have you ever wanted to.....

[Dellit Tandannon]

..... smack someone repeatedly upside the head for totally misunderstanding your religion?!

Case & Point

i was sitting outside of my school the other day on a cigarette break. one of the professors notices my pentacle necklace and says "man, you're into that satan sh*t?! that's evil!" blah blah blah blah. it took all of my strength not to get up and nail him.

normally i'm very easy-going and understanding with people. that day just happened to be a particularly stressful one (my code wasn't compiling *grrrrrrrrrrrr*).

anybody else have such a problem?

[Myst]

"You worship Satan?"

"Nope"

"What are ya then?"

"I'm a Pagan, a tree hugger, we have a God and Goddess and we don't believe Satan exists"

Responses from that have been "way COOL! Do you do spells and stuff?" to one time "aw man you're going to Hell" (to which my response is "oh well").

The way I see it there's no way I can describe the magnitude of my beliefs in 2 mins or less, and even I could if the person isn't going to listen and believe me then there's no point.

Get used to the code not compiling thing :D

[the herbwitch]

I never wear my pent where most people can see it.
Sad but true, because they do not understand.

So sorry that it happened to you,did you not feel like explaining it to the poor under-educated thing? I think I know how you feel...

Love
the herbwitch

[Danustouch]

Oh My, YES dellit. A few weeks ago, I'd just read the article on Witchvox about Tempest. I was getting my mail downstairs, when My neighbor leaned out her window, and asked me how I was feeling. I said i'd just read the saddest story..and told her about Tempest. When I mentioned the word "Pagan" to her, her daughter (who was visiting her, all the way from Tennessee), piped up and said.."That's devil worship". I just said..in a tone that broked no argument..."No..It's Not. It's Earth Worship. And it's a beautiful faith.". And walked upstairs. Sometimes, I find a simple and direct answer to be all that is needed. Sometimes, when you start to outline all the things you do and do not believe to these people, it can almost sound as if they have you on the defensive. So I answer simply..and walk away. Other times, if they ask more questions, or push the subject, I'll go into detail. But not usually. Yes..I believe sometimes we need to try to educate people who make stupid comments. But other times, I feel that you can only educate them through action. The next time I spoke to my neighbor, I was helping her find her way around the Internet for the first time. Her daughter had gone home to Tennessee. I brought up the incident, and told her..I just want you to know. That the reason I can clearly tell you it's NOT devil worship..is because I'm a Pagan, myself". She patted me on the shoulder and said.."well hon, at my age, I've learned quite a bit. One of the most important things I've learned...is that everyone finds their own answers in life. You've gotta live and let live.".

:)

[MammaStar]

The next time I spoke to my neighbor, I was helping her find her way around the Internet for the first time. Her daughter had gone home to Tennessee. I brought up the incident, and told her..I just want you to know. That the reason I can clearly tell you it's NOT devil worship..is because I'm a Pagan, myself". She patted me on the shoulder and said.."well hon, at my age, I've learned quite a bit. One of the most important things I've learned...is that everyone finds their own answers in life. You've gotta live and let live.".

What a cool neighbor you have there!

[Danustouch]

Yeah..she's pretty neat, at that! Just wish she didn't have such a yippy dog. LOL

[MammaStar]

Originally posted by Danustouch
Yeah..she's pretty neat, at that! Just wish she didn't have such a yippy dog. LOL

LOL! Could be worse, you'd could be living next door to me! I have 2 "woofy" dogs who bark at the wind at 2 AM!!!! :eek:

[Mairwen]

What's a Gwyddon?
What's a Wessel?
So you're a Wiccan?
So you're a witch?
What's a Gwyddon?:crazy:

[SimplyStrange]

:) Well I kind of know what you mean.

I'm not Pagan myself, so people don't harass me about it...but they do it to my friends. I remember very well once when my friend had gotten bored in class so he drew a pentacle on his hand. Later at lunch one of the monitors stopped him to question just what it was that was on his hand. He smiled and said, "Why Ma'am, it's simply a symbol of my faith." and kept walking. But of course, people are so arrogant sometimes that she continued to interrogate him and eventually she began implying that it was nothing but Satanic worship. He simply smiled, stated that no matter what it was, he had the right to have it on his hand and just kept walking. Of course, later he was swearing, but I patted him on the back for not blowing up in her face like I would have.

With me, people don't actually harass me about my faith, because I explain to people that I really don't believe too much in an organized religion. I believe I have my own relationship with God. Sometimes people don't understand this, which is when I tell them nevermind, or I don't even try to explain it to the people I know won't understand. Take my stepmother for instance. She and her ENTIRE family are mormons...so things are quite difficult to deal with when it comes to religion. That is why most of the time I keep my mouth shut and change the subject to something we can all smile about...because sometimes it's not worth the argument...

:)~SS~:)