Progress? Let's Hope So

[Wolffy13]

I apologize if this is in the wrong category and will take any floggings necessary :shrug:

UK: Cleric given blessing to study witchcraft
Witches from a coven in England will be performing rituals under the watchful eye of an invited guest - a Church of England priest, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Rev Richard Thomas has been given the blessing of his bishop to attend pagan rituals and plans to meet witches to research a thesis on Wicca - modern pagan witchcraft.

The clergyman, who will take a three-month sabbatical from his job as director of communications in the Oxford diocese, has described his work as "something that God has called me to do".

He added: "If Christianity is to interact with people who are interested in witchcraft, druidry or shamanism, we are going to have to sit down and talk with people in humility and hear what they have to say about our faith."

Thomas said he would make no direct attempts to convert pagans to Christianity. But he added: "I am more than happy to answer people's questions about the Christian faith."


Now, that's the Christian God I know. This could lead to great things if the intentions stay pure. I hope this man has the open-heart and open-mind that his position should require of him.

[Ender]

Could you link us? Or site the paper inwhich you got this article? :)

It's a fantastic idea, and I commend them for the effort, I'll try ot keep up with the story, I'd like to read his take on shamism. Good thread topic.

[Wolffy13]

Oh, now I feel like a goofball. I copied and pasted it from another message board, but I'll see if I can't get the link from that person ;)

[Ender]

Thanks :)

[Wolffy13]

Ok, sorry about that. I found the actual site for it, but it basically says what I copied and pasted. Still, I'll go ahead and post it for sake of authenticity ;)

http://www.cwmission.org.uk/news/view_news.cfm?Featur eID=1069

[Alphawolf]

Well I'll be damned. I wouldn't have believed the story if I hadn't read it with my own eyes ;)

[DarkWolf]

It's about time.

But it won't make up for the thousands of people they tortured and killed for witchcraft (and most, if any, were actual witchcraft practitioners, some were simply old women with a cat, or had a mole, or wasn't very social etc) or the MILLIONS of poor felines they tortured, drowned, and boiled and burned.

It's progress, but a few centuries too late if you ask me.

[loganx5142]

I might be impressed if the catholic church did something similar. The church of england is far less...firm in their views. And that's not just my opinion. Ask Eddie Izzard. And how do we know it's progress. Some times doors that are too open let in as many flies as they do cool breezes.

[Wolffy13]

I agree that it won't make up for the fact that people where wrongly accused back in the days. Nothing can make up for that, just as nothing a white person can say will ever make it up to the blacks or Native Americans. Nothing anyone says to me, or any other mormon, will make up for the fact that people tarred and feathered the first president of my church. Basically, humanity has made some nasty mistakes, and anything my ancestors may have done I cannot fix. All in all, I think just about EVERY group has been wronged in one or another if you sit long enough and think about it, but that's not the point. This sort of thinking won't produce positive results and the past is completely irrevokable. Instead of sulking about it, let's learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and realize that some things are big NO-NO's, and that is just what this priest is trying to do. I commend such a man, even if the church of England is lax in its ways. Like, I had stated, IF his intentions stay well-meaning, so much could be learned from this. If only everyone were so open to everyone else and their belief system, maybe some tragic events in life could be avoided. My hopes and prayers go out to him.

As far as the Catholics go, I OFFICIALLY don't know what to say. I respect them and have no problem with their ways, but I just don't know. I do agree that it would be impressive if they did something similar, after all "Love thy Neighbor", right? Well, I guess we shall have to wait and see.

[Bear]

Chirstians Slaughtered my decendants for being Druids. I am in partial or total hate of them, not the ones now just the fakeness of certain groups. I think they will both learn from this experience and hopefully grow after it is all over. But there will always be the undertone that says we're right and your wrong.


Peace from the Bear

[briany]

No - this is just another crafty attempt by the fundies to push evangelism into the occult - do they never give up?

Rev Thomas has already warned about the occult being dangerous so the pagans who invited this evangelist to their conference MUST be so stupid..

I found some stuff about it on this thread too

http://www.patregan.freeuk. com/pf_conference_04.htm




:)

[briany]

Chirstians Slaughtered my decendants for being Druids. I am in partial or total hate of them, not the ones now just the fakeness of certain groups. I think they will both learn from this experience and hopefully grow after it is all over. But there will always be the undertone that says we're right and your wrong.


Peace from the Bear

lotta truth in what you say but the xtians will NEVER stop seeking converts and will achieve this by fair means or foul. The Pagan Federation has simply let in a xtian smiling Trojan Horse..How can anyone be so dumb?

Many pagans sadly think that they can exist with the church as 'equals' the church will have none of this and just seems other smaller faiths as competition to be opposed or suppressed. hence their eternal quest for mission. The PF are actually helping this to happen which makes my blood run cold as they are supposed to represent pagans - VERY worrying!

