Paganism

I am new to this site, grandparent to 2 year old, and am a wiccan and pagan, as is often quoted all wiccans are pagan, but not all pagans are wiccan. I'm happy to answer questions as long as there polite. Paganism is an umbrella term for a variety of beliefs, druidry, heathenism and witchcraft mostly. The pagan federation is a wonderful resource for serious seekers.

After a few hours of trying to remember a religion its finally come to me. Its Unitarians who don't believe in the trinity.

Not everyone believes in the trinity or that Jesus was the son of god. It does not make them lesser christians surely? I am a non believer so, it makes no difference to me, but i hope i am fairly tolerant of others.

When we lived out in the country (France) some of the traditional farming families I was friendly with seemed to believe in the powers of 'Mother Nature'. She decides whether they will have a good harvest or not.
Most of them were lapsed catholics.

I never thought of it like that before Mabel when I and our children blew out birthday cake candles.

Spells and witchcraft are no different than someone praying for a,certain outcome. It is a ritual which provides a spiritual way to ask for a certain outcome, you call it prayer, we call it magic.
Anyone who has made a wish whilst blowing out candles on a birthday cake has taken part in the most basic form of candle magic.

Paganism and witchcraft are two very different things,a pagan is not necessarily a witch and a witch is not necessarily pagan.many practicing witches don't believe in any specific god but in the connectedness of everything in the universe,witchcraft can be seen as the manipulation of the laws of the universe to gain what you want.

Erm, Magdalene laundries and paedophile priests come immediately to mind and took place within your ' love and kindness' Christian religion. I'm very thankful that pagans are so much more broadminded than bigots like yourself

I am truly horrified at the anti pagan comments made by people who know nothing about it. Paganism is a term which covers a huge range of belief systems which includes Wicca, druidism, shamanism, the Norse pantheon amongst many many more nature based beliefs. There is no devil type figure in most pagan beliefs, that figure comes from the bible. Whilst I can't guarantee you'll like every pagan you meet, I do feel they are the most inclusive and welcoming group I've ever met. They embrace free will and respect for our planet and the people who live on it. And yes I'm very proud to be classed as pagan.

Elegran, I like your precis about Henry VIII. I will probably remember what you wrote.
Your attitude towards cultural relativity chimes with your remarks about religious identity. Perhaps not entirely. HenryVIII and his monarchy was undoubtedly the main force in the Kingdom. However fundamentalist religions aren't mainstream and for good reason. Fundamentalist or Biblical literaalist creeds are not only minorities(nothing wrong with minorities!) but also lack comprehension of Enlightenment thought. People who know Enlightenment thought can comprehend fundamentalism or Biblical literalism, so there is an imbalance there that is against the latter.

Practically, if any Biblical literalist gets to be more informed about Enlightenment ideas she may lose her faith, which does not have to happen if she were more broadminded.

Why do some people find it necessary to demonstrate the superiority of their faith (or perhaps the strength of their attachment to it) by rubbishing everyone else's beliefs? It is perfectly possible to believe that you have the map of the narrow path that leads to salvation without consigning all other maps to the bonfire. Perhaps the other maps lead to a different destination, just as desirable to those following them? For many miles, the different paths actually coincide, so surely we can all travel those stretches together without animosity?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/highway_to_heaven

Henry VIII was what a good Christian was in his era - he believed implicitly that he would be judged and go either to heaven or hell.

Catherine of Aragon had been married to his brother Arthur, and when Arthur died, their father Henry VII decided that to avoid having to send back her dowry (already spent!) his new heir Henry would marry the widow. Arthur had been a sickly youth, and there was some doubt about whether the marriage had been consummated (Arthur boasted the morning after the wedding that "last night I was in Spain", but then he would, wouldn't he?)

Henry had married and lain with his dead brother's wife - a sin - so he believed that God was punishing him by denying the marriage a male heir to carry on his line.

He was also a superb politician, who knew the chaos that a female successor could cause within the kingdom and with foreign aggressors, and he was right in that. He was several years younger than post-menopausal Catherine, and had proved already via Ann's sister Mary that Boleyn girls could bear sons. Add in ambitious courtiers playing on his guilt and willing to push their womenfolk in his direction.

His divine task was to rule the kingdom and hand it on safely to another strong king.

No one should smileless , arrogant to suggest it

Why should anyone have to or ever feel the need to "make excuses" for having a faith, whatever that faith may be?

And who are you to point - the error of their ways? I attended a spring pagan celebration every year, never seen the need to tie ribbons to a tree in the spring when everything is so green and fresh, would never say this to my pagen friends , their ritual their choice

calm down must relax read rear as fear

Because they don't like it when you point out the error of their ways, and we'll just see how many come on this thread to make excuses as to why they still have a faith that's nothing more than...............

Can't go any further for rear of GNHQ deleting this post.

Not wishing to be argumentative but wanting clarification.

There are subtle differences in their bible, for eg in John chapter 1 v 1 "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God" reads "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was a god".

I've always understood, perhaps wrongly, that where as JW's recognise Jesus, they don't see him as being equal to God but rather a supreme agent hence the small 'g'; created not begotten.

mimiro you say you have a problem with "people spouting off about things they don't understand". Ann Boleyn was executed having been found guilty of treason, debatable of course, by committing adultery and speaking of the King's death. Katherine Parr was executed for committing adultery.

At the time of Katherine's execution he had his legitimate male heir from his 3rd wife Jane so her demise had nothing to do with him not standing the fact that his heir would be female.

Why the need to rub it in? There may be posters of this faith

Can any one add to this, just to really rub it in.

I say what I have learned from listening and discussing. You have one in your family? Good grief you sound as if you have a leper in your family.

I have worked with them. I have one in the family.
I know what they say, after all their learning of the bible.
They think that all other Christian sects died out and they are the true Christians, carrying Jehovah's message.
But you carry on thinking what you want. As a non-witness, you will be destroyed along with the rest of us.

It is not true about JW's, they acknowledge others are Christian, I have attended bible discussion groups with them.

Jehovahs Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas or birthdays because they believe they are pagan.

Jehovahs Witnesses believe that they are the only Christians and that others who say they are Christians are not.