By Eugene C. Buie

THE OFFHANDEDNESS OF the editorial on pagans at the U.S. Air Force Academy was disconcerting (“A Shrine of Our Times: The Air Force Academy Goes Pagan,” Feb. 3).

It is unseemly to make fun of things we may not understand, particularly religions chosen and valued by others. That is not a strange thing to say in America where it used to be customary to honor and respect everyone’s “freedom of choice,” especially where religious beliefs and practices are concerned.

Increasingly, Christians feel the sting of suggested irrelevance from secularists who would exclude Christianity and Christian symbolism from public life. We are familiar with restrictions placed on public prayer, Christmas symbolism and even the Ten Commandments.

We steadfastly defend our freedom of expression. Additionally, we are offended by attempts to take this expression away from us. Do we now publicly ridicule this same freedom where others are concerned when they choose to worship gods that Christians or other religions do not accept? 

Consider these words: “No one wants to get hexed or vexed, or whatever happens when Wiccans and Druids don their robes, serenade the owls and prance around their rocks among the Ponderosa Pines. … [S]o the very thought of be-robed witches and warlocks gamboling about the woods and warbling at the Moon may explain why the aspens are quaking.” Cute, but clearly over the top in the category of “dissing” Wiccans and their beliefs.

Certainly there are those who have never known a Wiccan, much less a Druid. However, I do know one who calls herself a Wiccan. She does none of the things described above. Like Christianity, there are many expressions of Wicca, and she is of the type that does not make a public spectacle of her religion. She currently works in the health care industry as a hospital administrator. In the past, she taught special classes in the public school system to rehabilitate gang-bangers. Try that, if you dare.

She was raised in the Catholic Church, but became disillusioned with that belief system. Among other things, she was distressed by stories of the persecutions conducted in the name of Christendom in Europe. In other words, she has reasons for choosing Wicca as her religion.

As a Christian minister, I researched the Wiccan belief system and found it has ties to the ancient worship of nature. People make gods of many things and have done worse. Granted, some kinds of Wiccan worship could be considered evil, but even Christianity carried to extremes can have evil consequences, such as the burnings and executions carried out by the Church during the dark period in its history.

At its roots, paganism began in prehistoric times with the worship of trees that provided food and shelter, such as large oak trees that once covered the Western hemisphere. Over time, the ancients began to attribute spirits to these trees and worship them with the other powers evident in nature. The spirits became associated with sacred groves of trees, and each had its oracle. Gradually, the spirits were personified and named as gods, such as Diana, Zeus and Jupiter. Generally, therefore, pagan gods began as forest spirits and eventually were given the forms that Christians know as idols.

In contrast to the development of gods rooted in Nature, the Judeo-Christian faiths are a revealed religion. Without this distinctive revelation, the Judeo-Christian God would not be known to humankind. The Hebrew Scriptures tell the story of how Jehovah revealed himself to a chosen people, who were supposed to share that revelation with the world. The Christian Scriptures tell the story of how this revelation was expanded through Jesus Christ. 

This transcendent revelation of the “One True God” has competed with the Nature gods from earliest recorded history. Nevertheless, the Christian commission is to simply present the Gospel of Christ to be accepted or rejected. In the end, we all must decide whether to be a child of God or a Pagan or a godless secularist. But for now, we all are entitled to worship as we choose without ridicule.

Mr. Buie lives in Harrisonburg.