[briany]

I might be impressed if the catholic church did something similar. The church of england is far less...firm in their views. And that's not just my opinion. Ask Eddie Izzard. And how do we know it's progress. Some times doors that are too open let in as many flies as they do cool breezes.

Here's a few more links which may be of interest to this debate about the Catholics and the Burning Times...

http://www.patregan.freeuk. com/its_official.htm

http://www.patregan.freeuk. com/christian_holocaust. htm

I'll tell ya though it's amazing at how many 'pagans' (um are they really?) crop up and try to deny the BTs ever happened or were so bad. However, when you get down to it these plastics have just accepted disinformation from research by xtian apologetics - figures huh!

Any denomination of the church is anti-occultist by definition coz if they are not then they are failing their own holy book.

What does it say in the bible?

Don't suffer a witch to live - or similar????



:eek:

[briany]

Hiya - I just found some more stuff that shows this Christo/Pagan interfaith thing is nothing but a clever xtian con.

Check these out:


Christian Missionaries Take over Pagan Forums



http://www.patregan.freeuk. com/exwitch.htm

----------------


Ex-witch/vampire turned born-again Xtian sells out to Reachout Trust!



http://www.patregan.freeuk. com/vampire.htm


Hope this helps!

xxx

[Hybrid]

Wether this guy is trying to sneak in and actually convert people or not, I gotta' hand it to the christians. As much as I don't agree with their faith-based mode of thinking, the christian leadership certainly deserves a round of applause for holding sway over the masses. :D

In these times of technology, logic and reason, you would think that such a religion would have fallen apart, but no.

On a subconscious level (and oftentimes conscious :eek: !), the majority of humans demand to be enslaved. Whoever "invented" christianity knew what they were doing.

I say let the christians take over the world, I'll just blend in and take advantage of them. ;)

[Buddha Monkey]

Ex-witch/vampire turned born-again Xtian sells out to Reachout Trust!

First, I have to ask, what is a Xtian? Never heard of it.

Second, I browsed those site's, and found nothing of value. It seem's the whole point of the page's are to spread hate towards CHRISTIANS, which they label Xtains for some reason.

[gingersnaps]

It's just another way to say it instead of spelling the whole thing out (ie: instead of Christmas it's X-mas).

I agree, however. The who situation is pretty stupid. We all have to face the facts:

1. We will always be known as "evil"
2. We will never be equal.

I mean, think about it, our religion is known as "new age" yet it's one of the oldest religions. I'm still trying to ponder on how any religion can say "magic is evil" when their God must have had some kind of magic to create the world and everything on it. Forgive my rambling it's 3:30 AM here in Michigan.

Ps. It was something like "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." and it was changed TO that, it never said anything about it before. I have a whole section on witchcraft and the Bible printed out. I'll look for it and post the link if it's still up n running :)

[Buddha Monkey]

It's just another way to say it instead of spelling the whole thing out (ie: instead of Christmas it's X-mas).

I see that as same as lol, rofl, ect. Not everyone will know what Xtain means. It doens't take that much longer to type out Christain.



I agree, however. The who situation is pretty stupid. We all have to face the facts:

1. We will always be known as "evil"
2. We will never be equal.

I mean, think about it, our religion is known as "new age" yet it's one of the oldest religions. I'm still trying to ponder on how any religion can say "magic is evil" when their God must have had some kind of magic to create the world and everything on it. Forgive my rambling it's 3:30 AM here in Michigan.

Ps. It was something like "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." and it was changed TO that, it never said anything about it before. I have a whole section on witchcraft and the Bible printed out. I'll look for it and post the link if it's still up n running :)
To Quote the Histroy Channel, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" was added in the Middle Ages, to give weight to the laws of England which called all "witchcraft" illegal.

(sorry for any mispellings, spellcheck.net doesn't want to load for me)

[Calaban]

I'm a 22 year old American Man, who has seen a drastic increase in the practice of natural religions in my area, and a decline of xtianity. It has begun to seem as if it's on the way out, and I honestly suspect we see the near end of the religion sometime in my life. It'll always be there, but it won't have nearly the hold it has over the sheep now.

But then there has been an increase in the "false practitioners", meaning the children who believe they know what wicca/druidry is, because they wear a pentacle, not knowing the meaning behind it. It's the "I'm a witch, I'll cast a fireball on you if you piss me off." bullshit that I've seen. They are the people who make a mockery of our religion, our truths. They see it as a way to break away from the norm, and not as a way of living. I hate those types of thought. They're just as much sheep as the Christians.

Although I have met a few Christians who understand that we have all led different lives, and so have different beliefs, and they are friends of mine. We just leave our beliefs at the door, and don't speak of it. There is the occassional debate, but it's more a clarifying of questions. Perhaps we just need the wisdom of the Elders in this hectic time...