Fellow Pagans (Discrimination)

[The Hammer]

A post I made and someone's response has given me an idea for a thread.

So I am curious.

What sort of discrimination, if any, have you suffered at the hands of staying true to your beliefs and faith?

Do you stay in the "broom closet" so to speak, hiding your views from others. Or wear your views proudly, despite being majorly misunderstood by most (in my experience).

Edit: Because my spelling is terrible sometimes.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

What sort of discrimination, if any, have you suffered at the hands of staying true to your beliefs and faith?

I don't know if this is exactly what you are asking for, since I my spirituality was unknown to the parties involved, but...

I was a cook in an institutional kitchen where the head cook was a really religious older gentleman from Georgia who often complained about Wicca and witchcraft. For instance, saying he didn't think the Wiccan residents should be meeting because they worship the devil. One time when I asked him if he had ever used wikipedia, he said he would never go on anything with "wicca" in the name. I ended going to human resources about it at one point.

In another instance, my super religious aunt saw pictures of my wife and I on Facebook dressed for a Renaissance fair and asked us if we were "into that witchcraft stuff."

Do you stay in the "broom closet" so to speak, bid ng your views from others. Or where your views proudly, despite being majorly misunderstood by most (in my experience).

That depends on the crowd and environment. With my family, I am mostly in the broom closet. With friends, mostly open, and in my job I openly wear a pentacle though don't go into detail about it. I have been asked about my pentacle and get weird looks when I say that I incorporate paganism into my spirituality, which is bizarre because it is from the same group that smudged some classrooms with sage because they thought they were haunted. They didn't understand why I didn't want them to sage my room.

 

[VoidCat]

What sort of discrimination, if any, have you suffered at the hands of staying true to your beliefs and faith?

Before I started worshiping Lucifer when I was just starting out the only deity I honored was Hecate. I didn't even at the time believe in demons or the devil. I told a friend a neighbor about my beliefs. She thought she had said something to insult me. She didnt. She stopped by my house when I was living with my grandma to apologize. I told her not to tell anyone about my beliefs previously. Well I wasn't home when she stopped by. My grandma was. So she told my grandma her apology. I forgave her later for that as I know she didn't mean any harm and she was horrified with how my grandma responded she said my grandma was furious. She kept apologizing profusely and asking if I was ok. But she outted me before I was ready. And when it wasnt safe to out me. My grandma was furious. She yelled at me and accused me of attentionseeking asking me why I told my neighbor I worshipped Hecate and while I couldve denied that I worshipped Hecate and just say I was playing a prank or something and she would've likely gotten over it I looked up at my grandma and told the truth. That I did worship Hecate. Maybe it was that I still had the Christian mindset of you should stand up for your religious beliefs in face of persecution, or maybe it was cuz I wanted to be honest. Or maybe it was cuz my grandma decided to confront me about it while I was in the shower and that pissed me off. I knew even back then if I denied it life would be easier and she wouldve moved on. Either way I told the truth and it did not end well. She was furious. She actually wanted to kick me out the house but my uncle refused to take me. She called the pastor talking about how I was demon possessed and needed an exorcism. Meanwhile there was I calling the pastor trying to figure out how we could both be in each other's lives and there be peace between us despite different beliefs. The pastor told me that there will never be peace between us and how that was a good thing as it meant my grandma cared too much for my immortal soul. My grandma always made side comments about my beliefs. How stupid they were how it was devil worship and how I was evil and sinful. We now have an unspoken agreement where I don't mention my beliefs and she don't get onto me about them. Sadly tho she views me veiling as evil and disrespectful to her beliefs so I can't veil my hair around her.


Now im typically open around everyone. Those that matter to me and I didn't want knowing already know. There's no point in being silent about said beliefs unless being out puts me in danger and so far I haven't been in a situation where that's likely to happen. The only thing I don't do is be open about worshipping Lucifer around my grandma. She don't know but I bet she assumes that anyway so it wouldn't be much of a difference if she did know. Even if she don't think that I've already lost all her respect her view of me can't get any worse.

 

[VoidCat]

I don't know if this is exactly what you are asking for, since I my spirituality was unknown to the parties involved, but...

