BlackKnight of Bronx, NY Does this guy read anything other than Chick tracts? This one sentence alone shows how lacking in credibility this guy is:

"Christianity is about love, truth, morality and justice."
The fundies' idea of "love" is that they'll use "blackmail threats" in order to gain more converts. For example, "Jebus loves you but you'll go to hell if you don't love him back."
Their idea of "truth" is obviously in the buy-bull, which is a work of plagiarism with bulls**t mixed in (honestly, who believes a book that says the Earth is flat?).
Morality? Like how Lot threw his daughter out to a band of marauders if they'd leave him alone?
And justice. Three words on how christians view "justice" when it comes to Pagans: West Memphis Three.

There was a very valid reason why the Romans went after the christians way back when: they wanted to establish a theocracy that was in diametric opposition of the "ideals" that Rome had yet hardly followed. Show me someone who claims to be persecuted by modern Pagans and I'll show you that that guy has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Also, just because you're friends with someone doesn't mean they're as nice to everyone as they are to you. I'm sure Eichmann was good friends with Hitler and claimed he was "a real stand-up guy." I'm sure Al Sharpton's friends say the same thing about him, yet anyone with a brain knows Sharpton's a blatant hatemonger. Mike Heath is the same way.report abuse

Trish of Flanders, NJ "The reason pagans are featured on the Web site is to expose paganism for what it is. Paganism is diametrically opposed to Christianity. It was a paganistic society that persecuted the first Christians."
While it is true that during the last days of Pagan Rome under the uber hedonistic emperors Christians were persecuted. After Constantine endorsed "The Church", however, the persecution was on the other foot. The Christian Church for centuries persecuted any idea which was not specifically designed to keep the masses in lock-step with the Church whose Popes happily took over from the emperors. The idea of the persecution of people for their differences is one inherently human, not the product of a religion or philosophy. Even the no-religion of atheism when in a position of dominance as is the case in today's China, makes it a point of persecuting religious/philosophies that do not fit with it's own narrow views. Today’s Neo-pagans are far less diametrically opposed to Christianity than Christianity appears to be towards them.

"Christianity is about love, truth, morality and justice.”
While this is an often postulated bit of dogma, I daresay that the thousands of heretics, scientists and indigenous peoples put to the sword, stone and fire, and more recently altar boys and girls predated upon by pedophile priests, would not necessarily see this as undeniably true. Acts not words determine what a philosophy is about. Christianity has no less barbarity to answer for than any other man made ideology.

"...those pagans have perverted these ideals, while we promote them for the good of society and because we disagree with their point of view.”
Presuming the ideals under discussion being democracy and freedom, it was the pagan
Greeks who first took the concept of Democratic liberty from concept to fruition. The fact that no democracy has ever been able to survive more than a few hundred years is due to human avarice and not a reflection on any religion.report abuse

Orcadancer of Ft. Meade, MD Thank you Randy Brown for making me laugh today. There was not much factual in your article so I am guessing you wrote it as humor? Unfortunately, I feel you were writing a serious article. Therefore there are a few things I would like to address. Especially what you said about Christianity being "about love, truth, morality and justice". This has not been the case from any of the self proclaimed Christians I have met. They have all been the most hateful, lying, immoral and unjust people I have known. Maybe they haven't been reading the same Bible I have, where Jesus says to love and forgive. As for Pagans being hateful, if we are going to judge todays Pagans for another's crimes (2000 years ago), maybe we should mention the Inquisition, or the Crusades? Those of course were very loving, don't you agree? How about the forced conversions of the Americas, should we ask the Native Americans how they feel? If you want to judge by past actions, you have to consider the past actions of ALL parties. Otherwise you need to just consider the current climate, which is not at all what you describe.
Bright Blessings,
Orcadancer
CC to Randy Brown report abuse

Graham Fielding 'Christianity is about love, truth, morality and justice.'

So are we, Mr. Brown. In fact, most pagan faiths follow a concept similar to the Sixth Commandment. Where you say 'Thou Shalt Not Kill', we say 'An it harm none, do what thou wilt'.

You say that you wish to 'expose us' for 'what we are'?

Fine. Let's 'expose'.

'Who are we', Mr. Brown? We are doctors, teachers, and lawyers. We are scientists, musicians, singers and dancers.

We are, in short, the very people that the Religious Right don't want us to be.

They don't want us to be everyday, normal people: there's nothing evil about a gardener, or a bus-driver. There's nothing sinister about a musician, or a painter, or a dancer.

Evil and sinister, you see, is what the Religious Right want. They don't want us to be 'normal', because 'normal' is impossible to hate. They want us to stand out, so they can shout about our 'evil ways' -- and the bigger the news story, the better the opportunity.

We have our children taken away from us, because someone tells the judge that we 'sacrifice babies' (we don't).

We lose our jobs, because someone tells the boss that we 'curse people' (we don't).

We come home to find our pets beheaded and left with a hateful note for us to find, our windows broken, 'die witch' and 'burn in hell' spraypainted on our door, and sometimes, we're even assaulted, physically *and* sexually. When we call the police, they ignore us and lie to their superiors about us.

We suffer under the lies and falsehoods that your supposedly 'enlightened' colleagues spread about us, and about what we believe, and we suffer _silently_, because we know that none of our protests will do one *single* bit of good.

You have the gall to imply that we are 'persecuting' you?

Mr. Brown, you have no *idea* what true persecution is....

...and I pray to every god and goddess that I know of that you will never have to find out.report abuse