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Effect of the New Religion on the Old No
opponents fight more bitterly and to the death than warring religions. New Religion, Christianity, existed alongside Witchcraft for a while. Many people were content with their old ways and not looking to change. In an effort to appeal to more pagans, the New Religion adopted many of the ancient conventions. One giant step forward for the New Religion came when Pope Gregory (590-604 Common Era) issued instructions to his bishops in Britain that they were to take all pagan temples and consecrate them to the New Religion, installing new altars and rededicating the temple. On the open sites of regular pagan gatherings, new churches were to be built. (Raymond Buckland) Then came the time when some folks got the idea that Christianity should be the only religion and all other religions should be destroyed. Suddenly anything non-Christian became anti-Christian. Persecution began. The Old Religion was lumped together with Satanism (which itself was an offshoot of Christianity, for the older religions had no concept of an all-evil entity such as the Christian devil). This was where the word Witchcraft began to take on a strongly negative meaning when used by people other than the Wiccans themselves. (Raymond Buckland) Suddenly medicinal knowledge of herbs had become dangerous. Divination had become evil, the work of the Devil. In 1486, the Inquisition began with the printing of "Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer)" by German monks Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger. Malleus Maleficarum set forth, as well, many of the modern misconceptions and fears concerning witches and the influence of witchcraft. The questions, definitions, and accusations it set forth in regard to witches, which were reinforced by its use during the Inquisition, came to be widely regarded as irrefutable truth. Those beliefs are held even today by a majority of Christians in regard to practitioners of the modern “revived” religion of Witchcraft, or Wicca. And while the Malleus itself is largely unknown in modern times, its effects have proved long lasting. (Wicasta Lovelace)
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