Im not practicing any religion really. I call myself a recovering Catholic, I attend Catholic service because I take my elderly father to mass because its important to him. Also, its how I was raised and Im comfortable with the ritual involved in the service even if Im not overcome with zeal when I attend.
I do admit that Im drawn to Wicca for several reasons. The acceptance, not to mention the honoring of the female AND the male aspect, the spirituality, the security I see in it, and acceptance of others
all to the good IMO.
Those are directly opposed to the cold harshness I find in established modern religions where in general, if you question, differ at all or outright disagree with the mostly male hierarchy, you are darned to hell in short order. This isnt only a female thought either, Ive known more than a couple men who see the disparity too, but the label of anyone who doesnt follow the norm like sheep, (pun intended) is hard to overcome.
To me I see the "darning" (gotta love the filter, I'm using "that" word in a proper context!) of anyone of one faith by those of another is a sign of weakness not strength.
Many (and probably most) established religions automatically label Wiccans as devil worshipers etc, which is wacky because as far as Ive learned, Wiccans dont believe in the devil. (Not talking about high school kids trying to emulate some horror movie here)
I HAVE witnessed discrimination against anyone not of the correct faith in the mind of the person or people dishing it out, but its multiplied against Wiccans IMO. Ive gently suggested that Wiccans in general are strong believers in the same Golden Rule that Christ spoke of, and spoken of the precept of harm none found in the Wiccan rede
and gotten glares and funny looks in return, though the talk stops. It feels to me like there is a lot more threat felt because women in Wicca appear to have much power, though if done right, it's not more power, it's equal power.... heh, whole nuther can of worms I'm thinking!
I have wondered if thoughts of piles of brush and torches were in their minds behind those glares. Since I have just as quickly defended people who practice Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Bahá'í not to mention other Christian sects, and since Im seen as a church going person, they calm down pretty quickly.
I do suspect that Im to some extent, in the closet really, but I also feel that Im living a life now that I need to for now, but that would also be approved to some degree by many of those faiths including Wicca. I fall far short of the specifics of any one of them and maybe as I said, Im a bit in the closet in a sense, but for now it works well for me.
I'm sorry this got so long, I may *cough* have gotten a little carried away...
ya think??
