Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

[cerulean]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I've personally always felt evenly split (maybe balanced is a better word) between male/female. My peeve is that I gravitate towards Asatru- the history, ideology, mythology, gods... but not goddesses. The only goddess I've ever felt much kinship with is Diana, because she's kind of a badass awesome hunter lady. I know there are some badass goddesses in my pantheon but none of them grab me the way she has, and I can't find as much information about them.

[lynx]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

The misconception that every full moon you have to go dance around a bonfire and get drunk/high. Or that we're promiscuis. Just because I wasn't married in a church does not mean that I'm promiscuis and going to be unfaithful. (fortunately engaged to an atheist His mother bought me my first tarot deck... back on topic now) yeah those two things bug me.

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The misconception that every full moon you have to go dance around a bonfire and get drunk/high. Or that we're promiscuis. Just because I wasn't married in a church does not mean that I'm promiscuis and going to be unfaithful. (fortunately engaged to an atheist His mother bought me my first tarot deck... back on topic now) yeah those two things bug me.

[Jembru]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

Said it before, but having seen this attitude yet again, it's those who look down on the paths of others because they and they alone have all the answers. Even having the disrespect to assume what the person they know nothing about thinks and feels. Welcome to the forum oh ye who is so much wiser than we mere noobish dabblers. Wait, I think I meant, 'ah shut up and get down from your high horse before you break something'.

[iflewoverthecuckoosnest]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I'm not exactly a pagan, persay, but I'll throw my two cents into the bag.
My biggest pet peeve is people who almost have a phobia of all things pagan or neo-pagan; people who are afraid of it even though they know nothing about it. I know a few people who fear the neo-pagan movement such that they refuse to even hear about it. They seem to think that it is somehow "tainted" and "evil", and that even hearing about it or contemplating someone who practices it might dirty their pure little hearts. It's ridiculous, judgmental, and irrational -.-

[Annwn]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I would really love to say that I do not have a pet peeve about my faith, but from what I have read, and the more I think about it the thing that narks me off the most, is when I am talking to some one and they are constantly asking me to justify in what I believe because it dose not match with what they believe.

If I can except that that person believes in what they do because they have found it has brought happiness and fulfilment in to their lives why can they not show me the same consideration?

Please do not get me wrong if a person shows a interest in my faith I will always try to find the time to talk to them, but some people just take it to the next extrema, and I don't see the need for it.

The only thing I can put it down to is ignorance, although I don't like to say it.

[Lawtan]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I can't explain it simply, and most manners of describing it goes right over everyone's heads. Also have to explain that it is a learning process (And, as said in the Seven Fires Prophecy, "many of the Elders have fallen asleep.")

[Kviskrar]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I have a pet peeve that is the result of me being an Odinist, added to the "100% aryan" white-skin-blue-eyes-red-beard-style and being a black-metal vocalist. While I'll readily agree that there were and still are pretty f***-up people in black metal ( check it up, NOT in "Lords of Chaos", PLEASE), it's annoying to have to explain to everyone who is not a metalhead that no I'm not a nazi, no I'm not a satanist, no I don't burn churches or kill homosexuals, no this rune I'm wearing is not an SS-symbol etc etc..

Another irritating fad, inside the metalhead-demographic, is the insistence to wear nordic pagan symbols like Mjollnir or Yggdrasill pendants or get rune tattoos, whithout their total ignorance of it's meaning or of anything having to do with Asatru (except what they learned from Amon Amarth) ever stopping them. If one isn't christian, one doesn't wear a cross (unless one is goth, I guess it doesn't count). Same for any belief.

[Pallas]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I have a pet peeve that is the result of me being an Odinist, added to the "100% aryan" white-skin-blue-eyes-red-beard-style and being a black-metal vocalist. While I'll readily agree that there were and still are pretty f***-up people in black metal ( check it up, NOT in "Lords of Chaos", PLEASE), it's annoying to have to explain to everyone who is not a metalhead that no I'm not a nazi, no I'm not a satanist, no I don't burn churches or kill homosexuals, no this rune I'm wearing is not an SS-symbol etc etc..

Another irritating fad, inside the metalhead-demographic, is the insistence to wear nordic pagan symbols like Mjollnir or Yggdrasill pendants or get rune tattoos, whithout their total ignorance of it's meaning or of anything having to do with Asatru (except what they learned from Amon Amarth) ever stopping them. If one isn't christian, one doesn't wear a cross (unless one is goth, I guess it doesn't count). Same for any belief.

