Contact:
J. Brad Hicks
11220 West Florissant, Suite #288
Florissant, Missouri 63032
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAGICAL RELIGIOUS GROUPS UNITE
TO COUNTER LIES AND PROPAGAND
(St. Louis) -- Representatives of various St. Louis-area Witchcraft covens and other religious groups which practice magic or which worship the Earth recently formed a group called the Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions, or AMER. Sunday's meeting was the product of several months of meetings, and resulted in the formation of the group, a Statement of Purpose, and plans for future projects. The group's Statement of Purpose stresses the importance of standing up for religious freedom and countering negative propaganda about magical religions.
Galena Price, who organized the committee which formed AMER, said that she saw the need for such a group while she was negotiating to use a meeting room in an area hotel for a seminar on magical religion. She was informed that a county official had given the hotel staff a pamphlet entitled "America's Best Kept Secret." That pamphlet falsely accuses all Witches and Satanists of being part of a vast, nation-wide conspiracy to commit mass murder. Ms. Price compared the document to the slanderous anti-Semitic literature early in this century which accused Jews of similar crimes, and ultimately lead to the Holocaust.
Alliance member Brad Hicks claims that the comparison to anti-Semitic literature is particularly apt. "These accusations are as false as the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. The people who are writing and distributing this trash have never presented any hard evidence at all to back up such claims. But we've found that if we don't challenge them to produce evidence, people will believe their lies and propaganda."
The Alliance for Magical and Earth Religion's official Statement of Purpose commits them to stand up for "the right of every American to practice his or her own religion, insofar as the religion's practices directly harm no one. In particular, AMER will actively campaign for tolerance for magical and Earth-centered religions." It also says that they will work to promote a positive image for such religious groups and to counter negative propaganda.
In October, Ms. Price and AMER are planning to hold a public seminar at which Frank Medina will speak. Mr. Medina is a Wisconsin parole officer and nationally-recognized expert on accusations of occult-related crime.
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For more information, contact:
J. Brad Hicks
11220 West Florissant, Suite #288
Florissant, Missouri 63032
ALLIANCE FOR MAGICAL AND EARTH RELIGIONS
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
1. AMER will defend the right of every American to practice his or her own religion, insofar as that religion's practices do not directly harm anyone. In particular, AMER will actively campaign for tolerance for magical and Earth-centered religions.
2. AMER will work to promote a positive image for magical and Earth-centered religions, and to counter negative propaganda about such groups.
3. AMER will promote cooperation among the various magical and Earth-centered religious groups in the eastern Missouri area.
4. AMER will serve as a source of accurate information on magical and Earth-centered religions and practices.
