A 21st Century Witch Trial
By Phil Wyman |
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My name is Phil Wyman. I live in the city infamous for the Witch
Trials of 1692-1693. It is as equally famous for housing thousands of
Witches, and Neo-Pagans today. It is also the destination for half a
million people each October, and home to the event called Haunted
Happenings - a month long Halloween celebration. I live in Salem,
Massachusetts. I love it here, and that has probably landed me in the
trouble I've had over the last year.
My trouble started with an innocent photo. It ended with a certified
letter which coldly stated, "This letter serves as a notice that both
your ministry credentials, and your ministry's non-profit status with
(insert denomination here) have concluded." The point of contention
was this: I had made friends with Witches - real live spell casting,
polytheistic (sometimes agnostic), Tarot reading, communicating with
the dead Witches.
I have friends who are Witches, Druids, Shaman, and occultists of
varying Neo-Pagan traditions. I pastor a church called The Gathering
in Salem, MA, and as a church we have made a decision to love
Neo-Pagans and treat them like anyone else. Because our city is famous
for Witches, I have Pagan friends across the country, and in other
nations as well.
October in Salem, MA is a parade of visitors, vendors, and Witches.
These are not only costume witches, but the Neo-Pagan occultists who
live here trade their wares and skills, or come from afar to celebrate
their Samhain in our infamous little city.
October 2004 I was preparing the music stage which our little church
sponsors for the city. Some of my Witch friends passed by dressed in
the full garb of the season looking as witchy as possible. With them
was a Vampire actress they brought into town for the festivities. I
hopped off the stage, ran to meet them, and greeted the 'Countess'
dressed in her darkly Victorian voluptuous costume. Halloween brings
out the silliness in everyone in Salem, and so she held out her hand in
typical Victorian formality. I took her hand, bowed, pretending to
kiss her hand, and told the Countess it was a pleasure to meet her.
Someone snapped a couple photos. I laughed, said, "Don't get me in any
trouble with those," and ran back up to the stage.
A year later, a local Pentecostal pastor saw my picture on a Pagan
website greeting the Vampiress - photos I had forgotten. He gathered a
small group of local pastors to inquire of the issue. No one told me
why I was invited to talk with them, they just gathered around me and
began to ask insinuating questions such as, "Have you heard the phrase
'fellowshipping with darkness' before?"
One of the local ministers put the prayer gossip chain into action, and
word made it to my District Supervisor.
So it was that on October 12, 2005 I received an e-mail from my
District Supervisor. It was a letter addressed to me. It came without
warning. He did not speak to me individually. He did not come with
another brother. He simply sent an e-mail. 27 false, and exaggerated
accusations later, I got to the bottom of the letter, and I realized
that this was sent to all the District leadership, and up the ladder to
higher denominational leadership. In a single keystroke I was tagged
as "aberrant" among the denomination's leaders.
The letter summoned me to a meeting. Six days later, with no sleep, we
met with the District council. We brought 55 pages of refutation of
the absurd claims made by a man who had never seen our outreach, never
visited our church, and had only weeks previous lauded me before a
District Conference as having the most "cutting edge evangelism" in
America today.
My wife Bev, our assistant pastor with his wife, and I sat before a
meeting of our peers. The letter had done irreparable harm. For three
hours we were grilled like heretics before the Grand Inquisitor. 45
minutes was devoted to answering the question, "How could you be
friends with Witches?" The four of us from The Gathering wondered
among ourselves, "How could we not be friends with Witches?" Our
documentation was rejected, and set to the side only to be viewed by
District leaders at their pleasure later. The meeting ended with
personal attacks challenging me on issues such as how many times I used
the name Jesus during the meeting, how high I lifted my hands for
worship during the District conference, and suggesting that I was
learning to speak Welsh because it was the language of the Druids.
It was March 24th, 2006, after two appeals which received no
representation, and yielded no opportunity to defend ourselves - we
were tossed from the denomination. Not even knowing they were deciding
our fate at the National Board meeting, I was ousted on March 8th, and
sent a certified letter 16 days afterwards.
