Why does magic traditionally have a bad reputation?

~a short thread~

Religious people (including early modern scholars) spend a lot of time defining magic as something completely separate from, and in opposition to, religion. This tends to include a moral valuation: magic bad, religion good. Why?

Religion provides the theory of how the theoretical invisible parts of the world work, and gives you procedures to follow. These procedures tend to place you under control of religious authorities, and/or make you behave like a convenient citizen.

Magic takes this theory of the world (usually from the majority religion) and tells you how to use the rules to achieve results without following religion's procedures and outside of control of religious authorities.

Magic is the art of (spiritual) exploit.

Now, in the west there is a further split between high and low magic, also called theurgy and goetia, with the former being contemptuous of, and attempting to distinguish themselves from, the latter. What's that about?

Imagine that a religion provides you with Google Maps with markers for its places of worship, its religious schools, hospitals and charities.

Theurgy = markers for alternative churches.

Goetia = non-judgemental markers for everything else.

("Everything else" includes shops, doctors, non-religious charities and nurseries, but also hookers, drug dealers, and pay-day loans, which is why magic, and goetia in particular, has a bad reputation. It's a way for people to get things that authorities don't want them to have.)

Coda

"What authorities?"

Interests of religious authorities generally match the interests of whoever is currently in power

"Isn't this a bit paranoid?"

No, it's evolution. Did you see what happened to religions that were incovenient to people in power?