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Rhubarb
Guest
If you expect the right to worship in your faith, then they do too.
So no.
So no.
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Indigo_Cardinal
Guest
Here’s a link that provides some jumping-off points to read up on it: religioustolerance.org/wic_rel.htmI’m not sure Wicca is even a recognized religion. From what I’ve studied, magic is involved, sometimes not. The pentagram is often seen but it is claimed it is not connected to Satanism. Other the other hand, it does echo a statement attributed to Aleister Crowley: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Contrast that with “and it harm none, do what ye will.”
And FYI, the U.S. military recognizes Wicca as a religion now, after this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart_(soldier
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BeautyFromAshes
Guest
No! It is not for the government to mandate which religions are acceptable. That is a dangerous and slippery slope.
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Marie5890
Guest
No. Freedom of religion is the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights, never mind the Church’s stance as other have brought up.
It’s similar to the idea of free speech. Even hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment.
It’s similar to the idea of free speech. Even hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment.
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Confiteor_Deo
Guest
Yes, wicca should be outlawed and all of their books should be censored since their religion tampers directly with the devil and endangers themselves and others, both corporally and spiritually.
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Graceful_Lamb
Guest
No. Even though I strongly disagree with Wicca and their practices, I don’t think it should be illegal. If it were illegal to be Wiccan, then it would probably snowball into other religions being illegal. Not a good thing.
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Marie5890
Guest
Here in America, the question is moot.Yes, wicca should be outlawed and all of their books should be censored since their religion tampers directly with the devil and endangers themselves and others, both corporally and spiritually.
It cannot be outlawed.
Civics 100 ----The 1st Amendment
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Peter_J
Guest
True. Also, just a dozen years ago Texas legislatures still favored criminalizing homosexual activity. (Which opened the door for the Supreme Court to claim that it was a “constitutional issue”, but that’s another ball of wax.)Have you heard about the Christian Reconstructionist movement? They call for a return of Old Testament style law with stoning for adulterers, homosexuals,
…
It’s also number one in our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the Church is clear that this right, which should and had been enshrined in civil constitutional acts in countries like yours and mine, does not stem from any Constitution, but is inherent to the nature and dignity of the human person. This means this right exists even in nations whose civil structures violate that right. By extension, therefore, the Church teaches that those nations are behaving in an unjust manner.No. Freedom of religion is the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights, never mind the Church’s stance as other have brought up.
It’s similar to the idea of free speech. Even hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment.
Then answer us this: what should the punishment be for Wiccans and those possessing or selling their books?Yes, wicca should be outlawed and all of their books should be censored since their religion tampers directly with the devil and endangers themselves and others, both corporally and spiritually.
BTW, this is a caricature of Wicca. Wiccans are not devil worshippers.
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Marie5890
Guest
You are right. Many people confuse wiccans with satanists.Then answer us this: what should the punishment be for Wiccans and those possessing or selling their books?
BTW, this is a caricature of Wicca. Wiccans are not devil worshippers.
They are not the same thing
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Medawlinno
Guest
No, of course not – what do you find illegal about it as opposed to other religions??
The phrase in the Bible, by the way, in its original Hebrew/Aramaic form is - “m’khashephah lo tichayyah” – “may a m’khashephah not live”. M’khashephah in this case happens to be the feminine form, so a woman. A m’khashephah was someone, in this case a woman, who used evil against another person. “Evil sorceress” might be a better translation, but sorceress is not quite the same as the Hebrew word either.
The phrase was mistranslated (or, as some would argue, very deliberately “translated”) as “witch” during the Middle Ages and Renaissance as another way to justify the persecution of many innocent people.
As others stated, Wicca is in no way demonic – the deity Satan does not exist in Wiccan pantheons. The pentagram properly displayed has the point UP; Satanists have corrupted the symbol and display it with the point DOWN; the two are not at all the same symbol, nor do they represent in any way the same thing. To many Wicca appears to be nature worship, hard to explain but, it’s really worshiping and recognizing the divine via the physical manifestation of nature (the world around you); not worshiping nature itself as being somehow “divine”. Nature worship is another great misinterpretation/misunderstanding of Wicca – though admittedly, there are many “flavors” of Wicca, just as there are many ‘flavors” of Christianity; perhaps some do actually worship nature; none that I know of do though.
What many call ‘prayers’, Wiccans call ‘spells’ – when you pray to God to ask for a certain favor or thing, you are essentially doing what Wiccans would call casting a petition spell – same concept, different name. As far as spells go, recall that the word ‘gospel’ is simply a modern corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “good spell” (spell in both instances meaning simply ‘story’). When you pray, you are telling your ‘story’ to the deity you’re praying to.
Yes, as other stated, there is the Rule of Three – as part of the Wiccan Rede states “remember well the Rule of Three, what you do comes back to thee” – so, contrary to popular belief, it would not make much sense to “cast an evil spell” since it is the belief of the person doing the casting that s/he would get it back threefold!
The phrase in the Bible, by the way, in its original Hebrew/Aramaic form is - “m’khashephah lo tichayyah” – “may a m’khashephah not live”. M’khashephah in this case happens to be the feminine form, so a woman. A m’khashephah was someone, in this case a woman, who used evil against another person. “Evil sorceress” might be a better translation, but sorceress is not quite the same as the Hebrew word either.
The phrase was mistranslated (or, as some would argue, very deliberately “translated”) as “witch” during the Middle Ages and Renaissance as another way to justify the persecution of many innocent people.
