Wicca-movement=religion?

[Sandy]

Yes, this is a thread for discussing about that maybe awfully misunderstood, but surely mysterious and strange religion.

First, I want to tell why this came to my mind: here in Finland (it's a country between Russia and Sweden...yes, there's a country there!) the wicca-movement has over hundred supporters, but when it applied for becoming a registrated religion, it was denied, and the same has been done only to spiritualists, who lure people to join their religion and then take their fortune. Are these two really compared? I feel that a great injustice has happened, so I want your opinion.

Then, some facts I know about this religion:
*Wicca-movement consists from both men and women, and there's no age-limit; it's like a big family.
*they worship two gods: the Goddess and the God, who both are protectors of nature.
*so basically, it's a natural religion.
*they have their own sacred days, and yes, sometimes they celebrate by dancing naked on a moonlit field.
*there are no blood-sacrifices, so no cats or babies get killed during their ceremonies.
*they don't believe in Satan or Jesus, because they're not a christian religion.(Remember, Satan's worshippers DO believe in God; there can't be one without the other, as the old saying goes.)
*They use herbs, gems, runes and candles, or all those stuff a witch could be said to use.
*It started from USA (surprise...), and spread to Europe in the late 20th century. Wicca-movements "holy place" is Salem in USA, since of what happened there during the witch-hunt in middle ages).

So there, these are pure facts (at least what I know: do correct me if i'm wrong). I'm sending a poll, so the result of this future-debate could be seen more clearly.

Basically, I'm asking: what do you think about the wicca-movement as a religion?

[James]

[color=royalblue]Wicca is a religion the same as anything else. I think you'd have to be incredibly ignorant to think otherwise.

In any case, I don't really understand the point of this thread. When I look at the options you've provided in the poll, I think that there is a pretty high probability that this thread could get confrontational for no reason.

I'm going to close this thread.

It will remain here so that people can read it, however. If anyone wants to discuss the topic any further with sage, I suggest that they use our Private Messaging system (afterall, that's what it's there for).[/color]