Has anyone made a joke about any of your religious customs? (Jesus, salvation)

[Hema]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

Nothing specific, but I have noticed that there's a general attitude from people who don't know much about Paganism that everything we do is stupid and/or childish.

Long ago people considered Hindus as Pagans and when they said it, it seemed to carry a negative connotation with it. There are no practicing Pagans in my country...none that I know of, so when I joined RF and I saw how many Pagans there were here; I realized that this is a way of life and a belief system for so many people here. Then when I started to interact with all the wonderful Pagans here, I wondered why there were negative connotations. Then I made beautiful comparisons with Hinduism and I realized that some paths teach things such as oneness with nature. I once did one of those online religion polls and Paganism came in a close second to Hinduism with regards to my beliefs.

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Hema

Long ago people considered Hindus as Pagans and when they said it, it seemed to carry a negative connotation with it. There are no practicing Pagans in my country...none that I know of, so when I joined RF and I saw how many Pagans there were here; I realized that this is a way of life and a belief system for so many people here. Then when I started to interact with all the wonderful Pagans here, I wondered why there were negative connotations. Then I made beautiful comparisons with Hinduism and I realized that some paths teach things such as oneness with nature. I once did one of those online religion polls and Paganism came in a close second to Hinduism with regards to my beliefs.

This is off topic, but I know some (neo)Pagans who combine the general principles of Paganism and focus on combination with Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. They're very compatible

[Hema]

Originally Posted by penguino

I wear a kanthi


all the time. I get too many questions, often by the same person...

Okay, I'll ask one question. Is it like a Janeu thread which young boys wear?

[Hema]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

This is off topic, but I know some (neo)Pagans who combine the general principles of Paganism and focus on combination with Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. They're very compatible

Actually this is interesting news to me! A while ago I even came across a website about magic and magic spells and one section dealt with Hindu mantras that one can recite.

[jamaesi]

I think the worst I've got was someone asked me if I used a cane because my husband beats me.

I wear hijab and walk with a cane. Oh look, there my eyes go rolling out of my head. I'm not even married and I was born disabled.

[Booko]

Originally Posted by penguino

I wear a kanthi


all the time. I get too many questions, often by the same person...

Good grief, it's a kind of necklace. What's so notable about that so someone would keep asking?

[Booko]

Originally Posted by penguino

Muslim females definetly get taken the fun out ofor the wearing the veil, not nice at all.

Well, and the real toot about that is it wasn't all that long ago that respectable women wouldn't leave the house without a hat either. Even in the house they wore bonnets of a sort, especially if they were married.

[Shadow Wolf]

Quite often actually, (not "jokes" though) even on sites for Pagans that are supposedly open minded. I mention I follow a path that is based in Darkness, rather than Light, and ridicules ranging from "it can't happen" "you're just misguided" "everything is actually of Light" and the funniest of all "but even if there is a natural duality, darkness is not required to bring light into balance." Oh, and then someone claimed "light does not need darkness to exist, but darkness does need light to exist." I quickly hacked his debate down with scientific evidence of darkness being a void, and light needing that void to fill to travel through. And since darkness is literally nothing, it does not require light to exist, for the existence literal darkness highly debated. And then I've been told that "I'm on a boat in the middle of an ocean with no water to drink and no direction on where to find 'answers'".

[Hema]

Originally Posted by penguino

Muslim females definetly get taken the fun out ofor the wearing the veil, not nice at all.

True. I don't see anything wrong if a woman wants to dress modestly.

[Hema]

Originally Posted by jamaesi

I think the worst I've got was someone asked me if I used a cane because my husband beats me.

I wear hijab and walk with a cane. Oh look, there my eyes go rolling out of my head. I'm not even married and I was born disabled.

Oh My God! That is ridiculous. Imagine walking up to a woman without a hijab and who's in a wheelchair and then asking her - oh honey, did your husband beat you and put you in that wheelchair?

It will be worse if you ask in front of her husband...they might call the cops for you and think you're a lunatic.