The “God Squad” column in yesterday’s Buffalo News tackles the problem of minority faiths being harassed by Christians. In this instance a Wiccan asks for advice from Rabbi Marc Gellman on how to deal with Christians who yell and say she’s hell-bound. Rabbi Gellman starts off with some very good and empathetic advice.

“Wiccans are not Satanists, so you’re right to be frustrated by the prejudice of your tormentors. I know what it feels like to be told by Christians that I’m going to hell because I don’t accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It can sting. When I am castigated, I first try to understand that what seems to me to be a denial of my right to make my own religious choices is to my critics a way of sharing the gospel (lit: Good News) of the risen Christ. I also remind myself that most of those who attack my faith don’t really know it, know me, or have Jewish friends. Their condemnations arise from some cartoon fantasy of Judaism, just as condemnation of your religion stems from the common belief that Wiccans are a bunch of witches (true) and that witches are green-faced hags who ride brooms and control armies of flying monkeys (false).”

But sadly, Rabbi Gellman then feels the need to be “balanced” by defending confused/ignorant Christians and  pointing out how very, very, similar Wicca and Satanism are.

“However, you must admit that the lines between Satanism and Wicca can appear blurry even to objective outside observers. For example, both Satanists and Wiccans use a pentagram with a circle around (the pentacle) as their symbol— for Wiccans, the upright pentagram with the single point up, and for the Satanists, the inverted pentagram with the single point of the star is down. Both have similar moral maxims. According to Aleister Crowley, the Satanist behavioral code is, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” The Wiccan code (called the Wiccan Rede) is similar but clearly better: “And it harm none, do what thou wilt.” Satanists perform black magic and Wiccans white magic, but both perform magic. Magic is the assumption that God’s powers can become a person’s powers through incantations and rituals. Wiccans worship a goddess and a god. Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian nature force and not as the nasty biblical tormentor. From the perspective of Judaism, Christianity and Islam Wicca is a limited religious idea because it limits the divine to nature. God in the Abrahamic faiths is distinct from nature, and in fact, created the natural world. Therefore, Wicca is seen as a type of pantheism, or in biblical terms, idolatry. It’s specifically rejected in Deuteronomy 18:10.”

Oh my, where to begin. Let’s see, despite popular Christian claims, Aleister Crowley wasn’t a Satanist, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” is a truncated and often misunderstood maxim (and isn’t some sort of universal Satanic moral maxim), and large portions of modern Satanic thought aren’t theistic. Further, it would be far more accurate to say that a larger number of Wiccans are panentheistic rather than pantheistic, a subtle but important difference. Finally, it is somewhat strange to see a Rabbi lecturing a Wiccan looking for advice as to what her religion is and isn’t.

I’m not saying that modern Satanism doesn’t share some superficial similarities with Wicca, only that the two are different enough that only the truly/willfully ignorant could accurately conflate the two. I’m very glad that Rabbi Gellman was empathetic and kind to the Wiccan who wrote in looking for advice, but I’m sad that the Rabbi couldn’t resist the impulse to defend his fellow monotheists instead of rightly condemning their impolite and harassing behavior.