Freedom Of Religion Bump.
When I was a witch, it was very hard to find witches with a definate set of moral values. If I did, the person was usually from a Catholic background such as I was. The lack of moral fiber was a big turn off and hence why I left that faith. I made a lot of friends and at the time and it helped me with a lot of issues; I just got turned off by things like no respect for the unborn,promiscuity,etc.
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are quite intolerant on the matter..
1st Commandment.."Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me"
Jesus said of Himself.. "I am the way, the truth and the life..no one comes to the Father but by Me" (John.14:6)
Bump
Gaaaah.
The day a spell actually works, I'll start to worry.
Especially seeking to attract young women.
Interesting article. It would have more interest if Mr. Branch had more knowledge of his subject. If you're going to trash Wicca, at least get the facts straight.
He starts out by mis-defining Wicca. The word comes from the same root word as wicker (as in furniture.) The root word means to bend or to shape.
Yes, "wicked" comes from the same root word also- we still refer to evil people as 'twisted' or 'bent' today.
Gerald Gardner did revive the Old Religion, and he did throw in quite a bit from western occult (i.e. magical) tradition. But I don't recall Aleister Crowley having anything whatsoever to do with Wicca. Yes, Gardner and Crowley were both occultists- in the same sense that FDR and Hitler were both heads of state.
"It is not accurate to say that Wiccans are Satanists, though the religion is certainly unholy."
Amazing- he got that part right. Most Christians can't make the distinction between Satanism (Secular humanism given kitchy trappings) and Wicca.
"Wicca is pantheistic in its worldview. This means that it denies the Creator/creature distinction mandated by the Bible."
Actually, Wiccans worship a trinity. What Christians see as the Holy Spirit, Son, and Father, Wiccans see as the Lady, the Lord, and the One, respectively.
As a Wiccan friend of mine put it, "Most Americans believe in God. Most Americans also believe in Mother Nature. I just happen to think they're husband and wife."
"By blurring the distinction between creature and creator, Wicca encourages sexual chaos, inter-generational conflict and violence."
Okaaaaay- how, by bringing people closer to God (Wiccans tend to view the Lady and Lord as loving parents) do these results occur?
Sexual chaos? Actually sex is sacred to most pagans. Sex without marriage, while not prohibited by Wicca, still has consequences (some fatal in this modern age.) Just because one is a wiccan/pagan doesn't mean that one can't also be a slut (male or female.)
Inter-generational conflict? Yes, I can see this occuring between devout Christian parents and a child who feels closer to God in nature than they ever did in church.
Violence? That's a bald-faced lie. All life- be it a human or a butterfly- is sacred to Wiccans.
"Do what thou wilt, an it harm none; for that which you do, for good or for ill, returns to you threefold."
That's the Wiccan Rede. "What goes around, comes around" is as certain to Wiccans as the law of gravity is to most people.
Teenage angst and too much "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". It'll pass.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Oh what the heck, one more ping tonight won't hurt anyone. Rather an interesting discussion starting off with Wicca. Couple things:
Someone mentions that Wiccans worship a "Lord and Lady", hinting or stating that the Lord is equivalent to the Supreme Godhead. I doubt that any lord they honor is actually the Supreme Lord of all hosts, whose existence is beyond the created world. But that's my opinion, and I don't feel like doing any research tonight! And since Wicca has nothing equivalent to any set of commandments other than the "do you own thing as long as it doesn't hurt anyone", and every single other monotheist religion in the world is pretty much in agreement with the list of do's and don't's, that's further evidence that Wicca has no connection with Godhead.
Also interesting is the disputed fact that the Wiccan inventor Gerald Gardner was influenced by or friends with Aleister Crowley. L.Ron Hubbard of Scam-entology fame considered Crowley his mentor. Crowley was a pederast and avowed warlock whose practices were quite unsavory.
Final note: worshipping the creation while turning one's back on the Author has, ever since people first started doing it, a very bad idea. Leads to spiritual ruination.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
“Goddess religion and goddess spirituality endeavor to release us from the taboos of sex and sexuality, to untie our hands, freeing us from certain paradigms or ideals that we are taught to accept as ‘normal."
I love how some try to repackage slavery to vices as such a freeing practice.
I've met a few Wiccans who are genuine about their faith, but I'd say that a good 90% that I've run into are crystal-licking idiots.
Well, what is more attractive? I observed the interesting controversy that went on at Fort Hood when the Wiccans requested a place of worship - all the other religions had them.
The local Baptists were out in force at the mall, everywhere you turned, protesting this "evil cult," holding signs to the effect that wiccans would rot in hell, etc. I didn't see them converting any but the already faithful. In fact as a whole they looked rather hateful. Considering some of the death threats received by anyone who helped the wiccans, some of were more than hateful looking.
I'm Christian but somehow a religion that teaches that God is everywhere and a part of everything is less scary to me than a church that teaches it's okay to issue death threats to people just because they believe differently than you do.
Did somebody say witch?
If any of these idiots would actually sit down and try doing some research, they would discover that there really is no written record of how "wicca" was practiced or its general religious tenants. The religion of the Celts was not written. Its existence as a religion today is a bunch of new age BS with no historical relevance. I'm not a religious man myself, but if I was, I'd at least try to find some accuracy in the faith I was seeking.
More likely, Gardner simply combined various non-Christian beliefs he gathered from multiple sources into his own neo-pagan system, not the least of which included ideas from the notorious Aleister Crowley.
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Gardner, Hubbard, different people same scientology garbage