-Update- About A Possible Cult In Baraboo

[AlumniClub]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


For other uses, see Witch (disambiguation)

The term witchcraft (and witch) is a controversial one with a complicated history. Used with entirely different contexts, and within entirely different cultural references, it can take on distinct and often contradictory meanings. Each culture has its own particular body of concepts dealing with magic, religion, benevolent and harmful spirits, and ritual; and these ideas do not find obvious equivalents in other cultures.

Sometimes witchcraft is used to refer, broadly, to the practice of magic, and has a connotation similar to sorcery. Depending on the values of the community, witchcraft in this sense may be regarded with varying degrees of suspicion and hostility, or with ambivalence, being neither intrinsically good nor evil. Members of some religions have applied the term witchcraft in a pejorative sense to refer to all magical or ritual practices other than those sanctioned by their own doctrines, though this has become less common, at least in the Western world. According to some religious doctrines, all forms of magic are labeled witchcraft, and are either proscribed or treated as superstitious. Such religions consider their own ritual practices to be not at all magical, but rather simply variations of prayer.

Witchcraft is also used to refer, narrowly, to the practice of magic in an exclusively inimical sense. If the community accepts magical practice in general, then there is typically a clear separation between witches (in this sense) and the terms used to describe legitimate practitioners. This use of the term is most often found in accusations against individuals who are suspected of causing harm in the community by way of supernatural means. Belief in witches of this sort have been common among the indigenous populations of the world, including Africa, Asia and the Americas. On occasion such accusations have led to witch hunts.

Under the monotheistic religions of the Levant (primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), witchcraft came to be associated with heresy, rising to a fever pitch among the Catholics, Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Late Medieval/Early Modern period. Throughout this time, the concept of witchcraft came increasingly to be interpreted as a form of Devil worship. Accusations of witchcraft were frequently combined with other charges of heresy against such groups as the Cathars and Waldensians.

In the modern Western world, witchcraft accusations have often accompanied the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria. Such accusations are a counterpart to blood libels of various kinds, which may be found throughout history across the globe.

Recently, witchcraft has taken on a distinctly positive connotation among Wiccans and other Neopagans as the ritual element of their religious beliefs.

A great deal of confusion and conflict has arisen from attempts by one group or another to canonize their particular definition of the term.

[AlumniClub]

Buddhism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by many as a religion. Buddhism gradually spread from India throughout Asia to Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as to East Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan.

With approximately 560 million followers, Buddhism is considered a major world religion.

The aim of Buddhist practice is to end the suffering of cyclic existence, samsara (Pāli, Sanskrit), by awakening the practitioner to the realization of true reality, the achievement of liberation (nirvana). To achieve this, one should purify and train the mind and act according to the laws of karma, of cause and effect: perform positive actions, and positive results will follow, and vice versa.

Buddhist morality is underpinned by the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Mental training focuses on moral discipline (sila), meditative concentration (samadhi), and wisdom (prajñā).

While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgment to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual.

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Satan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Satan (disambiguation).


Satan (שָׂטָן Standard Hebrew Satan, Latin Sátanas, Tiberian Hebrew Śāṭān; Aramaic שִׂטְנָא Śiṭnâ: both words mean "Adversary; accuser") is an angel, demon, or minor god in many religions. Satan plays various roles in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha and the New Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, Satan is an angel that God uses to test man for various reasons usually dealing with his level of piety (i.e. the test in the Book of Job). In the Apocrypha and New Testament, Satan is portrayed as an evil, rebellious demon who is the enemy of God and mankind. These two ideals are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

In modern Abrahamic religions and other various mythology, Satan is generally viewed as a preternatural entity who is the central embodiment of evil. Satan is also commonly known as the Devil (Latin Diábolus, Diaboli, from Greek Diabolos), the "Prince of Darkness," Beelzebub (direct translation is Lord of the Flies), Belial, Mephistopheles, or Lucifer. In the Talmud and some works of Kabbalah Satan is sometimes called Samael; however most Jewish literature is of the opinion that Samael is a separate angel. In the fields of angelology and demonology these different names sometimes refer to a number of different angels and demons, and there is significant disagreement as to whether any of these entities is actually evil.

In Islam, the role of the primary demon who seduces Adam and Eve is laid upon Iblis, on whose origin the Quran does not elaborate. By refusing to prostrate himself before Adam as Allah commanded him to do, he was cast from the grace of Allah and was sent to earth along with Adam and Eve, where he vowed to lure as much as possible of their offspring into sin and hence make them worthy of accompanying him to Hell, where he was destined after doomsday, in order to prove that Man was not better than he was.

[AlumniClub]

Christianity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. It is the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.1 billion adherents, or about one-third of the total world population. It shares with Judaism the Hebrew Scriptures (called the Old Testament by Christians), and is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion, along with Judaism and Islam.

