I was asked in a prvious thread

About how I could support Lady Gaga being a Satanist as a Christian. First off, the thread was locked and I would just like a chance to respond. Second, I doubt she is a Satanist but what if she is? As I have come to understand it, satanism is actually a pretty beautiful religion with roots in paganism. You want to know what other religion has roots in paganism? Christianity. From Christmas trees to Easter eggs, Christianity has borrowed plenty form paganism.

Here is my take as to why this is all ok. Religion has been told and retold from various viewpoints from the beginning of time. I will never tell anyone, atheist, Muslim, Satanist, Jewish, Hindu, Wiccan, Buddhist and what have you that they are wrong. That's not what religion is to me. To me, religion or lack thereof is a personal experience. It is how we understand the world. It is how we cope. I would never tell anyone how to do that.

I recently joined my minister wife's church which is UCC. I have been conflicted about religion for a very long time. I grew up in the buckle of the bible belt as a Presbyterian where we were deemed not worthy by everyone else who was Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, Pentacostal, evangelical, etc. Friends would constantly ask me to attend their churches where they could "save me" .

That soured me a lot on religion for a very long time. In college I stopped going all together and decided to never look back. At that same time, little to my knowledge, I would meet my future wife. A little over 10 years later we reconnected and to my disbelief, she was a minister. We lived states apart at that time. We talked about my misgivings of religion and she suggested that I try out a service at a UCC church. It was the only one in town that had a pride flag displayed outside. I was shocked by the love and inclusiveness I found there.

Fast forward two years later. And here I am, married to the best lady I know. A minister. And what I love about the new church I joined is that they love and accept everyone. Straight, bi, queer, white, black, I mean whatever. They also have close ties with other religions as well. And what ultimately got me to join was the fact that the doctrine of the UCC church leaves it to every church to believe what they want. Yes there is a governing body, but not one that says you must believe this or that. They want you to believe what you believe.

So what do i believe? That there is good and evil in the world. Do I believe that Satan will drag me to hell because I married a woman? Nope. Do I believe that Satan is a fallen angel who delights in people worshipping him? Nope. I believe that evil is a human component that we need to still figure out. But hopefully we will. I also believe that love wins. Every single time. We need more love in this world for sure, but we can't blame religion every time it fails. There is plenty of bad theology in the world. But I hope everyone can see there is good as well.