Cross Vs Pentagrams: The Battl Essay, Research Paper
Crosses vs Pentagrams
The battle of religions
“…Or as if spiritual insight were the product of some organic arrangement, mechanical in its operation, and quite likely to go right with a vicious character as with a righteous one; just as a watch may keep equally good time whether worn by a sinner or a saint.”
This is Frederic Henry Hedge’s famous line in his book Reason in Religion, published by Boston, Walker, Fuller, and Company in 1865. This excerpt explains the views presented on a touchy subject during that era, as well as our own. The Wicca religion has shown itself throughout history and every time the subject has been raised the Christian faith countered the idea. Explaining the above quotation, the ability to possess spiritual knowledge does not limit itself to Christians or Wiccans since the insight isn’t bound by religious preference.
In an informal survey I conducted, the majority of individuals associate the Wiccan religion with Satanism. But, if they studied the religion they would find out that there is no association with the devil in the religion. The whole religion is surrounded in a world of myths. I also discovered in my survey that most people see the religion has a cult; this is false. In fact it is a recognized religion just like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Wicca believes in nature and equality. The Wicca religion involves the “witch’s” involvement with nature as well as the recognition of divine beings. These are the spirits of fire, water, earth, air, north, south, east, and west. Lesser spirits such as shadow, light, spring, winter, fall, and summer also play role in their beliefs. Some of these spirits are gods, while others are goddesses; they are considered equal. I also found while conducting my survey, individuals believed that Wiccan is a newer religion, despite the fact it predates Christianity by over a thousand years.
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” Exodus 22:18 in the King James version. These eight words have driven the Christian ideals towards Wicca since Christianity’s birth. According to Samuel 15:22-24 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” Translated into simpler English terms, if one does not believe in the God of Christians, then he cannot succeed and will fall from grace and favor. Therefore Wiccans were considered “taboo” to be around since, according to biblical law, they will never be able to become productive member of society.
Some myths have been justified by certain paganist groups. Santaria, another religion commonly
confused with Wicca, uses ritualistic animal slaughter to appease their deities. Satanism shares the pentagram, a five-point star surrounded by a circle, with Wicca. There is, however, a difference in these two signs so that they are unique to each religion. In Wicca, the star possess one point facing directly up,
compared to the Satanistic pentagram, in which the star has one point facing down; in essence, the Satanic
pentagram is simply the Wiccan pentagram turned upside-down. These similarities and close
relationships have cast a negative opinion upon Wicca.
However, newer Christian faith has begun to accept the Wiccan way of life as a separate religion to be accepted. According to www.christianity.about.com, the Christian faith is one of the most accepting religions in the world despite their past conflicts. A Christian Minister was quoted as saying, “Your personal faith may actually grow wider and deeper as a result of encountering the religious other.”
He also continues as saying, “If you are convinced that the Bible contains the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, then you ought to be confident that in the free marketplace of ideas, those
truths will stand the test of comparative shopping. Comparing the Biblical text side-by-side with texts from other traditions allows people to see for themselves which teachings ring true.”
This and other points were brought up, however, there was one point that was brought up by
several individual on this site stated that, yes, there are Christians who are afraid and close-minded. That,
yes, there are Christians who believe that Wiccans are “out to get them,” just as there are Wiccan who
perceive Christians as narrow-minded religious fanatics. In The Principles of Metaphysical and Ethical
Science Applied to the Evidences of Religion, published by Boston, Hickling, Swan, and Brown in 1855,
the author, Francis Bowen backs the views of each religion. He says simply, “The relations of pure ideas
cannot be ascertained by the inductive method; they can neither be proven by testimony, nor learned from
experiment and observation. The trial of these inadequate media of proof tends only to deprive the soul of
its highest convictions and terminations in a mean and shallow empiricism.”
Drawing key points together we see that in despite differences these religions want the same
things to happen in the terms of communication, but because of the actions of an undereducated few, age
old prejudices run rampant. Not all Wiccans are evil and not all Christians are religious fanatics. Both of
these unique religions state a shared rule that they themselves should abide by, “What is given shall be
received threefold,” in the Wiccan faith and the Christian “Do onto others as you would have them do onto
you.”
Works Sited:
- Reason in Religion. Hedge, Frederic Harry; Boston, Walker, Fuller and company, 1865.
- King James’s edition Bible. Gideons International, 1997
- The Principles of Metaphysical and Ethical Science Applied to the Evidences of Religion. Bowen, Francis; Boston, Hickling, Swan and Brown, 1855.
- http://paganwicca.about.com/religions/paganwiccan/library/weekly/aa070499.htm
- http://paganwiccan.about.com/religion/paganwiccan/library/weekly/aa071899.htm
- http://www.witchvox.com/basics/wfaq.html
- http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/aa070999.htm