The names "Christian" and hence "Christianity" are first attested in Acts 11:26, "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians (Gr. χριστιανους)".

Christianity encompasses numerous religious traditions that widely vary by culture and place, as well as many diverse beliefs and sects. Since the Reformation, Christianity is usually represented as being divided into three main branches:

1. Catholicism -- includes the Roman Catholic Church, the largest coherent group, with over one billion baptized members, as well as certain splinter groups (e.g., the Old Catholic Church) which either reject the pope, or recognize a different pope;
2. Eastern Christianity (includes the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East), with over two hundred million baptized members;
3. Protestantism (including Anglicanism, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Anabaptist, Evangelicalism, Charismatics and Pentecostalism)--numerous denominations and schools of thought, with just over five hundred million members altogether.


This leaves 158 million Independents (unaffiliated with the major streams of Christianity), as well as 31.7 million belonging to other groups with less clear status (including Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons). (Source: Adherents.com [1])

These broad divisions are not equally uniform. On the contrary, some branches encompass vast disagreements, and in other cases the division overlooks existing sympathies. But this is the convenient standard overview of distinctions, especially as Christianity has been viewed in the Western world.

A more comprehensive overview would show more complicated relationships among denominations and traditions. Among various disparate groups, this would include categorizing the Miaphysite Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East (the so-called Nestorian Church) as branches distinct from "Chalcedonian Christianity" (including Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and most forms of Protestantism). On the other hand, grouped according to cultural similarities rather than concilar positions, the Eastern Catholic or "Unitate" churches surely belong together with all the Orthodox churches.

Groups with restorationist beliefs – including the Churches of Christ, some Anabaptists, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and others – sometimes regard themselves as entirely separate from Protestantism, with which they have often been included.

The Churches of the Anglican Communion speak of themselves as following a "via media," a "middle way," between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and therefore are also often listed separately. One sometimes reads of a "liturgical family" including Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. At the same time, Anglicanism encompasses "Anglo-Catholic" and "Evangelical" wings as well as what we might call "culturally Christian" members, and thus finds itself pulled in several directions simultaneously.

A number of groups hold that the branches of Christianity presented above devolved from the original church instituted and founded by Christ as a result of a Great Apostasy. These groups, although historically founded many centuries after the death of Jesus, claim direct theological descent from the original Church portrayed in the New Testament or claim a complete restoration directly from Christ of the origninal Church. Examples would include the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (also called Mormons), the Church of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgians), Jehovah's Witnesses, the 7th day Church of God groups, the Christadelphians, and the "Jesus only" or "oneness" Pentecostals.

These groups are considered heretical or even "non-Christian" by many of the mainstream Christian groups, on account of their deviation from tenets considered basic by mainstream Christianity, such as the doctrine of the Trinity. At the same time, in some ways these groups arguably reflect the teachings and practices of Jesus and/or the early church more closely than the Christian mainstream.

[AlumniClub]

Cult
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult for more info

This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult (religion). See Cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult".

In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. Its marginal status may come about either due to its novel belief system or because of its idiosyncratic practices.

However, in common usage, "cult" has a negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group by its opponents, for a variety of possible reasons.

[roger_mary]

People in that religion worship budda and even if someone doesn't, its still about doing it your own way and not giving your life over to God and seeking his will..and even if they are ok with that, it still says you can just
follow your -own- path which isn't right..there is -A- path you must follow, not whereever and its always right simply because you chose that road...
If I wanted to get to walmart, I know there are certain roads I gotta take to get there, now I can try other roads other then those and no matter how hard I believe and desire it to lead me to walmart...it wont...you got to get on the the right Path not whatever one you want.
Also I can compare alot of religions and things to that of what a child molestor is like, its not just buddism and I know there has been that in the catholic church..all I'm saying is pointing out that it doesn't matter how many people follow that religion or thing, or because some things are good..that doesn't mean you should follow it if the root of it is evil.
Alot of people thought it was fine to live in New Orleans even though its below sea level, just because so many people -believed- they would be safe, that didn't make them right as we all know and its the same with buddism.
Also I did not as you said..call buddhists child molestors..I was simply saying how the -religion- looks nice like a child molestor may first be nice but his heart is evil, just like the religion's root is evil.
You also mentioned that I shouldn't discredit the religion simply because religions take faith...well I have went to belieiving in Christanity to knowing its the way wether you agree with me or not, so what I know is if you choose some path other then the -way- that God says you must come through Jesus, then I know if you don't turn to Jesus you will go to hell..so because I care, I'm not going to lead people to the slaughter by agreeing that there religion is ok when its not the way ta heaven.
...and again we are just talking here right, no hard feelings... and feel free to say whatever you want..I don't want to debate though thats just a waste of time, but if you need something cleared up, questions or whatever thats fine by me.

