Faith and Wicca and Defining the BoundariesAn interesting conversation came up on a message board I frequent. The discussion was about calling yourself a witch. Some people think that all it takes to be a Wiccan is to call yourself one, and some people think there’s more to it than that.
I think the whole notion of being a member of a religion based solely on declaration is rooted in a cultural understanding of religion derived from Christianity. While many Christians argue that ‘those other folks’ aren’t Real Christians™, the basic thrust is that if you believe in Christ you will be saved, and this conception permeates people’s understanding of what it means to be a religious person. In fact, often I’ve seen people struggle to understand that a “religion” can be something other than the standard definitions used in Christianity or, sometimes, Judaism. Religion “is” belief in a creator deity, it “is” based in a Holy Book, it “is” defined by belief.
Not so much.
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(From
Property of a Lady)