Wiccan and dark magic

I've been told a lot that Wiccan and witchcraft practices are considered "dark magic" or "evil". I live with Christian parents so I hear the term wiccanand witchcraft being called "Devils work". I just wanted to know why people of the Christian faith and religion call wiccans and witches devil worshippers. Why are they so afraid of it?

As far as I have found, it is largely out of fear.

Religions such as Wicca and practices such as witchcraft are not (in many cases) as structured or rigid in their beliefs or codes as other religions such as Christianity. Not all, but some that follow the Christian faith, often to the extremes, consider everything outside of their own beliefs as dangerous and so, do what they can to either convert, or push away/shame others.

All of this being said, the majority of Wiccans and Witches do not believe in the Christian Devil or in Hell (although some Witches are also Christian) which goes to show that the "devil worship" they believe we are practicing is something that does not exist within our beliefs (for many people) and is instead them pushing their own beliefs and fears onto others of different beliefs.

Often this is due to the fear in the ability for us to control and manipulate our own lives without it being controlled purely through divine influence. The ability that humans are able to have power in the way that is found in many magickal belief systems is something that worries them and ultimately sets of a negative reaction.

There is a school of thought in Christianity that there is only the Christian god and Satan. So if you arent worshiping the Christian god, then you must be worshiping Satan.

much of this came about when Christianity was trying to convert the Pagans to their beliefs. Convincing them that their gods were actually Satan was one way to convince them to give up their Pagan practices.

Wiccans do not believe in the existence of Satan or Hell. We do celebrate our Horned God..but he is not Satan. Wiccan practices have nothing to do with Satanism.

There are some Witches who identify themselves as Satanic Witches. But most of these do not actually worship a being called Satan. Rather they take that name to show that they consider humankind to be the pinnacle of creation. Often these same Witches are atheists.

I would also question why they fear the devil. There are traditions of witchcraft outside of Wicca both older and more modern which work with the devil in one form or another. Now some of these people don't worship the devil as the master of evil but in fact as the liberator of mankind, the one who brought knowledge to us. The 'lightbringer' and they liken this being to figures such as Prometheus who stole a lightning bolt from Zeus and brought fire to humanity, Melek-Taus the peacock angel who brought wisdom to humanity and was subsequently forgiven by God, and some view him as the true creator and the god of the bible as the evil demiurge who created a physical realm to entrap humanity (this is derived from Gnosticism.).

As for the Horned God of Wicca being a different god, I would imagine he surely is, the archetype of the horned god was mapped on to Satan as a way to demoniseGods such as Pan, Dionysus, and Cernunnos. Of course, some Wiccans do equate the Horned God with Lucifer, Doreen Valiente certainly did in private letters- however, it could be argued she was more of a traditional witch than an absolute Wiccan. Of course, her interpretation of him as Lucifer is not the same as a Christian would interpret it- not a fallen angel, or an enemy of God but a being which brought enlightenment.

To divorce the devil from witchcraft as a whole is an error.

Wicca, as practiced today, is certainly divorced from the devil. Whether or not that was the case at it's birth is up for debate, I've seen Gardner photographed in Abrahamic circles, I know there were grimoires in his library. To say he didn't work the Abrahamic tradition, believe in angels, or Christian concepts would be a false statement. Wicca may not have any of that in it as rewritten today, but Gardner seemed to experiment a little.

It was only natural that followers of the Old Religion worship a horned being because most of the animals hunted by these people had horns. Christian's idea of the devil also has horns so it's a natural assumption to make that Wiccans and pagans worship the devil. Of course they don't. I guess the only missing piece of the puzzle here is where did Christian's imagery of the devil come from? Maybe they wanted pagans to convert so they made it look like they were worshipping the devil, or maybe the image originated from somewhere else first and it was merely a coincidence that caused many misunderstandings.

Centuries of brainwashing and propaganda have been the cause of Christians fearing pagans and witches. Many rituals that pagans did to help crops grow or fertility etc were misinterpreted or turned on their head by Christians to get as many people as possible to convert. I mean what tactics would you use if you were told that everyone who doesn't receive Jesus into their hearts will suffer for eternity? You want to saveyour friends and family from eternal damnation, don't you?

I like how Raymond Buckland outlines the history of witchcraft and its conflict with Christianity in his Complete Book of Witchcraft, it's worth a read if you'd like more detail thanwhat I said here.

Yes, I know I'm a little late, but no, we don't worship the Devil. Christians started that myth as a way to get pagan practitioners to drop their craft. Those who refused would be burned alive. Now, this is wrong for millions of reasons, but this is one I particularly want to highlight. One of the 7 DEADLY sins is Wrath. Is burning someone alive not an embodiment of Wrath? I don't really have something much against Christianity, but I hate when Christians say OUR religion is evil, when the bible specifically says "Thou shall not suffer a witch to live" meaning that if someone uses their own power instead of God's power, they should be killed! Wrath again! Now, isn't that rather hypocritical? I'm sick of all this, and I want to say something to all those rude Christians out there- "What WE practice is our concern! Not yours!"

OK, I know my post was rude and slightly, OK, very offensive, but I was having a bad day and was really angry, so I just wanted to apologize. Sorry!

THere are many reasons that Christians will call our practice dark, evil, satanic or what have you. First of all, Christianity is a universal, one true religion sort of gig, much like Islam. Their belief is the only true one and everyone else is on the side of evil. They are also militant religions, meaning that they seek to convert the whole of the world to their beliefs. Coming from Judaism their militancy and hatred of other Gods and religions is understandable, though Judaism is more racial than universal, the thinking is the same. Note also, Christianity is opposed to a vast myriad of things, yoga,kung fu, meditation (unless it is of a Christian bent), fun of all kinds if you will. Heck, they even hate each other, Catholics claim Protestants are devil worshipers and vice versa, Protestants hate each other as not real Christians depending upon your denomination.

The best you can do is just ignore them and go your own way if possible, if not, just keep it to yourself. The Church is on the decline in this day and age and many are trying to find a new way in the world. It will be the end regardless.