Portsmouth Herald 8/27/96 p. A4
SEABROOK LIBRARY MADE POOR CHOICE CANCELLING PROGRAMS

INTOLERANT CLERGY SENDS YOUNGER RESIDENTS WRONG MESSAGE

Satan has raised his hoary head in Seabrook.

At least that's what several members of that town's clergy would have us believe.

Those individuals pressured the board of selectmen and Seabrook library's board of trustees into cancelling programs that featured speakers on numerology and tarot reading. The opinion of that group of local ministers was summed up by Rev. Elizabeth Walton who spearheaded the efforts to cancel the programs.

"It's Satan as far as I'm concerned", she said.

How absolutely ridiculous!

The concept that ideas that differ from the beliefs held by a small minority of clergy are somehow inherently evil strikes at the very core of American values. And for a board of selectmen and a group of library trustees to kowtow to this kind of pressure is particularly frightening.

One must ask: What will these alleged watchdogs of the public morality ask for next? Will they ask that certain books be removed from the library's shelves? That certain categories of people be excluded from serving on local boards? That children be protected from learning about the diversity that America represents?

The individuals who were to deliver the programs are well-respected in their fields. Debra Calci of Portsmouth has been giving tarot readings for some time. Dusty Bunker, also of Portsmouth, has written numerous books on the subjects of numerology and astrology. She has contributed to the Time-Life Books series 'Mysteries of the Unknown" and had her columns run in Mademoiselle Magazine. Even the Manchester Union Leader - hardly an advocate for the Satanic point of view - ran Bunker's column, called "Dreams: Your Guiding Light" in the 1970s.

Neither of these women are intent on undermining the religious beliefs of anyone and offered to lead these programs in order to give an intelligent and professional perspective on what some people believe to be useful tools in living a life more in tune with the powers of the universe. And, in fact, isn't living this kind of life the expressed goal of virtually every religion?

The programs were developed as a result of requests from some of the community's younger residents who expressed interest in these subjects. What message is this group of clergy, this board of selectmen and this board of library trustees sending this youthful contingent, many of whom are trying to find a way to live meaningful and good lives in an increasingly difficult world?

We think it is the absolutely wrong one.

Reprinted with the permission of The Portsmouth Herald.