The Encyclopedia of World Religions

478 S worship

interpreted as good thoughts). It has colorful RITUALS for the seasons and for getting in touch with nature’s gods and GODDESSES . being closely aligned with the ecological and feminist move ments, Wicca has found a place in the spiritual world of the early 21st century, and many of its adherents identify with the persecuted witches of three or four centuries ago. worship Religious activities directed toward or done in the service of a superior being, such as G OD . Some have defined worship as the human response to an encounter with the “holy” or “sacred.” Worship is an idea and practice that is lim ited in its application. To start with, some religious acts are not directed toward a superior being, so they are not forms of worship. A good example is Buddhist MEDITATION . It simply seeks to cultivate an awareness of the way things are ( see ZAZEN ). Furthermore, the term “worship” seems to imply a certain serious, concentrated attitude of mind. But people often perform religious actions as a matter of rote. For example, a baseball or softball player may make the sign of the cross when she or he comes up to bat. It would be difficult to talk meaningfully about that action as worship, but it is religious. As a result, scholars of religion often avoid the term worship. They prefer to speak of RITUALS instead. But for many who practice religions, wor ship is the best word to describe the most intense and intentional form of religious action. WHO WORSHIPS? People worship privately as individuals. They also worship in a variety of communities. In North America, Jews and Christians form special congre gations that meet on a weekly basis. In many times and places, worship has been largely a family activity, for example, in ancient Greece and Rome and in H INDUISM today. In some countries, religious observance has been a matter of the state; these are countries with established or official religions. For Muslims, the worshipping community is the

modernity, and, in the 16th century, by the R EFOR MATION , a wave of hysteria about witchcraft swept over Europe, lasting till about 1700. In both Catho lic and Protestant countries, persons—almost all women—were accused of witchcraft, unjustly tried, and killed, most commonly by burning ( see J OAN OF A RC ). Children were encouraged to inform against parents, husbands against wives, relatives and neighbors against one another. Witnesses were paid to testify, and professional witchfinders received fees for each suspect they brought in. Then the alleged witches’ confessions were obtained through horrible tortures. Witches were accused of making pacts with the devil, flying through the air on broomsticks, gathering in diabolic covens, hav ing animal “familiars,” and the like. Almost all of this, though it lives on in the popular imagination about witches, was undoubtedly a figment of the witchfinders’ imaginations. The whole dreadful witchhunting mania, which may have numbered a million or more victims, was certainly the result of serious social sickness and mass delirium. One of the last major outbreaks was the famous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Nineteen persons were executed after a group of young girls became hysterical while playing at magic, and the suggestion was made that they had been bewitched. Turning to modern witchcraft, we may note that belief in traditional witchcraft in the sense of ancient magic remains alive in many parts of the world, including India, Africa, and Latin Amer ica. Occasionally there are sill accusations of evil witchcraft, associated with Satanism or devil WOR SHIP , even in the United States. At the same time, a revival of Paganism has grown remarkably as a new religious movement in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere in the last half of the 20th century ( see P AGANISM , M ODERN ). One important wing of this move ment is called Witchcraft or, in a term many of its adherents prefer, “Wicca.” It is a benign movement having nothing to do with Satanism or anything evil. It is centered on belief in the spiritual importance of nature, the equality of men and women, and the power of magic (often