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TWV Presents... Articles/Essays From Pagans [Show all] Views: 10,235,831 February 7th. 2010 ... Why I'd Want Darkness In Me (Or, At Least, Not Mind It) Understanding Magickal Royalty: Witch Queen / Witch King Power of Polarity, Rose of Mystery Don't Fear The Dark: A Discussion On Cursing I'm Pagan. I Don't Pray. Artemis and Hecate Curses! And the Magical Mechanics Thereof... Polarities of Power: Gender in Magickal Society An Individual Approach to Tolerance January 31st. 2010 ... The Pagan Newbie In Defense of Harry Potter and Star Wars Out of the Broom Closet, Back in, and then Out Again... Teen Covens: Do They Work? Good Witch, Bad Witch, Evil Witch and Hogwarts' Sorting Hat Instinct vs Research The Child in the Forest We Must Open Our Eyes January 24th. 2010 ... The Burning of Margaret Murray ‘An It Harm None’ and My Reality Beyond the Ethics of the Wiccan Rede Saucers and Symbols: The Pentacle and the Pentagram Thoughts on Modern Paganism (Part 1) Witchcraft Revealed Touched By The Gods The Primordial Goddess A Revisionist Look at the Countess of Salisbury (Witch) Dynamic Creation January 17th. 2010 ... Hip-Hop Rosaries and What Not To Wear The Racist Mythology Does Magick Work? In Defense of the Devil: Museum Inspired Musings Everyday, Worship Feelings Do Not Replace Fact Finding Your Feat Religion and Me: An Inspirational Rant of Godly Proportions Seeing is Believing... Or Is It? The South African Pagan Rights Alliance January 10th. 2010 ... When Banishing Is Necessary Gender-Bending and the Divine Coven Governance: Which Style is Right for You? A New Look At A Classic Movie: Bell Book And Candle Taking on the Name of a Goddess Gossip Craft: A Destructive Part of ANY Community From the Tribal Mind to the Wiccan Mind Some Thoughts on Leadership January 3rd. 2010 ... Lisa Simpson: The World’s Most Famous Wiccan A Supplemental Reading List for the Well-Read Pagan You’re Forgetting Something... Modern Witchcraft: Make-up, Marshmallows and Moon-Shaped Glitter The Goddess Within: Maiden, Mother and Crone Reflecting on Witchcraft, Then and Now The Athenia Project: A Proposal for the Promotion and Display of Creative Ritual December 20th. 2009 ... Wicca, Christianity and Blended Religions Mundane in Pagan Clothing: Shifting Focus The Yule Odyssey The Primordial Image: Archetypes The Origin of the Melek Ta'us Image: The Official Story (Part One) Mantras: How and Why They Work December 13th. 2009 ... The Natural Witch For the Goddess So Loved the World Becoming a Buddhist Pagan Dead Jesus: A Dream Interpretation Helping Pets and Healing Hands December 6th. 2009 ... The Witch’s Blade – Some Athame Basics An Easy Meditation Technique A Witch In An RV Alternate Worlds Finding Serendipity Family, Faith, and Isolation Why Sacrifice Isn’t as Scary as It Sounds A Call To Unity And Understanding Among All People Of Faith. November 29th. 2009 ... The Pagan Secret A Synopsis of Evil The Book of Shadows Dress Rehersal The Green Man: Myth and Inspiration My Creation Myth Robin Hood The Storm of Life November 22nd. 2009 ... Caveat Mentor, or Watch That First Step! NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.

