Should Wicca be illegal?

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To get back to the topic of this thread, it is extremely difficult to take the poster’s question seriously. I know many practicing pagans, here and in the UK, and I consider them colleagues in the scope of religious faith communities, along with Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.

They have a seminary here in the US, Cherry Hill Seminary, and many have gone through it to become professional ‘ministers’ or chaplains. I can’t think of one organization that doesn’t consider them along side of priests, rabbis, ministers, and other clergy.

What in the world made you think they are worthy - or unworthy - so as to be considered illegal? I am absolutely stymied.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
What in the world made you think they are worthy - or unworthy - so as to be considered illegal? I am absolutely stymied.
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Well that makes me feel a little bit better that professes a version of the Christian faith can’t wrap their heads around this - cause I sure as heck don’t understand the hubbub around this one.

Again - being a foreigner and not of European descent, perhaps i’m lacking some sort of cultural understanding of this but… I always get the feeling that “Ye Neopagans” don’t really get the benefit of the doubt in terms of their actions.

As in - a Catholic might reasonably believe in the following:

Buddhist = False Reliigon, but relatively nice people
Hindu = False Religion
Islam = False Religion and getting very Uppity
Judaism = Waiting for a Paternity Test 😛
Atheists = Deluded

And yet… we sometimes find people who just make that little extra step…

Wiccan = IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL

I don’t expect anybody to believe that another person’s religion is correct (otherwise you would have gone and joined it).

But what I find amazing, is this total refusal to even entertain the stated intentions of a group of people.

As far as I can tell, Wiccans are basically a hodgpodge of some rather 60s inspired interpretations of Europe’s polytheistic past. And they generally mean well. Yes they believe in things that no Christian would - but so do a lot of other people.

I contrast this with the subset of Islamic terrorists who have -directly- stated that our collective ways of life (religious or otherwise) are an anathema to theirs and we shall suffer at their hands…one way or another…

And yet in the mindset of some Christians, the folks who are not directly threatening their way of life…somehow…are considered a “danger…”

…Boggles the mind…
 
Many times these arguments are simply a matter of definitions.

I know that there are men who also call themselves witches but to make it simple:

In times past there were women who were herbalists and were able to create healing medicines from their knowledge of plants. Some of these women also knew how to create medicines that caused abortions. They were often referred to as witches and were suspected of having super natural powers. And were feared.

There were also women who in addition to being herbalists defined themselves as being in league with evil and reviled in it. They no doubt had knowledge of which plant were poison and used that knowledge. They were also called witches.

There are many women today who are herbalists and call themselves “good witches” they don’t intend to deal in evil.

But, unfortunately there are women who do revel in evil and do align themselves with what they believe to be evil spirits.

We all tend to generalize. I doubt if Christians are any worse at that that other people.

We all need to be aware that there are men and women who do dabble in evil and do desire to call forth evil. There is nothing wrong in recognizing real evil where it does exist.

Personally I suspect most “witches” think of themselves as good and are simply wanting to harken back to an imaginary past where they believe they have a connection. Perhaps they are right. I wasn’t there so I don’t know.
 
TheAtheist said:
Well that makes me feel a little bit better that professes a version of the Christian faith can’t wrap their heads around this - cause I sure as heck don’t understand the hubbub around this one.

Again - being a foreigner and not of European descent, perhaps i’m lacking some sort of cultural understanding of this but… I always get the feeling that “Ye Neopagans” don’t really get the benefit of the doubt in terms of their actions.

As in - a Catholic might reasonably believe in the following:

Buddhist = False Reliigon, but relatively nice people
Hindu = False Religion
Islam = False Religion and getting very Uppity
Judaism = Waiting for a Paternity Test 😛
Atheists = Deluded

And yet… we sometimes find people who just make that little extra step…

Wiccan = IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL

I don’t expect anybody to believe that another person’s religion is correct (otherwise you would have gone and joined it).

But what I find amazing, is this total refusal to even entertain the stated intentions of a group of people.

**As far as I can tell, Wiccans are basically a hodgpodge of some rather 60s inspired interpretations of Europe’s polytheistic past. And they generally mean well. Yes they believe in things that no Christian would - but so do a lot of other people.
**
I contrast this with the subset of Islamic terrorists who have -directly- stated that our collective ways of life (religious or otherwise) are an anathema to theirs and we shall suffer at their hands…one way or another…

And yet in the mindset of some Christians, the folks who are not directly threatening their way of life…somehow…are considered a “danger…”

…Boggles the mind…
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I highlighted the one portion abojut Wicca being a “hodpodge” of sorts…I’m sure some 2000 years ago, many well established religions were thinking the same thing about a small insignifican Jewish sect in the first century…If Jerusalem hadn’t fallen, the face of Christianity would be much different…the relatively insignifican Jewish sect blossomed into it’s own religious identity, and with the high amount of Gentile/Pagan converts…Christianity was born. (Not the faith affirming “history” believers embrace…which history of Christianity would a Wiccan embrace? The faith affirming one, or the secular one?)

Those Wiccans I know, some now 3rd generation, have a different understanding of their origins in the modern era.
 
masuwerte said:
This is irrelevant to what I posted.
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Well, you’ve really lost me now.

You brought up “once catholic, always catholic” i.e. that it is not possible to leave Catholicism. I pointed out that that is not a real Catholic teaching but a made-up saying used by amateur Catholic apologists (then I further elaborated:
Peter_J said:
There’s a difference between an ex-Catholic and a current Catholic, but there is also a difference between an ex-Catholic and a never-been-Catholic.
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) but that’s not relevant? 🤷
 
Peter_J said:
Well, you’ve really lost me now.

You brought up “once catholic, always catholic” i.e. that it is not possible to leave Catholicism. I pointed out that that is not a real Catholic teaching but a made-up saying used by amateur Catholic apologists (then I further elaborated:

) but that’s not relevant? 🤷
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It is a real Catholic teaching.
 
Yes. I never denied that there are threads that say “once Catholic, always Catholic”.

Does that make it true? :hmmm:

P.S. One of your links doesn’t say “once Catholic always Catholic”; rather, it talks about our belief/policy that an ex-Catholic cannot validly marry without a dispensation. That doesn’t contradict what I said:
Peter_J said:
There’s a difference between an ex-Catholic and a current Catholic, but there is also a difference between an ex-Catholic and a never-been-Catholic.

Look at it this way: I have never been Orthodox, so if an Orthodox called me an ex-Orthodox then I would correct him/her, since there is a difference between an ex-Orthodox and a never-been-Orthodox.
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(Incidentally, this is something of a personal issue to me because I have know a number of ex-Orthodox who are anything but humble about the fact that they are ex-Orthodox … and, on the other hand, I’ve known Orthodox who think that being non-Orthodox (which I am) is just as bad as being ex-Orthodox (which I’m not).)
 
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