Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com.

Hey Pru,

I've got a very wicked idea about who you really are. I think you're a fat, balding guy in his middle 50s who smokes cigars while reading those heart-rending missives from perplexed readers. Très cool.

--Rick St. T.

Dear Rick,

And what do you plan to read now that you've finished Miss Lonelyhearts? Actually, Prudie is a knockout. (And modest, too.)

--Prudie, laughingly

Dear Prudence,

What you really need to tell "Charles" is that Wicca and paganism are simply other religions. Of course their followers don't believe in evil or worship Satan. For one thing, Christians created Satan--so he's their guy, not ours. To be evil is to go against everything you're taught by the Wiccan religion.

--Just Concerned