Proud Pagan Witch Backs Obama's Poverty Bill

While Senator Barack Obama struggles to keep the public in the dark about the nature of his pro-U.N. Global Poverty Act, a recent "Bay Area Interfaith Leaders' Luncheon" was held to lobby for Senate passage of the bill, whose cost has been estimated at $845 billion. An actual witch who spoke at a "Pagan Pride" festival in San Francisco was one of the listed participants.

The witch, known as the "Elder Donald Frew" of the "Wiccan Community," was interviewed by the Reverend Don Lewis of "Witch School International" for a "reality" show called "Magick TV" and is shown talking about his involvement in the United Nations-backed United Religions Initiative. You can see the interview here. Magick TV features a "daily spell."

Representatives of the United Religions Initiative and the World Parliament of Religions were also among those included in the controversial Bay Area conference, which was held at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit Catholic institution with a "global perspective," under the auspices of the Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought.

A local paper described the event as an "unprecedented lobbying effort" that was "paired with a call to the Bay Area's myriad faith communities to join in what the religious leaders see as the defining issue facing the globe today."

Meanwhile, a concerned parent alerted us to the fact that a Christian preschool in Long Island, New York was handing out a coloring page for children which included a plea for Congress to pass Obama's Global Poverty Act. "Dear Parents," said the letter that was sent home. "We would like to join efforts with the congregation of St. David's to stop world hunger. You and your child can help by coloring and signing the enclosed sheet. This sheet will be sent along with many others to our representatives in Washington, D.C...Thanks for supporting such a great cause. Sincerely, St. David's Christian Preschool."

The sheet said "Dear Senator: At Preschool, I learned to thank God for the food I eat. I also collect coins to help those who don't have enough. Today, I ask you to help, too, with more and better aid for the world's poorest countries. We want Congress to pass the Global Poverty Act. Please cosponsor S. 2433. Thank you." The child's name and age were supposed to be filled in.

The pictures to be colored included what appeared to be an angel holding a bowl of food (with a Valentine heart on the robe and the bowl) and a basket with apples.

The plea for "more and better" foreign aid money conflicts with the claims of those who insist the Obama bill doesn't authorize the expenditure of more federal funds. As AIM has documented, the bill amounts to a mandate on the federal government to force compliance with the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Despite the importance the left-wing religious activists attach to Obama's Global Poverty Act, the senator failed to even mention the bill in a patriotic TV ad that is supposed to highlight his legislative activities. As AIM revealed, media "watchdogs" and "fact-checkers" at the Washington Post and the Annenberg Political Fact-Check project failed to note the omission. The cover-up undoubtedly reflects awareness of the unpopularity of spending massive amounts of new foreign aid money on U.N. causes and the fact that Obama's sponsorship of this bill could badly backfire on the candidate.

Even though Obama's backers in the media and elsewhere are trying to insist that his Global Poverty Act costs nothing in additional foreign aid and simply reorganizes federal agencies, one of the main themes of the conference was passing the bill and committing the U.S. to "Point 7 Now and the Millennium Development Goals" of the United Nations.

The official conference brochure explained, "The phrase 'Point 7 Now' refers to the commitment made by developed countries through the 2002 Monterey Consensus to increase foreign aid to poor countries to 0.7% of a developed country's national income." It added, "The United States is currently at 0.2%." The difference, according to Jeffrey Sachs of the United Nations, is $65 billion a year. As we have repeatedly pointed out, from 2002 to the target date of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, this adds up to $845 billion more in foreign aid spending for the U.S.

It turns out that this event, held in February, was just the forerunner to a larger conference of liberal and left-wing religious movements that are shaping up to be among Barack Obama's major supporters.