DAILY Photos by Dan Henry Priceville High School sophomore Ricky Shepard follows Wicca, a religion focused on morality, free will and virtues like strength and reverence. Shepard has worn the Wiccan symbol, a pentacle, to school for several years. Until August, no school official had ever refused to let him wear it to class.

By Lauren Howard
Teen Page Editor
lhoward@decaturdaily.com · 340-2436

Sixteen-year-old Ricky Shepard says he isn't angry or surprised when people object to a religion they perceive as evil.

Explaining his religion, Wicca's, fundamentals, including good works, free will and spiritual emphasis, pacifies most opposition.

"Do you believe everything around you is a gift from God? Are you thankful?" the Priceville High sophomore asks his skeptics, telling them, "I do. I am."

He hasn't considered any lingering problem his problem, until the August morning it interfered with his rights.

Shepard confronted Principal Guy Bowling after he confiscated two seventh-graders' pentacles, the Wiccan equivalent to a Protestant's cross or a Jew's star of David.

The U.S. Constitution's First and Fourteenth Amendments and the school's code of conduct guarantee students' rights to express their religious views, as long as it does not infringe on others' rights.

Shepard didn't persuade his principal to let the students wear the symbol. Instead, Bowling told Shepard to take off his pentacle chain before going to class.

"Emotionally, I was crushed," said Shepard, who has practiced Wicca for several years, beginning when he lived in Ohio.

Shepard didn't go to class that morning. He called his mother, who came to the school to defend her son's religious beliefs. Later that day, Bowling met with Morgan County Schools Superintendent Don Murphy and a school board attorney.

"In the beginning, we really didn't know anything about (Wicca). . . . It's a learning process, something we had to look into," Murphy said, adding that after the boy's mother assured them Wicca was not gang-related or Satanic, administrators lifted the ban on pentacles, worn by several students at Priceville.

Bowling said he knew little about Wicca, and had mistaken the necklace's symbol for a pentagram, an upside-down version that symbolizes Satanism.

Murphy said he would rather principals be cautious, "use common sense," and risk making a mistake, than overlook something potentially dangerous.

"We try to keep our administrators up to snuff, for lack of a better word, with what's going on," the superintendent said of religion and the law, adding that some situations are impossible to foresee.

The situation is now Bowling's refusal to allow Shepard to start a Wicca club for the estimated six practitioners on campus.

The Equal Rights Act requires secondary schools to permit clubs of all religions, including groups that deal with atheism, Satanism or Wicca. School districts can opt out of the act by not allowing any non-curriculum clubs. Priceville does have clubs, including Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

"We are not going to have a Wiccan club. I don't think we need any more clubs at this time," Bowling, a Southern Baptist, said.

Asked whether he should enforce the Bible's first commandment, which forbids worship of any other god, or the Constitution's First Amendment, Bowling said, "I don't know. . . . You just have to follow your heart, I guess."

Shepard hadn't decided last week whether he'll continue to push for a Wicca club, which he says he had intended for both Wiccans and students interested in learning about other religions.

Teen Wiccans' rights

In 1986, Wicca was legally recognized as a religion in the United States. By law, its practitioners have the same rights as Muslims, Jews, Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Schools may not forbid students from expressing their personal religious views solely because their nature is religious and must give students the same right to engage in religious activity as they do other extracurricular activities.

The Equal Access Act requires public secondary schools to permit clubs of all religions. School districts can opt out of the act by forbidding any non-curriculum clubs. Clubs cannot interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities, and officials have the right to monitor meetings.

Schools must treat all of their student-led non-curriculum groups equally, including access to meeting space, the school's intercom and periodicals.

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