Pagan SA

Sunday, November 21, 2004
Buffalo, New York
To Whom it May Concern:

We, the Executive Board of the Pagan Student Association of the State University of New York at Buffalo as recognized by the Student Association, in response to the charges and allegations put forth by the student funded publication The Courier in their article entitled: Gratuitous Club Bashing 2.0: Making No Wiccan’ Sense written by Jay DeVoy, at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, do hereby make the following response to his charges:

Mr. DeVoy claims that all religions are openly embraced at Canisius. However if this were the case Wicca would be embraced as well. According to DeVoy, “Wicca isn’t a religion”. Unfortunately for DeVoy, Wicca is recognized as a valid religion by many court rulings, including but not limited to the following:

United States v. Phillips, 42 M.J. 346, 349 (C.A.A.F. 1995); Alvarado v. City of San Jose, 94 F.3d 1223 (9th Cir. 1996); Reese v. Coughlin, 1996 WL 374166 at *3 n.3 (S.D.N.Y. 1996); Rouser v. White, 1996 WL 631130 at *1 n.1 (E.D. Cal 1996); Rust v. Clark, 883 F. Supp. 1293, 1297 (D.Ne. 1995); Church of Iron Oak, Inc. ATC v. City of Palm Bay, Fla., 868 F.Supp. 1361, 1362 n.1 (M.D. Fla 1994); Nichols v. Nix, 810 F. Supp. 1448, 1451 (S.D. Iowa 1993); Brown v. Woodland Joint Unified Sch. Dist., 1992 WL 361696 (E.D., Cal. 1992); Dettmer v. Landon, 799 F2d 929 (4th Cir. 1986); Roberts v. Ravenwood Church of Wicca, 292 S.E.2d 657,658 (Ga. 1982); William B. Wheeler VS Patricia Condon, P.S. Docket No. MD-45 (Jan 1989).

"It became very obvious to me that this was a forum for a few people to rationalize their beliefs and justify their practices through conglomeration of fellow adherents" says Mr. DeVoy in his article. The same can be said for those who attend a temple, church, mosque or shrine on a regular basis.

The purpose of the Explorers of Alternative Faiths organization is not simply to celebrate Wicca or its holidays, but rather to promote an interfaith discussion as well as educate the campus and college community on other religions as well as promote tolerance. We at the State University of New York at Buffalo have received tremendous positive response from the student and academic community, as well as support from the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. Our organization not only recognizes Wicca, but any religion or school of thought including: Shamanism, Judaism, Asatru, Shinto, Kabbalah, Buddhism, Druidism and more. We have practicing members of several of the above religions in our club.

"If the religious studies department gives it credence in class, than it is an actual religion and recognizable set of beliefs" says Mr. DeVoy, however there are many more religions that have not been discussed by professors due to the time limitations of their classes or their personal interests. While the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are most often discussed in a religious studies class, this does not mean that religions omitted from the curriculum do not exist. To put this absurd statement in perspective, just because Canisius does not have a curling team does not suggest that the sport does not exist, but rather that the university does not give it mention.

"I can't even believe how up in arms people would be if I tried to start a Roman Catholic club" says Mr. DeVoy, however from our experiences at our university we can tell Mr. DeVoy that such clubs can coexist on an interfaith campus quite comfortably with no public outcry and have done so for a very long period of time.

"Wicca is a series of rituals based in the school of thought that the individual is the master of his or her natural surroundings, and can command them through the use of spells," says Mr. DeVoy. The definition of Wicca that Mr. DeVoy puts forth is actually more in line with Satanism than with Wicca. Wicca focuses on nature, karma and the belief in at least one higher power. As far as commanding nature through the use of spells, we have not come across any Wiccans who believe that they hold power over nature. In fact Wiccans believe that they are part of nature and can work with the elements of nature that are already in place.

We believe that it is necessary to define Wicca to Mr. DeVoy; Wicca can be defined as:

Wicca
Wic•ca
n.
1. A polytheistic Neo-Pagan nature religion inspired by various pre-Christian western European beliefs, whose central deity is a mother goddess and which includes the use of herbal magic and benign witchcraft.
2. A group or community of believers or followers of this religion.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Mr. DeVoy states that Wiccans are "people who believe in spells and 'magic'". He further states that "I leave you as a reader to gauge the logic and likelihood of 'magic' as a governing force of the Cosmos". Magic, when correctly defined and correlated, can be likened to praying on a rosary, visiting a Shinto shrine, chanting from the Torah, or otherwise asking for the assistance of the Divine. It is much to our regret that we cannot fly on brooms (which would save us on the rising cost of airfare) or turn people into frogs (which would better control the fly population).

"These people call themselves witches for a reason" according to Mr. DeVoy. "They are determined to cast their spells and do their rituals" he says. First, not every Wiccan does in fact call them self a Witch. Some call themselves Wizards, others Witches, some Wiccan, others Spiritualists, and some don’t call themselves anything at all. Furthermore, not everyone who calls themselves a Witch is in fact Wiccan. Wicca is a religion, Witchcraft is a set of practices. The two are not necessarily synonymous with each other.

"An incredibly limited number of students would be receiving your money to refute any religious or logical beliefs one may hold" says Mr. DeVoy. Whether or not there will be an incredibly limited number of students attending the meetings of the Explorers of Alternative Faiths organization has yet to be seen since the organization has yet to be funded; unless of course Mr. DeVoy has been practicing divination or has performed some survey of the entire student body that we have not been made aware of.

According to Mr. DeVoy, 'the recognition of a Wiccan association at Canisius and the potential funding of a group that exists to celebrate neo-paganism at the expense of YOUR MONEY is abhorrent, especially when the only result will be curses and spells put out on the college". We ask Mr. DeVoy to please refer to the above mentioned definition of witchcraft and note the word "benign" – the first tenant of Wicca is "harm none". We would also like to point out that while student funding is not needed to practice spells, it is required to make photocopies, have events, and buy the necessary materials for bake sales.

Mr. DeVoy closes his article by saying "if I suddenly become ill and die sometime after the publication of this, you all know who to blame". If Mr. DeVoy becomes ill, we highly recommend that he see a New York State licensed medical professional. He can only hold himself to blame if neglecting to get proper medical treatment causes his death.

Lastly, looking at the title of Mr. DeVoy’s article, we decided that we should provide him the dictionary definition of gratuitous (emphasis ours):

Gratuitous
gra•tu•i•tous
adj.
Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned.
Given or received without cost or obligation; free.
Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: gratuitous criticism.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Mr. DeVoy is absolutely correct; to bash Wicca as well as other religions is indeed unwarranted and unjustified, as well as contemptible. His article clearly demonstrates the need for an Explorers of Alternative Faiths organization to educate Mr. DeVoy, as well as others at Canisius College.

The Pagan Student Association of the State University of New York University at Buffalo fully supports the work of the Explorers of Alternative Faiths organization and stands with them in solidarity. We strongly encourage the students, faculty and staff to assist them in the formation of their organization which will be to the benefit of all.

Sincerely,

Christie Syphrit	Alison Merner	Amber Sherman
President	Vice President	Treasurer
Shaman-Druid Eclectic	Wiccan	Wiccan

Matthew L. Schwartz	Candie Syphrit	David Schwartz
Secretary	Public Relations	Member at Large
Jewish-Pagan Eclectic Folk Magick Practioner	Shaman	Jewish