CW:  I visited some of the websites you guys cite in the book. I noticed on the website for the Church and School of Wicca they say that they are not connected with Satanism. Would you two agree with that?   

DB:  That is what you will hear consistently from people involved in Wicca. I thought going [into this project] that it was very connected with Satanism and satanic rituals. That is very much not the case with mainstream Wicca. They do not even believe in Satan, so they certainly do not worship him or do sacrifices to him in any way, shape, or form. They see Satan as a Christian concept, and the ideas of personal sin, hell and judgment are all outside of what Wiccans traditionally believe. Of course, there are exceptions, but what you see today in the media is often a stereotype.   

CW: Another common theme in Wicca is a real emphasis on promoting diversity and tolerance. Marla, you have a background working with intercultural marriages. Any thoughts on that?   

MA:  Well, that is a great question. It is interesting, because my husband is actually from Romania, which has kind of a legendary history of being involved in witchcraft, although the Transylvania image is pretty much just a myth -- it is nothing like the way it is portrayed in movies and books. 

I have seen our culture become more focused on diversity and acceptance, tolerance of all views and [the idea that] all ways lead to God. [These concepts] appeal to a lot of people. So, it is really endangering our position as the church if we embrace that too much because Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14: 6). We try to take an open position in the book, try to create open dialogue with Wiccans, but our theology is conservative. We believe the Bible. We believe in God. We believe Jesus is who the Bible says He is. There are limits then to what we can accept or tolerate just from a biblical standpoint.   

There is a difference between cultural diversity, which of course we support, and the diversity of just accepting every person’s belief as being true. 

CW:  Definitely. Speaking of taking a clear stance on Biblical truth, I recently encountered a “Christian” website for young adults advocating goddess/saint worship. What’s going on there?   

MA:  Well, there is actually a movement called Christian Wicca, in which elements of Christianity and elements of Wicca are combined. It is a syncretistic belief system, where it is taking both and linking {them] together. However, in order to do that, you really have to set aside a lot of what the Bible says because there are a lot of beliefs that are incompatible.