Message #10818 - Metaphysical (Magicknet) 
   Date : 25-Oct-90 06:38
   From : Thomas Frost
     To : All
Subject : S.j. Mercury News Article (2 Of 3)
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[cont.]
                          The Witching Hour
                           By Joan Connell
                 Mercury News Religion & Ethics Editor
                San Jose Mercury News - Sat. Oct. 20 1990


                           Planning for trouble

    Christian's group has taken defensive action in the pending holy war,
hiring security police to keep out any Bible-wielding Christian soldiers.
But other pagan groups are on the offensive, planning counterdemonstrations
outside the Civic Auditorium and threatening guerrilla actions to disrupt
Lea's crusade.

    "Larry Lea's going to find out that there are more of us than he can
handle," ways Eric Pryor, high priest of the New Earth Temple, a San 
Francisco group of Wiccans and other pagans. Pryor is marshalling a show 
of spiritual force at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Civic Center Park, calling together 
New Age religionists, Hindus, Buddhists, humanists and other non-mainstream
faiths to form a prayer circle to counteract the Lea crusade.

    Pryor, who says he has repeatedly challenged Lea to public debate but
never received an answer, has called off the annual Hallow Mass ritual at 
his temple Halloween night to attend Lea's crusade in disguise, disrupt the
service and force a confrontation.

    "We're not a bunch of uneducated dingbats running around in robes
waving wands," Pryor says. "We're intellegent, purposeful people who have
chosen a particular spiritual path. We have a right in this country to 
practice any religion we choose." No reliable statistics exist on the 
number of practicing pagans in the Bay Area, but estimates range from
30,000 to 50,000.

    Lea, who arrived in San Francisco Wednesday to prepare for the crusade
says he was surprised by the intensity of the pagan backlash, which has not
been evident in similar campains in Anaheim, Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Entreaties from several religious denominations to avoid confrontation -
including the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco - convinced Lea to
cancel plans for his spiritual warriors to march through the cith on 
Halloween night. Instead, Lea says, they will keep a low profile inside the
Civic Auditorium.

                       The right to disagree

    "I love people. I love all people. I think we have been misinterpreted;
we don't want to be seen as confrontational," Lea says. "Every person 
has the right to believe what they want to believe. But I have the freedom
to stand up and say they're wrong. To me, there are only two kinds of people
in the world: Those who have found Christ and those who haven't found him
yet."

    The Rev. Dick Bernall, pastor of Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose
is disappointed that the prayer warriors will not be a visible presence on
the streets of San Francisco. Many of Jubilee's 5,000 congregants are
expected
to take part in the Lea crusade. Bernal's not a complete spoilsport about
Halloween: Jubilee kids might not go trick-or-treating, but they do get to
dress up as Bible characters for a party at church.
[cont.]



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