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<blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 7998486" data-attributes="member: 18182">Being a &quot;cultist&quot; is not quite the same thing as being interested in the occult, or even being an &quot;occultist&quot;. Technically, a cult is nothing more than a small religion with few followers that sits outside mainstream religions. The term certainly has a pejorative connotation, and certainly some specific cults have been very dangerous for their own members (but rarely society at large, really). Every major religion today had its beginnings as a &quot;cult&quot; and were treated poorly by the established major religions of their time.The occult is a vague term but most often refers to the Western esoteric traditions of European culture including hermetic magic, alchemy, kabbalism, and other mystic practices that have in common they are not Christian in origin. Occult beliefs and practices are not evil and are not dangerous. They are simply different. Whether they are &quot;real&quot; or not is a question similar to, &quot;Is Christian belief real?&quot; It is a matter of individual faith.The occult is closely tied to European and Mediterranean mythology. The term &quot;mythology&quot; of course simply meaning, somebody else's religious beliefs that aren't mine. We often are fascinated by ancient myth, the mythology of peoples that no longer exist, at least not in the same cultural forms they do today.Satanism, in the context of Christian belief, doesn't really exist. There are, of course, several modern religious groups that refer to themselves as Satanists . . . but if you read up on their beliefs, they are more about rejecting mainstream Christianity than worshiping an evil figure for power. Modern Satanists are not evil or dangerous either. But they do like to dress in black and freak out the squares.The (traditional) fantasy genre, literature and games, pulls from European history, myth, and yes, occultism. Many of us come to D&amp;D through an established interest in those topics, and/or develop an interest through the game. But to say that D&amp;D is a &quot;gateway to occultism&quot; implies that it's common for D&amp;D players to become occultists. Which, while not a bad thing, doesn't really happen all that often.The Satanic Panic of the 80s made several false assumptions. That the magic in D&amp;D was real, that the point of D&amp;D was to learn real magic and summon real demons, that &quot;Satanism&quot; was a real thing (in context), that those who played D&amp;D were in some sort of spiritual and/or emotional danger, and that religious/occult/mythic beliefs different from mainstream Christianity were &quot;evil&quot; and dangerous.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dire Bare, post: 7998486, member: 18182"] Being a "cultist" is not quite the same thing as being interested in the occult, or even being an "occultist". Technically, a cult is nothing more than a small religion with few followers that sits outside mainstream religions. The term certainly has a pejorative connotation, and certainly some specific cults have been very dangerous for their own members (but rarely society at large, really). Every major religion today had its beginnings as a "cult" and were treated poorly by the established major religions of their time. The occult is a vague term but most often refers to the Western esoteric traditions of European culture including hermetic magic, alchemy, kabbalism, and other mystic practices that have in common they are not Christian in origin. Occult beliefs and practices are not evil and are not dangerous. They are simply different. Whether they are "real" or not is a question similar to, "Is Christian belief real?" It is a matter of individual faith. The occult is closely tied to European and Mediterranean mythology. The term "mythology" of course simply meaning, [I]somebody else's religious beliefs that aren't mine[/I]. We often are fascinated by ancient myth, the mythology of peoples that no longer exist, at least not in the same cultural forms they do today. Satanism, in the context of Christian belief, doesn't really exist. There are, of course, several modern religious groups that refer to themselves as Satanists . . . but if you read up on their beliefs, they are more about rejecting mainstream Christianity than worshiping an evil figure for power. Modern Satanists are not evil or dangerous either. But they do like to dress in black and freak out the squares. The (traditional) fantasy genre, literature and games, pulls from European history, myth, and yes, occultism. Many of us come to D&D through an established interest in those topics, and/or develop an interest through the game. But to say that D&D is a "gateway to occultism" implies that it's common for D&D players to become occultists. Which, while not a bad thing, doesn't really happen all that often. The Satanic Panic of the 80s made several false assumptions. That the magic in D&D was real, that the point of D&D was to learn real magic and summon real demons, that "Satanism" was a real thing (in context), that those who played D&D were in some sort of spiritual and/or emotional danger, and that religious/occult/mythic beliefs different from mainstream Christianity were "evil" and dangerous. [/QUOTE]

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