by Brigid Bishop

Created on: April 16, 2008

Is There Room In Christianity for "Other Beliefs"?

Absolutely.

Christianity is a religion that stems from multiple religions of origin and adopted and adapted Judaic and Pagan rites, rituals and beliefs into it in order to gain acceptance as the religion spread across multiple cultures.

When Christianity spread through the UK it adopted many of the Pagan beliefs and practices of the Pagan inhabitants of that time.

For instance, the Celtic Cross was developed by combining the symbol of the crucifix, on which Christ died, with the symbol of the Sun, as the Pagan religions of the time worshipped the Sun as an entity, a life force and a God.

Our Christian Holidays were moved and shifted around the calendar in order to coincide with Pagan Holidays.

Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Christ, was moved to coincide with the Winter Solstice. Christ was actually born in the spring, not in the winter, the holiday was moved in order to blend the Pagan and the Christian sects.

Christianity is a blend of multiple other beliefs, Christianity cannot exist without accepting and acknowledging the religions that it is based on and in time, absorbed.

The primary condition of Christianity is to "Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You", to love and respect our fellow man, if you are not abiding by this simple guideline, you are not truly being Christian.

I might also note that the Wiccan Rede contains a very similar statement, "Harm None, Do What Ye Will". Doesn't that sound familiar?

Christianity is a blended religion, so it must allow for other beliefs to exist within it, else it ceases to be true Christianity.

As Christ himself was a Jew, we must also accept and realize that Judaism is our parent religion. Jesus established a new sect within the Judaic Culture that was open to Gentile and Jew alike. Each culture that converted to Christianity brought some part of it's history with it and blended it into Christendom.

Think of the Catholic practice of lighting candles during prayer, this was a pagan practice.

The burning of incense during the Catholic Rite of The Mass, again, pagan in origin.

I would be hard pressed to see how anyone could believe that Christianity allows no room for "differing beliefs", as Christianity itself is a melting pot of theology.

Mary the Mother of God is the essence of the Goddesses of old.

The Holy Trinity, the blending of God the Father, God the Son, and God The Holy Spirit, is a multiple God dogma, but presented as a monotheological miracle.

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