I did not know Tempest Smith. I do not know the whole story of her life, of her thoughts, and I cannot presume to say that, had her peers' treatment of her been better, she would have been less troubled.

Her death was a tragedy, and should have been a preventable one. Of course, it is easy to blame her school or local community - perhaps rightly so - and to say that better pastoral care should have been provided, that the bullying Tempest suffered should have been dealt with. It is easy for the Pagan community to feel guilt that this girl could not find solace with us. It is, repugnantly, easy for some to directly blame the Christian community, and to talk darkly of a return to the 'Burning Times'.

All of this is easy, but what is difficult is to admit that, despite the efforts of friends, families and communities, Tempest Smith is unlikely to be the last child suicide resulting from feelings of isolation and despair. Society still fails many young people.

It is not an American phenomenon. It is not - despite the connections drawn between Tempest Smith and the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre, among others* - a phenomenon peculiar to Pagan youth. The White Ribbon Project, involving the families and friends of gay teen suicide is an unhappy testament to that.

The truth is that we are in a changing era. Society takes a long time to assimilate new things, people and demographics. In Britain, homosexuality was legalised in 1967 but, as recently as 1988, a government act preventing its 'promotion' in schools, i.e. teaching children and young people about alternative lifestyles in a positive light, was passed.

Similarly, our Witchcraft Act was repealed in 1953, ostensibly allowing Pagans in this country to practice without fear of prosecution. Sadly, this does not mean practising without fear of intolerance and misunderstanding - although this is applicable to both sides of the debate.

Last October, a hotel porter in Hampshire began a campaign of harassment directed at a local vicar. Benjamin Lewis, a self-styled 'vampire', subjected Reverend Christopher Rowberry, his wife and three children, to three months of persecution that left the family terrified.** Lewis and his two accomplices were convicted of religiously aggravated harassment, and were told by the judge: "It's your intolerance that is appalling." John Boggis QC in fact made no mention of the defendant's self-proclaimed interest in blood drinking and 'psychic vampirism'.

Fair enough, so Lewis and his friends were not styling themselves as Wiccan. However, their dress and behaviour were deemed 'gothic' and, by extension, they became associated with a British counterculture that is generally seen as eccentric, as mostly harmless, in the words of Douglas Adams.

The public face of witchcraft and Paganism in the UK, as perceived by mainstream society, has much to do with Druids celebrating Solstices at Stonehenge and mercifully little - generally speaking - with devil worship and other misperceptions.

A recent article in the British press, on a European Court of Human Rights ruling to guard against religious discrimination in the workplace, appeared under the headline:

JEDIS, DRUIDS AND ATHEISTS ALL GET A DAY OFF FROM BARMY EURO LAW

The piece went on to slate the new regulation as a ' "skiver's charter for weird religious sects ... recognising such religions as druids, Church of Scientology, atheists and even Jedi knights.'

Not intolerance, but mockery, to which fear is so often connected.

Recently in Stoughton, Massachusetts, two teenagers broke into the Immaculate Conception Church and vandalised it, causing damage which may necessitate the building's reconsecration. The elder of the two, 18 year old Andrew Studebaker, told police he - in the words of the press "believes in witchcraft and associates with Wiccans, followers of an ancient European religion who worship nature and believe in magic."***

In a highly perspicacious reaction to this, Police Chief Manuel Cachopa apparently observed: "This isn't The Exorcist. This is a real story."

Further connections between the vandals and their supposed affiliations were made, including the fact that they were barefooted at the time of the crime, and that Studebaker apparently drew a pentagram in lipstick on the mirror of the women's bathroom in the church.

In order to provide a balanced view to the reportage, Kendra Vaughan Hovey, who the article claims "calls herself a high priestess of Wiccan" was interviewed, and allowed to stress the tolerance of true Pagan religions. Still, the damage had been done. As Rev. Joseph McDermott, Immaculate Conception's pastor, said: ''When you're doing good work for the Lord, something evil tends to happen to frustrate you."

And I concur.

Light-hearted ignorance, mindless idiocy or the vacant cruelty of children - things common to all these examples, and most poignantly to the case of Tempest Smith - all stem from a lack of interest in learning about each other, a narrow-mindedness that can only be detrimental. It is the responsibility of society to combat this slide, and the responsibility of us all to show a little more tolerance and a lot more respect.