Hearth Witch Down Under
It seems to me that I have been seeing a resurgence of major Christian hate from Pagans, Witches and Wiccans lately, and honestly it is rather disheartening to see. For the past year or so I have been reading and interacting with Pagans on topics about Paganism and little was mentioned of Christianity, but these past few weeks I have seen some things on Facebook and other places that is just plain annoying.
On a Facebook Witchcraft page was a picture of a Celtic cross, a woman, whether Pagan, Witch or Wiccan I know not, mentioned a few things about the history of the cross, about how the Christians stole it and “tainted” it. A Christian saw this and proceeded to insult her and give his rather mangled version of the truth of the cross. When this was brought to the attention of other users there began a thread filled with Pagans, Witches and Wiccans flaming him as a Christian, flaming the thieving Christians and complaining of this attack by a Christian on a Witch page.
I suppose they thought they were defending themselves, but all I could see was a disgusting example of our hate filled hearts. I think that yes the Christian man was disgusting in his comments and way off base with his truth about the cross, but the woman saying Christians tainted the cross was equally as disgusting. It also begs the question, if we have right to defend ourselves from attack by other religions, shouldn’t those other religions be able to defend themselves from our base comments in regards to their religion?
This is not the only example of Christian hate I have seen lately, it’s just one that I found profoundly ignorant. Almost every time I see one of these discussions pop up lately it always comes down to the same things, the same justifications for our self-imposed martyrdom – They burned us at the stake! The stole Christmas and Easter and other festivals! They stole and tainted our symbols! They hated us first! They started it!
Are we children that everything always comes back to that sentiment? They started it? Well, we are continuing it. If we ever want more respect and less hate from certain religions then we should stop complaining about the past and move onto the future. Or are we going to create a Pagan institution, take over the world and start burning Christians? I mean, they started it afterall. Funny, the same could be said about us. What happened to the first wave of Christians to exist? They were slaughtered by Pagans. I guess we deserved the Inquisition then.
For most Pagans we strive to find our path in religion, spirituality or the craft. We want so badly to move on from whatever religion we were indoctrinated into as children, if any religion was present at all. We look, we search and study to find ourselves and what it is we need. Do we really think that martyring ourselves over the Inquisition of 5 centuries ago is going to help our spiritual journey? Will winging about Christmas and Easter help us to find our path? Will insulting the Christians to the point that we say they taint the things they interact with, will this help us connect with the universe, the gods, the spirits?
It is worse than just complaining though. So many Pagans will make statements about the evil of Christendom, but their statements are based on mistaken beliefs, misinterpreted facts and outright lies given by historical figures. Not everything we read about the Inquisition is true, not everything we read about the festivals and symbols is actually how it was thousands of years ago, some of these things are creations and fabrications, ways of bringing our ancient religions into the modern day, or making Christianity seem more powerful than it actually now is. It is fine to follow some of these beliefs and creations, but we should know if they truly existed in the ancient religions and in history before we start using that information as proof of someone elses evil heritage.
It is good to know about these things, it is good to explore the possibilities, and it is good to understand what has been done in the past, and what we have done in the past. But is the purpose of knowing these things so that we can hate others and try to destroy them? Or is it so that we know how much adversity we may need to overcome, is it to make us stronger in what we are and what we follow? Is it to make us appreciate that we live now, when we can believe what we want without being burned at the stake (depending on your country unfortunately)?
Are you a Pagan/Witch/Wiccan/Heathen because you believe in certain things, follow a certain path, want to grow spiritually? Or are you thus so that you have a reason to hate and attack Christianity for their offences against your spiritual ancestors hundreds of years ago? Best you figure it out, because the two should not go hand in hand – choose one or the other. I would really hate if we finally found the one thing that truly defines the religion of modern Pagans and that thing is “Hatred of Christianity”. Better if we all find a burning stake.
Note: I have not mentioned the name of the Facebook page because it is a great page and I have no desire to flame them or those who use the page. It was only this incident that annoyed me, and they were not the only place on Facebook and the internet to have this sort of thing happen.
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