I was a cook in an institutional kitchen where the head cook was a really religious older gentleman from Georgia who often complained about Wicca and witchcraft. For instance, saying he didn't think the Wiccan residents should be meeting because they worship the devil. One time when I asked him if he had ever used wikipedia, he said he would never go on anything with "wicca" in the name. I ended going to human resources about it at one point.

In another instance, my super religious aunt saw pictures of my wife and I on Facebook dressed for a Renaissance fair and asked us if we were "into that witchcraft stuff."



That depends on the crowd and environment. With my family, I am mostly in the broom closet. With friends, mostly open, and in my job I openly wear a pentacle though don't go into detail about it. I have been asked about my pentacle and get weird looks when I say that I incorporate paganism into my spirituality, which is bizarre because it is from the same group that smudged some classrooms with sage because they thought they were haunted. They didn't understand why I didn't want them to sage my room.

I reckon your family would respond similar to my grandma maybe worse. Hopefully no one forcibly outs you without your consent but if it does happen...hopefully it would be freeing like being forced out into the open has been for me. And hopefully some would support you that you didnt expect would. From experience of being outted when i didn't want to be some i thought would be supportive aren't and some I thought wouldnt be are.

 

[VoidCat]

I reckon your family would respond similar to my grandma maybe worse. Hopefully no one forcibly outs you without your consent but if it does happen...hopefully it would be freeing like being forced out into the open has been for me. And hopefully some would support you that you didnt expect would. From experience of being outted when i didn't want to be some i thought would be supportive aren't and some I thought wouldnt be are.

@Guitar's Cry I know you already out to your friends and coworkers just not really your family. However it's hard not being yourself around family which is why I wrote this. For me it's been freeing that my family does know so I don't have to pretend even if my grandma and a few others are hateful.

Obviously I don't want anyone to out you. I just thought I'd say if the worse case scenario happens and you do get outted and your family now hates you hopefully it'd be freeing as painful as it would be.

Edit: I regret posting both of these now cuz it comes across as unsolicited advice and slight projection. My bad. It was around 3 am when I read you post and then I replied at 5 am with little sleep. Rereading it my posts directed towards you not the first post directed to @The Hammer (I don't regret writting what i wrote to Hammer)I wouldn't have wrote them if I had been more awake if I had read yours when more awake. Hopefully you are ok with them.

 

[Aupmanyav]

What sort of discrimination, if any, have you suffered at the hands of staying true to your beliefs and faith?
Do you stay in the "broom closet" so to speak, hiding your views from others. Or wear your views proudly, despite being majorly misunderstood by most (in my experience).

Me, facing discrimination! I will reply in the same tone.
No, never. Though even most Hindus will not agree to my view. Yeah, I wear my views proudly despite being majorly misunderstood*.
* That a Hindu cannot be an atheist and non-believer in karma over multiple life-times and reincarnation, heaven and hell, God and soul.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

@Guitar's Cry I know you already out to your friends and coworkers just not really your family. However it's hard not being yourself around family which is why I wrote this. For me it's been freeing that my family does know so I don't have to pretend even if my grandma and a few others are hateful.

Obviously I don't want anyone to out you. I just thought I'd say if the worse case scenario happens and you do get outted and your family now hates you hopefully it'd be freeing as painful as it would be.

Edit: I regret posting both of these now cuz it comes across as unsolicited advice and slight projection. My bad. It was around 3 am when I read you post and then I replied at 5 am with little sleep. Rereading it my posts directed towards you not the first post directed to @The Hammer (I don't regret writting what i wrote to Hammer)I wouldn't have wrote them if I had been more awake if I had read yours when more awake. Hopefully you are ok with them.

Not a problem!

I think my parents wouldn't be happy, but would be more understanding than my uncles or my brother who is conservatively Christian. They know my interest in world mythology and my interest in different spiritual traditions and philosophies.

Interestingly, I had a vivid dream after my grandmother from the conservative side died where I found her spirit in the bed at her house. I held her hand and an electric shock hit me and I had this understanding that she approved of my path.

Take from that what you will.

 

[Ashoka]

A post I made and someone's response has given me an idea for a thread.

So I am curious.

What sort of discrimination, if any, have you suffered at the hands of staying true to your beliefs and faith?

Do you stay in the "broom closet" so to speak, hiding your views from others. Or wear your views proudly, despite being majorly misunderstood by most (in my experience).

Edit: Because my spelling is terrible sometimes.