Article Specs Article ID: 11813 VoxAcct: 255651 Section: words Age Group: Adult Days Up: 920 Times Read: 3,321 RSS Views: 39,039 Anti-Christian Prejudice in the Pagan Community Author: Pax Posted: August 5th. 2007 Times Viewed: 3,321 I remember the first few times I encountered Anti-Christian sentiments in the Pagan community. I had started a yahoo group for my local pagan community and amongst the first batch of members was a good friend of mine who is a Ceremonial Magician, Mason, and Christian. In addition to being a good friend who helped me face some rough times in my life, PK was also instrumental in helping me find reliable books about Ceremonial Magick at that time in my life where I decided I finally had to study some of the deeper levels of magic (or magick if you prefer). Like I say he is a good friend, and extremely Pagan friendly (his wife is one), so I was rather surprised when he unsubscribed from the list. In discussing it with him he mentioned an anti-Christian comment that someone had made on list and how he had dealt with anti-Christian attitudes before and he didn’t want to have to put up with them. At the time I thought he was over reacting. The comment had been a half sentence remark about a very visible local fundamentalist Christian minister. Life moved on… Then couple of years later there was a story going round the net, about a Sunrise Easter service in the San Francisco Bay area interrupted by a ‘pagan’ group marching in drumming and chanting “We’re here too!” Rolls eyes heavenwards… Then of course there are the comments in Wrens Nest where a lot of folks commenting about various news stories feel obligated to bash Christians. Or the many times over the last 15 years where I’ve heard folks make anti-Christian comments at events. For me the last straw happened on Beltane of 2005, sadly I didn’t even hear about the incident until much later. My partner, a wonderful, kind, thoughtful, cheerful … ok, he’s my Partner and I think he’s the Bee’s Knees! Anyway he is also a Seventh Day Adventist and he had accompanied me, out of curiosity and to understand my faith, to a Beltane circle at the local U.U. CUUP’s chapter. Apparently, at that event some folks made some disparaging remarks about Christianity in general and Seventh Day Adventism in particular. I didn’t learn about these comments until about a year later, after we had moved across country, when he didn’t want to come out to the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida’s monthly Pagan Picnic and he told me about the comments. This sweet, sensitive, man hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings and reluctantly told me that…. “You have a very rosy view of the Pagan community and I didn’t want to say anything to upset you….” My husbear was so deeply hurt by some mindlessly spouted bit of bigotry that he didn’t want to associate socially with folks from the Pagan community because he didn’t want to be hurt again. Hate is hate folks. It does not matter who you are denigrating. “Those Christians are so dumb…” “God hates ***s…” “Mormons are such hypocrites…” “Two N***er’s walk into a bar….” “Every time a Republican dies, a Queer Angel gets his wings….” “Get a load of this X-tian funniementalist…” Hate is hate, and you can try to justify it with some back story of how you’ve been hurt, you can say that the ever present “they” bad-mouth us so why shouldn’t we bad-mouth “Them”, you can say you were only joking, you can make any sort of excuse you want… but in the end you are responsible for what you say and do. No one else! In the end hate is hate, however and for whatever reason it may be expressed. Perhaps some of you who badmouth Christianity were raised in that faith under bad circumstances. Perhaps you’ve been hurt in dealings with Fundamentalist Christians in the past. If you badmouth Christianity for either of those reasons aren’t you just giving the specific Christians who hurt you (who hardly represent ALL Christians, despite claims to the contrary) continuing power over you? If you are judging the entirety of Christianity by the words or actions of a few aren’t you doing the same thing that a lot of Christian extremists have done to the Pagan community? I believe that a lot of bigotry, and don’t think that hating on the Christians isn’t a form of bigotry, is the result of ignorance. The cure for ignorance is education, and here are a few useful sources of information. www.religioustolerance.org This is a fascinating and detailed website with over 3, 750 essays on the topic of religion. All Religions! If you have a question, or concern, regarding a religious group or want to learn the why and wherefores of a particular faith groups beliefs this is one of the most reliable sources of information! www.en.wikipedia.org This online encyclopedia gets a bad rep sometimes because anyone can go in and edit an article, but their contributors and editorial staff do an amazing job of correcting any misinformation and vandalism as quickly as possible. If you are capable of critical reading this site is fantastically useful for information of all sorts. Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture. By John Shelby Spong ISBN: 0060675187 This is a fascinating and heartfelt book by the former Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey. He is one of the leading voices of Liberal Christianity. He is a fascinating author and well worth reading by anyone interested in the topic of the history of the Christian Bible as a text. Before closing I would like to quote one of the least written about, or talked about, passages from Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess… “Sing! Feast! Dance! Make music and Love all in my praise and presence. For mine is the Spirit of Ecstasy, and mine as well is joy on Earth, and Love Unto All Beings in My Law.” In the end, hate is hate, and I would rather try to live a life of love. ABOUT... Pax Location: Davenport, Florida Author's Profile: To learn more about Pax - Click HERE Other Articles: Pax has posted 2 additional articles- View them? Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE Email Pax... (Yes! I have opted to receive invites to Pagan events, groups, and commercial sales) To send a private message to Pax ... 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