Re: Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs & Disease (Review) Jenny jennyg@compuserve.com Wed Oct 14 09:19:06 1998 : Yes, but pagan is not a religion*p*Neither is Wicca or Witchcraft. "Wicca" is a word for a male witch, witchcraft is a skill-set. As a matter of fact, there's actually a court case (People vs Umerska) which rules that Wicca is not a bona fide religion because witchcraft, as that word is generally understood, is not a religion. The judge argued that witchcraft was the *opposite* of religion.*p*: Wicca is, now. *p*True. But if Wicca can become a religion, why can't Paganism? *p*: I have yet to see a term *br*: that lumps Christian, Jew & Muslim together. *p*Just remembered one -- I've heard Muslims refer to all three as "The Peoples of the Book."*p*: Why would you, *br*: they are entirely different religions, as are Wicca, Celt, *br*: Shaman, and mine. We ALL share similarities*p*I beg to differ! Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all closely-related religions. They've got a lot more in common with each other than they do with the religions based on indigenous European faiths.*p*To give just one of the more obvious examples, the Peoples of the Book all worship the same god -- the god of the Torah. Judaism is the oldest branch, and holds that YHWH gave them a perfect revelation (the Torah) and promised to send a Messiah. Christianity accepts the mythology and hero-tales of the Torah (aka the Old Testament). And it acknowledges the god of the Hebrews. But it believes that the Messiah arrived and He gave the world a new revelation (the New Testament) which in many ways supercedes the old revelation. Moslems also accept the Hebrew god (Whom they call Allah) and the mythology of the Torah. They even honor the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus. However they insist that Mohammed, not Christ, was the Messiah. And the Koran, not the New Testament, is the new revelation that supercedes the Torah. Meanwhile the Jews are insisting that nothing has superceded anything, and the Messiah still hasn't shown up.*p*So yes, they're different religions. But they share a great deal in common, and there *are* reasons for lumping them together. At certain times, and in certain types of discussion. And they certainly have more in common with each other than they do with, say, Roman, Celtic, or Norse religion, none of which believe in the Hebrew god or a Messiah. *p*: Many Christians are starting to *br*: change their ens of the term to mean anti-Christian. And *br*: none of these can I find in a single dictionary! *p*"Witch" means "Satanist" or "devil-worshipper" to many people. And you won't find positive definitions of "witchcraft" in many dictionaries. The only reason you'll find *any* positive definitions is because Witches insisted on using the term *despite* the negative connotations.*p*: Muslim is not a western religion. Really, neither is *br*: Jew/Hebrew. *p*Well, whether the term is accurate or not, that's how all three get classified. When I go to book stores, they're all there in the "Western Spirituality" section.*p*: I don't think cattle-raiding and senceless warfare was quite *br*: as common as people think. *p*I think it was pretty common, judging from the number of defensive structures that dot the Irish landside. Plus, there's a lot of evidence for it, at least in later times. While our data on the pre-Christian period is scanty, there's copious evidence of routine raiding in the post-Christian period. And if it existed then, I would tend to assume that it existed earlier, too.*p*Jenny Re: Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs & Disease (Review) Infiniti 75 Tue Oct 13 15:19:40 1998