Witchcraft

Probably everybody's read Code Pink Tries Witchcraft at Berkeley Anti-Marine Rallies by now. Obviously they're desperate for publicity. But it says something very sad about the nation that the protesters are not only not embarrassed by the headline, but can expect understanding sympathy for bringing witches into the picture. It wasn't that long ago when that would have damned the group as complete loons in the world's eyes, and brought shame on their goal of ending the war. For some of us it still does (or would if they and the Berkeley city council hadn't reached that point already). But I run into so many people for whom "witchcraft" is neither superstition nor "invent your own religion," but a respectable approach to spiritual life, that I worry for the spiritual sanity of the country.