Dealing With Christians I am also going to have my say on dealing with Christians here, as I know a lot of pagans/witches have a problem with this...and I hope that anyone who is a Christian who is reading this will also be open minded enough to at least try to understand my view :) I have noticed a lot of pagans and witches who tend to seriously bag Christians...this is NOT on. Just because you have chosen a Pagan path, does not give you the right to belittle those who have chosen another way. As the saying goes, "there are many paths up the mountain, but they all reach the top in the end". Whilst Christianity may not be your path of choice, it IS a valid path and one that quite obviously works for a lot of people. As a Pagan or witch, if you belittle Christians, stop and think a moment about how that makes you (and therefore witchcraft and paganism) look to other people. Not going to give others a good impression, is it? The pagan lifestyle is a good one and Pagans are good people with honourable goals in life...don't give those who follow other paths the wrong impression! To me, one of the prime things about what it means to be a Pagan is that I have a deep love and respect for the Earth and all things on it, and a duty of care toward all beings. I also follow the Earth's natural rhythms and cycles...for all you Christians, this is why witches have Sabbats and celebrate the moons, because we are recognising the Earth's natural cycles :) Nothing more sinister than that. I know there is a LOT of misinformation out there about what a witch or a Pagan is...well, think about this - every time you as a witch or pagan are negative toward a Christian for example, you are merely perpetuating the myths that are out there about witches being bad people!!! It is OUR DUTY as witches to forget all that, and just get out there and live our beliefs...like the Christians do when they live theirs :) Having been a Christian for about two years myself, I know how they work...and whilst it didn't work for me, it is still a valid spiritual path. True Christians are accepting of others regardless of their beliefs or whatever, and yes, I have met many I would call "true" Christians in that aspect, who truly LIVE the love of their God. However I have also experienced the flipside, having been spat on by a small child of Christian parents for being a witch and having a nose ring...there ARE those out there who don't live their faith as such, yes, but you will find that in any path, including paganism and witchcraft (I have met a few of these, too... the people who read a few books and decide that they are pagan because they like the way it sounds, but who have never actually done a ritual in their whole life, or even been outside to experience the earth...sadly with the spread of the Internet, they are becoming more common, as on a screen you can say anything you like and nobody knows better). You Pagans out there will know the type I am talking about...the ones who pronounce everything incorrectly because they have only ever read it in books, or who are only in it because they get to wear cool clothes, or whatever). It is our duty as witches to show people that the old myths and misinformation is wrong, that we are human too and we are not evil...to spread understanding about who we are and what we do. This is why I am outspoken in my beliefs...I do not believe in having to keep my faiths silent for any reason. I am not ashamed of being a witch, so why should I try to hide it? I am not doing anything wrong in being a witch...my only "crime" as such is that I choose not to be Christian. But would I suffer the same prejudice if I chose to be a Buddhist or a Muslim rather than a witch? To me it is sad that Christianity as a religion has to dominate and eradicate all other faiths...only a faith that is insecure in itself would need to do so. However, my point is, it should not matter what faith a person holds, as we are all brothers and sisters and should all accept one another as individuals without judgement, respecting each other's differences |