Apparently being a friend of Witches is a topic just too hot to handle.
Strangely enough, as all this was happening, a foundation connected to
our denomination gave us a grant to expand our work in Salem among
Neo-Pagans.
I wish I could say that this is an isolated tale, but it is not.
Prejudice among evangelicals concerning Neo-Pagans is deep, and wide
with exaggerated stories fed to us by lying evangelists who have spun
hairy tales of evil Satan worshiping Witches to feed their greed, and
passion for fame.
I have come to discover that many Neo-Pagans are honest pursuers of
spirituality who have been disenfranchised by Christianity, and have
found a place of refuge in a wildly alternative spiritual community.
They are my friends still, and after having spent a year battling the
superstition of our own denomination, our small local church has
experienced the persecution directed toward Neo-Pagans by today's
Christians, and we have discovered that some of those Pagans have been
truer friends than the Christian friends we thought we knew.
Is this the state of Pentecostal, and Evangelical Christianity today?
I hope not, but my experience tells me otherwise. Are we really all
that distant from the superstitions which fed the Witch trials of
1692-1693? Our experience says no, but there is hope. A group is
gathering around us who understand the mission to reach the furthest
edges of our society, and they are found in small pockets all around
the globe.
Our story was told on the front page of the Wall Street Journal this
last Halloween, as well as in a number of community newspapers across
the US. It can be accessed at these here.
Phil Wyman pastors a church in Salem, MA called The Gathering. He's spent many years understanding non-Christian religious groups, particularly Neo-Pagans, and is in the process of developing a troup of leaders to reach our postmodern world through festival outreach like they've done it in Salem. He blogs here |
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Phil, Just found your article. I find both the ministry and the response of your denomination interesting, to say the least. I hope and pray that you will continue to minister to the friends you have made among the Neo-Pagans and with the blessings of a larger Christian community. Interestingly enough, I live in eastern NC, and one of the centers of Wicca is just a short distance from us: New Bern. We have a Wiccan community in our rural county, and I would love to learn how you made inroads into that community. Thanks for any help you can send. Mike
Ann,
Thanks! If you need some help learning to reach out to Pagans, we have a discussion list which has Pagans and Christians talking at www.salemgathering.com It can be found by following links about Pagans and Witches.
Steve,
I just caight your words now, and I wnted to say thanks for the encouragement. Your capitalized "AND" is a good word, it can be easier to love the Pagan these days, than the Pharisee.
I am so amazed...not at the churches actions, which I am sorry for, but the willingness to reach out to those who are considered the ultimate outcasts by the modern church. I have recently found myself in relationship with some pagans, and to hear of your work is so encouraging to me...I look forward to hearing more from you!
Steve,
I can't thank you enough for your encouragement. Every person who hears our story, and sends blessing our way is part of the salve of healing to our hearts. Your words are kind, and gracious.
Yes it is true, that we can expect to walk the Via Delorosa with Jesus.
pob bendithau i ti, (all blessings to you) Phil
So...this coming Sunday (January 21) the Gospel reading is in Luke. Jesus has been doing good things in his ministry, and everyone is praising him to high heaven. He gets invited home to read and preach. And so he does. And he preaches from Isaiah, you know the passage - where all the scum of the earth are beloved in God's eyes, and are part of "THE PLAN"? And Jesus says, "That's what I'm all about...and the witches of Syria are as precious as all of you." (Cherie's Paraphrased Verison). And then, if it hadn't been for some pretty mysterious escape, Jesus would have been stoned to death by the homefolks (read: his own denomination...)
Sounds like, Phil, you are in some pretty good company. The stoners will always be among us... ;-] Be strong and be of good faith. I deeply appreciate your work.
Jenelle,
Well met again! I love your phrase "forgive and heal loudly in his heart." That is something required greatly now. On one hand I am being taken back through the story due to a renewed interest in it, and yet I must tell it with grace. The tensions of this paradoxical life we live!
