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Does the word "church" belong to Christianity?
We tend to refer to Jewish houses of worship as synagogues or temples, Islamic houses as mosques, Hindu houses as temples. It would be odd to refer to these as churches: Jewish church; Muslim church; Hindu church. Yet we apply church to Pagan centers of worship and organizations. Is that a correct use of the word?
I'm pondering this today because I've been reading reports and comments about the raid at the Phoenix Goddess Temple in Arizona over at Get Religion and around the web. In this case, the temple doesn't apply the term church to itself, but many reporters and commentators incorrectly do so (using lots of scare quotes) and then criticize the Phoenix Goddess Temple for not adhering to their definition of church. The popular definition of church actually.
In addition to sex-ed and sex toy classes, the church offered "sessions" to heal sexual blockages for up to $650 a pop, ABC News reported.
And that, cops say, has nothing to do with praising Jesus, or any other higher power.
This New York Daily News reporter is really off base with the Jesus comment, but I think it's a question worth exploring. Should Pagans call their centers and organizations churches?
I call the physical place I worship a temple but that's because the leaders of that group named it Temple.
ReplyDeleteIn my own practice and with my coven, I use "temple" also and that refers to the place we're creating to worship. I think "church" is usually used by organizations that file for some kind of legal status.
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