Let Us Teach Not Preach

My fellow followers of Earth-centered religious (Paganism, Wicca, Witchcraft, Druidism, and the like);

I have found myself browsing social networking and other blogging forums and dicovered a degrading attitude among some of us toward those new or still fresh in these faith systems. This is my plea to those of you who feel it necessary to correct others based on your "knowledge": Let us Teach not Preach.

 We are a group of people whose purpose is to accept and love others, even if they turn their backs to us or knock us down because we are all creatures in Nature and She is a part of us. We are a minority group, who need to constantly learn and grow (I've met many High Priests and High Priestesses who still learn something new every day) in order to maintain one-ness with Mother Earth.

We must teach those new to our various spiritual paths, and accept differences in belief between our various paths. No two pagans believe exactly the same thing-- no two witches worship the same deities in the same way. What I love about Earth-centered paths of spiritual enlightenment, you can mold a set of core ideals to not only fit your lifestyle, but your personal moral ideals.

And if there must be bickering in the ranks, let it not be to give someone new to the faiths a poor taste in their mouths of our chosen spiritualities. Let it not be to argue minor points and always try to be right above others different than us. This is not what our Goddess hold in highest regard.

Why don't those willing to persecute become Christians so they may bicker the technicalities and try to prove themselves right over all others in a religion where this behavior has been accepted? It is not accepted in the Earth-Centered community, and it should never be.