What happened to the witches?

[Blam!]

my good BBQ party is open for nice people regardless of of their religion. Oh, I have all-you-can-drink ales in my BBQ party.

That kinda limits the nice people, doesn't it? Drunks are a stupid nuisance.

Heh. Isn't "BBQ party" a figure of speech for "world"? I was referring "nice" to civilized people, not crazy ones would kill your child if they accuse it as a witch. So what the kind of BBQ party are you interested in, hmm?

[Epimethean]

Every few years, I bring out Leiber's Gather, Darkness, to read and smile again at its wit.

[Ace Otana]

I can assure you that witches exist, my friend... they exist.

Oh yeah, they exist alright. Jess is fucking proof of that.
It's just they're known by another name...total Bitches.

[LarissaAnn]

Maybe even Christian's themselves got tired of being so bloodthirsty so they figured they'd give it a rest...only for a while though.

[Epimethean]

Nah, just transferred the hatred to abortion clinics, evolutionists, and anyone ballsy enough to be an atheist.

[thesummerqueen]

Oh, they still hate witches. The problem is that the country eventually coalesced under secular laws and you can't just go around killing people for suspicious nonsense. Remembering the time before then ought to be reason enough for the rest of us to rise up and slay people like Santorum who'd try to bring it back there.

[kılıç_mehmet]

I was curios as to what realization did people come to back in the witch hunting days that made them stop believing in witches? I know it had to have been a somewhat slow phase-out but the belief seems like it did end rather abruptly. I tried googling and I just couldn't find anything that discussed it. However, I was actually quite surprised how many people still believe this stuff based on my search results.

I was hoping to find something that will help the modern world wake up and grow up out of their fantasies.

I dunno, barbecue, maybe?
Here, they continue to thrive though, especially amongst cigany, lol.

[Doubting Thomas]

I think that sensible Christians eventually woke up and realized (finally joining other sensible people) that there were no real witches, no such thing as black magic, and the people hunted down and killed as witches in this country were all wrongfully accused for some reason or another. If you didn't like your neighbor, it would have been very easy to convince the superstitious townfolk that you saw them practicing witchcraft, just to have them killed. The term "witch hunt" came to mean falsely or unfairly accusing someone of something bad just so you could find a scapegoat to blame for whatever problems are happening.

Unfortunately not all Christians got the memo, and the more fervent believers tend to hold onto the black magic & witchcraft superstition. But I've found in general that it seems that the more religious a person is, the more superstitious they are. I've known fervent believers who are afraid to walk under a ladder or spill salt, not to mention believing that the full moon makes people crazy/affects the birth rate.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

There are still 'witches' but they go by 'Wiccans', and it's nothing like the fundies would have you believe. One of their major tenets is basically 'whatever you do to others, you will recieve nine times over', so they're not exactly bloodthirsty. Far from it. They're more like modern combos of hippies and deists. And from what I hear, the church still tries to make them miserable by taking children and accusing them of crimes with no proof and whatnot.

[kılıç_mehmet]

There are still 'witches' but they go by 'Wiccans', and it's nothing like the fundies would have you believe. One of their major tenets is basically 'whatever you do to others, you will recieve nine times over', so they're not exactly bloodthirsty. Far from it. They're more like modern combos of hippies and deists. And from what I hear, the church still tries to make them miserable by taking children and accusing them of crimes with no proof and whatnot.

Well, Wicca is a religion. When I think of witchcraft, folk practices come to mind.
I've met real witches, but we call them sorcerers instead.
Like the old fortune teller back in İzmir....Some are believed to have djinnis they talk to.

think that sensible Christians eventually woke up and realized (finally joining other sensible people) that there were no real witches, no such thing as black magic, and the people hunted down and killed as witches in this country were all wrongfully accused for some reason or another. If you didn't like your neighbor, it would have been very easy to convince the superstitious townfolk that you saw them practicing witchcraft, just to have them killed. The term "witch hunt" came to mean falsely or unfairly accusing someone of something bad just so you could find a scapegoat to blame for whatever problems are happening.

Really practical. I believe the best way to determine if your neighbor is a witch, is to use scales.
They are certain to uncover her pact with satan.