Frankly Answered Questions - FAQs

Why do you say Wicca is evil?

Q: I was born & raised Catholic. I was baptized, received Holy Communion, had my Confirmation, & was married in a Catholic church. I attended Catholic school through the end of high school. I consider myself well educated. I am now a Wiccan & have been practicing for several years.

As a Wiccan, I am encouraged to research the origins of my new religion, as well as the tenets of any other religion. Thus I came upon your article on the origins of Halloween. I commend you on your commitment to provide accurate information & to debunk the inaccuracies of other Christian literature.

I have one problem with your article. I object to your labeling "pagan superstitions" as evil, especially when, earlier in your text, you admit that pagans do not believe their gods or spirits are evil, merely dangerous. As I'm sure your research will agree, true Wiccans/Pagans do not practice evil. Our #1 tenet is "As it harms none, do as you will." I'm sure you will agree that the desire to "harm none" is not evil.

A: Thanks for taking the time to write to us. I appreciate the encouragement about the Halloween page.

Concerning my comment about pagan superstitions being evil: I understand that you do not view your beliefs or practices as "evil." While I defend your right to practice Wicca in the United States, nevertheless I do believe that the Bible teaches that pagan practices are evil. By evil, I mean, "morally bad or wrong" and "causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful" (American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition).

I certainly understand that you do not agree with this statement. Nobody likes having their ideas or actions branded as evil. But I'm sure that you view certain Biblical beliefs and practices as "morally bad" and "harmful" too - perhaps the Biblical teaching about only one God or certain practices that the Bible labels as sin or Christ's teaching about hell. I embrace these Biblical ideas, but I accept the fact that you view them as "morally bad" and "harmful." And, of course, there are things that we both embrace and agree on as evil, such as racism or kidnapping.

What we are discussing is the difference between toleration and acceptance. You tolerate my beliefs and allow me the opportunity to propagate and defend them in the market place of ideas. Yet you don't believe they are correct ideas and because incorrect ideas have consequences, some of my ideas can do great harm. Likewise I hope that you will allow me to practice tolerance of paganism without having to approve pagan beliefs or practices.

By labeling certain ideas and practices of paganism as evil, I in no way intend to say that paganism has a monopoly on evil. While I do not view Biblical Christianity as evil, I do view myself as evil. I often do things that are morally bad and cause ruin, injury, or pain to others. So, unlike the Medieval Roman Catholic Church, I do not intend the label to be an excuse for persecution of pagans. If I persecuted you, I would also have to persecute myself.

I am familiar with the tenet: "As it harms none, do as you will." In my opinion, you have hit upon one of the key differences between paganism and Christianity. Let me make a few observations about this tenet and compare it to Biblical teaching:

(1) This tenet sounds very worthy, but it leaves open the question "What is harm?" Since Wicca has no central, unified revelation (like the Bible), the definition of harm is left open to the interpretation of each individual. We do not find universal agreement among human beings on what "harm" is. You may do things to me that you wouldn't think harm me, but because we are all self-centered and limited in our understanding, what you do may in fact do very great damage to me.

This is what I found in my life. My perception of what was good and bad was very twisted by my own selfishness and ignorance. I controlled people and called it "helping." I committed immorality and called it "love." I hated people and called it "justice." I wanted to divorce my wife and called it "best for both of us." I needed someone to save me from my own pathetic sense of morality. I found that the Bible provides a clear revelation of what is right and wrong, what is loving and what is harmful. We are not left to grope around in the dark for moral values - they are given to us in the Creator's owner's manual.

(2) "Do no harm" doesn't go far enough. Jesus said that we are not only to not hurt other people, we are to "do to others what we would want done to ourselves" (Luke 6:31). No Christian that I know of lives up to this, but Jesus' ideal is far greater than "don't do anything to hurt other people." The difference between the two is overwhelming to me. It is one of the essential differences between Jesus and all other religious leaders and philosophies.

(3) The second part of the tenet "do as you will" is viewed by the Bible as an "evil." We have been doing "as we will" since our first parents fell in Eden. A Biblical viewpoint is that we should do as God, our loving Father, wills. To do as we will is considered selfish, self-centered, and misguided. In fact, Biblically speaking, it is considered rebellion and treason against our Creator. Our will is what has created all the problems is this world. Jesus said it best as He was praying right before He was crucified "Father, not my will, but yours be done."

You have really hit upon a key difference between paganism and Biblical Christianity: the definition of sin. Satan's suggestion to Adam was that sin should be defined as "anything that proves harmful to man." The Bible teaches that sin is "what is wrong because God says so." These are still the only two definitions of sin. Sin is either "what is wrong because God says so," or "what is wrong because it harms us." And, of course, with a false definition of sin, we never really discover how great our sin is.

One night in college I submitted my life to Jesus. Since above all I had offended Him, I asked for His forgiveness. He forgave my failures of the past and has given me new power through relationship with Him to live differently. I still fail miserably, but I am now a more joyful, loving, peaceful person than I ever was before. Jesus Christ helps me to "As it benefits others, do as He wills."

Thanks again for writing.

(For more on Wicca, see ExWitch.)