From: boylan@sltg04.ljo.dec.com (Steve Boylan)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Just an observation
Date: 16 Nov 92 22:52:09 GMT
Reply-To: boylan@ljohub.enet.dec.com (Steve Boylan)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


In article <5HN9TB3w164w@gatecom.UUCP>, falcore@gatecom.UUCP
(Carolyn C. Doss L.V.T.) writes:

> Greetings and Merry Meet !
>         I have been noticing quite a bit that people tend to associate The 
> Craft with satanism (a christian religion) .....This upsets me a great deal 
> I do not believe in Satan I am Pagan I am Wiccan I am a Witch!  I do Magick 
> and I harm none .........Boy it stinks to be trned on to something sooo 
> wonderful and not be able to tell the whole world without being persecuted 
> ...

Y'know, you're right - it stinks.

The way it looks to me (anybody got a soapbox handy?) . . .

Them gol-durned Christians got a bee up their trousers and decided that
anybody who believed something other than what the oh-so-holy church
said was so was a heretic, an unbeliever, and a follower of Satan.

It probably helped them/didn't help us that late medeival and renaissance
folklore made Satan look like some of the god figures that pagan folks
back in those days used in their worship.

By the seventeenth century, they could believe that any deviation at all
was the work of their Devil . . . that magic could only be performed with
the aid of the Devil . . . that any deity other than God the almighty
Father of the Jews and of the Christ was obviously just another manifestation
of the Devil.  And, obviously, the only way to protect the faithful was
to get rid of those Devil worshipers.  Since the communities of colonial
New England were both de facto and de jure Christian communities, anyone
who was not a Christian was ipso facto a criminal.  (Don't you just LOVE
Latin?  Anybody out there want to tutor?)  Since worshiping the Devil was
about the worst sin a Christian could commit, the laws supported the
maximum penalty for them Devil-worshiping criminals.  Hanging was used a
lot, that being a common method for executing criminals, while burning
had its proponents, that being supported by the Christian tradition back
into the middle ages.

From the Christian's point of view (simplifying only a little), if you do
not believe in their God, you are wrong and will go to hell . . . and if
you believe in any deity other than their God, you are a follower of Satan.
That is not an attitude that allows a lot of flexibility when it comes to
dealing with other religious beliefs. :-)

And, by the way, as I understand it, Satanism is technically a Christian
heresy, not a "Christian religion".

One thing that does cause a direct conflict between modern Witchcraft and
Christianity is the Christian definition of the term "Witch".  In their
terms, if you are a Witch, you are a follower of Satan.

Yup, it stinks.



>         I also notice that Wicca/Goddess worship  tends to be associated 
> with Feminism .....I do not claim myself a true feminist I am a peopleist an 
> Earthist and a naturist .....I believe that that all are equal in the 
> presence of the Lord and Lady and our purpose is tyo honor the planet and 
> all that occupy it ........and try to make it a place worth occupying during 
> our lives here....

Something that happened several years ago now was that a lot of feminists,
being fed up with the patronizing and paternal Christian faiths, found a
wellspring of strength in worshipping the Goddess.  Feminism and Goddess
worship had a lot of cross-fertilization over the years (pun intended);
Goddes worship provided a strong spiritual center for many feminists.

I find your two statements contradictory, in my mildly amused way . . . "I
do not claim myself a true feminist" versus "I believe that that all are
equal in the presence of the Lord and Lady and our purpose is to honor
the planet and all that occupy it".  I hope you don't find this an
unwelcome observation, but (within a Pagan context) the latter statement
is pretty much my definition of "true feminism".

But wait a minute . . . this is beginning to sound like I'm CRITICIZING
you!  That's not what I want to do!

>         So am I on the wrong track here?

On the contrary - I like the direction you're heading!

>         Am I aggrivating you with these posts?

Not me.  In fact, that was one of the nicest posts I've seen lately!
 
>         I am learning the Craft and practicing Solitary.
> 
> These are what I see so far ...just want to see if it makes sense to others 

It makes a lot of sense to me . . . although I'm afraid you seem to have
triggered my "rant" mode.  That was NOT your fault!!

		Bless you,

				- - Steve

				boylan@ljohub.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: alt.pagan