They say that you should never discuss religion or politics among friends and we’ve all seen how quickly these discussions get  heated and out of control. Pretty soon, best friends stop talking to each other and start to resent one another. But why? Aren’t  both of these topics merely one person’s opinion? What does it matter if you believe in a different God to me, or if you think we should be a republic instead of a monarchy??
It took me quite a while on this blog to reveal that I’m a soldier, because my career choice is contraversial these days. Many people seem unable to differentiate between the government who send their country to war and the military personnel who deploy overseas because it’s their job. Well, now it’s time for me to reveal the next revelation about me – I am a pagan.
Believe it or not, that simple word may have caused some (or many) people to leave my blog and perhaps never return. Some people believe so deeply in their own religion that they refuse to communicate with anyone who believes anything different. But if you’re still reading, then I congratulate you. You SHOULD go through life with an open mind.
Before I go any further, I want to make it crystal clear that I have absolutely NOTHING against ANY religion in the world. I believe that everyone – Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, etc – have the right to believe what they believe and to practice what they practice. After all, all religion is, is a belief in a god/gods/goddesses and a particular belief in what happens when we die. Nothing more.
And there’s a few things I want to clear up about us pagans – and this is the same no matter what pagan religion people follow. I BELIEVE that pagans are more accepting than most other religions. You’ll find that most pagans will  agree with the paragraph above, where I said you can believe in whatever you want.
Pagan religions are many and varied. Believe it or not, Satanism is a legitimate religion and its followers are permitted to do their thing in the same way that Catholics are. My religion isn’t quite as “opposite” to Christianity as Satanism, but I don’t believe in a single God and I don’t believe in Heaven and Hell.
I am Wiccan. I essentially believe in nature and that all creatures are capable of both good and evil. If someone does something good, or if something good happens to them, I don’t Praise The Lord. And if they do something bad, or have something bad happen to them, I don’t blame the Devil. I – just like you – are capable of good AND evil.
I don’t believe that I can be bad all my life and then confess my sins to a priest and then be let into a Heaven. In fact, I find that concept a little hypocritical and ironic, but that’s just me. As a Wiccan (BTW, we are called Witches – even the guys), I can “practice” my religion myself. We don’t believe that to be an effective Wiccan, you have to form a group and be led by an individual – like a Parish with a Pastor. I can be my own Priest and conduct my own ceremonies and rituals, and if I want, I can join with others (yes, in a Coven) and we can do our thing together.
But here’s the thing. It’s actually really cool to find an open minded member of a Christian religion and discuss religion with them. When they are prepared to listen and to adopt the concept I mentioned earlier about letting people have their own beliefs, then you can have some awesome conversations.  You may be surprised to hear that many pagans actually know more about Christian religion than many Christians.
But what’s really going to get to people are the next few paragraphs where I talk about all the holidays that they celebrate in the name of their Lord. How many of you know where our current holidays come from? Did you know that most of them have their origins in paganism? Before I get started, I’m going to point out that none of this is just opinion. Everything is supported by facts, and if you talk to your Priest about this, they’ll confess it to you.
Firstly, they don’t know the real birth date of Jesus Christ. Shocking, I know. So if they don’t know the real date, why then do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December? What a great question. There are actually a few historical references to this, but in a nutshell it relates to back in the day when the Christians were trying to convert the world. They didn’t want to upset all the pagans back then, so they needed to keep them happy when it came to signifcant celebrations throughout the year.
25 December sits very closely to the old winter festivals that are based on the pagan calender. Sometime between 20 and 23 December is the winter solstice. Many pagan religions believed that this was the time that the sun reversed its direction, leading to the end of winter. The things that we do at Christmas time are still firmly entrenched in pagan ritual.
Decorating a tree doesn’t get more pagan, really. Most pagan religions generally revere nature and it seems that everything in nature has a way of symbolising life and death. Exchanging gifts has also been traced back to pre-Christian religion and there are some interesting facts about it if you care to look.
As an example, the Catholic Church BANNED exchanging gifts back in the middle ages because of the links with pagan religion. But it later reinstated the “ritual”, by associating St Nicholas with Christmas and working on how the Wise Men brought gifts to Christ.
