This is so wrong ! number one our frist and most important rule is


harm none!

Secondly how come gays are aloud to be more open,more networking,have

better jobs,than us wiccan with less fear of discrianation.(not to

talk ill of gays, lots of wiccans are gay) but its true they are

getting and have more rights than wican/pagan-so call under groud/sub

religion/lifestyle groups ,coven and people in general have. We are

normal people(which normal is relitive). what do we all have to be

have to be right wig conserivtie contformests to have a job in a

country who governent was founded on freedom one of which many came to

this country for freedom of religion! I for one live in a reigious

perjust state call Utah and the hell if the LDS Chruch has stoped me

from being a proud wiccan and even running my own coven and I still

work a so called nromal job.We are all just people no matter what we

believe,or do in our homes at night,so she should sue the crap out of

those S.O.B.'s.People need to grow up and politicaly correct went out

the door when she was fired! so we need to stand with this women and

this is not the first time this happened, bath and body works did it

too! and so did wal-mart! Just to let any one with hate and discontent

in there heart God/ess both love us all the same,we are all there

childern and no matter what we should love one another and learn to

repect ech other.Blessed Be...High Priestes Char



A Wiccan woman who worked as an airport security officer for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Albany, New York is claiming she was fired because of her religion. But a judge ruled the termination was "non-discriminatory," the TSA said in a statement to AOL Travel News.




Carole A. Smith said she lost her job at Albany International Airport after a series of events that started with a co-worker accusing her of casting a hex. Smith, reportedly one of the best at the airport in finding weapons and drugs, has been trying since June 2009 to get her job back.



Smith filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The case is currently in the appeals process.



Selena Fox, senior minister of Circle Sanctuary church, and one of the country's preeminent Wiccan educators, said the issue here is freedom of religion.



"This is our first encounter with a religious discrimination issue regarding Wiccans and the TSA," Fox told AOL Travel News.



"She (Smith) was on the ball as a TSA person," Fox said, "She was protecting our country."



A proud Wiccan, Smith told MSNBC.com she was advised in March 2009 by a TSA official in Albany that she was being investigated for "workplace violence" after the co-worker, Smith's former mentor, accused her of casting a spell that broke the co-worker's car heater.



"I was dumbfounded," Smith said. "I told him, that's not what Wicca is. We don't cast spells. That's not witchcraft."







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The assistant director of the Albany TSA office recommended Smith enter a mediation session with her accuser, but Smith declined.



"I'm like, 'No.' I refused to do that. It's not up to me to teach her my religion," Smith said.



Insubordination was later listed as one of the reasons for her firing. But before that, Smith said she was subjected to harassment by co-workers as they heard about the complaint.



"Where did you park your broom?" Smith said one co-worker asked her. "Why don't you come to work in your pointy hat?"



Smith said she has three black cats, loved the show "Wicked," once dressed as a witch for Halloween and is not embarrassed about practicing Wicca. But bullying is something else.



After the initial complaint, Smith said she was written up on a number of minor disciplinary actions. In response, she became a whistleblower, including writing up a supervisor for leaving a gate open.



The TSA argued it had good reason to fire Smith. In a statement to AOL Travel News, the agency said an Administrative Law Judge ruled in Nov. 2010 in TSA's favor, "noting that her termination from TSA was non-discriminatory."



Because the decision is being appealed, the agency declined to comment further.



Fox said the church is providing Smith support as she tries to get her TSA job back.



"Religious discrimination is very much a part of this case; at the heart of it," Fox said. "The TSA has to uphold the constitution just like any other federal agency. We have freedom of religion protected, and it shouldn't get someone fired from their job."



Fox added the Wicca religion is often misunderstood. "It has nothing to do with negative things, with the devil or anything like that," she said.





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Filed Under: News Tags: airport security, airports, albany, transportation security administration, tsa, witch9813928071