Wicca

Is Wicca a form of Satanism?

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Overview:

Although the words "Wicca" and "Wiccan" are relatively well defined at this time, such terms as Satanism, Paganism and Witchcraft have many meanings. Confusion over the definitions of religious terms is quite common. Even the term "Christian" is defined differently by various groups. The sentence: "Ann was raised a Roman Catholic but became a Christian later in life" might be quite understandable to an Evangelical Christian, but wholly confusing and probably quite insulting and distressing to a Catholic.

Some people sincerely believe that over 75% of the human race (including Wiccans) are followers of religions led by Satan; they are thus Satanists. Others, including Satanists, Wiccans,  religious historians, many theologians, liberal Christians and many mainline and Christians consider Wicca and Satanism to be two unrelated groups of religious traditions. They share few points of similarity. In fact, many of their beliefs and practices are diametrically opposed to each other.

There is no right or wrong definition in these cases. Groups simply assign very different meanings to the same English words. The sentence: "Wicca is a type of Satanism" is neither right or wrong. Debate is useless. It is a true statement to one group and false to another, depending on the definitions that they use for different terms .

Satanism, as viewed by Satanists, etc.:

Satanism consists of many religious traditions, comprising two main faith groups and many smaller religious groups:

Wicca, as viewed by Neopagans, etc.:

Wicca is unrelated to Satanism. It is a group of religious traditions: some are highly structured, while most are eclectic. Many, perhaps most, Wiccans are solitary practitioners. They are, in many ways, directly opposite to Satanists:

They believe that they worship neither the Christian God nor the Christian devil. They worship a Goddess and a God. Neither is at all similar to Satan. Wicca, and other forms of Neopaganism, are as different from Satanism as Hinduism is from Christianity.

Beliefs of conservative Christians:

Many conservative Christians view Wicca as a Satanic faith. They generally believe that there are only two supernatural forces with super-human powers in the world: God, in the form of the Trinity (a unity consisting of three persons: Father, Son & Holy Spirit) and Satan. They do not recognize the existence of other Gods and Goddesses, like those followed by Wiccans, Buddhists, followers of Native American spirituality, etc. 

Conservative Christians view other faith groups, and define Satanism, in many different ways:

"But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils."

Contributing factors to the confusion of Wiccans with Satanists:

The Burning Times took place during part of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Europe and the Americas. Christian organizations -- both Protestant and Catholic -- hunted Satan worshippers who were believed to have signed over their souls to the devil and worshipped him. Many tens of thousands of victims were convicted of "Witchcraft" by civil and religious courts  Three centuries of burning convicted "Witches" at the stake, and hanging others, imbedded the concept of the Satan worshipping Witch in the public's mind. This image has been perpetuated through nursery rhymes and horror movies to the present day.

Since the ancient Churches and modern-day Wiccans both use the terms "Witch" and "Witchcraft," many people have linked Wiccans with Satan worshipers.

There are good reasons why Wiccans preserve the use of "Witch." Many Wiccans feel that to abandon the term would be to also ignore the memories of those who were unjustly executed in past centuries. It would diminish the tremendous injustice inflicted upon them.

There are several additional reasons which add to the confusion:

Conclusions:

Lumping together the followers of a wide diversity of religions (e.g. Buddhists, Druids, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, New Agers, Santerians, Taoists, Wiccans and other Neopagans, followers of Vodun, etc.) as Satanists creates massive confusion in the public mind. Most of the public reserve the term "Satanist" for people who identify themselves as Satanists. 

Such definitions create great confusion, and stir up religious animosity against followers of benign faith traditions. In recent years, they have been known to trigger lynching, attempted mass murder, fire bombings, shootings, common assaults, etc. in the U.S. They have induced at least one Senator, one member of the House of Representatives and even George W. Bush when he was Governor of Texas, to call for an end to religious freedom for Wiccans in the U.S. army.

Recommendations:

We strongly recommend that the terms "Satanist" and "Satanism" be used only to refer to religions that involve a belief in some form of Satan. In other words, the terms should be restricted to describing those individuals who regard themselves as Satanists, and who identify themselves by that label.

While reading an essay on religion, you might find it useful to ask yourself what the author means by some of the terms that she/he uses. Words like Christian, cult, occult, Satanist, and Witch have many different meanings to different groups. It is quite possible that you and the author attribute a very different meaning to a particular term. If these ambiguous words are not clearly defined within the essay, you might consider sending the author an Email asking that they modify their writings to include a clearly definition of any ambiguous terms used.

We prefer to use the names Wicca, Wiccan, Neopaganism, and Neopagan in this web site, because they are least ambiguous to the majority of our visitors who are neither Wiccan nor Neopagan.

Related essays on this web site:

References:

Copyright © 2000 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-SEP-11
Latest update: 2008-JAN-28
Author: B.A. Robinson