Can a person be a Wiccan and Christian at the same time?

Question

I know the fundamenalist Christian POV on this, but how about the Wiccans? What do you think of this group?

http://www.christianwicca.org/

Answer 1

Christianity and Wicca don't play well together, for reasons well outlined in the following article:

http://wicca.timerift.net/christianwicca.shtml

Witchcraft, however, is a technique in the same way that prayer is a technique, and is practiced in many different religious traditions, including Christianity and Judaism:

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/christianwitches/Christian_Witchcraft_Christian_Wicca.htm

http://www.lilitu.com/jap/

So yes, there are people who are Christian witches (regardless of what other Christians have to say on the subject), but as far as I can tell, finding a true Christian Wiccan would be darned hard if not impossible.

Answer 2

There is more witchcraft in Christianity than many Christians would ever believe. When the Catholic Church was making a concerted effort to draw the Celts into the fold, they moved a few ceremonies around and adopted a few traditions to make the faith more palatable for their new believers. More were incorporated as the new believers felt more comfortable holding onto the familiar things that they knew, and even more simply became traditions by default. Look up the origin of the Yule Log, the Christmas Tree, The Easter Egg, and check out the real Birthday of Yeshua. (now known as Jesus)

If you read the Mists of Avalon and the subsequent sequels, Bradley does a fairly good job of pointing out that the biggest incompatibility with Christianity and other religions is the Male Dominance of the tradition. Christianity would have done very well to pay a bit more attention to Miriam/Mary of Magdela, instead of libeling her (accusations of prostitution) and trying to exclude her from the canon. I sincerely believe that the main obstacle towards this idea is the stiff necked nature of the average Christian. If you put a Wiccan and a Christian in the same room, the Wiccan will by nature, welcome the Christian and try to find common ground. The Christian will try to convert or condemn the Wiccan however, and will inevitably be the first to leave the room. I always wondered what would happen if Yeshua came back as a Wiccan.

Answer 3

I recently posted a similar call for opinions:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AigCNy23xkFDeurCyFWslkXsy6IX?qid=20070812101824AAUsdKL

Basically, I don't have a problem with practicing more than one religion (there are Taoist-Buddhists, Shinto-Buddhists, and Jewish-Christians, so why not Taoist-Wiccans or Buddhist-Wiccans?) -- but I see too many contradictions between Wicca and Christianity for the two religions to be mixed without coming up with something that is neither Wiccan nor Christian. I can't judge these people for claiming both, or say what they should call themselves -- but their interpretation of Wicca and/or Christianity must be very liberal.

msbhavin actually has a good point -- many Christian Churches teach that Christianity is a spiritual state of being that comes from being "born again," rather than belief in a religion. Many Evangelicals say you can't loose "salvation" and thus if you have been born again are always a Christian even if you leave the religion. Also, my dad's church believes in predestination -- to them what you believe, what you do, and what you want don't mater and you could be a Christian even if you've never heard of Jesus! Everything changes when you define "Christian" in this way, but the relevance is limited because don't think that's what these people mean -- but this is a largely semantic question, and "Christian" has been defined in many different ways.

If you define "Christian" generically as anyone who considers themself a follower of Jesus, and "Wiccan" as anyone with a Wiccan worldview, then someone could be both -- there are ultra-liberal Christians who are practically atheists -- I can't say its wrong, but its definitely not what most people mean by these words (making it a bit misleading).

And yes, a person could practice witchcraft and not be Wiccan, possibly being any religion (even Christian, though traditional Christians would see it as sinful) -- but a Christian might want to use a different term than "witch" even if only for reasons of interpersonal politics, and it wouldn't make them "Wiccan."

Answer 4

From a Deity perspective, the two beliefs clash. The Christian Commandments state that "Thou shalt not have any other Gods before me", meaning you can only believe in the one Christian God. Wicca believes in a Goddess and God. Therefore Wicca has multiple Gods. They are incompatible. You cannot practice both religions in the hopes of gaining the rewards of both (ie go to the Christian heaven). They will cancel each other out and you will receive nothing. One note: To be a witch, one must realize that there is both good and bad in the world. You cannot solely focus on the one side, as this leaves you unbalanced. It will encorporate the use of (what some call) both dark and light magic. Dark not meaning evil. To not acknowledge this dark side, is to not truly acknowledge it in the natural world. This is what differs between Wicca and Witchcraft. I would say that you lean more towards Wicca, but not all the way. But then again, everyone is free to believe what they want. O_o

Answer 5

This is an interesting question!

I couldn't comment on how any particular group would react, but I think there is a fundamental conflict, as Wicca is pagan and pre-christian. Christianity as a religion is actively hostile to Wicca, and historically Christians have persecuted and tried to annihilate Wiccans.

However, I think some of the sayings of Christ as a person are perfectly acceptable to Wiccans, separate from the judgmental Old Testament framework. Of course in practice it's tricky to keep Jesus separate from the massive overlay of value-laden interpretations placed on him!

One of the crucial areas of difference is the attitude to "Creation", that is, the Earth, non-human living creatures, and the environment. Christians, along with other "people of the Book" [Jews and Muslims] hold that God created the world to be under the domination of human beings, for their use.

Wicca conversely holds that human beings are part of "creation" along with non-human creatures, not set above or outside it, and must live in harmony with it.

Another connected issue is the nature of woman and the relationship between the sexes. The Bible holds that woman is under the domination of man, and that female sexuality is dangerous and must be controlled, while in Wicca woman is free and self-determining, sexually and in every other way.

Answer 6

I think these people would be better off with a more descriptive name. What they teach is neither particularly Christian nor Wiccan, so why tie themselves to the baggage that comes along with those terms? Christianity is monotheist. Wicca is polytheist. The two are not compatible.

Answer 7

There's a certain logic to it. For one thing, my background is Pennsylvania German, and we had what we called brouhas, or witches who would give herbal remedies, make hex signs (which are GOOD luck, by the way, not bad), and give people Bible passages or prayers to recite for healing purposes. Also, there are Christian healers who have some of the same characteristics as certain forms of witchcraft.

Of course, most Christians would not accept this, but I think probably most witches would. I cannot speak for Wicca, specifically, since people have started using that like a brand name, and I'm not a member of that club.

P.S. Don't you think there's something rather witchy about Christian Science?

Answer 8

Not really.

One can argue that it is impossible to be Christian without the concept of sin and impossible to be Wiccan with it.

Answer 9

I think you can because I became a Christian when I was 17, Now I'm 35 and a Wiccan. Most Christians preach I cant lose my salvation

Answer 10

No, Wiccan is a nature based religion. A person can practice witchcraft and still be a christian . Some wiccans practice witchcraft but not all do. Witchcraft is a practice.