A practicing pagan said there is no reason to fear the religion of paganism, as he spoke to an audience of about 75 people Monday night in the Student Center Auditorium.

We are not here to recruit, and we are not out for your children, Don Elwell, who is a practicing pagan, said. We want to protect our own children.

Most of the religions termed pagan are characterized by a nature-centered spirituality, honoring of pre-Christian deities, lack of institutionalization and a quest to develop the self, a document from the Pagan Educational Network states.

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Elwell spoke to the audience in a soft voice, asking people to try to understand paganism.

Elwell, who practices Wiccan, explained that he could not speak for all pagans because there are many ways of practicing the religion.

While I speak as a pagan, I cannot speak for paganism, he said.

Elwell also discussed many of the stereotypes that are associated with paganism and where they might have come from.

There was a time when there was only one person in a village who knew what kind of herbs could be used for medicinal reasons, or knew how to help a woman during a bad delivery or how to help a sick animal, he said. These were villages in the country, and that is what pagan means people from the country.

Elwell went on to discuss the fear that non-pagans have of people who practice a non-Christian religion.

Paganism is a religion which is deeply tied in nature, he said. It is a bi-polar system, not with a heaven and a hell, but trying to seek balance in our own lives. It is the differences and the unknown that cause fear.

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The Rev. Roger Karban, who teaches at Breese Mother Day High School and at the Newman Center, 715 S. Washington, and a member of the Catholic Biblical Association, was at the discussion to ask questions from a Christian point of view.

He said he wanted to know how pagans understood evil and if they believed in an evil force.

Elwell explained the Law of Return, a pagan belief, to Karban and the audience.

We believe that if you do something, whatever you do, it will come back to you in some form, he said. If you knowingly do something bad, you are responsible for your actions, and that would be the only evil we believe in.

Karban said he was glad he came to the discussion because it made him more knowledgeable on the subject.

I felt the audience and this discussion was a good representation of society, Karban said.