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Pagans Stand By Law Of Land
Saturday, December 04, 2004
By Charles Honey
Press Religion Editor
SEE RELATED ARTICLE
Grand Rapids, Michigan - Danielle Woodwyk says her pagan faith is about
love, but worries others may draw darker conclusions from a criminal-sexual
conduct case police say involved paganism.
The Kentwood mother says nothing in her religion condones the sexual
relationship and pagan marriage that authorities say teacher Elizabeth
Miklosovic, 36, had with a 14-year-old former student.
"We support bonds of love, whatever you feel is right for you, but you have
laws to abide by," said Woodwyk, 24.
Other members of West Michigan's small pagan community also condemned
Miklosovic's alleged use of a pagan ceremony to initiate the abuse.
"Paganism strives for responsibility," said Jennifer Suttorp, director of
Sanctuary of the Winds, a local nonprofit pagan organization. "A pedophile
is a pedophile in any form of spirituality."
Area pagans worry the case could stir up unfounded allegations their faith
was culpable. People on the Sanctuary's mailing list already are saying they
will need "some kind of damage control," Suttorp said.
"I really hope the community will take the crime as the crime, and leave the
person's spirituality out of it. Just because I went to church with somebody
doesn't mean that played a real heavy (role) with the relationship."
The "wedding" ritual described by police sounds similar to a "handfasting"
ceremony, in which two people link their hands with a piece of rope or
twine, pagans say.
But while a homosexual union is legitimate in pagan doctrine, a wedding with
a minor is not, they stress.
"Being pagan, you still have to follow the law of the land," said Woodwyk, a
nursing student at Grand Valley State University.
Suttorp said an adult giving literature to a minor, as Miklosovic allegedly
did with a book on witchcraft, is "really frowned upon."
Any minor interested in joining her group must have a parent's permission,
she said.
"A lot of it is to protect ourselves from situations like this," said
Suttorp, 27, of Kentwood.
"We don't want a parent coming back to us saying, 'You brainwashed my child
into believing like this.'"
Pagan beliefs center on taking care of the environment and other people,
said Woodwyk, who worships at home with her husband, Josh, and 5-year-old
son, Seth.
"Our main mission is to better ourselves, better the community, heal the
Earth and protect it," she said.
Note: Jen Suttorp is the Local Coordinator for Grand Rapids Pagan Pride
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