"These outlandish accusations have made Brandi Blackbear's life at school unbearable," said Joann Bell, executive director of the Oklahoma ACLU. "I for one would like to see the so-called evidence this school has that a 15-year-old girl made a grown man sick by casting a magic spell."

According to the complaint, Assistant Principal Charlie Bushyhead and a school counselor, Sandy Franklin, accused Blackbear of being a witch and casting a spell on a ceramics teacher after he fell ill for unknown reasons and was hospitalized. The Daily Oklahoman reports that the illness is now believed to have been appendicitis.

The complaint alleges that Bushyhead advised Blackbear that "she was an immediate threat to the school and summarily suspended her for what he arbitrarily determined to be a disruption of the education process."

And There's More

The ACLU said that school officials not only suspended Blackbear for 15 days in December 1999 for allegedly casting spells, but also violated her religious freedom when they told her that she could not wear or draw in school any symbols related to the Wiccan religion.

In addition, the lawsuit accuses school officials of violating Blackbear's due-process rights when, in the spring of 1999, they suspended her for 19 days over the content of private writings taken from her book bag. To date, school officials have not returned Blackbear's writings to her. Before these incidents, the ACLU complaint said, Blackbear had no discipline problems and had a perfect attendance record.

Since being accused, Blackbear has "suffered continuous ridicule and humiliation," and "become an outcast among her fellow students." She has also fallen behind in her schoolwork because of the suspensions.

"It is hard for me to believe that in the year 2000 I am walking into court to defend my daughter against charges of witchcraft brought by her own school," said Timothy Blackbear. "But if that's what it takes to clear her record and get her life back to normal, that's what we'll do."

What Is The Wiccan Religion All About, Anyway?

Do school officials even understand what the Wiccan religion is all about, or is this just a reaction out of fear and intolerance?

The Wiccan religion has been recognized in U.S. courts and by the United States Army Chaplain's Handbook. With origins in pre-Christian Europe, Wicca stresses individual enlightenment, and celebrates the seasons and the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Proselytizing is forbidden. Wicca doesn't seem like anything to be scared of to me.

So do Wiccans cast spells or what? According to the Web site, The Witch's Voice, "spells are somewhat like prayers and are used to create needed change in one's own life or the life of a loved one. But while prayers are a petition to an external deity to create change, most witches and Wiccans believe that deity is present in everything, including ourselves. Spells, then, are the channeling of our own divine selves, our own energies, to create the change."

I was actually recently introduced to the Wiccan religion on the Dr. Laura boards. Apparently, in addition to calling gays "deviant," Dr. Laura calls Wiccans a "cult." This has people fired up — and I don't blame them!

Anyway, I learned a lot about Wiccans from reading the posts. "Proud Wiccan" explains, "Wicca is basically enviromentalist-oriented in that we think the earth and life on it is interedependent and not to be abused. Wicca is a Goddess worship religion but we also have a male deity that is Her companion and shares the duties, so to speak. I can tell you what we are NOT: Not satanists (we don't even believe in Satan), not blood sacrificers (much less human sacrifice), we are not all aged hippies (some are but most aren't), and we do not have special powers like levitation or any of that stuff. We are human, like everyone else, make mistakes, you name it, but at least we take responsibility for our 'sins,' not put it on someone else so they can suffer in our stead."

And "Lady Danae" provided a link to a great site where you can learn more about Wicca. Check it out: http://www.religioustolerance.org/.

Be Heard On The Boards

Do you think Blackbear should be allowed to wear Wiccan symbols to school? Do you think she should win her case against Bushyhead and the other school officials? And what do you think about witches and Wiccans anyway? Talk about it on the boards and don't forget to nominate who you would like to see in the Doghouse.

Chat About It

Join me every Monday night at 9 p.m. EST to chat about the Doghouse and Pedestal. Discuss this case, what it means for Wiccans in America, and how you can help promote religious tolerance in your community.

Want More?

Don't stop here. Be sure to check out the Doghouse/Pedestal archives.

Can school officials draft a policy explicitly allowing students to pray using the public address system at football games and other events? The ACLU doesn't think so. Learn about this case in South Carolina.

Read about other intolerant people who I put in the Doghouse, including, Dr. Laura, Reform Party presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, Texas Health Commissioner, Dr. Bill Archer.

And, of course, there are good guys as well, like Irene Weiser, Yvonne Johnson, Mavis Leno, Barbara Dehl, and Bishop McKenzie.

This week, Bea Fearless is the pseudonym of Melissa Prober, a staff writer at befearless.