So, what’s this REALLY all about you ask? Well, it seems Ms. Verch
and several parents are up in arms because the Juvenile Authority
allows not only Christian ministers to talk to kids in Juvenile Hall,
but they are also
It seems the state has taken the correct position and said that if a
representative from one religion was allowed to talk to the kids in
Juvenile Hall, then they would not discriminate and would allow
representatives from other types of religion. Now, contrary to what
Ms. Verch seems imply, none of the children are forced to go to Wicca
ceremonies or meetings. Occasionally a Wiccan goes to the jail and
offers to present information to any of the kids who want to listen.
The news report showed tearful parents of Juvenile offenders worried
that their child is being turned to the will of Satan. This seems a
little difficult since the Wiccans don’t even believe in Satan, and
while Ms. Verch admits this fact, this does not stop her from
spending the entire report trying to tie Wicca to Satanism.
It’s funny how these parents are suddenly worried about what’s
influencing their child. They obviously weren’t concerned about the
kid’s “influences” BEFORE he broke the law. This current problem is
arising because while a child is in jail they are subject to the
Juvenile Authority and the parents have no say so over any of the
child’s activities. Maybe this is a good idea, after all it doesn’t
seem as if the parents’ Christianity has been a positive force in the
child’s life so far.
Ms. Verch interviewed a man in prison who committed a Satanic ritual
murder. This man assured her that Wiccans would lead the children to
Satan. She also interviewed a former cult member (*NOT* a former
Wiccan), who said he lived a dark and horrible existence while he was
in his cult. The same message we always get: Cults are bad, cults
are bad. (That is until they have enough followers to be officially
called a “religion”!)
The only ACTUAL Wiccan who appeared in the report was a woman who’s
been a Wiccan for over 40 years. They gave her a single 8-second
sound bite (out of a 5-minute report), in which she explained that
Wicca is like any other religion — some people choose to use it the
wrong way. Meanwhile, the Satanic murderer and the non-Wiccan cult
guy got over 30 seconds of coverage apiece. Gee, there’s no bias
there!
Still wanting more evidence that Wicca is evil, Ms. Verch went to the
local bookstore and took a look at one of the best selling Wiccan
books on the market, Wiccan Magick: Inner Teachings of the Craft by
Raven Grimassi. She said the book contained spells and rituals that
involved human blood, alcohol and tobacco. It had spells that would
make pictures come to life and others spells helped you contact dead
spirits. Hmmm....sounds familiar.
The Christian religion has rituals involving human blood and alcohol.
Christians drink wine that they believe to be the “blood of Christ”
and eat wafers they believe to be the “body of Christ”. Sounds
rather cannibalistic if you ask me. What about Jesus turning water
into wine? Wasn’t this a “ritual using alcohol”? Just take a look at
the bible. It’s filled with human sacrifices, animal sacrifices,
virgin sacrifices, smearing blood on doors, killing of children by
God and on and on.
How about making a picture come to life? There are plenty of good
Christians out there who believe that statues and pictures of the
Virgin Mother Mary are coming to life and crying — sometimes crying
blood! And don’t Christians also try to contact the dead? They pray
and often ask for “messages from beyond”. Isn’t this just the same
thing?
Interviewing a Satanist and a Cult member about Wicca is like asking
a Mormon and a Jew to talk about the Catholic religion. Do we really
expect a Mormon to say good things about the Catholics? Of course
not, and any thinking person would know better than to interview
someone who is clearly biased against another. If Ms. Verch really
wanted to know about Wicca, then she should have spoken to more
Wiccans and done more research into what Wicca is all about. When
Ms. Verch went to Satanists to find out about Wicca, she clearly
showed her true colors and complete bias against anything not
Christian.
I suppose I live in a dream world where I expect news reporters to
make an honest effort in presenting an unbiased and thorough report.
I expect a reporter to set aside her personal beliefs and get to the
heart of a story, whether they agree with the subject or not. Ms.
Verch’s clear Christian bias was drenched all over this “witch hunt”.
She did not go at this story with an open mind, she went with her
Christian rose colored glasses fixed firmly to her face.
What about the children? Maybe if these children are exposed to
ideas and religions other than their own they just might grow up to
be open minded and tolerant adults. If we shut the children off from
other viewpoints, they will become bigoted and prejudiced. Case in
point — take a look at Ms. Verch.
It’s interesting how easy it is to find fault in another and be so
completely blind to the same faults within yourself. Heck, if they
get this worked up about Wiccans, I wonder how they would react if
Atheists went in and talked to the children. Hmmm....an interesting
thought!
Then again, first place in that division went to a report called "Old Hard Drives". I saw that report and there wasn't much in-depth analysis there:
Yup, biased hatchet jobs are officially considered GOOD REPORTING these days. HOW APPALLING!!
04/20/2002
LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) - KEX radio and KATU-TV, both of Portland, and Eugene's KUGN radio won "overall excellence" awards in the 2001 Oregon Associated Press Broadcasters Association Awards, announced here Saturday.
KEX and KUGN also won "Best Newscast" awards in the large-market and smaller-market categories, respectively. KGW-TV of Portland won "Best Newscast" in the large-market television category. KEZI-TV of Eugene won "Best Newscast" among stations licensed outside the Portland metropolitan area.
The Oregon AP Broadcasters Awards recognize the best in broadcast journalism each year. The awards were presented at a banquet Saturday night.
The winners:
BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
DIVISION ONE:
A reporter looks out at the TV audience and announces that children
in our community are being exposed — not only to “healthy”
Christianity — but also to other religions! In particular, to a
“horrible cult” calling itself Wicca. Was this reporter on the
Christian Broadcasting Network? Perhaps the 700 Club? Or maybe
Inspirational Life Television? No, this was the “secular” 5 o’clock
Local News on KEZI out of Eugene. On August 30th, News Anchor and
Reporter Lisa Verch presented her propaganda with the worn out
rallying cry: “What about the children? For God’s sake let’s think
about the children!”
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
Postscript (April 24, 2002)
Just when you think this story is over, you get a reality check. I received an email on April 24, 2002 telling me that KEZI won an award for this hack job of a "news" report.
(Did YOU know that EVEN if you FORMAT your old hard drive before selling it, SOMEONE ELSE could pay a company to RETRIEVE your erased data and INTRUDE ON YOUR PRIVACY?!?!?)
OR OAPBA Awards
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DIVISION TWO:
Copyright © 1996 - 2000 Angela C. Byers