Posted on 08/19/2005 2:42:56 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW PORT RICHEY - Pagans are coming out of the closet. After years of being labeled as devil worshippers who sacrifice animals under a full moon, the modern-day followers of ancient beliefs want to be part of the community.
In Pasco County, they're planning the first Pagan Pride Day in a popular city park.
``People think paganism is evil,'' said Robert Crom, regional coordinator for Pasco Pagans. ``Some people, especially among mainstream religions, feel threatened by us.''
Crom, 25, said he wants to clear up public misconceptions about pagan religions.
The group, formed a couple of years ago by transplants from Pinellas County, was issued a permit Thursday by New Port Richey officials to have the pride day at downtown Sims Park next month.
Organizers expect the event, modeled on a similar gathering in Pinellas, to draw at least 100 devotees for a day of music, pagan worship and public education.
``There's no voice for the pagan community here,'' said Crom, a former Methodist who gravitated toward practicing paganism as a teenager growing up in rural Nebraska.
From an early age, Crom said, he found Christianity lacking in areas, particularly tolerance, reverence for nature and emphasis on the free will of the individual.
``I was searching for a religion that made me feel comfortable,'' he said.
Crom was a member of the Pinellas organization. When he moved north a few years ago, he and others founded Pasco Pagans. The group, which says it has at least 50 members, has a Web site (www.pascopagans .com .com) devoted to educating the public and expressing views.
``There's a lot of pagans in Pasco County,'' Crom said.
Modern-day paganism is a collection of beliefs rather than a single religion. It's polytheistic - there are many gods - and it includes ancient religions whose underlying theme is of faith based on nature and respect for one another.
Followers embrace such movements as Wicca, New Age Mysticism, American Indian practices, tarot readings and even Buddhism, a mainstream religion in Asian societies.
It wasn't too long ago that pagans preferred to keep their beliefs secret, fearful of public assumptions that they are devil worshippers or ``black'' witches.
Mainstream religious leaders long have criticized paganism's liberal views on sex, divorce, drugs, homosexuality, adultery and abortion.
These days, more pagans are ``coming out of the closet,'' modeling their emergence after the gay pride movement.
The celebrated Pagan Pride Day in Indianapolis, first held in 1998, attracts hundreds of revelers every year.
Last year, there were at least 70 pagan pride events in 36 states, including Florida.
``We're everywhere nowadays,'' Crom said. ``And our membership is growing.''
Local religious leaders, unaware of the pride event, said they don't object to the pagan gathering, as long as it doesn't involve Satanic worship.
``If they're all people of good will, then we wouldn't stand against such an event,'' said the Rev. Drew Willard, president of the West Pasco Ministerial Association.
Misconceptions still keep many pagans from outing themselves, Crom said.
``We don't care if everyone accepts us,'' he said, ``but we just want to be accepted as part of the community.''
Even the local group's charitable efforts are scrutinized.
``We'll call somewhere like the local humane shelter, offering to donate our time or money,'' Crom said. ``They'll tell us they don't want anything to do with us.''
Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082.
So, the Holy Spirit told you that a greater percentage of rapists are pagans than are Christians? And I should believe you because? How about some hard data, like actual surveys of sex offenders' religious beliefs.
The bible says that when we accept Christ, we are a new person, and the Holy Spirit guides our life, convicts us of our sins, and is our counselor.
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 5:5
______________________________________________________________________
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has com."
2 Corinthians 5:17
Do Christians still sin? Absolutely, but are you proposing that members of evangelical churches who follow the bible and Christ are a greater percentage of murderers, rapists, and thieves that are goths and members of pagan cults? You are quite welcome to present me "hard data" proving that point junior.
You won't though--because you can't.
Your hostility towards God is apparent. You should realize that you (and I) will have to give Him an account someday. I urge you to examine Christ's teachings yourself, and determine whether or not they are true. That is your decision alone, no one can make it for you.
I wonder if the animal sacrifice rituals they engage in have anything to do with the attitude of the humane shelter folks?
