Panel Rejects Plea to Purge Sorcery Texts in Oceanside

School officials Wednesday rejected a request from a group of Christian students that several books dealing with witchcraft and satanism be pulled from a high school library, declaring that removal of the volumes would infringe on the rights of other pupils.

A committee of teachers and administrators who reviewed the more than two dozen books said in a one-page statement that a ban on the volumes would deny students their right to “receive information and ideas as an integral part of the learning experience.”

The three Christian students, light-heartedly dubbed the “God Squad” by friends, expressed anger over the decision and vowed to press on with their campaign to have the books removed from the El Camino High School library.

“We’re going to go forward with it,” said Robert Thomas, who discovered the books on the occult last year while browsing through the school library. “We’ll go as far as we can. Never say die.”

In addition, he called the committee “a joke,” saying it was set up merely “to placate” the Christian students. “I don’t appreciate that one bit,” Thomas said. “It makes me sick.”

Thomas said the group plans to appeal the committee’s decision to the Oceanside Unified School District board and, if necessary, sue the district.

The issue surfaced in February when Thomas and two high school friends, Adene Murray and Robb Wood, approached El Camino High School officials, expressing concern that the books could prompt youthful readers to delve into satanism and the occult.

Ordered by the library a decade ago as part of a literature course on mythology, the books include graphic descriptions of the ceremony for becoming a witch as well as depictions of pentagrams and other occult symbols. The works cited by the students as glorifying the devil include “The Satanists,” “The Popular History of Witchcraft” and a multivolume series published by Time-Life Inc. entitled “Man, Myth and Magic.”

News of the students’ request caught the attention of the San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU officials sent a letter to district administrators last week, warning them of the First Amendment implications of the situation and threatening to file a lawsuit if any of the books were removed.

“I’m pleased to hear they reached that decision,” said Greg Marshall, legal director for the ACLU’s San Diego chapter. “They’re to be commended because that’s the right decision based on the First Amendment.”

The district could have removed the books from the library only if it determined that the volumes were educationally unsound or pervasively vulgar, but not for either philosophical or religious reasons, Marshall said.

He also questioned whether the students would have much luck if they challenged the district’s decision in court, saying the legal issue is relatively clear-cut.

“I think they’d find that the First Amendment requires toleration of materials that we don’t necessarily agree with,” Marshall said. “It’s not even what one would describe as a gray area or debatable point. The law is quite clear.”

Dan Armstrong, the district’s public information officer and a member of the review committee, said school officials are well aware of the constitutional questions.

Committee members agreed with the students that problems exist with youths involved with the occult, but said the felt that the best way to combat that societal problem is through “access to information,” Armstrong said Wednesday.

“In effect, the committee members are in agreement with the folks making the complaint that the pursuit of satanic practices and witchcraft are a problem,” Armstrong said. “Where we disagree is in our approach to the problem. We believe that access to information is one of the best remedies to societal problems.”

The committee’s written statement reflected that feeling, suggesting that troubles with teen-agers dabbling in satanism need to be addressed “in a similar manner as other social problems such as drugs and substance abuse.”

Committee members, who divvied up the books and reviewed them after meeting with Thomas and the others last week, said in the statement that the volumes “were written to present information of a factual nature that would assist students in understanding the subject matter.”

“Students have the right to receive information and ideas as an integral part of the learning experience,” the statement concluded. “Their right to receive information is as protected as the rights of any other citizen in this country.”

Thomas, however, questioned how school officials could hold First Amendment rights ahead of “people getting killed” because of their involvement with satanism. Moreover, he maintained that the group had not pressed the issue based on religious or philosophical grounds, but on worries that satanism poses a problem for their peers.

“We’ve always stressed the social facts about satanism and didn’t bring in the Christian aspect,” Thomas said. “We’re not doing this in the name of Christianity. We’re not a bunch of crusaders. We’re not a bunch of fanatical Christians.”

The youth said there is “no way you can argue the point that satanism doesn’t kill,” pointing to news reports of people being killed during the practice of satanic rituals.

Such occult practices have even hit Oceanside, he said, noting a recent incident at El Camino High School. A year ago, several animals being raised as part of an agriculture class were mutilated, an act school officials suspect may have had ritualistic overtones.