Christianity and Paganism Although the word Witch is hated the word Pagan still rings alarm bells in the minds of many Christians or people in the sub-Christian culture. Why? Because Paganism was the enemy within. The church of Rome was determined to stamp it out by any means available and successfully built up an image of evil around Pagans so that even today ordinary people think Pagans and/or Witches sacrifice babies, perform evil spells and so on.. The church also masked out or absorbed Pagan celebrations, for example Jesus was not born on the 25th December but was more probably born Spring-summer time in 7 BCE. This was moved to the 6th January (the Eastern Orthodox church still uses that date) then the western Christian church persuaded Emperor Constantin at the council of Niceae in 325 to move the celebration of the birth of Jesus to that other celebration of the birth of the sun, in Roman times the festival of Mithras, the God of Light at the winter solstice (which was thought to be 25th December). Some fundamental differences between Christianity and Paganism It sometimes helps to define Paganism by making comparisons with Christianity:

1. Christianity sees life and the world as linear i.e. having a beginning and an end, creation to the day of judgement. The Pagan view is circular - the endless cycle of the seasons, of death and rebirth. There will be no end of the world or the universe. The big bang was not the moment of creation but the last rebirth of the universe. For example Christmas celebrates an event which happened 2000 years ago. Yule celebrates an annually recurring event, the rebirth of the sun.
2. The bible tells that people were made in the image of God. (Note: this is really a Hebrew concept; the word God in the first chapter of Genesis is a mistranslation of the word Elohim which means Gods, plural and genderless. The creation and fall of Adam comes in chapter 2 and essentially describes the creation of the Hebrew tribe. The old testament is a chronology of the development of the Hebrew nation and the new testament is a continuation of this. Therefore Christians are, in a sense, subscribers to the Semitic lineage.) The Pagan Gods and Goddesses were really made in our image which is the other way round. Pagan deities are images or symbols of deep rooted memories which Jung called archetypes. The more ethereal 'God' and 'Goddess', which relate to Binah and Chokma in the Qabala, or Shakta and Shakti in the Hindu system do not have any particular form. Artists may present them as human but that is personal choice.
3. Pagans have no concept of sin and no Satan. So there is no fiery hell to worry about either. They have their own values and ethics.
4. The bible and gospels are the guiding rules for Christians (though the interpretation varies immensely); Pagans are responsible for their own actions.
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The Devil and Satanism The Pagan view of the universe is one of complimetary opposites - light/dark, yin/yang, earth/sky, male/female, Shakta/Shakti. The major patriarchal religions have a duality of good and evil, God and Satan. The concept of Satan has been around for thousands of years, not only in the Hebrew tradition. The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Persians believed in a dualism between the forces of darkness and light. Even Paganism has it's Hades and Hel (A Northern Goddess of the underworld), however the concept of Satan was developed by the Church and eventually he was called the Devil, a term meaning 'little God'. While God was originally responsible for good and bad (for example he sent plagues etc. to punish his followers) it was slowly assumed that God did only the good things and the Devil/Satan all the bad things. The Christian church developed the concept of Lucifer, the fallen angel. The Devil was officially adopted by the Christian church in 447 and he was pronounced immortal in 547. Consequently it is impossible for Pagans to adopt the concept of the Devil which is a Judeo-Christian concept. Likewise the Satanists are, in a sense followers of the Judaic/Christian belief system because they worship an anti-god figure which belongs to that system.

Special Thanks to David Sands -http://ds.dial.pipex.com/robotics1/pagan.htm