NEWS: Wiccan Fastest Growing Religion for High School and College Aged

CULTURE: Wiccan Fastest Growing Religion for High School and College Aged

NPR has run a series of stories on religions in America, particular those of young teenagers who have followed or changed the spiritual practices of their parents.
What they have found is not only is Wicca the fastest growing religion in the US, but the schism between Christian children and Wiccan children is almost as great as the generation before them, particularly amongst Evangelical Christians. But popular culture has seemed to take sides with Wicca.
The report emphasizes the difference in terms of rigid wisdom traditions, like Evangelical Christianity, and ones that are more able to appropriate aspects of other wisdom traditions, like Buddhism and Wicca.

From personal experience I find that this is true; there was a cult in my high school that had more than 50 members...and they were Wiccan. They were kinda creepy, but yea, it's out there, especially so in the more rural communities...it was the fastest growing religion in my hometown.

[Edited on May 14, 2004 12:30AM]

if they were a cult, they were not really wiccan.

good point. they must have not really known what being wiccan was all about...or maybe they were just lying. who knows. Maybe they were really devil worshippers. hmm...that's a scary thought. I got invited to a couple of their shindigs. *shivers*

[Edited on May 14, 2004 12:48AM]

Why couldn't they be a cult? For those wicca-ignorant?

when i was a kid we had a ouija board and candles and made 'potions' out of shit we found in the cupboard. and some kids who wanted to freak out the parents spray-painted 'SATIN LIVES' at the playground. It loses some power when misspelled (unless they were actually a textile cult)

Sammy Davis Jr. was briefly a Satanist, but in his bio (subtly titled: "Yes I Can"), he claims it was largely to 'meet chicks'.

so who can blame him?

Also (since i seem to be killing this thread): I was in a used record and bookstore in Hollywood the other day and the proprietor was revealing to some acquaintances that he used to be a very active Satanist in Seattle and was trying to get back into it. The look on their faces was pretty awesome.

MisterSatan?

ben, don't frighten me like that. i'm old and fragile

Ouiji boards...I remember them...I actually tricked a whole group of my friends that my house was really haunted, that the ghost's name was Daniel and he was going to get into their nightmares.

That probably wasn't very nice of me was it?

[Edited on May 14, 2004 1:08AM]

well, if I take this definition of cult:

cult
n.
-A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

-The followers of such a religion or sect.


basically my understanding of this definition is that there is a human leader to a group of people, and this person is pretty much worshipped. the person often brainwashes the members of the cult and makes them do whatever he or she wants. Wicca is about tuning yourself with the earth and usually a God and Goddess are worshipped as the personification of polarity in nature (male/female, summer/winter, sun/moon, hot/cold, yin/yang etc). Therefore if they are worshipping some human leader, they must not be worshipping the God and Goddess (or any variation thereof). Also the number one tenet, or Rede, in the Wiccan religion is "An It Harm None, Do What Thou Will". Brainwashing would definitely fall under "Harm", at least in my opinion, as you are taking away a person's free will. Another example of this is when Wiccans use magick as a tool, it is generally against the rede to put a "traditional" love spell on another person, and by that I mean making another person love you. This obviously interferes with their free will.

I hope this helps, I think I rambled a bit.

It does. Wonderful. Thanks a buncha.

no prob.

nic, i'd spot you for the dagger if you'd stand around naked in the woods... with me. i mean, i'm a trained warlock. seriously. i have my degree.

i u

kill me.

dead, but *happy*

kids do all manner of things that they don't really understand properly at the time. then they move onto some other fad, which usually manages to contradict the last fad they were into. peer pressure is a strange thing.

Do you think that kid are becomming members of such 'societies' because its a form of rebelion, or like christianity it offers them some hope in a world thats dominated by money and perfection? I mean realistically most of us will never be really rich or meet societys definition of perfection but through the power of their beliefs they become more important?