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Paganism, witchcraft on rise in UK
MSNBC ^
| 06/19/03
| Reuters
Posted on 06/19/2003 7:23:10 AM PDT by bedolido
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To: bedolido; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; ...
Exorcist calls for crusade against occult
TOBY MCDONALD
AN EXORCIST yesterday called for a crusade from the pulpits against the growing power of the occult.
Father Jim McManus said paganism and witchcraft were intertwined with evil and needed to be stamped out.
The 62-year-old priest - the only Catholic clergyman to perform the service of "deliverance" regularly - said devil worship could only lead to tragedy.
The profile of paganism will get a boost next month with two festivals and an academic conference on the subject are held north of the Border.
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Witchcraft has as its basis an evil source - devil worship Fr Jim McManus |
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On Saturday, Scotlands largest ever festival to celebrate followers of Wicca will be held in Glasgow, and next week Glasgow University is hosting a two-day conference to discuss the significance of the film The Wicker Man and the rise of the occult.
It coincides with the Wicker Man Festival in Galloway, which will culminate with the burning of a giant pagan wicker man, as in the film.
The Pagan Federation alone claims over 2,000 devotees in Scotland - rising by 20 per cent in the past six months.
Fr McManus said: "Witchcraft has as its basis an evil source - devil worship. In the end it only cons its devotees, it does them no good at all.
"People just stumble into this by accident. They are fascinated by it, it hooks them and then ruins their lives."
Fr McManus, who is a monk in the monastery of St Marys in Perthshire, added: "If people are looking for a sense of purpose and fulfilment in life, they are not going to find it at the end of that road."
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We are no more encouraging paganism than a conference on Steven Spielbergs Amistad would be promoting slavery Dr Benjamin Franks |
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In the west of Scotland alone, membership of the Pagan Federation has boomed by a fifth to around 500 this year. About half its members are witches.
The 1973 film The Wicker Man - starring Edward Woodward as a god-fearing police sergeant who is burned to death by pagans, shot in Galloway - has built up a cult following.
Now Glasgow University has launched the first academic conference, under the title Rituals, Readings and Reactions.
Dr Benjamin Franks, a philosophy lecturer who is organising the conference, said: "The organisers are not promoting one theological view over another. We are no more encouraging paganism than a conference on Steven Spielbergs Amistad would be promoting slavery."
Promoters of the Wicker Man Festival, at Dundrennan near Kirkcudbright, last night denied they were promoting paganism. This year it expects to sell 8,000 tickets over three days. It promises an alternative festival with attractions including extra-terrestrial artwork and a standing stone pyramid.
101
posted on
06/30/2003 11:15:56 AM PDT
by
Coleus
(God is Pro Life and Straight and gave an innate predisposition for self-preservation and protection)
To: Coleus
Thanks for the heads up!
To: CatoRenasci
The great god Ra whose shrine once covered acres
Is filler now for crossword-puzzle makers.
- Keith Preston (1884-1927)
103
posted on
06/30/2003 11:26:25 AM PDT
by
Doctor Stochastic
(Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
To: Coleus
England seems to be spiritually dead or dying, and it appears that the vultures are circling.
To: Chancellor Palpatine
his parents wigged out LOL, what i would give to see te look on their face when a 5 year old said that.
105
posted on
06/30/2003 11:29:36 AM PDT
by
rattrap
(Looters and Moochers and Zealots, OH MY!!!!)
To: bedolido
The rise of interest in Paganism is damaging because it normalizes spiritual evil by presenting it as mere fantasy and fiction, said Reverend Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance, a grouping of some one million UK Christians. Bingo. That's been my objection all along. It's about desensitization and normalization. First the former, then the latter.
To: LanPB01
I prefer Shakespeare. You know, "The first thing let's do is kill all the lawyers."
To: nmh
So for us, we prefer to avoid witchcraft and spells.
Tell me: have you ever met anyone who managed to perform a Harry Potter spell successfully?
