I happened to click on a link, and found a reference to the tremendous growth of paganism. The pagan adherents (self-identified) numbered around 8,000 in 1990, but by 2008, were a staggeringly high 340,000.
That, for those not adept at math, amounts to a growth of 42 TIMES the number, less than 20 years before.
Now, a certain amount of that number - let’s take an off-the-cuff guess at 1/2 (170.000) - were likely not all that serious about actually practicing pagan religions. They just wanted to jump on a bandwagon (much like kids do with fan-idolization of the band of the moment).
But, a fair number are at least vaguely interested in paganism, as they had little grounding in any of the more orthodox religions, whether Christianity, Hinduism, or Judaism (or other religions/sects).
Funnily, many who sneer at Catholicism’s '‘smells and bells’ - the physical practices that are allied with spiritual prayers - are completely on board with magical candles/burning of plants/oils, chanting (but NOT Gregorian-type!), and fasting/abstention from certain foods, either permanently or for a set time.
To deprecate Christianity’s alleged hostility to science - Good.
To point out the beliefs/practices that are not scientifically based, in Pagan religions - Bad. VERY Bad.
Some of the younger people interested in Pagan worship have - literally - NO IDEA that the current tolerance, if not encouragement, of their spiritual choice is not because The Left is for it, but because they hope to use its growth to destroy Christianity.
Anti-science and illogical thinking is the easy, default choice. It appeals to people in the same way that betting on the lottery does. It purports to solve their problems, offer shortcuts to temporal success, and painlessly guide them to Earthly Paradise.
None of those will happen. Even the lottery winners so often end up broke-ass (or worse) again, after a short duration of Spending Bliss.
And, they, too, will find their Pagan practices are of no used, when - not IF - they come to what has been called The Dark Night of the Soul.
Despair and pain are normal for most of us, at some point in our lives. For some, the agony will linger for years, if not decades. For others, it is an experience that, after meandering through the hard times, shapes their future (sometimes for good, other times, for worse).
Christianity doesn’t look for shortcuts. Its parent religion, Judaism, teaches that in life, there WILL be suffering. In the Book of Job, it is made clear that some of that suffering may be undeserved by anything the person has done.
In both Christianity and Judaism, regardless of the vicissitudes of Life, believers are told to take comfort in the unvarying Love of God for them.
What counts is not what happens to YOU. What counts is how you behave - is it according to the Commandments of God, or in ways that attempt to mitigate your pain?
Christianity is not an easy religion to follow. It requires some sacrifice of self, denial of pleasure, and humility. By following its guidelines, and working to align your life with God’s plan for you, you become a better version of your flawed self.
The original article (linked from Instapundit), is here. Please click on the link, as it gives a coherent and succinct explanation of what Paganism is, and why you should discourage it. I can strongly recommend the book by Saint Augustine, The City of God (ebook version available at link) - Part II is available at this link - I’ve read both, and it makes great bedtime reading:
Pressed to explain to his readers why Rome had been sacked by the Visigoths so shortly after embracing Christianity, Augustine wrote his famous treatise, The City of God. Its full title? De civitate Dei contra paganos, or The City of God Against the Pagans. The latter, he opined elsewhere, had delivered unto mankind nothing but a “hissing cauldron of lusts” that have so spoiled our souls and driven us so far from God that the downfall was imminent. The moral stain of Augustine’s description stuck, and it often colors both our historical vision and the observation that “pagan” describes a dizzying array of peoples and beliefs—from the Slavic tribes who believed that the sky god Perun had beget all other deities that control nature to the Germanic peoples and their complex mythology of giants, dwarves, elves, and dragons, familiar to us from Wagner’s operas.
Read the whole thing - I promise you will not be disappointed.