A question of faith.

[Trebor Minntt]

Since we have had just about everything else asked (including police records) I thought I'd try to find out what people 'believe' in. I'm a Pagan with my main focus being Druidism (though I'm not a Druid as I'm not a priest), but with a slight leaning towards Witchcraft.

What about the rest of you?

[Dominique]

Roman Catholic here. ^_^ Born and raised Southern Baptist, officially converted to Catholicism last April.

[Coan]

I thought I'd try to find out what people 'believe' in.

What about the you?

Money, the stupidity of man and the brutal arena of survival.

Though nice people are about as close to divinity as you'll find.

[Shadowking]

While I was born Jewish I'm generally an atheist, although I do believe in the supernatural.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Hedge Witch, and no I'm not Wiccan

My beliefs are similar to Druidry and I work heavily through trance and non-physical forms of divination (tools just get in the way if you ask me).

I dislike the term Pagan since I don't live out in the wilds (it means Country Dweller, lol)

I use spirit guides regularly, I meditate, use divination, healing and protection magicks, am great and energy transference (such as moving pain from a person into an object), use Tarot, I Ching, Runes and so on.

Hmm... It looks like I contradicted myself there, I said I don't you tools for divination and went on to say I use Tart and so on. Well, when I refer to Divination I refer to the acts of scrying and remote viewing. I can just sit there and think and do it, don't need tools for them.

However, I could never do away with my cauldron (14" tall, 14" across, wrought iron, paid £30 for it in a antigue shop), it's a great place to store my incence, iron candle snuffer, tee-lites and so on. May not use them to practice my craft, but all of them make the room look better decorated

Oh, and to save you all asking, a Hedge Witch is a Witch who practices without a coven. I say what it i all the time these days, you'd be amazed how many Wiccans, Druids, Witches and so on have never heard of the term Hedge

[Corrupted_Loremaster]

Deist, raised United Church. It's not that I don't believe in god, just that I strongly disagree with some of the Catholisism's follower's views, and I cannot settle at thinking that the Bible is all there is when it comes to knowing the divine realm.

I'm fairly skeptical towards the supernatural. The romantic in me would like for it to be real, be without solid, testible evidence I just can't accept it. And yes, I'm aware this might seem a contradiction based on my religious views, but there a fair bit of distance between faith in one and belief in the other.

Although I don't meditate, I do achive something similar through long periods of drinking, dancing, sleep deprivation, and observation of the ebb and flow of humanity, though not nesiscarily all at once mind you.

[Igor the Henchman]

I'm agnostic, raised orthodox christian. My belief in the supernatural pretty much mirrors C_L's. I do believe in higher forces, but what these may be like, I can't quite imagine.

[AdamGarou]

I'm a Protestant Christian, born and raised in the Assembly of God Church (a Pentecostal denomination that is not--before you even ask--anything like the folks you sometimes see on 20/20 drinking poison and handling snakes during their church services).

In college, I got away from it for awhile, as there I was exposed for the first time to open atheists, deists, wiccans, witches (still don't know enough about them to make the distinction, but the folks I talked to apparently did), Roman Catholics, agnostics, and others who just never thought about "religious" views. After graduation, however, I came to realize that something was missing from my life--something I once had that was there for me to regain if I wanted. Though I struggle each day to live up to the standards Jesus Christ taught, the walk is rewarding.

[Reginald de Curry]

I was raised Presbyterian, though my beliefs don't strictly follow that faith.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Technically, I'm similar to Trebor, we share a lot of beliefs, but there's no proper definition of what I believe in, as it's sort of a mish-mash of paganism, occultism, spiritulism, witchcraft and even some Chrisitianity (CoE, of course, the only branch of the Christian faith founded on the precepts of sex and divorce).

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

...wiccans, witches (still don't know enough about them to make the distinction, but the folks I talked to apparently did)...

The differences are few and many at the same time. I'll list a couple here for you.

Wicca is a modern religion, while Witchcraft descends directly from Druidry and is closer to nature, though Wicca is also an Earth-based religion focusing on natural balance and order.

Witches will forego the use of tools such as an altar, cauldron, candles, incense, caups, wands, staffs, athame, boline, sword, etc... Wiccans tend to favour these tools. Alot of witches work in trance, a form of meditation that crosses with astal projection. I use no tools in my practice, though I do own some since I like them.

Witches can work easily without a sacred space (casting a circle) while Wiccans are taught to work with one.

Witches are at ease working alone or in a group, Wiccans are taught to work with one or the other much of the time.

Witches work more with Spirit Guides while many Wiccan Traditions avoid them (never worked out why though despite asking many times).

Now the really big difference. Witches follow any and all deities in creation unless they go against the religion, thus they do not follow Satan since he is a Christian creation (Wiccans follow this same principle). They honour many deities at a time or change to the best suited deity forthe given task, ritual or spell. Wiccans follow a pantheon of 5 deities, 3 Goddesses, 2 Gods and these never change unless the Wiccan changes their Tradition (form of Wicca) and this can be rare at times. Wiccans are taught to follow a religion such as Gradnerian, Saxon, Dianic, Nordic, etc... Witches donlt acknowledge traditions as such. Wiccans are also more likely to adopt the Christian pantheon among their deities and there are many Christian Wiccans. Eclectic Wicca is growing, though they still follow the same deity principle, but it is closer to the older Witchcraft than most Wicca.

I thnk I covered some of the differences, ut there are many more and the list could possibly end endless or very short. But those are the most frequent differences I have come upon.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Conservative Judaism here. But I'm also a very scientific/technological-type, so I suppose I'm some sort of deist or theist. I've also got some unitarian leanings. (i.e., there is a god of some sort, although he chooses to operate by physical laws most of the time, and while my organized religion suits me as a way of connecting with him, all organized (and unorganized) religions are ways of connecting with him that work for other people, and none of them have any proof that they are the only truth. And if you're an athiest, maybe you're right too. Who knows?)

[jamieraleigh]

I'm in the same boat as AdamGarou. I was raised Baptist, but began attemding an Assembly of God church when I was twenty-one. I attend a Baptist church with my wife now, but I still hold alot of the same beliefs as the AoG church.

BTW, it's good to see another Christian on here. I actually play in a weekly D&D game with friends who are made up entirely of members of my Sunday School class.

[Maximillian]

Well, I am... complicated. I was raised as a Christian Orthodox (as most Greeks) and I generally believe in most of the Orhtodox Dogma. But as the years accumulate, personal experience and studies are continually shaping my philosophical and theological views . You can now say that I am a Christian believer, but in my own personal way.

[Joël of the FoS]

Born catholic, but today I stay away from that as much as I can. I'll stop here before I need to be edited.

I do not believe in god or any other higher force. God is a human creation - the reverse still needs to be proven

And no, I do not believe in the supernatural either.

That said, the idea of supernatural is quite cool but I believe we just do not have the explaination today. IMHO, we'll find the answers to these phenomenons, those that are not hoaxes or hallucination, in the future.

Joël