The Michigan-based Christian militia group raided by the FBI over the weekend is preparing for battle with the Antichrist, according to a Web site purportedly run by the group.

"Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment," Hutaree.com reads. "The only thing on earth to save the testimony and those who follow it, are the members of the testimony, til the return of Christ in the clouds. We, the Hutaree, are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren't. We will still spread the word, and fight to keep it, up to the time of the great coming."

A two-minute video on the Web site depicts several camouflaged, armed men firing high-powered rifles as they move throughout open wilderness. At one point, three men can be seen firing weapons from behind a parked vehicle. Several other videos of the militia's training activities, including one that has been viewed more than 21,000 times, can be found on its YouTube channel.

Michael Lackomar, a spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, told the Associated Press that one of his team leaders got a frantic phone call Saturday evening from members of Hutaree, which the Web site says means "Christian soldier." The callers said their property in southeast Michigan was being raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Lackomar said.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold confirmed that the FBI had been working in two southeast Michigan counties near the Ohio state line, but she declined to indicate whether the raids were connected to Hutaree.

According to the militia's ranking system, members of the group can hold titles such as senior gunner, gold rifleman, "zulif" and "arkon." "Respect the officer above you and obey your commander with dignity," the Web site reads. "Each man holds his place in flesh and spirit, heaven and earth."

Hutaree was named in a list of 512 so-called active "patriot" groups in the U.S. last year by the Southern Poverty Law Center in its spring intelligence report on extremist organizations. Of those groups, 127 were militias, including Hutaree. The remaining groups, according to SPLC, engage in "groundless conspiracy theorizing" or advocate anti-government doctrines.

In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, the faith leaders said parents and guardians should be allowed to bring up their children in accordance with their own values and culture.

They said the Labour Party's Children, Schools and Families Bill undermined this principle and was seeking to "impose a particular ideology" by introducing statutory sex and relationships education, something primary schools do not currently have to teach.

Signatories of the letter included the director of the Family Education Trust, Norman Wells, the Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Rt Rev Brian Noble, and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain's Education Committee, Shahid Akmal. "Parents and guardians have the primary responsibility for bringing up their children in accordance with their own values and culture. A state which seeks to centralize responsibilities which are properly fulfilled by families is acting in an unjust manner and undermines the basis of a free society," they said.

Under the proposed bill, all publicly-funded primary and secondary schools will be forced to teach children as young as five about puberty and relationships in Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education lessons. From the age of seven, children will learn about same-sex relationships, civil partnerships, marriage, divorce and separation, while secondary school children will learn about sexual activity, same-sex relationships, STDs and contraception.

If the government manages to pass the bill before the general election is called, the legislation will come into effect across England in 2011.

The bill covers a other issues including homeschooling. Under the legislation, homeschooling parents will be required to be registered with local authorities and criminal background checks will be mandated for parents who wish to homeschool. Local governments will also have the authority to monitor homeschooled children.

Members of Mother Grove Goddess Temple will celebrate at 7 p.m. Saturday with A Breath of Appalachian Spring: A Ritual in Celebration of the Spring Equinox, in the parish hall of the Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls in Biltmore Village.

Saturday's event is open to all faith traditions, said Byron Ballard, wiccan priestess and a member of the temple. Mother Grove "isn't a wiccan group, though some of us are wiccans," she said.

"Mother Grove is an outgrowth of the work of several people in the goddess/earth religions community," Ballard said. "Its goal is to create a permanent sanctuary, where people of all faith traditions may openly and safely celebrate the divine feminine, the goddess." Wicca is a modern religion built on the ancient agricultural religions of Europe, she explained. "Wiccans may also refer to themselves as witches."

Boyer believes people have an ancient and human need for ritual and celebration in groups, and to acknowledge the changing of the seasons.

The celebration will consist of raising a circle, singing, "whistling up the wind" and flying prayers written on paper airplanes. Ballard will lead the ritual, explaining that it is a joyful expression of the beginning of spring and coming together as a community.

Ballard said that "whistling up the wind" is an old English and Appalachian tradition. March is usually the windiest month, so the element of wind will be emphasized at the celebration. One person will whistle while three others honor the elements of earth, fire and water.