*wondering what I am...am I a pagan?...an atheist?...a scoffer?...never really bothered to work out a label..*

in any case, I would NOT be dancing if a wiccan group were refused meeting space...same rules apply to all as long as the Wiccans weren't trying to recruit.

I think the awkwardness for me, and some others, is that many Christian denominations are EXHORTED to recruit. IF you truly believe, then saving other souls is a high calling. Some people take literally the idea that those without a certain experience are going to hell for eternity, and that anything they can do to reduce the number of those doomed ones is *good*.....They use pschology, peer pressure, appeals to guilt, low-key inducements, (yes, even wonderful music) to get the 'message' out.

It is a fine line where fairness ends and pressure begins in tactics, and we all have different tolerances and sensitivity to it. I have not been a member of an organized religious group for 35 years, but I still am VERY aware of the many levels of pressure to believe, conform, recruit and 'witness'.

I do NOT go out and stop people on the street ot knock on their doors to get them to STOP believing anything, but I get MY door knocked on, and I preached at from street corners, and when a group of admitted evangelicals wants to hold meetings, I ***KNOW*** that they are always looking for new members, and that they have GREAT difficulty understanding why there must be limits put on what they are SURE is a good and holy mission.

It is not easy being a country that both allows freedom of worship, and still limits how & when that worship can take place. I will fight for YOUR right to meet and worship as you please, but I will fight YOU if you seem to be imposing and/or pushing your beliefs on those who did not seek them.

*end of rant*