I'm curious, because it's very hard to get unicorn tail hair and dragon heart strings here, and I'm looking for a supplier.
And if your answer is no, then I need to know why all the hullabaloo over a book that has non-working spells in it.
108
posted on
06/30/2003 11:33:41 AM PDT
by
Xenalyte
(I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I'll defend to the death your right to stick it)
To: nmh
Harry Potter is for the troubled child. Studies have indicated that.
What studies would those be? Xena's Mom is a librarian, and she doesn't want to deal out more trouble.
109
posted on
06/30/2003 11:34:46 AM PDT
by
Xenalyte
(I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I'll defend to the death your right to stick it)
To: marshmallow
"When people cease to believe in the one, true God, they don't just believe in nothing. They believe in anything." G.K. Chesterton
True.
To: Dead Corpse
She can just about kick a quarter off her bellybutton.
When one of my best friends was pregnant, about a week off her due date she decided to take a hot bath, and she likes 'em HOT. She got into the water, and the baby hustled from one side to the other.
To this day, her daughter would rather shower than bathe.
111
posted on
06/30/2003 11:36:04 AM PDT
by
Xenalyte
(I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I'll defend to the death your right to stick it)
To: bedolido
Seems to me these folks are several decades late...or did they think Mary Poppins was Satanic, too?
112
posted on
06/30/2003 11:39:05 AM PDT
by
jejones
To: Doctor Stochastic
Well, it sounds like Merrie England is finally catching up to where the US was in the '60s and '70s with the Church of All Worlds and all the neo-pagans in LA, SF and NY: One thinks of the Gardnerite witches, the CoG blend of Trad and Feminist Wicca (remember Z Budapest?), Feriferia, New Reformed Order of the Golden Dawn, CES (the Egyptians), etc. Very, very curious. Lots of decent people, disenchanted with traditional Christianity, searching for some non-Eastern religious, mystical and magic traditions, with some environmental trappings, as a reaction to the utter vapidness of suburban American life and the emptiness of the drug culture.
I guess it's time to drag out the Margaret Murray again, tart up Gardner a bit more, and find that book on sex magick in time to see the naked young things at Beltane....
113
posted on
06/30/2003 12:08:08 PM PDT
by
CatoRenasci
(Ceterum Censeo [Gallia][Germania][Arabia] Esse Delendam --- Select One or More as needed)
Comment #114 Removed by Moderator
To: Aquinasfan
England seems to be spiritually dead or dying, and it appears that the vultures are circling.>>
And judging from the recent SCOTUS decisions, laws on gay adoptions and unions, abortion, transgendered kids, new age movement, gay pride parades, etc. we are catching up.
115
posted on
06/30/2003 1:48:16 PM PDT
by
Coleus
(God is Pro Life and Straight and gave an innate predisposition for self-preservation and protection)
To: Aquinasfan
It's about desensitization and normalization. First the former, then the latter.Worked GREAT with sex ed and "Tommy Has Two Mommies," or whatever that classic lit piece was...
116
posted on
06/30/2003 3:51:47 PM PDT
by
ninenot
(Joe McCarthy was RIGHT, but Drank Too Much)
To: Xenalyte
unicorn tail hair and dragon heart strings Sears catalog, PP. 955-956
117
posted on
06/30/2003 3:53:05 PM PDT
by
ninenot
(Joe McCarthy was RIGHT, but Drank Too Much)
To: Coleus
we are catching up. Unfortunately, yes. And the process seems to be picking up speed.
To: Aquinasfan
119
posted on
06/30/2003 6:00:27 PM PDT
by
Coleus
(God is Pro Life and Straight and gave an innate predisposition for self-preservation and protection)
To: Coleus
Coleus,These people have no idea what they are walking into,thank you Father for trying.I have seen things first hand.
120
posted on
06/30/2003 6:39:18 PM PDT
by
fatima
(Few words,more action.I freeped Hillary and it felt good.)
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