Witchcraft is only wrong in Christian Fiction when it is the GOOD guys performing it. I feel like my novel, The Mysterium, has been shunned in certain Christian literary circles and contests because it contains witchcraft. But in this world which is so obsessed with sorcerers and witchy heroes, it is not only acceptable and appropriate, but necessary and important to portray villains as the ones committing acts of witchcraft.
I fully understand the concerns over the inclusion of witchcraft in Christian Fantasy literature. Even the brilliant J.R.R. Tolkien made a dreadful mistake when he had the protagonist hero Aragorn use a seeing stone to catch a glimpse of Sauron's future plans. It was witchcraft when his ancestor Isildur placed a curse on the men of the mountain. It was necromancy, a forbidden type of witchcraft, when Aragorn summoned an army of the dead. The very act that was meant to display Aragorn's great courage and fitness to lead was actually a dreadful act of sin by real-world Christian standards.
It is incredibly complicated to write Christian Fantasy and allegory without slipping into theological error or outright heresy. That is why the religion of the antagonists in my book, is heavily inspired by the paganism of ancient Babylon. The classes, beliefs, practices, and types of witchcraft performed were informed by the sinful things the Bible forbids. It is overly simplistic and detrimental to say No witches or demons can appear in Christian fiction. What we must do, instead, is ensure that the good and evil actions of our fictional characters align with what the Bible calls good or evil. We need more stories of true good verses real evil with a clear dividing line.
