Originally posted by SomeBadThings
I never refuted anything about dinosaurs or anything since then as I'm not idiotic enough to deny their existance. My point is that you created a post that attempts to bash my religion on the basis of something that has nothing to do with religion. Just as there is no reason to mention them in Wicca there is no reason to mention them in Christianity ...[text shortened]... nd we need to learn to respect each other and our beliefs even if we don't agree. Enough said.
Christianity is the dominant faith of our times, in terms of numbers of adherents (about 2 billion). So it's natural that it will receive the most scrutiny. This has always been so, historically. Dominant faiths, or dominant ideologies, get the most criticism. In a sense that's a good democratic ideal, as it keeps things in check. The American nation itself is founded on that ideal -- not just the right to criticize those who are dominant or in power, or those political or religious doctrines that dominate, but the
obligation to do so.
Wicca is an ancient faith, but currently tiny, comparatively speaking, in numbers of adherents. As xxx said, it has no holy book. Most pagan and shamanistic traditions have been oral traditions, passed down via families, often. As such it is difficult to criticize them because they are part of a closed system, so to speak, in which membership is required so that one can properly understand them from the inside. As with shamanism, Wicca does not center around a particular historical character, and so is difficult to codify, although there is something known as the "Wiccan rede", as I recall.
This situation, incidentally, was roughly reversed during the first century or so after Christ. Christianity then was largely an underground tradition, a minor and fractured cult, comprised of "Jesus communities". Pagan traditions during that time were dominant, especially via the polytheism of Rome.