I am out online, for the most part, but not on social media (just here, which I guess could technically count as social media). I have a few real life friends who know I am pagan. And, I'm almost sure my parents wouldn't care. But I still worry.

I've been told online that I am evil and going to hell, which doesn't really work with me ("your scare tactics don't work on me" is what I usually say). But I've never been refused service or kicked out of places. Although, living in the bible belt, I am sure I would be if they knew.

Although we have this amazing Lebanese cuisine in town that is very much owned by Christians, Maronite Catholics. I once went in to get some baklava, and I was wearing pagan jewelry. I noticed a man staring at me. As I left, I heard him grumble to the owner (he works the register) about "dirty witches" and his response was, "hey, her money is good here too."

I smiled a bit.

 

[Aštra’el]

I am prideful in who I am, very proud…but I am also a strategist. I understand that to navigate through certain doors in life I must sometimes conceal my strengths and not always be so forthcoming in what I think and feel.

 

[Witches_Element]

Hi Hammer nice to see you dear! For the most part I have had really good experiences with people of Christian Faiths but for obvious reasons I stayed in the broom closet to avoid confrontation with them. As for my workplace, I work for a large corporation that wouldn't dare discriminate my religious background because of our HR department and fear of lawsuit if they discriminated against me.

I generally keep a low profile when I talk to people face to face if I don't know them, but online I'm very open about my religion. When Yahoo had their chatrooms I would usually talk in the Pagan rooms and there would be Christians that would come in to harass Pagans and threaten us with eternal damnation if we didn't change our ways. Since they came to our Pagan rooms I thought it was only fair to go to Christian rooms and identify myself as a witch. Well as you can imagine I didn't get the greatest response from the room but some of the Christians were kind. Strangely, there were other witches in the Christian chatroom besides me and I had some of the best conversations of Witchcraft in a Christian chatroom, which was so ironic. Another strange thing that happened in the Christian chatrooms was when people were publicly condemning me in the chatrooms other Christians would secretly private message me to tell me their sister is a witch so they support me. Some that criticized me in public would also secretly text me asking if I could contact their deceased relative, it was just so strange and bizarre lol.

I loved going to Christian online chatrooms, because Christians were brutally honest about their feelings towards witches and I didn't want to get complacent in the real world thinking everyone accepts witches. It was a good wake up call for me and I received a death threat from an alleged Christian preacher from Nigeria that said he kills witches. He really wasn't from Nigeria though, he really lived in Atlanta Georgia, but it certainly was a wake up call to be careful to strangers I meet in person or online settings.

I think the scariest encounter I had was a family night out with a coven I frequented called the order of Syblings led by High Priestess Morgana. She was very public about her religion and like me, wanted to give people a chance to talk to a witch. She had a public site on Facebook page and advertised that she was going to hold a family night out for parents and their kids to enjoy some pizza and video games at a Mr. Gattis pizza establishment in our area.

Well wouldn't you know it? Somehow a Christian lady saw her announcement and also lived in our local area and was extremely upset with us. Since Morgana knew I had a Christian background she asked if I contact this lady that was threatening and harassing her, so I got her information and instant messaged her.

In my conversations with this Christian lady she didn't want devil worshipers in her small town and I should be ashamed of myself for supporting witches. She said she was coming to Mr. Gattis restaurant to set them witches straight, but I politely interrupted her and told her that this was a non religious event Morgana was hosting and it would be inappropriate for her to do so. Morgana's intent for the night was to provide a safe family night out for parents and their children to spend quality time with each other in a safe environment.

I told this lady she was welcome to attend our function and to bring her children but she can't talk about religion because this is not what this night is about. If she or her congregation had problems with witches I would personally schedule a time to meet with their them to address their concerns, but she refused.

She said she was going to gather her entire church congregation to protest and stop us witches from entering the pizza establishment. I reminded her that there are children that are coming with their parents to eat pizza and would she really assemble an angry mob to endanger children's lives? She replied "You witches will be stopped!"

This was a scary time because I didn't know what was going to happen but everyone in the coven decided we couldn't be afraid of terroristic threats so we went to Mr. Gattis as planned. To my relief, no angry mob shown up and the parents and our children got to spend quality time as a family.

Well Hammer, these are just a few horror war stories I had, but it didn't make me lose faith in humanity, because there were so many good people in my life from so many different faiths including Christians. Thanks for letting me share this story with you!