there are far more things worse then us wiccans. and for joey, would you like to give me a hug? and as for the, no offense but i don't know your name, gay guy thank you for your input it was very insightful and helpful it is good to know that people are open minded and just so you know i hope that one day you will be able to get married because i personally not being gay believe that everyone can find love whether it be a man and another man woman and a woman or man and a woman, people should read into what they are talking about before they say such rude things, i try to be as nice as i can but i personally believe that you should treat others with the respect they give you unless i see fit other wise if you want to be mean to me and my kind, right back at you, i am not as crude as some of you guys but that is because i choose to be, you guys should try it maybe you won't piss off so many people. i fear that the world has missed out on so much because they close their minds.
2006-09-27 09:31:24 · 8 answers · asked by scottishtaco 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wicca has been targeted because of few reasons:
1. The General Public knows very little about our practices. People fear what they dont understand. Especially when those practices differ so much from what they have been taught is moral and immoral. Wheras, Wiccans and other Neo Pagans put emphasis only on peaceful interaction with others, the mainstream religions seek to restrict, control or ban a myriad of social and sexual practices.
2. The Early Christian Church started a hate campaign to "demonize" Witches and people of the Pagan/Heathen persuasion. It started with the changing of the Bible to include passages that condemned Witchcraft and then further with the instructions to the Inquisition in the form of the Malleus Malifarcum (Witch Hammer) that detailed the torture and killing of witches in ritualistic and horrific fashion. This hate campaign is still going. There has been so much misinformation about Witches that it outweighs the reality.
3. We are in a political state in the United States partially because of our conservative government that has swerved so far to the Conservative Christian Right that its philosophy has left little room for tolerance of any other religion including Wicca, Islam and many other targets. This is due mostly because of the fear mongering done by the current Administration in the White House and their constituents in the Media that play of the fear of recent terrorist events. You might as how that effects Wiccans? Because when people identify with a terrorist action done by a group that is not of their reigion, they tend to band together within their own religious group and reject outsiders as part of the problem. To back this up, you only have to listen to the comments of Rev Jerry Falwell and Rev Pat Robertson shortly after Sept 11th 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vtBn36livY&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOTUG16REE&mode=related&search=
HOpe this helps
2006-09-27 12:12:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
People hate what they don't understand.
It's a crying shame, but it's the truth. Christians don't like anyone who isn't. Wiccans spend so much time defending themselves to Christians, (i.e. Wicca IS NOT Satanism) that they don't bother finding out What Satanism IS.
Everyone just needs to take a deep breath, and not be so prejudiced based on a word with no meaning.
Labels only have power that we give them.
2006-09-27 18:44:56 · answer #2 · answered by AmyB 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Those who think of Wicca as evil don't know much, or anything, about Wiccans. They only know that their ancient books condemn witches to death.
I'm not Wiccan and regard a belief in spells and magic, even Natural magic, to be superstition, but I still have respect for the Wiccans I know and consider the Wiccan rede an excellent version of the ethic of reciprocity (Golden Rule).
2006-09-27 09:33:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The reason some people are afraid of Wiccans is because they call their religion "witchcraft" and themselves "witches". The word "witch" has a nefarious meaning in every language on earth,including English. They feel that the reason people are afraid of them is centuries of "xtian propaganda" meant to defame them. But even if they went to Vietnam ( a predominantly Buddhist country) and said they were a Phuy Tay (Vietnamese for witch), people would still be afraid of them. Of course, a tiny few Wiccans have stopped calling themselves witches, but most probably enjoy the shock value wether they admit it or not.
In the 19th century a romaticizing of things Pagan began. Godfrey Leland forged a spurious book called Aradia:Gospel of the Witches that implied that witches were pagans who worshipped Diana (and Lucifer). He plagarized materials from two previous books he wrote (Etruscan Remains and Gypsy Sorcery). Although the word Wicca isn't mentioned, it was the great-great daddy of the whole thing.
Later on quack anthropolgist Margret Murray hatched her own theory about the witches of the European witch trials actually being survivors of a Pagan cult in her books. These inspired Gardner to create his own witch cult witch he called "wica" (at first spelled in lower case and with only one "c"). Gardner insisted Witch meant "Wise one" claiming the word derives from the Old English word "wicce". "Wicce" actually means "to bend", and this is where the word "wicker" comes from. The word "wicked" also comes from "wicce" (as in a wicked person being "bent").
There were examples of witches who did evil deeds in history (such as the Weirs and LaViosin) but Wiccans don't equate themselves with such people since they were Devil worshippers.
I love all you Wiccans, but I just have a different opinion than you do. If people only want to hear answers they agree with, they should only talk to themselves.
If you want people to quit being afraid of you, stop calling yourselves witches. You don't have any magic powers anyway.
2006-09-27 22:22:00 · answer #4 · answered by The Notorious Doctor Zoom Zoom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People attack things they don't understand. There are certain things in witchcraft that can be associated with evil but from my understanding wicca is not part of that. People fear the unknown. keep rockin' the wicca and being nice to people.
2006-09-27 09:36:42 · answer #5 · answered by beckysporch 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's ignorance and the won't do anything to correct it.
2006-09-27 09:34:19 · answer #6 · answered by Kithy 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
people always attack what they are afraid of.
2006-09-27 09:36:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
yeppers! To each his own!
2006-09-27 09:35:03 · answer #8 · answered by yeppers 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