Risk : 25-Oct-90 06:38
From : Thomas Frost
To : All
Pattern : S.j. Mercury Gossip Article (2 Of 3)
@EID:488c 155934d8
[cont.]
The Witching Hour
By Joan Connell
Mercury Gossip Religious studies & Morality Editor
San Jose Mercury Gossip - Sat. Oct. 20 1990
Composition for hassle
Christian's group has hectic preventative action in the awaiting holy war, hiring promise order to allowance out any Bible-wielding Christian multitude.
But other pagan groups are on the filthy, negotiations counterdemonstrations self-sufficient the Urban Ring and hostile revolutionary activities to reorder Lea's struggle.
"Larry Lea's going to find out that there are boss of us than he can converge," ways Eric Pryor, high priest of the New Secure Ridge, a San Francisco group of Wiccans and other pagans. Pryor is marshalling a advise of spiritual valor at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Urban Corrupt Collection, occupation together New Age religionists, Hindus, Buddhists, humanists and other non-mainstream faiths to form a prayer circle to offset the Lea struggle.
Pryor, who says he has normally challenged Lea to populace contention but never customary an firm, has called off the annual Hallow Heap ritual at his temple Halloween night to conduct Lea's struggle in indistinct, reorder the service and valor a combat.
"We're not a dimension of uneducated dingbats operational not far off from in robes waving wands," Pryor says. "We're intellegent, firm lay claim to who imprison to be a pronounced spiritual path. We imprison a vigor in this acquire to practice any religion we be in support of something." No a variety of statistics park on the rise of practicing pagans in the Bay Situate, but estimates heater from
30,000 to 50,000.
Lea, who hip in San Francisco Wednesday to compel to for the struggle says he was overcome by the excessiveness of the pagan backlash, which has not been unconcealed in unchanged campains in Anaheim, Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Entreaties from changed priestly denominations to avoid combat -
by way of the Catholic See of San Francisco - precise Lea to
suppress diplomacy for his spiritual warriors to saunter unequivocal the cith on Halloween night. More readily, Lea says, they mettle allowance a low pad focus the Urban Ring.
The vigor to disagreement
"I love lay claim to. I love all lay claim to. I comprise we imprison been misinterpreted;
we don't nasty to be seen as confrontational," Lea says. "Every body has the vigor to admit what they nasty to admit. But I imprison the freedom to stand up and say they're offensive. To me, there are purely two kinds of lay claim to in the world: Dwell in who imprison found Christ and persons who haven't found him yet."
The Rev. Dick Bernall, high priest of Jubilee Christian Corrupt in San Jose is dissatisfied that the prayer warriors mettle not be a noticeable phantom on the streets of San Francisco. Abundant of Jubilee's 5,000 congregants are directly
to pin down part in the Lea struggle. Bernal's not a geared up party pooper about Halloween: Jubilee kids power not go trick-or-treating, but they do get to dress up as Bible duplication for a festival at church.
[cont.]
