I continue to be surprised by the ability of many Christian article writers to use shabby methods of reporting. Do they believe that good intentions make up for poor reporting?
In “Wicca Experts Encourage Christians to Engage America’s ‘Fastest-Growing’ Religion” (source below), the author labeled the interviewees as “Wicca Experts”, yet in the body of the article says the following:
“To write the book, the authors interviewed neopagan conference practitioners, travelers to Salem, Mass., and current and former Wicca followers.
“We … talked to over 20 Wiccans in the process of Generation Hex to be as authentic as possible about the movement,” Burroughs noted during the chat.”
Where and how does talking to 20 people make you an expert?
Source: http://www.christianpost.com//article/20080921/wicca-experts
-encourage-christians-to-engage-america-s-fastest-growing-re
ligion/index.html

Meical-
Your link does not work.
Gus

Try http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080921/wicca-experts-encourage-christians-to-engage-america-s-fastest-growing-religion/index.html
Some self-proclaimed “experts” on Wicca and/or “the occult” make a nice cottage industry of publishing lurid books and delivering scary seminars and speeches on the subject. Their source of income would dry up if they ever started telling the truth, and they would find themselves having to earn an honest living.

The way this article states it, those who are interested in Wicca are the lonely, lost sort of people. I suppose for some, it could be true but for me, not even close. I became Wiccan after watching and listening to various people. The beliefs and religion interested me as I found Christianity ‘wanting’ on many levels.
My journey with the Goddess and God is always something new and more fulfilling than when I was Christian. I firmly believe that Wicca is not for everyone and that’s ok.
What personally bothers me is to see those young folk who, by their definition, practice Wicca but it seems apparent that it’s for the shock value. Personally, I find that insulting.
Anyway, Christianity challenges anything that will not submit to its ‘authority’, being they believe that they have it all. They can think or believe as they wish, as it has no power over me. What I personally object to is when they take it upon themselves to say what beliefs others should have. I used to hold fast to the belief that the Christian god was truly dysfunctional but came to the realization that it’s not god who has the issue but his followers. I just wish he’d speak up once in awhile and put his personal house in order.

I have noticed a lot of people harsh on the God of the Christians, and I think that some of this ire is deserved and more of it is not. Criticizing about how God essentially nuked two cities in the Old Testament for being sodomites and blasphemers is fine, but don’t act as though Pagan Gods didn’t do similar things.
There are legends, for instance, of Sekhmet the Lion-headed Goddess of Egypt, who slaughtered massive amounts of peoples because they insulted and rebelled against Ra. Ares’ myths are steeped in blood, and unlike His half-sister Athena, He was very seldom called upon for battle. I am not going to keep providing examples, but almost every culture has at least one or more God, if not several heroes of myth to boot, that engaged in mass slaughter and/or supernatural retribution.
My point is, that if we are going to criticize the Christian’s God, or the Jews’ God or the Islamics’ God, this is not a terribly good way of doing it. Yes, there have been immense amounts of slaughter in their name, but I would prefer to concentrate on what they NOW take from their sacred texts, what effect it NOW has. There are trends we can observe from history in how their sacred texts were used to justify all manner of torture and pain, but as important is what these sacred texts inspire NOW, both in terms of good and evil.
That said, I don’t think anything should be off-limits to criticism in religion; our rituals, their rituals; our theology/thealogy, their theology; our legends, their legends. Everything should be open to criticism, but that criticism should be respectful as can be had.
However, I don’t think that Pagans need to go on and on about other religions at all times; I think, if anything, we need to concentrate even more on our own development. Yes, we should be concerned about imperialism, and if my comments on this blog are any indication, I do care quite a bit about it, and other issues of people outside of Paganism trying to crush or mitigate our rights. I think though, that trying to embolden our own numbers, engage in debate and discourse among our own ranks and between our own people would be just as good, if not more so.

Sarenth-
Wow. Well said.

Gus, it worked for me the other day. It works for me today. :shrug: Maybe I posted it upside down? Here it is again. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080921/wicca-experts-encourage-christians-to-engage-america-s-fastest-growing-religion/index.html
My point was just disgust over the author of the article calling the interviewees “Wicca Experts” when they themselves said “We … talked to over 20 Wiccans in the process of Generation Hex to be as authentic as possible about the movement,” Burroughs noted during the chat. “

It worked this time.
The article did not bother me, honestly. Compared to some of the idiocies I have linked to, and to some of the comments that have appeared on this site, it’s pretty reasonable.
A sample of 20 is pretty thin in terms of becoming an “expert.” What would talking with 20 Christians get you? A great deal of of confusion you talked with
two Jehovah’s Witnesses
two Mormons
two Catholics
two Southern Baptists
two Pentecostals
two Quakers
two Missouri Synod Lutherans
two United Churches of Christ
two Christian Scientists
two Russian Orthodox
But while they had no use for our religion, at least they did not tell lurid or disgusting or frightening tales. Until they grow up enough spiritually to recognize that there are many legitimate ways to relate to the sacred some Christians will ALWAYS want to convert us. Since that’s a given, I’ll settle for those who support fair play.
Even better are those Christians who leave other religious communities alone, as I and most Pagans leave theirs alone. But I’ll settle for fair play.