Posted by TexasChic on April 15, 2006, at 15:01:20
In reply to Re: This is old, but I find many haven't heard of it., posted by special_k on April 14, 2006, at 20:43:57
> personally...
i think religion should be a private matter and i'd rather see LESS of it (ie pull the 10 commandments too) rather than MORE of it.
> there are too many religions in the world to display icons etc of all of them.
> besides which... i thought the freedom state from church was one of those things we were proud of and thought was a good thing like the freedom of women to vote like the freedom from slavery and so on.I don’t agree with mixing church and state at all, period. From what I've read, our founding fathers wanted a government that would govern people of many different beliefs while remaining neutral on that subject. At least, that's my interpretation.
> but i thought that it was fairly borderline whether paganism / witchcraft counted as a religion or not... i mean... there aren't any gods (to the best of my knowledge) and people worship nature...
Actually most Pagans worship a God AND a Goddess (sometimes many of each). Paganism is a term that covers alot of different belief systems including Wicca (witchcraft). The ones who 'worship' nature find spirituality with the earth itself - I believe I fall into that category, although I'm still tying to figure it out.
I looked into Paganism as a curious Agnostic. Their peaceful ideas and positive attitude appealed to me. However, I found it too similiar to Christianity for my needs. When I went to a few gatherings I had flashbacks of Bible studies. (My dad was a preacher). I guess it just struck home that it was simply another religion like any other, which wasn't what I was looking for at the time.
Most people are just uninformed when it comes to Paganism. I would think public officials would at least educate themselves before making decisions that effect other people though. Even a little bit of reading up on the subject reveals that they are 'extremely' peaceful and don't believe in Satan. That's why when you hear someone comparing them to Satanists you know that person has not bothered to look into it even a little bit.
> i've heard somebody or other claim 'mechanism' as a religion. i don't think that counts as a religion... it is more the thought that the world is made up of lots of mechanisms.Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about there. But if someone considers it their religion, who am I to judge?
> Freedom FROM religion I say...
Freedom from people who can't just let everyone believe what they want and live peacefully.
-T
P.S. I'm no expert on Paganism, I just wrote what I've learned over time, so take it for what its worth.
poster:TexasChic
thread:632815
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060322/msgs/633537.html