I get your frustration, but have to humbly disagree on the symbol-wearing. Some people just like to dress up in that stuff for fun. Lots of Japanese wear crosses as a fashion statement because they see it so much in the West. To them it's fashion and play and nobody really seems offended. I'm into metal and never feel offense when those into viking metal get into the whole viking get up. It's just like someone dressing up in a Halloween costume or coslaying. lol

[shadow1982]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

My biggest pet peeve right now is any discussion about what defines a Pagan. Everywhere you turn it seems people are trying to tell you what a Pagan does and doesn't believe which imo is ridiculous. If you tell me you are a Pagan, you are one.

[Sean R. R.]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I'm a Satanist. A theistic one. You can imagine how much crap is thrown at me since I live in a catholic household with highly conservative christian surroundings. But the one thing that I hate the most is when people are actually AFRAID of me, like they really fear me, as if I was going to curse them or something. It makes me sad

[Ophidia]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I'm a Satanist. A theistic one. You can imagine how much crap is thrown at me since I live in a catholic household with highly conservative christian surroundings. But the one thing that I hate the most is when people are actually AFRAID of me, like they really fear me, as if I was going to curse them or something. It makes me sad

I get that when I tell people I study Vodou & Santeria. What's worse, since some goings-on in Africa (witch killings, eating people to cure various diseases & raping virgins to cure HIV/AIDS) have been heavy in the media, I usually just don't mention my leanings even when I know I could shed some light on misconceptions.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I'm a Satanist. A theistic one. You can imagine how much crap is thrown at me since I live in a catholic household with highly conservative christian surroundings. But the one thing that I hate the most is when people are actually AFRAID of me, like they really fear me, as if I was going to curse them or something. It makes me sad

Damnit. You're gonna drag 40k quotes out of me by mentioning this type of silliness. I'm busy being an eldritch horror, quoting Imperial dogma isn't on the schedule till later tonight.

Anyway to piss off 'devout' Christians that are worried about Satanic curses, there is always the whole line of 'Fear denies Faith'. I generally don't like this line for a couple reasons but it seems appropriate and considering what Christians claim to serve, I feel that asking them whether their faith is so weak that they don't believe God can be bothered to help counter a curse is justified.

[iflewoverthecuckoosnest]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

My biggest pet peeve right now is any discussion about what defines a Pagan. Everywhere you turn it seems people are trying to tell you what a Pagan does and doesn't believe which imo is ridiculous. If you tell me you are a Pagan, you are one.

Very true. One of the things that I love about paganism is that there is no dogmatic criteria for being one. We are a diverse group, and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you're a pagan, you just know that you are; you feel it in your heart, cheesy as that may sound, and that's what is really important.

[thalassa]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

My biggest pet peeve right now is any discussion about what defines a Pagan. Everywhere you turn it seems people are trying to tell you what a Pagan does and doesn't believe which imo is ridiculous. If you tell me you are a Pagan, you are one.

Okay...I have to go here because I agree and disagree... I hate the "you are not a Pagan because you do X" or "you are not a Pagan because you do X" or "All Pagans need to do X to be Pagan" discussions.

BUT, I do thing there needs to be some discussion about what defines Paganism, as a family of interrelated religious traditions. And I think, to do that, we should start with the community that already exists. There's just as much in common there as there is in the 38,000 Christian traditions--bitching about who does/does not pass the (implied) Pagan test makes us no better than Baptists bitching about Catholics "not really being Christian". I think that, if we want to sit at the big kids table with other religions and be taken seriously (and we need that, if we want to be open about our beliefs and now worry about discrimination), that we need to be able to define what we are, as something other than what we are not...and if it only "covers" 95% of the people that claim Paganism as their faith, then that's okay too because its not a creedal test, and they are still welcome to share the umbrella.

[shadow1982]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

Okay...I have to go here because I agree and disagree... I hate the "you are not a Pagan because you do X" or "you are not a Pagan because you do X" or "All Pagans need to do X to be Pagan" discussions.

BUT, I do thing there needs to be some discussion about what defines Paganism, as a family of interrelated religious traditions. And I think, to do that, we should start with the community that already exists. There's just as much in common there as there is in the 38,000 Christian traditions--bitching about who does/does not pass the (implied) Pagan test makes us no better than Baptists bitching about Catholics "not really being Christian". I think that, if we want to sit at the big kids table with other religions and be taken seriously (and we need that, if we want to be open about our beliefs and now worry about discrimination), that we need to be able to define what we are, as something other than what we are not...and if it only "covers" 95% of the people that claim Paganism as their faith, then that's okay too because its not a creedal test, and they are still welcome to share the umbrella.

I'm struggling with this because I really can't decide if I agree with what you are saying or not. On the one hand I see the value in what your saying, on the other hand I have serious misgivings about it. I need to give this a bit more thought I think, and this thread is probably not the place to have the conversation.