more than adequate laws at the state level to take up the slack. Be familiar with them. If you don't like your particular state's laws, work to change them. If you don't particularly like the laws of a neighboring or other state-don't go there. There's no need in making this an excuse for a greater federal government power grab.

However-and this is key-both federal and state laws, no matter how well-written or adequately enforced, are worthless when parents refuse, or for whatever reason are unable (ie, in all too many cases unfit) to be proactive in raising and guiding their own children. After all, there would be no need for these laws if there was no danger of anything untoward happening to children at the hands of predators. Severe punishment after the fact, while it is appropriate, does little good to heal the pain of abuse-it damn sure isn't going to raise the dead.

As such, it has come to my attention that there may be-and I stress, MAY BE-pagan festivals where children are allowed, and maybe even encouraged, to wander around skyclad. That happens to mean naked, for the uninitiated. I should point out here that the alleged pedophile mentioned above stated that he liked to attend such festivals primarily for this reason.

All right, I don't know what the fuck is wrong with people. Let me make this as clear as I know how, to parents, and to event organizers, that allow this to go on, if indeed it does-

A, no normal person wants to see this shit, B, no responsible adult would sanction or encourage it, and for damn sure C, no sane parent would fucking allow it.

I hate to break it to all the skyclad aficionados, but there is nothing normal about nudity. It is natural for human beings to want to clothe themselves in attire appropriate to the environment, and about the only time nudity comes into play in this regard is during the course of bathing.

Yes, I know, we are born naked, and it is natural for toddlers to get out of their clothes whenever they can in a great many cases. This might well be because of a buildup of body heat due to child-play activity. You just might have the damn heat up too much. Whatever the case, the child will outgrow this inclination in time.

Bottom line, we are apes, apes who lost their fur, and we've been stealing other animal's fur ever since we lost our own, which was probably due to some genetic mutation facilitated by a bottleneck in the human population, which in turn was probably caused by a drastic change in environmental factors.

Walk outside without any clothes and tell me how natural it feels, regardless of the weather. The vast majority of people even wear something, however slight, when they go to bed at night. In other words, if you think otherwise, then you're just full of shit, aren't you?

So when you go to these things, act like you have some fucking sense. Dress appropriately, and dress your kids likewise. In the meantime, if you insist on involving your kids in these kinds of things, make sure there is adequate supervision run by qualified adults who have passed all the appropriate background checks. A good rule of thumb is-infants and toddlers in one group, after which separate groups for ages of every four years. Once your child reaches about the age of fifteen, on average, he or she can probably be trusted with a greater degree of freedom of movement. Which means of course not that you cut them loose to run wild, just that you give them a bit of a longer rope, and make sure they understand they are expected to act with appropriate sense of responsibility. You know, that's that thing you should be teaching them.

Better still, keep your kids with you. Don't expect "the law" or "the government" or for "society" to babysit your brats so you can indulge your own past times. We all have lives too. Sorry, but the most I can do for you, if I see something is wrong, would involve an anonymous call to Child Protective Services. So get over yourselves and raise your damn kids.

Don't think for one minute it's going to cut any slack with society that "it happens in other religions too". Nobody cares about that irrelevant point. Way too many Christians, and others as well, still see you as groups of (maybe unwitting) devil worshipers who are putting your kids at risk by placing them in proximity to a group of people who worship deities such as Pan, who all too many Christians see as the devil incarnate.

Yes, it happens to them too. You can find a multitude of examples of that here, just for starters. That's just too bad. If your own child ends up raped, or maybe even murdered, or you have him or her yanked from your care because you are perceived-maybe with good reason-as an unfit parent, wouldn't you feel really stupid using that as an excuse?

See, a truly benevolent group will see the problem in their midst and they will do something about it. There are those in the Christian community who are trying to address their own problems. One such example of that is Boundaries For Effective Ministries.

There is no reason that pagans can't take the time and effort to make sure their children are safe from predators, and they can do this in large part by knowing who they are associating with, and by becoming aware of their surroundings.

A good first step might be to check out a group known as Pagans Against Child Abuse, an on-line support and advocacy group which is open to Pagans and non-Pagans alike.

Perhaps most important of all-and it almost pains me to say this, seeing as to how obvious it is, or should be-get involved in your children's lives. And stay involved.

One group you might want to check out is Spiral Scouts. It is a group for children and young teens of both genders, fashioned somewhat after the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, that encourages parents to become more involved in their children's lives. It is not a place where you take your kids to get away from them for awhile. You are encouraged to be a part of the group, which is run by responsible adults who have passed all the necessary and appropriate background checks.

Some people, including many Pagans, might not like them because they are a Wiccan group, founded by the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. Honestly, I'm not sure I would like them. I'm just putting the information out there for your perusal. If you think it might be of value, look into it. You can start by reading their FAQs.

They don't proselytize, and they are open to any children of any religious background, or to those who profess no religion. It's supposed to be just an organization for children and young teens, to have fun in a safe environment and form friendships while learning pretty much the same kinds of things the Scouts do about nature and the environment. Hopefully, there is not a political agenda, but I don't know. Like I said, I don't necessarily recommend or endorse them, I just offer them as a potential outlet you might want to look into.

In other words, don't take my word. Look into it yourselves.