I've run out of patience with the holier-than-thou crowd. Put up or shut up.
BTW, I'm not hostile toward God. He and I get along in a fairly reasonable fashion. I am hostile to folks who claim to talk for Him. There is a difference, but I don't figure you'll ever understand it, critical thinking not being one of your strong suits.
Uh huh.
I quoted two bible verses. Those are the words of God--and yet you don't want to look at them or digest them. You just reach into the same old tired bag of tricks and make the ad hominem charge that anyone who believes in God's word is trying to be God Himself, yet you claim to speak on your own authority, as your own authority, with no biblical reference.
I don't figure you'll ever understand it, critical thinking not being one of your strong suits.
Ah yes--more ad hominem attacks (Latin for "attack the man"). If you were such a "critical thinker" yourself, you would assemble an argument to refute the faith of Christians first. Claiming to be one is nice defense, but Christ said a tree is known by its fruit.
Finally, we can pray and talk to this God. And He talks to us. I am not worthy of this privilege, but He grants it.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1: 11-12
> the other one acts like they are their own gods.
Ah. You're referring to the Christian fundamentalists pushing ID in schools. God's little object lessons in "pride."
Why does it make news when the county Democrats hold a routine meeting?
Did you notice I said humanities not science Junior?
No one has proposed any such thing. You are the only one proposing that a certain religious group is more likely to commit murder, rape etc.
The burden is on you to provide proof.
Why, yes I did.
What I say is based on my faith, and the word of God--namely that we are new creatures in Christ. Our behavior changes, moreover, our very soul changes. I am not making this up--it is at the heart of what billions of Christians believe. Moreover, it is cited again and again in scripture. From a personal standpoint, I will tell you I am a very different person than who I was before I became a Christian.
But let me ask you this Modernman. Let us say you are walking down a city street at night, alone. Suddenly, a doorway opens, and eight young men walk through it and begin to walk right behind you.
Would it matter to you at that moment if you knew they had all just left a bible study?
That question was posed by Dr. Ravi Zacharias to an atheist Ohio University professor he was debating. The professor answered (quite honestly) that yes, he would have been relieved knowing that fact. Why? He said that while he did not believe in this God they professed, he had found Christians to be "overall different in the manner and morality than non-Christians, although not for the reasons they believe."
Christ asks for our very hearts. Only you can make that decision to give it freely, or not.
Live and let live? So 60's. Why are you so upset with this thread?
later pingout.
I'm a libertarian at heart; not everything that came out of the 60s was bad, and the idea that people should be free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't interfere with others is not evil.
The long-standing practice in this old mill town, about 35 miles north of Columbia, was struck down last year in response to a lawsuit filed by a follower of Wicca, a pagan religion characterized by witchcraft and attention to earthly seasons. A federal judge — and then a federal appeals court — found the Town Council's prayers invoking Christ's name unconstitutional on grounds that they advanced one religion over others.
Across Georgia, county commissions and city councils, as well as the state Legislature, routinely begin their public business with prayers invoking Christ's name. Two weeks ago, the Georgia ACLU filed a federal lawsuit similar to the one against Great Falls that seeks to halt Christian prayers before Cobb County Commission meetings. The suit's outcome may set a legal precedent that Georgia governments must follow.
The case again has roiled discussion over the dividing line between church and state. Few issues have sparked as much debate and generated as many diverse opinions. After all, just before the first Congress drafted the First Amendment's religion clauses, it approved the appointment of two legislative chaplains and gave them ample salaries.
"Government-mandated prayers were traditionally the most egregious features of religious establishments and have thus always been viewed suspiciously as first steps on the slippery slope toward new religious establishments," said John Witte Jr., director of Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion. ………..***
8mm
And it's hard enough raising teens without us rubber stamping pagan festivals. Our country and most families are built upon Christian Values recognizing the one and true God, his 10 commandments and moral code, approving this can be a sign to them that it's OK to follow the occult.
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