It being Halloween, I thought it might be appropriate to address the subject of Wiccans and paganism in general. It is, of course, abundantly clear where my views lie on the subject of Christianity. And by default, they would pertain to Islam, and any other Creator-oriented religion, especially those which are oppressive to large segments of humanity. There are, however, many faiths that are much less abhorrent than Christianity and the like. I refer to them as the Earth-oriented religions.
In my time, I've known at least one practitioner of Druidism, and a whole slew of Wiccans. And I've found that Wiccans come in as great a variety as Christians do.
Two acquaintances of mine, for example, lie on opposite ends of the Wiccan spectrum. One is very much into the ritualistic side of it. He has his little altar set up in the living room, complete with all the accoutrements associated with the religion: the chalice, the charm bag, the athame, the wand, etc… I don't recall him ever making reverential statements concerning the Lord and Lady, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. Naturally, I find this whole enterprise silly.
On the other hand, my other acquaintance discards all those trappings and notions. He engages in no rituals, believes in no pagan deities… It's not even what you'd call earth "worship," but an immense respect for the earth and its creatures. With this, I have no problem whatsoever. I even Respect it. I don't really think of it as a religion, though. It doesn't really fit the bill.
Even at its most ritualistic and silly, however, I find such beliefs to be far less offensive than Christian teachings. And that's definitely a point in their favor.
As an aside, I do think that many self-professed Wiccans, particularly those who are fairly young, may be latching onto Wicca as the latest "flavor-of-the-month" in non-mainstream religious circles. It's "cool" to be Wiccan, you see.
And of course, I empathize with Wiccans, and any non-mainstream religious people, when they are persecuted by Christians and others. They're no different from atheists in that regard. They're considered devil worshipers, and so on. Untrue, of course, but don't try to convince a slathering Christian of that.
The perversion of so many pagan holidays into Judeo-Christian ones leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But perhaps worse than that is the perversion of Samhain into a "holiday" with no real relevance to society. Not because I particularly feel that any holiday should have relevance, but because I see it as just one more way in which the Judeo-Christian religion continues to pretend that it wasn't almost entirely stolen from pagan sources. Not to mention how it continues to pretend that pagan religions aren't "real" religions.
I've read things on religious sites which pretty much deny these truths, and even some that refer to the ancient pagans who celebrated Samhain as "cults of death," or some such drivel. Yet another example of the lies I spoke of last week.
But I digress, as is my habit. Ah, well. I've said what I wanted, I suppose.
To all my pagan friends, I wish a pleasant Samhain. To most everyone else, Happy Halloween. And to those visiting who don't celebrate this holiday… have a nice day.
