I still won't shop there

Canadian journalist finds Wicca books on sale at Wal-Mart and views with alarm. (Link from Wren's Nest.)

Somehow I connect this story with another of today's headlines, about the continuing drop in major crime.

Despite variations on this news over the past couple of years, one of my evangelical Christian students wrote in a rough draft what must be a commonplace in her religious community: she wrote that crime is rising. If crime is rising, then it's due to "taking God out of schools" and so forth.

But if crime is falling, what then? Whom do you blame?

Now it is true that Americans' economic situation is generally worsening. Big corporations cut pensions that were supposed to be rock-solid (Delta, General Motors, many others). Health care gets more expensive. Inflation is rising (Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, etc.)

Somehow those declines are not easily blamed on "taking God out of the classroom."

Tags: Wicca, Wal-Mart, Crime