As others stated, Wicca is in no way demonic – the deity Satan does not exist in Wiccan pantheons. The pentagram properly displayed has the point UP; Satanists have corrupted the symbol and display it with the point DOWN; the two are not at all the same symbol, nor do they represent in any way the same thing. To many Wicca appears to be nature worship, hard to explain but, it’s really worshiping and recognizing the divine via the physical manifestation of nature (the world around you); not worshiping nature itself as being somehow “divine”. Nature worship is another great misinterpretation/misunderstanding of Wicca – though admittedly, there are many “flavors” of Wicca, just as there are many ‘flavors” of Christianity; perhaps some do actually worship nature; none that I know of do though.
What many call ‘prayers’, Wiccans call ‘spells’ – when you pray to God to ask for a certain favor or thing, you are essentially doing what Wiccans would call casting a petition spell – same concept, different name. As far as spells go, recall that the word ‘gospel’ is simply a modern corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “good spell” (spell in both instances meaning simply ‘story’). When you pray, you are telling your ‘story’ to the deity you’re praying to.
Yes, as other stated, there is the Rule of Three – as part of the Wiccan Rede states “remember well the Rule of Three, what you do comes back to thee” – so, contrary to popular belief, it would not make much sense to “cast an evil spell” since it is the belief of the person doing the casting that s/he would get it back threefold!
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spedteacherita
Guest
No harm can come to those of us in Christ, who walk with Christ and lead Christ-like lives because the enemy cannot harm us. We are the ones with “power” as we are loved by God and Jesus’ victory over death with His death and resurrection ensures the enemy can do no harm.I suppose since we live in the USA it would be impracticle or unwise to call for the end of Wicca. My apologies.
Although… I hear wiccas do engage in casting curses, spells, and hexes.
I have seen them in Barnes and Noble buying their spellbooks. I sometimes fear who they have targeted.
Romans 8:1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you 2 free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in factthe Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:31-39
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? sIt is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.10 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
w“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord
God’s Peace!
Rita
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Confiteor_Deo
Guest
I was saying that it should be outlawed for the greater good of society, not whether or not we can actually do it in the US or other countries in the world.Here in America, the question is moot.
It cannot be outlawed.
Civics 100 ----The 1st Amendment
Still, answer the question.I was saying that it should be outlawed for the greater good of society, not whether or not we can actually do it in the US or other countries in the world.
How should Wiccans be punished?
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Confiteor_Deo
Guest
They could be fined or imprisoned, but that is something for the state to decide upon.Then answer us this: what should the punishment be for Wiccans and those possessing or selling their books?
BTW, this is a caricature of Wicca. Wiccans are not devil worshippers.
Wiccans are a type of witch that does witchcraft which is a form of interaction with the devil, causing serious dangers to the person both spiritually and corporally. Even if they don’t adore or believe in the devil, they are still interacting with him.
Then you go against the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, which clearly states they are to be left alone, free of coercion from the state. You are advocating religious persecution, which is a violation of basic human rights.They could be fined or imprisoned, but that is something for the state to decide upon.
Wiccans are a type of witch that does witchcraft which is a form of interaction with the devil, causing serious dangers to the person both spiritually and corporally. Even if they don’t adore or believe in the devil, they are still interacting with him.
Even satanists are entitled to practice their abhorrent religion in peace.
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Confiteor_Deo
Guest
The Church says that people should be allowed to follow their false religion if it is to avoid a greater evil or for the greater good, but the Church doesn’t want unlimited religious freedom in itself.Then you go against the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, which clearly states they are to be left alone, free of coercion from the state. You are advocating religious persecution, which is a violation of basic human rights.
Even satanists are entitled to practice their abhorrent religion in peace.
For this reason, while not conceding any right to anything save what is true and honest, the Church does not forbid public authority to tolerate what is at variance with truth and justice, for the sake of avoiding some greater evil, or of obtaining or preserving some greater good. . . . But if, in such circumstances, for the sake of the common good (and this is the only legitimate reason), human law may or even should tolerate evil, it may not and should not approve or desire evil for its own sake. . . .
But, to judge aright, we must acknowledge that, the more a State is driven to tolerate evil, the further is it from perfection; and that the tolerance of evil which is dictated by political prudence should be strictly confined to the limits which its justifying cause, the public welfare requires. . . . And although in the extraordinary condition of these times the Church usually acquiesces in certain modern liberties, not because she prefers them in themselves, but because she judges it expedient to permit them, she would in happier times exercises her own liberty. . . . Pope Leo XIII - Libertas Praestantissimum
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Padres1969
Guest
There’s your first mistake. You’re confusing Wicca/Neopaganism with Satan worship. Wicca may not be Christianity… but it’s not Satanism either.They could be fined or imprisoned, but that is something for the state to decide upon.
Wiccans are a type of witch that does witchcraft which is a form of interaction with the devil, causing serious dangers to the person both spiritually and corporally. Even if they don’t adore or believe in the devil, they are still interacting with him.
Your quote is about evil in general, not necessarily the practice of false religions, which is tied to the search for truth.The Church says that people should be allowed to follow their false religion if it is to avoid a greater evil or for the greater good, but the Church doesn’t want unlimited religious freedom in itself.
Your quote, if anything, supports the need for the state to tolerate evil. It supports in no way your abhorrent idea that people of differing religions should be penalized by the state.
But for religious liberty, the Church says this (Vatican II, Dignitatis humanae):
Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society. Therefore it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.
Over and above all this, the council intends to develop the doctrine of recent popes on the inviolable rights of the human person and the constitutional order of society.
- This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.
And before you jump on “within due limits” as an excuse to throw Wiccans in jail, the Church says:
In consequence, the right to this immunity continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it and the exercise of this right is not to be impeded, provided that just public order be observed.
Public order is where the line is drawn.
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