[andy]

No, I don't need anything cleared up

I was raised Christian and I pretty much know what it's all about, good and bad.

[Crys]

That's not a good analogy for you to try to use to prove your point because yes in fact you can take any of six or ten roads to get to most WalMarts, PickNSaves, Targets, etc, etc, and the best way to get there depends on where you're starting from.

It is a fact that monotheism is only about half of the world's religion, Christianity about a third of that number, and your particular sect (whichever one it is) an even smaller number. Don't you think it's a little presumptious to claim you have a monopoly on truth in an arena where there is no provable fact, only hope and supposition? You might well be right. I might be right (I'm polytheistic). The Wiccans, or the Buddhists, or the Shinto or the Native American religions or anyone else might be right. Most likely, either the atheists are right or absolutely every person on the planet is wrong, but that's a debate for a different time.

The fact is, we can't know. There is no way to independently verify the existence of any god or spirit. You can verify that the earth is round and orbits the sun. That's the sort of statement you can unequivocally state is right or wrong because it's provable. You can't do the same with _any_ religion.

Narrow minded condemnation of other people's beliefs is about 85% of the root of all the problems we face in the world. If you want to believe in Heaven and a single god and it makes you happy, go ahead. But to claim that all other religions are evil because they don't conform to your opinion is wrong.

A very well written opinion piece on the subject of freedom of religion is here: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/15/090031.php

[roger_mary]

I don't think its wrong at all because God says to preach the truth and you can go from belieiving to knowing God by having a relationship with Him through Jesus.
So people can get offended all they want and believe as they will, but I'm not going to pat anyone on the back who rejects the truth of Jesus and say.."its ok whatever path you -want- to be right is good enough." when infact its not, but I can't convince anyone of the truth, they need to take a step of faith inorder to find out here on earth that God is real that Jesus does hook you up with the Father..just like if you want to get to know someone personally, well your not going to get that relationship if your doubtful of what they are like so you never approach them and build the relationship to find out...Someone who knows them can say they are a nice person and so on, but you wont know if its bull or not untel you take a step of faith and get to know that person yourself...so get to know God through Jesus by accepting and confessing with your mouth to Him that He did die for your sins and was raised from the dead in order that we might know our heavenly Father personally now here on earth and someday enter heaven.

[AlumniClub]

Originally Posted by Crys

If you want to believe in Heaven and a single god and it makes you happy, go ahead. But to claim that all other religions are evil because they don't conform to your opinion is wrong.

I agree 100%

Amen!

Nothing further here, but to say this thread sure is way off base from talk of cults and gangs?
RedRaven

[Judy]

May I add a comment to this thread, the word CULT is often confused with OCCULT. We are all in the cult of earth, welcome!

My 3 sons today are healthy productive adults - 2 of them grew up playing D & D, vampire etc.

I dropped in where they played, to see for myself and met some of the most intellectual and free thinking, family oriented and fun people - quite a surprise! My fear of the unknown was unfounded. They were creative and communicative, always on the go and not wasting time in front of the TV. A very nice cult.

My sons informed me, there were only a select few who used drugs in order to play the occult. They stuck with their own, hiding and moving like ghosts shaking chains. Psychotropic drug users are prone to suicide/murder due to effects of the drugs they use, not the fact they play the games.

[Crys]

Judy - my son plays D&D too. I'm so proud because he's only 11 and he's already running demos for adults and teens at his local gaming store. The first time I ever heard him read something was out of my 3rd. ed. D&D Players Handbook, which I thought was pretty hysterical. I don't get to see him or talk to him very often but when I do, it's good to have something in common that we can talk about (gaming!).

I agree that cult and occult tend to be confused. Occult is also a terribly misused word, though. It just means "that which is hidden". It applies equally to god-does-miracles religions and to the dark evil secret sacrifical cults that people think are everywhere that in reality practically do not exist. Anything which we do not understand can correctly be labelled "occult".

Also, I wanted to point out a couple factual errors in this thread. I hesitate to do so because I don't want this to turn into a referendum on Buddhism; I just picked that as an example early on because it was the most enlightened religion I could think of. 1) Buddhists do not worship Buddha. They view him more the way Christians think of Moses or Elijah. 2) Buddhists did indeed start a rebellion in Japan, so they don't qualify as the "only religion never to start a war".

RedRaven: I don't think we've travelled off topic at all. The topic is a group of gamers who dress differently and play card games being labelled as scary evil cultists. Anything that contributes to the understanding of what any of those things are or are not is on topic.

[Chucknsue]

They have never declared war on anyone!
Unlike the christians, jews and muslums of the world