Aug 5, 2009 -- 1:29AM, jeanette1 wrote:

 

Tom my daughter is a pagan and proud of it. She practiced Wicca for many years but then grew tired of it because of  women and men who wanted to use it as a way to control people. She is a very well educated young woman who is working on her double major in religious studies and anthropology. I think she once told me about trolls..lol.

 

Jeanette, I consider myself a pagan-friendly ex-pagan -- I am still in touch with my former coven mates, some of whom were  hurt when I left. (I did a popular podcast on Wicca, wrote our rituals and was  an elder.)

Jul 1, 2009 -- 11:32PM, Tombrisson wrote:

Does conservative or traditional mean the same as "fundamentalist"? In your view, what's the difference? Is it possible to be a liberal fundamentalist?

I think being a fundamentalist has a lot to do with attitude -- I'm right, you're wrong, "we" are thinkers, "they" are glassy-eyed followers, irrational and just don't get it. 

Sound familiar?

The meaning of "fundamentalist" depends on who is using it. In common parlance, it has come to mean a religious person who is very morally rigid (generally opposed to drinking, dancing, and the like) and very literalistic when it comes to interpretation of Scriptures.

Conservative or traditional is more often, in my mind, associated with being theologically conservative and honoring the traditional practices and theology of one's denomination rather than changing or adapting with every modern whim. Traditional/conservative Christians do not tend to be as literalistic as fundamentalists in their approach to scripture.