League Reporter Barred from Pagan Pride Coverage
By Mike Hein
Aug 18, 2007 - 4:51:09 PM
Satanist Workshop Photo Leads to Freedom of Press Violation
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| O.T.O. Satanists Workshop |
Coverage of the
Maine Pagan Pride Day 2007 was abruptly halted Saturday morning, August 18, in Portland. Coordinator Richard Vinton unilaterally decided to bar the Christian Civic League of Maine Record from the public event after an objection was raised by an adult male participant of the
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.)
Abrahadabra Oasis (Portland, ME) Satanic "Ritual of the Pentagram" Workshop.
The daylong celebration of the occult began at 10:00 a.m., and the League arrived at the events shortly after the 11:00 a.m. pentagram ritual workshop began. The as yet unidentified man raised an objection to a Satanic group photo being taken, despite the event brochure clearly stating: "At MPPD [Maine Pagan Pride Day], there will be many photographs taken for personal use and by the press. Attendance at MPPD constitutes knowledge that you may purposefully or inadvertently have y
our photograph taken."
Nonetheless, the League Record reporter was immediately accosted by O.T.O. member Tim Clark about the public workshop photo.
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| Allen Ave. U.U. Church |
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| Maine Pagan Pride Day 2007 |
Clark eventually notified Vinton, who asked to have the digital photo deleted. Clark threatened to contact law enforcement to remove the reporter from the events, if the photo was not deleted.
Vinton was told of the photo being taken in accordance with the stated policy in the events brochure, and that the photo was for publication in the online League Record newspaper. Vinton was told no such deletion of public photos by the press would occur.
Vinton then barred the League Record reporter from the
Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church premises, where the Maine Pagan Pride Day events were being held.
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| O.T.O. Group |
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| Abrahadabra Oasis, Portland, ME |
When notified of the reporter being banned from the events, League Executive Director Michael Heath remarked, "These same pagans who cling to the First Amendment for their freedom of religion, trample upon it by rejecting freedom of the press. Their audacity and hypocrisy is at the same time stunning and pathetic."
T
wenty-seven pagan, Wiccan, Satanic, and occult-themed workshops were scheduled to be held after the 11:00 a.m. workshop, including four additional O.T.O. satanic workshops and an O.T.O. "Rite of Luna" Performance.
The O.T.O. Satanic pentagram ritual workshop was led by a man who only identified himself as Frater (Brother, in Latin) Ne'reus (a Greek pagan sea god).
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| Pagan Clergy Stickers |
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| Black Magic Books & Wands |
The following O.T.O. workshops that the League Record was not allowed to report on due to the banning from the public events were: "Faces of the Divine Feminine" led by Annalisa Colbert, a witch from Salem, MA, "Magick Made Easy" by Brother Kalin, a self-described "practicing chaos magician," and "The Pentagram" by Brother Light, who the events brochure notes, "has been practicing ceremonial ritual magick for fifteen years."
According to their literature at the workshop, the O.T.O. Abrahadabra Oasis Room Satanic group meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at Bull Feeney's Pub in Portland, Maine.
Other workshops at the Maine Pagan Pride Day event included: "A View on the History of Paganism and Witchcraft." "Story Witch Children's Hour," "Paganism and the Gods," "Coven vs. Pagan Church," and performances by the group "Freakwitch."
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