Christianity and Wicca as a syncretic, hyphenate religion cannot exist. While there those who very sincerely believe that they are following both, they are not...
The fault rests on how one defines Christian.
If you define Christian as one who believes Christ existed, regardless of whether or not one believes in his teaching, it is possible that one could define oneself as a Wiccan Christian, but most Christians would say, quite rightly, that merely believing Christ EXISTED is NOT what makes a Christian.
Merriam Webster (m-w.com) defines a Christian as " one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ*"
It is possible to PROFESS belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ and be a Wiccan.
..You'd also be a liar.
Because it is impossible to BELIEVE IN or AGREE WITH those teachings as a Wiccan.
One common teaching in Christianity that is used to define Christianity is the Nicene Creed. If we examine it, we can see it is ABSOLUTELY NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WICCA. Observe.
(My comments follow in brackets:)
The Nicene Creed:**
We believe in one God, [Wiccans are polytheists]
the Father, the Almighty,[Wicca does not teach omnipotence]
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
[Wicca does not support Creationism but instead teaches "as above, so below, which includes the idea that the Universe may be interpreted by observation of its parts]
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
[Wicca teaches that there are multiple gods, and that all people are children of gods. Wicca does not mention Jesus at all.]
Through him all things were made.
[Wicca teaches that humankind makes many things.]
For us and for our salvation
[Wicca has no concept of salvation]
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
[Wicca has no heaven, nor a Holy Spirit]
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
[Wicca teaches that humans are born human and gods are born gods. Transformation in one life from one species to another is not a part of Wicca.]
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
[HUGE POINT! Wicca teaches that RESPONSIBILITY for all of a Wiccan's actions are upon that Wiccan, and must be taken care of by that Wiccan. Thus, in Wicca, it is impossible to die or suffer for someone ELSE except in very specific, personal situations (like taking a bullet for someone.) Wicca teaches there are no SINS, so there was literally no reason for Christ to die!]
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
[This is in no WICCAN Scripture]
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
[Wicca has no concept of who sits to what side of any father deity.]
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end. [Wicca has no teaching about a half-god judging living or dead, and, in fact, has teachings about who judges the dead...There is also no teaching of a Kingdom to Come in Wicca.]
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
[And Wiccans don't]
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
[Which Wiccans don't do.]
He has spoken through the Prophets.
[Who are not Wiccan.]
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
[Which Wiccans do not.]
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
[Wiccans neither baptize nor sin.]
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
[Wiccans do not.]
and the life of the world to come.
[Wicca does not teach of a coming future world, but of NOW worlds.]
I am sure there are some who think they are Wiccan and Christian, but they aren't. Either you think Jesus died for your sins (Christianity) or you acknowledge the doctrine of Self-responsibility as a proper person or adult human (Wicca). They are mutually self-exclusive.
I actually feel sorry for those that do think they are one and the same because every one of them I have met confuses Wicca (Worship of the gods and living by their standards) with magic, and Christianity has a long and perfectly valid tradition of magic that existed BEFORE WICCA ever existed. Here are some books discussing it:
The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan:
http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Writings-Thomas-Vaughan/dp/0615149014
Greater Key of Solomon:
http://www.amazon.com/Greater-Key-Solomon-MacGregor-Mathers/dp/142092818X
Ancient Christian Magic:
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Christian-Magic-Marvin-Meyer/dp/0691004587
The Divine Synthesis and Realization of Magic by the Christian Revelation
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Synthesis-Realization-Christian-Revelation/dp/1425305385/
"Christian Wiccans" either have Christianity all wrong or have Wicca all wrong, and that's sad. Many have also been unfairly persecuted, and judge all who oppose their claims as discriminating or being mean when, in fact, they are trying to help.
*There are other definitions, but they are specific to sects of Christianity
**http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm
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Yvonne Aburrow has written a rather interesting article on the matter of what has been called "multiple religious belonging" at http://pagantheologies.pbworks.com/Is-it-possible-to-follow-more-than-one-distinct-spiritual-tradition
ReplyDeleteShe concludes:
In the end, I would argue that the practices of dual faith, coinherence and syncretism are worthwhile, in that it challenges people's preconceived ideas about the nature of the Divine and of the religious experience, and has the potential to break down boundaries between traditions which might otherwise be at odds with one another.
The increasing incidence of dual- and multi-faith practice may well be due to the subjective turn, but it is not just subjective-life spirituality, as the practitioners are certain that there is a connection between inner and outer experience. Indeed, they could be said to be to be breaking down the rigid boundaries between traditions and between inner and outer imposed by Western religious discourse.
Have you any thoughts on this?
Makarios-
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with dual faiths, in fact, I am polyfaithed, myself, but there is a difference between two faiths which may seem to be at odds with each other and two faiths which are DEFINITELY at odds with each other, as Wicca and Christianity are.
For example, no matter how cool or inclusive we try to be, we cannot simultaneously believe there is only one god and that there are multiple gods without changing the meaning of what monotheism is or the meaning of what polytheism is. We cannot teach that one is responsible for one's actions alone and teach that another person can 'clean away' one's sins. We cannot teach that we are both sinless and sinful.
Well, we can teach these things, but at that point we are neither Christian nor Wiccan, and certainly not both.
There is a lot of room in the world for syncretic and hyphenate faiths, however, the two faiths need to be non-exclusive (not requiring that the members of their faith follow *only* that faith) and non-competing (not actively trying to suppress other religions.)
Buddhist-Shintoists, Hellenic Reconstructionist-Wiccans, Roman Reconstructionist-Asatruar, Buddhist-Hindus (which one could argue is all 'real' Buddhists, but that's not my view) and the like have no problems with their religions being incompatible... Even Buddhist-Christians and Christian Jews (though I find the mixture of Christianity and Judaism usually has no Judaism at all, so for *most* of them it does not work) don't have to combine belief in one thing with non-belief in that same thing...
If you have to combine belief in a thing with non-belief in that thing, you're not 'breaking boundaries,' you're just engaging in Doublethink....
"To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies"-1984