A Wiccan Bible - Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland

Liber ab Gens (Book of Tribe)^231

for these rights and we simply will not ignore their great effort on our behalf. We also

know that while Pop-Wicca, McWicca, or WWR (Wicca Without Rules) continues to

be a growing trend, the word that describes our religious Path has received meaning.

While that meaning might not be set in stone word for word, it is certainly enough to

define enough commonalties to call us a tribe.

On Dogma and Doctrine

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.

—Abraham Lincoln

Before we can even begin to talk about finding community, we have to establish

what that community is based on, what we have in common, because that is what com-

munity is. You might have noticed the words are even very similar in appearance. In-

deed, they share the same linguistic root. So what do we have in common?

One Sunday I visited a Catholic and a Protestant church in an effort to discover the

differences between the two. Of those differences, I observed that the greatest were

that Catholics hold mass and Protestants hold services. A priest leads Catholic mass

and a minister leads Protestant services. Catholic mass centers on an altar where a

crucifix is displayed and Protestant services center on a table where a cross is displayed.

So then, this must be why so many have lost their lives in the wars between Catholic and

Protestant.

Catholic priests conduct Mass centered on an altar with a crucifix on it.

Protestant ministers conduct services centered on a table with a cross on it.

Is it really something worth fighting over? Most Pagans would say no. However, in

their desperate attempt to avoid repeating the mistakes of other religions, they are

very quick to fight over that of which we discuss here, dogma and doctrine.

The Dogma of No Dogma

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language offers three definitions

for the word dogma. The first two definitions seem responsible for the bad reputation

this very friendly word has received over the years.

1. A doctrine or corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality
   and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.


2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion,
   especially one considered to be absolutely true. See Synonyms as
   doctrine.


3. A principle of belief or a group of them: “The dogmas of the quiet past
   are inadequate to the stormy present” (Abraham Lincoln).

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