Is it my imagination, or are Wiccans just nicer people in general?

Question

Is it because Wiccan's aren't as stressed, or are happier because of their religion, or is that just the group this religion attracts?

Just an add on, I'm proud to be Wiccan, and I'm getting a little tired of the bashing on here, too... :) Look at the answers I got! PROOF you are a nicer group, for sure! (I never met a fundamentalist wiccan, sure I'm just fine not having had that experience. LOL)

Wow, the one guy ran into a really nasty woman who was tying her bad attitude to something in a bad way. That's not us as a rule. I'm sorry you had to go through that with her. I have Jehovah Witness's and Morman missionaries stop by my home all the time to tell their side of their faith and they are all treated with respect by myself and my family members!

Answer 1

I think that mature Wiccans have just adopted a philosophy that is more accepting of other belief systems. We also deal with ourselves on a much deeper level than many religions do. We seem to have a sort of built-in psychotherapy in our religion. Travelling between the worlds, exploring our own consciousness, dealing with our inner children and inner demons ( a word for negativity rather than demons in the Christian sense), all of this tends to help a being be somewhat more comfortable and adjusted.

Wiccans also don't have the same immature hangups regarding sex that many other religions have. We don't look at nature as the enemy. We don't look at death as a final ending, but merely a change in a state of consciousness, which many of us have at least partly experienced already.

Nicer? perhaps, but because of alot of work we've already done, and because we can recognize that most people are simply people on the same road as us.

Answer 2

Like Michael Darnell and SmoothSoulLady said, you'll run into some bad-apple Wiccans now and then, because ANY group of people is going to have a spectrum of good and, well, not so good. It's possible that only the same percentage of Christians is bad, but because they have such a HUGE majority, that portion also appears huge. The Christians who *aren't* bothering us are almost invisible, after all, so we mainly notice the ones who are!

That said, there are definite incentives for Wiccans to be extra "nice." The go-with-the-flow (of Nature) belief that's been mentioned is one reason. The Threefold Law is a biggie--unlike other people on Y!A, Wiccans are unlikely to post abusive questions or disgusting replies because we fully expect that, if we do so, we'd have to wade through three times as many annoying posts :-) And the whole business about "for the good of all and according to the free will of all" -- at the risk of sounding flippant, I call it the prime directive, after Star Trek. That means a well-studied Wiccan is highly unlikely to butt into someone else's business without being asked which, especially iif you've dealt with a lot of preachy people, is a particularly restful change!

FWIW, when I do run across an obnoxious Wiccan, s/he usually falls into one of two categories. One would be the "Witchier than Thou" type, sometimes a famtrad or a Third Level Covener, with a little too much self-importance to be a fun companion (although those people are often compensating for a poor self-image). The other would be the Newbie Witch who, caught up in the excitement of this new religion s/he's discovered, doesn't yet understand about each person having their own path, or the fact that Wiccans don't proselytize. That tendency tends to wear off, thank goodness, right along with the need to collect a whole bunch of shiny new magical tools and extra decks of Tarot cards :-) Still, all in all? We're a pretty good bunch!

Answer 3

While I'm not Wicca, I was raised in a family that has had a reputation for being witches for most of the last 800 years or more.
That said I -like- Wiccan folks and have celebrated rituals and festivals with them (- heck I even married one). I've been interacting with them as individuals and groups since I was in my teens. For the most part there are wonderful things to be said about Wiccans as a group - but I would say the same was true of Christians or Islamics or Sikhs or Buddhists or Hindu.
Unfortunately there always seems to be one in any group who is a jerk... and Wiccans are not an exception to this rule either, they are just a small population so we don't have the as much exposure to their jerks as we do from the more mainstream groups, so the odds of a jerk being from the larger population is higher - also as a group they're fairly good at policing themselves, and they have little problem telling off someone who is being a jerk and making it clear that behavior is not acceptable. I think the same is true of other small subcultures like the LGBT community for example or a small ethnic community in the mainstream of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants in North America for example.
Your mileage may vary.

Answer 4

Wiccan religion, says to flow with all things in nature, people included. It doesnt have a specific credo except what you send out, comes back to you.More or less. There is no other religion like it. I have found that alot, not all, but alot of other relgions push it on you, because they have been taught all their life their god is the right god, and that those that dont believe or follow will be punished. Wicca follows the law of the land. To be in harmony with it.

Answer 5

Hello, I used to be a Wiccan and it is a wonderful Earth based religion. We celebrated the seasons. I had an amazing experience meditating on Lady Day. Wicca is a religion, that's all. I liked it.

Answer 6

It is NOT your imagination that Wiccans are nice people.

Wiccans see the beauty in all things and appreciate the beauty the God/dess has given to us. Wiccans also give reverence and respect to every living creature (human, animal, plants, etc.).

Bright Blessings.

Have a lovely rest of the evening.

Answer 7

I like to think that we are. I think the reason is we don't have a "set in stone" system of beliefs, and then feel, they are that which you must conform yourself to!

Our beliefs are just what we belief, and they are open and ever changing, really too.

We are an open-minded, and accepting kind of people, generally speaking.

But ya know what amazes me? I have met some Christians that are like that, too. Some of the ones who turned to Christianity for strength in hard times.

One lady I met had a tumor that was discovered by a doctor, and the odds he gave her were just really terrible. She had the strength and courage to get the operation and she lived.

It grew back! She got it operated on, and she is still alive and is as sweet as she is beautiful, and she is really and truly both.

And I once met a fellow "wiccan", or so-called, rather, who was a Fundamentalist Wiccan! Who proceeded to tell me she had the right to judge me based entirely on vibes she was getting! Right in front of the group!

Please don't become disallusioned. We are all just plain foks when it comes down to it.

If you were to go into Wicca believing beyond a shadow....That we are better, you could become disillusioned then. Blessed Be!

Answer 8

Thank you - it's good to see positive Wiccan threads.

Personally, I think Wicca makes me happier. I can do what I see fit to do, and I never have to worry that someone is about to smite me for some real or imagined sin. I was very jittery as a Christian kid!

Also, we respond fairly well to criticism, I hope, because we're used to it, and we try not to let prejudice get us down.

Edit - I did meet a Fundamentalist Pagan once, and a pain she was, too, but she had been raised Pagan and I think that was part of the problem. IMO, "born and raised" believers of any religion can be trouble sometimes. I think Wiccans are predominantly nice because most of us weren't "born and raised" Wicca and we had to deal with the confusion and searching that makes us nicer and more tolerant.

Answer 9

I think its more because most of us had a choice in what we wanted. I was raised in a very strict Catholic house hold, with an odd twist that my father heavily believed and kept a lot of Jewish beliefs as well.

I was really messed up as a kid, and then in middle school I had to do a research topic, and for some reason I chose Wicca, and that kind of opened the door for me. I started seriously practicing when I turned 17, and everyone in my family noticed immediately-- my attitude had changed, I was so nervous anymore, I just dealt with things differently.

I'm 20 now, and my life has been enriched because of my choice to covert to Wicca.

However, not all Wiccans are all nice and sweet. I've met a few where I was like "Wow, she sounds just like my mother" and even a couple of men who sounded like one of those televangelists.

I think its more on how you carry yourself, and what life has dealt you, not necessarily your religious choice. Though, that may have a LOT to do with it.

Answer 10

If you had to worry about going to a place like hell you would be up tight to. I can not even think of what kind of stress that would casue. I am one of the few peple who was born into the faith but I always wonder why anyone would tell thier childern thier god would send them to a place like hell, as to warp their poor little minds.