This weekend I was reminded yet again why I have found so much peace and assurance in my faith as a Wiccan. I am not writing this entry to attempt to convert in any way shape or form, or do declare Wicca to be superior to any other belief system. Rather, it is what I have found to be right for me and I believe that each person much find the path that is right for them.

On Saturday evening, my community group The Grove celebrated the sabbat of Midsummer of the Summer Solstice at my new house. As cheesy as this may sound, as soon as everyone was in the house it felt as though it was filled with a positive, caring energy.

I worked so hard on the ritual I performed and, in my opinion, it went well. We were able to sit and reminisce about our last year as a group. It was probably the only ritual we have had where, once it had ended, I felt wholly positive about how it went.

Then on Sunday I learned that my 6 year old nephew is no longer allowed to watch the Harry Potter movies because his father (who I already can't stand) feels it's wrong. It greatly saddens me that people who claim to follow a faith of love and acceptance can take a children's movie about love and friendship and, yes, magic and turn it into a recruitment video for the devil. My nephew is only 6. If no one had ever said anything to him about Harry Potter being anything other than entertainment he would have been able to live on thinking it was a funny movie with a flying car and a little house elf. Not to mention, when my brother in law came in he changed the channel from The Chronicles of Narnia (written by a Christian author and carrying heavy biblical themes) to ultimate fighting and then to a movie in which a man got shot by a gang in the 2 minutes we watched, and then to Hellboy and ignored my nephews request to change the channel when he became frightened of the creatures on Hellboy.

I look forward to having my own children one day and raising them in Paganism. I want them to be able to see the world as exciting, varied, and full of new adventures and wonder not frightened by possibly evil Warner Brother's films. I hope to teach them that each and every person is different and people have different origins, races, and religions and that those difference are nothing to be feared. And, should they one day, decide to follow a different belief system and leave Wicca, I will do whatever I can to support them so long as they are safe.

I just learned today that there are a good number of videos on Youtube regarding Wicca and Paganism. If you choose to view any one of them you will see the long list of comments from people who declare themselves as Christian denouncing the beliefs of those involved in the video. While a few attempt to make well thought out points regarding why they believe Wicca or Paganism to be wrong or sinful. However, every single one of these points is based on the Bible. When some one replied that Christians need to understand that using the Bible to convert non-Christians is ineffective, this person uses the example that if a Muslim approached a Christian with facts from the Koran as to why you should be a Muslim then you, as a Christian,would not feel that this is effective reasoning as you do not place faith in the Koran. Non-Christians feel the same way about the use of the Bible to make points. The reply from one of the Christians in this thread replied that if Pagans want to go on doing and believing whatever they want then the will suffer the consequences and even goes so far as to sign the reply with "DIE & FRY".

I find this truly upsetting. In an attempt at fairness, I went onto a handful of videos promoting Christianity to see if there were self declared Pagans denouncing Christianity through the comments. I couldn't find an example. I did see that a number of atheists or just hurtful people declaring Christianity as untrue or even stupid.

I find peace and contentment through my faith. This does not make me want to go on Youtube and attack other's beliefs. It does not make me want to bike from house to house and push my beliefs on strangers or travel to other countries handing out a holy book to people. It is my wish for people of any faith, not just Christianity, to find a similar contentment in their own faith. If it is not to much to ask, I believe the world would be a better place if each person could understand a little bit about other faiths.

Intolerance breeds hatred. If we each work to over come our own ignorance to those around us then we are able to accept one another and end things as petty as fighting on Youtube over who will have the best afterlife.

Obviously, none of these things could be accomplished in a day but, with each person, we create a more loving and positive world.