What about Easter? Easter has its contraversy as well. At this link, I discovered this entry:
The name “Easter” has its roots in ancient polytheistic religions (paganism). On this, all scholars agree. This name is never used in the original Scriptures, nor is it ever associated biblically with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Once again, I’m pretty sure that they don’t know the actual date (or even year) of Christ’s death. It seems that he died while Pontius Pilate was ruler of Judea. This seems to be during the period 26AD to 36AD, so they believe that Christ died prior  to 37AD when Marcellus was in power. So if they don’t know the date of Christ’s death, why then do we celebrate Easter in late March/early April?
Because it’s shortly after the Spring Equinox, that’s why. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday, following the first Saturday after the Equinox – and that’s why it changes a bit each year. So yet another coincidence it seems. We’re celebrating an event that we have all been taught is Christian, when the date is obviously pagan – and so are the rituals.
What does the Easter Bunny have to do with Christianity? Not a lot really. The rabbit is a pagan symbol of fertility – I mean, we all know what rabbits are famous for, don’t we? lol. And rabbits don’t lay eggs, do they? So why an egg? It’s a pagan symbol of rebirth. Pagans used to hand-paint eggs and give them as gifts.
The same page in the link above explains the origins of Easter in great depth and I applaud them for not trying to hide what many Christians may wish to deny. But the end of the article is where pagans and Christians probably differ the most. The website goes on to “blame”  a pagan Goddess for bringing suffering to the world, and calls her son an anti-Christ. It also blames Satan for orchestrating the confusion of Easter rituals - calrifying why Christians do pagan things.
As I mentioned above, pagans don’t care about such things. We don’t CARE if we do things that originated from other religions, nor do we care if other religions do things that are based on one of our religions. What this all should be about is assisting individuals in becoming closer to their deity.
The other thing that pagans generally don’t have a problem with is worship. I am happy to attend a church – albeit usually for a wedding, funeral or similar ceremony – and join in with the service . A pagan would never deny someone their right to worship their own God and you may even find them joining in!
Paganism is now the largest growing “religion” in the world. I used “”s with that, because there are many religions that make up Paganism, and I mentioned this earlier, too. But how can this be? When was the last time you had a Wiccan – or a Satanist – knock on your door on the weekend and try to convert you?
We don’t do that. Why? Because like I said before, we don’t care if you don’t believe what we believe. You are free to believe whatever you like – and we respect that. Pagan religions don’t “recruit”. We would NEVER try to tell you that what you are currently believing is wrong and that you have to believe what we believe – and that you have to do it NOW, before it’s “too late”.
Pagan religions are often referred to as “the occult” and this brings up visions of virgin sacrifice or animal slaughter and rituals that seek to summon demons and do all sorts of nasty, naughty things. But “Occult” is actually latin for “hidden”. Pagan religions remain hidden because of the anger and fear that people have when they don’t understand what we’re about.
The reason Paganism is growing so fast is because people are learning to question the status quo. I think they’re getting a little fed up with being bombarded by other religions who bug them when they’re at home, who promote things like “Love everyone” and “Do unto others….”, but don’t seem to believe in it.
If they love everyone, why do they get so angry when they find out that I don’t believe what they believe? Why do they expect ME to treat THEM with respect, but then not offer me the same privilege because I have a different belief system? I don’t hate these people for their ways – I just find it hypocritical. And this is the reason why I started asking questions about religion, and ended up finding something that “felt right” to me.
Halloween is another event we celebrate that has pagan roots. But its not known for being a religious celebration, so I won’t discuss it here, other than to say that we should be doing Halloween on 30 April here in Australia. My Fiance and I actually engage in a more true pagan ritual in April most years and if you’re interested then drop me a line and I’ll give you some details. Let me just say that the ritual we do has helped several people deal with the absolute heartbreak that comes with losing a loved one. The BIG problem is that we have some good Christians in our family and we feel that suggesting these rituals may cause family problems.
And if you’re “pagan curious” then feel free to ask me a question about either Wicca or Paganism in general. If I can help you, I will. Just come with an open heart and an open mind.
Go in peace, no matter your belief.