Post-Religious Stress Syndrome

I've spoken about the Pagan attitude towards Christianity many times; while most of us are pretty cool about the whole issue, there are a few of us who interpret "Pagan" as "anti-Christian," and they can be very harmful to our growing movement. But there's also an exaggerated vision of the Christian Church that affects even those who aren't hostile towards Christians, and that's what I want to talk about now.

The perception of the Christian churches is not surprising, especially when you consider that a large number of us came to Paganism after having left the Christian churches for various reasons, and many more were turned off from ever becoming Christian. In addition, many Christian leaders and organizations have been caught abusing their power and position or turning against the values that they preach, and the media has been very enthusiastic about exposing these people for what they are.

The media has also been diligent in reporting some of the more obnoxious things some Christians do

, ranging from the Southern Baptist Convention's Articles of Faith (reaffirming that a wife should be "subservient" to her husband) to Oral Roberts' claim that God was going to "call him home" if he couldn't raise millions of dollars (leading most of the world wondering when God got into the Protection Racket).

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