ERAL (Earth Religions Alliance League, a non-profit organization of pagan lawyers, ministers, shamans, witches, and other pagan leaders that attempts to help those with civil rights problems because of their membership in an earth based religion) recommends that adults, covens, or other Pagan groups always obtain a signed release from a minor’s parents before teaching a minor or allowing a minor to participate in any pagan ritual, ceremony, or gathering. That policy will keep you safe from lawsuits or arrest, but will also block out opportunities to assist young people. You will have to figure out for yourself what level of trade-off you are willing to risk. You may want to discuss the situation with your own attorney. This may seem like an extreme overreaction, but in many communities in the U.S. local authorities do not extend religious freedom to include non-Christian religions. Parents have successfully sued non-Christian religions for “brainwashing” their minor children (including a case against the Hari Krishnas, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a $5-million award on the basis that nobody would leave Christianity and join Hari Krishna unless they were brainwashed). Some local authorities have even imprisoned Pagans for simply telling minors about their religion (a Connecticut Witch who was a school bus driver is currently serving a five year prison sentence for “child endangerment” for simply answering a few questions about Witchcraft, which the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled was a “Satanic” practice). The legal climate has become worse with George W. Bush’s campaign promise to restrict First Amendment freedom of religion to only mainstream versions of Christianity and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s campaign to round up, arrest (and hold without access to lawyers or notification of family members for an indefinite period without charges being brought or a right to a speedy trial), imprison (based on secret tribunals in which the defendant is denied the opportunity to even know what evidence the government has presented to the judge, no right to a lawyer, no right to a jury of one’s peers, and no right to an appeal), and even secretly execute Witches, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and others who aren’t Christian. Yes, the Burning Times are back