Witchvox Article

Author: Vetch
Posted: August 5th. 2007
Times Viewed: 2,282

So, why am I bashing Christian Wiccans now? Surely there are other people I can vent my acidic spleen on who far deserve it more? Well, I’m not here to rant, merely to state using the theology of the two religions adopted by Christian Wiccans that it isn’t possible to reconcile the two. There is too much disparity between them, too many concepts we don’t share.

I read a lot of Christian Wiccans upset that people dislike the path they have chosen to follow, but I think I can explain such behavior: it is viewed as ‘having your cake and eating it’. Instead of trying wholeheartedly to embrace a religion you feel is right for you, they try and cling on to both.

Perhaps it is the fear that if they stop believing in Jesus they condemn themselves to Hell if Christianity is correct.

Perhaps it is because they like the ideas of Wicca, but still want to be Christians.

Though this is off-topic, I’m going to present you a wager, a bet of sorts, which I will happily reply with to any Christian who asks me ‘What if you’re wrong?’ Probability wise, there’s a chance that Christianity is right, a chance that I am right, a chance that we’re both wrong but another religion is right, and a chance that there is nothing after death at all.

Three out of four chances that I will not be punished after death – in Buddhism, for example, if I haven’t gained enlightenment I will be reborn again and go through another suffering life, but I won’t be tormented forever in a fiery pit. If there’s nothing after death, I will have lived a good life in the service of others, and can face oblivion happily. If I’m right, I’ll meet some of those sheepish fundamentalists in the Otherworld and they will feel awful for bullying people all their lives.

Additionally, if Christianity is correct about the afterlife, there are a further two chances – one, that the supposedly benevolent God will consign my eternal soul to the flames, and two that I might go to Heaven for having shown love and compassion to other people, living my life the best I knew how.

If he’s such a loving God, I’m sure he’d understand why it is I refused to follow his religion, considering the appalling behavior of his evangelizing followers. And if he decides I’m off to join Satan, well, I don’t think I’d want any part of a contemptuous God who professes to love his children and then sends around 80% of them, amazing people as they are, to Hell.

So why be afraid of what happens after you die? That’s what Christians do.

Anyway, I was saying why it is impossible to be a Christian Wiccan. I will use Wicca as my example here, though the arguments presented below are relevant to every kind of Paganism. Firstly, let’s examine Christian theology.

To be a Christian, as I learned in my church school and from my devout Christian friends, you must ‘accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.’ So you must recognize that Jesus is the son of God, that he died on the cross to take away your sins, that you had sins to be taken away to begin with (and that you as a human are inherently sinful), and that he was miraculously resurrected to demonstrate he was the son of God. So in order to call yourself a Christian anything, you must believe you are a sinner that needs to be saved, and Jesus came to do just that.

He isn’t merely another god to them, and is more than just part of the trinity God.

But Wicca doesn’t have this concept. If Wicca thinks of evil at all, it is in the sense of ‘serious crime’ or ‘hurting people for no justifiable reason’ – anything that goes against the Wiccan Rede could be construed as being bad. But a Wiccan is not inherently sinful. They have nothing they badly need to be saved from, as there are no conditions to get into the Summerlands – in fact, people of other religions can too (pluralism).

The two theologies contradict here on the vital point of Christianity – that we need a savior.

Christianity says we have sin that we need to be rescued from. Wicca says we don’t. So Wicca has no need for a savior. Therefore Jesus has no divinity in Wicca – essentially, he was a prophet and a teacher of peace, but he isn’t the Son of God. If he is only a human to Wiccans, then he can’t be worshipped as divine.

Secondly, there’s the nature of Wicca and Christianity’s concepts of the divine. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, which believes there is a single generic God who created everything, served by an army of angels, who is tripartite – the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible, and as interpreted by Christians, other gods are false idols (imaginary) or illusory (demons working for Satan to corrupt people).

But Wicca is pluralistic. Many Wiccans worship a pantheon of chosen Gods, or several Gods they feel have called to them – this is polytheism, the recognition and worship of numerous Gods who are distinct from each other. Whether it is believed they are merely archetypes or actual entities is down to the individual Wiccan’s decision.

Others are monotheistic in that they worship a single Goddess, or duo theistic, where they worship a Goddess and a God together, a pair of divine beings (sometimes they are split into numerous Gods and Goddesses who are merely facets of the God and Goddess). Jesus is not a God, but the son of one according to the original theology, and part of a God made up of three beings in one, a concept not in any Wiccan theology.

Thirdly, you have to consider the two religions themselves. Christians believe there is only one way. In order to call yourself a Christian, you must believe that there is only a single way to get to Heaven, and that is to be ‘saved’ by Jesus. Therefore, you must believe in him in his capacity as Messiah, not just worship him as a god – the Bible doesn’t ask people to do that, nor does it want them to.

Christianity is non-pluralistic in comparison with Wicca, which believes all paths contain enough truth to guide people to the afterlife. It is impossible to reconcile these paths together because of their disparate theology.

A Christian Wiccan cannot worship Jesus as a god – Christianity says that only God is to be worshipped, and Jesus was a Messiah; Wicca says that Jesus was not the son of God as it accepts no monotheistic God, and therefore he was only a human who had some rather nifty ideas.

Furthermore, a Christian Wiccan must accept a need for salvation if they believe Jesus was divine, for he existed to ‘save’ people from sin; yet Wicca posits we have no sins to be ‘saved’ from, so there is no need for a Messiah. Stripped of that authority, Jesus is only an ordinary man.

A Christian Wiccan cannot worship Mary as a Goddess, either. Only the Roman Catholics ever venerated her, whereas all the other denominations believe her to be important in giving birth to Jesus, but she was a sinful human woman like everybody else, not divine. Wicca as well also accepts that Mary, if she existed, was another human like Jesus, and there was nothing special about her. Neither theology ever set her up to be worshipped.

I could go on, but doubtless you are bored by now. I find it hard to understand why anyone would wish to try and reconcile two completely different religions, when both are so rewarding by themselves. It sets you up to suffer the outrage and hatred of conservative Christians, and the scorn of Pagans who believe you want to keep a foot in both camps. If you don’t believe me, go to places like the Reachout Trust forum and read what they say.

Can’t you be content with one?

Vetch

Footnotes:
Thank you to Katy, Trevor, Sarah, Emma, and the other devout Christians I know for your continuing theological debate with me and your ideas on the "one way" idea of Christianity and its concepts.

Copyright: Me, obviously. If I am who I say I am.

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