For some Christians, having neighbors of a different religion isn't easy to bear - and it's even worse when those neighbors are Wiccans. In Oregon, one community is up in arms not only because Wiccans are in their midst, but may in fact be meeting for religious reasons

The Flint Journal reports:

On Tuesday night, about 20 residents from Smith and Davis Lake roads urged the Township Board to shut down the "devil worshippers." Neighbors told the Township Board that there appeared to be a number of people living in the house, which has a sign out front advertising it as "The Temple of the Oak." The neighbors said a Web site for the temple hinted there was a pagan jewelry business being run from the property. "We don't want to see this happen in our neighborhood," Robert Starr told the Township Board.

If there are an unusual number of people living there, that could be a justified complaint — most zoning regulations have some provision for the number of people who can live in a residence. You can't usually house 50 people in a two-bedroom place, for example. If they are using the house for something like a store, then that could also be grounds for a justified complaint — again, zoning regulations prohibit turning a residence into a commercial enterprise.

All of the heated rhetoric about devil worshippers, however, suggests that even if there is some justification for some of the concerns, those aren't the real point here. Jason Moultrie, the man buying the house, denies the above allegations.

One resident said "satanic" Saturday services are being held at the home. Township officials said they would look into possible ordinance violations, and state Rep. John Stahl, R-Arcadia Twp., who was at Tuesday's meeting, promised to help the community get rid of the temple.

It doesn't sound as though John Stahl understands very much about freedom of religion. If the house were being used for regular worship services that attracted a large number of people, that might be grounds for a zoning complaint — maybe. There are, however, many Christian groups that meet in private homes without causing a problem and without typically causing complaints to be filed.

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