Grace atcha!
I've been following Pastor Phil on his blog for about a month now, and I'm terribly challenged by his ability to listen and live missionally. I refer to him as my blog friend who is "going to where the witches are," for the sake of the gospel. I worked with Young Life for a handful of years, and we'd say that "we're going to where the teenagers are" to understand them and their world. This is the incarnational living that Phil is sold out to. I pray that he can forgive and heal loudly in his heart.
Jade,
Andd here I thought that self-examination was at the heart of the Gospel. Where did we get it wrong - you and I?
Thanks for your good words.
Steve,
The same struggles in the human activity of religion just cycle themselves from one generation to the next, and we repeat our errors - don't we? I figure the best we can do is to avoid becoming what we are the victims of, and that takes great effort of heart.
Thanks bro
John and James - thanks for popping in and saying hi. I look forward to working with both of you more.
Phil, thank you for sharing your story with us. Your cutting-edge missional work and love among the spiritual subcultures of Salem provides an example for others to emulate. I count it a privilege to have you as a friend and ministry colleague. I look forward to future collaborative efforts.
In ancient Jewish tradition, the sharing of a meal held deep significance. It signified fellowship, friendship and a special sort of intimacy. When Jesus came to Zaccheus the tax collector, he told him, "I MUST stay at your house today." [emphasis mine] God himself ate and drank with common people, with sinners, with tax collectors. And he was scoffed for it. Any denomination that casts out its own for following in the footsteps of Jesus needs to examine itself gravely.
Our house church has had the privilege of working with Phil and the Gathering for over 3 years now, especially during Halloween time. I can honestly tell you these guys do superb work in simply loving others and building relationships. The city of Salem loves Phil for the time he invests in it's people. Can't think of a better way to share the love of Christ.
My heart ached as I read your article. I'm so sorry that you, your wife and co-workers had to go through this experience. But I have to agree with your assessment that experience tells us that this truly is the state of the evangelical church today. It's prejudiced against not only Neo-Pagans but virtually everyone who doesn't fit its narrow definiton of "the redeemed" and anyone who is reaching out to them through genuine friendship and love. It's sad at best and Pharasaical at worst, but it is the nature of the beast at the present time. But as I read your article I was also reminded of Jesus' challenge to His disciples in Matthew 10 that just as He was accused of working for the devil rather than God, His followers would also face similar charges. The ones making that accusation were usually the religious leaders and the same is true today. So be encouraged, the trouble and persecution you're experiencing serves as a badge of authenticity from our Lord. Keep loving the Neo-Pagans AND the misguided folks who are accusing you, because that's the heart of Jesus.
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Thanks! If you need some help learning to reach out to Pagans, we have a discussion list which has Pagans and Christians talking at www.salemgathering.com It can be found by following links about Pagans and Witches.
I just caight your words now, and I wnted to say thanks for the encouragement. Your capitalized "AND" is a good word, it can be easier to love the Pagan these days, than the Pharisee.
I can't thank you enough for your encouragement. Every person who hears our story, and sends blessing our way is part of the salve of healing to our hearts. Your words are kind, and gracious.
Yes it is true, that we can expect to walk the Via Delorosa with Jesus.
pob bendithau i ti, (all blessings to you) Phil
Sounds like, Phil, you are in some pretty good company. The stoners will always be among us... ;-] Be strong and be of good faith. I deeply appreciate your work.
Well met again! I love your phrase "forgive and heal loudly in his heart." That is something required greatly now. On one hand I am being taken back through the story due to a renewed interest in it, and yet I must tell it with grace. The tensions of this paradoxical life we live!
Grace atcha!
Andd here I thought that self-examination was at the heart of the Gospel. Where did we get it wrong - you and I?
Thanks for your good words.
The same struggles in the human activity of religion just cycle themselves from one generation to the next, and we repeat our errors - don't we? I figure the best we can do is to avoid becoming what we are the victims of, and that takes great effort of heart.
Thanks bro