Neo-Paganism - Barriers and bridges - historial

The Christian church is seen as the victor that has squashed pagan religion by force and misguided missionary zeal. The `burning times’ are a painful reminder to many pagans of the evils of the church. We need to acknowledge that pain. A woman at the Melbourne `Body, Mind Spirit Expo’, on learning that I was a Christian, proceeded to tell me about the nine million[25] witches killed by the church. She spoke not with anger but with pain. When I asked her for forgiveness her face showed that I had done the right thing.

Another great barrier to the gospel is the propensity to defame and misrepresent the pagan. Books such as Mike Warnke’s The Satan Seller have developed the caricature of witchcraft. Warnke was found to be a fraud, his ‘testimony’ totally fabricated. Christian perceptions of paganism are deeply ingrained and involve such concepts as Satanism, infant sacrifice and black mass. Ignorance and fear have to be overcome before any dialogue will become reality. If we are to make any inroads into neopaganism we have to understand it, not misrepresent it.

The pagan ethic makes it difficult for pagans to hate Christianity. Most see Christians as misguided and ill– informed. Many do not even reject Christianity, as can be seen from Margot Adler’s extensive survey in America. Only two per cent of those questioned cited Christianity as a reason for moving into neopaganism, even though this 1975 survey found that almost eighty per cent of neopagans came from a Christian background. The `Community of Hope’ research at the 2000 `Mind, Body Spirit Expo’ in Melbourne would confirm that figure, finding that a similar percentage had `tried Christianity’. A surprising sixty per cent of New Age seekers stated that they were ‘open’ to Jesus; only seven per cent of those surveyed were not (Community of Hope: 3). This represents an opportunity for the church.

Clearly, nominal Christians are seeing the church as irrelevant, and many are moving to a spirituality that is ‘real’. Many pagans see Christianity as a religion for the weak.

The Craft is not for everyone. To know it intimately demands a huge amount of self-discipline. There are those who have turned to mainstream religion simply because they feel it does not place the same demands on the individual. (email from ‘Essa’, 29/08/2001)

Neo-Paganism - Barriers and bridges - theological
Neo-Paganism - Conclusion

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