Insulted for your beliefs?

[Luna]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Love the photos I tend to have people saying to me you can't be serious about my belifs. A older woman I went pass told her friend load that there goes the bisexual devil wordshipper, there is no such place in heaven for her a lost case. Inside I got angry, but I just shocked my head saying " I thought God loves all people" with a sarcastic voice. The most hurtful was is one of my aunt wich sent me a long e-mail about changing my ways in the sake of my child and that she would not have contact with me unless I did so. I dropped all contact with her, I tried to explain first, but some people just don't wanna listening. Mostly people make fun because they don't understand or are afraid, in my oppinion. Stupid mean people can be found all places.

[InTheClarity]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Ive been forced Catholicism in my blood since i was a child, i went to a private catholic school and let me tell you catholic kids are horrible, well most are but still, even from that young age i just didn't believe it never fit right with me and my father raising me up on greek/roman mythology didn't make it any better either. My father is the main one who force feeds me everything as well as my step mother, i had a panic attack once and we sped to church as both of them came to the conclusion i had a demon in me

I also had finally built my first shrine for one of my main goddess and got reckless and forgot to hide it once i finished my offerings. My father stumbled in saw the shrine and the picture of my goddess and snatched it up (sorry Aphrodite ): ) thankfully he didn't tear it up he gave me a speech and i lied to him again that I'll never form another shrine little does he know i now plan on forming a second one and already rebuilt Aphrodite shrine

[Norse_Angel]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

We actually had this guy from DCFS come visit our house after we got raided (long story) and apparently, in the police report, and pictures they took of my altars, they called me a "devil worshipping warlock." Well, the DCFS guy turned out to be really cool, and when I came downstairs to meet him (my hair was a large mess) he shook my hand saying happily "Oh boy oh boy, so you're the warlock, oh man, I've always wanted to meet a warlock oh boy oh boy" Really comical moment. He ended up asking me more questions on what I believed and did than anything dealing with the children living in the house. He ended up just marking the case as closed in general, and asking me to bless his ring. Really cool guy. He disclosed he was born catholic but was always curious about curious beliefs. Very nice man.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

What I find interesting, by its sheer omission, is the fact a lot of times a person gets their arse kicked or belittled not because of spirituality or religion. Oh yeah they claim that as the reason to justify things and get the pagan bandwagon rolling to acknowledge just how badly they've been affronted by the Christian community. But the reality is they got stomped because they are arse's or think they are special and people call them on it. I once asked some kids, well actually teens, why they beat the crap out of a person. Now the person claimed it was because they were showing their Pagan jewelry but that was a lie. They beat his ass because of his own attitude and mouth and the way he treated people.

On the surface I can see the OP getting crap simply because of the association many of the Nordic emblem's have with the Skin Heads, White Supremacy movements, various Motorcycle gangs and any other number of reasons. Not counting any of those groups themselves stomping a hole in his rear end because they give other meanings to many of those symbols. Nor can one rule out any attitude or personal character influence from the OP which result in how others view him.

Not saying nor trying to imply that is the the reason for what he is experiencing. Only suggesting alternative options that do not rely upon the "It's because I'm pagan!" as the excuse for whatever happens. Far to often I hear the "It's because i'm Pagan" when you dig into it it's actually because the person is an asshole and thinks they are special.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

On the surface I can see the OP getting crap simply because of the association many of the Nordic emblem's have with the Skin Heads, White Supremacy movements, various Motorcycle gangs and any other number of reasons.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Definitely do not disagree about judging because of implied appearances. Implied mostly from our own biases and prejudices or social / cultural imagery associated with certain things. Sadly the Nordic stuff is really beaten up between many of the Nazi Germany images and the white supremacist movement's usage. In many ways not entirely dissimilar to how many aspects of Southern Heritage have also been taken over by the same white supremacist influences.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Sadly the Nordic stuff is really beaten up between many of the Nazi Germany images and the white supremacist movement's usage. In many ways not entirely dissimilar to how many aspects of Southern Heritage have also been taken over by the same white supremacist influences.

'Tis truly a shame how emblems of proud heritages are co-opted for unsavory and downright evil purposes. Take the swastika, for example. In Sanskrit svastir, which is cognate with swastika, means auspicious, blessing, and is an ancient symbol found all over south and east Asia from millennia past. The Nazis co-opted it and made it poison. When you see images of Hindu deities you will find the swastika somewhere in the image as a blessing. Try displaying a swastika in for its original meaning nowadays. The outcome won't be pretty.

Edit to add: The symbol for the Nazi SS is the rune sowelo.

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

'Tis truly a shame how emblems of proud heritages are co-opted for unsavory and downright evil purposes. Take the swastika, for example. In Sanskrit svastir, which is cognate with swastika, means auspicious, blessing, and is an ancient symbol found all over south and east Asia from millennia past. The Nazis co-opted it and made it poison. When you see images of Hindu deities you will find the swastika somewhere in the image as a blessing. Try displaying a swastika in for its original meaning nowadays. The outcome won't be pretty.

People forget it's also a pretty common symbol for the Med region and is actually found on many Greek era coins and engravings.

[Wenny]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

You are all very beautiful people!

The only person I've found had issues is my mom's church goers.

[Carlin]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Reading this thread, I realise how lucky I am where I live. I've never had any grief because of my beliefs. The worst I've had are a couple of funny looks when someone notices my necklaces. It's a very multicultural community with several different religions. They wear things that point to their beliefs, so do I, yet everybody seems happy enough.

I'm so very sorry for all the rotten experiences people have had.

[Odahviing]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3870[/ATTACH]
I did it
for anyone who was wondering, yeah this is what I look like

Ok, just gott asay, I love your ink. Love everything about it.

[thalassa]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Reading this thread, I realise how lucky I am where I live. I've never had any grief because of my beliefs. The worst I've had are a couple of funny looks when someone notices my necklaces. It's a very multicultural community with several different religions. They wear things that point to their beliefs, so do I, yet everybody seems happy enough.

I'm so very sorry for all the rotten experiences people have had.

I've been Pagan for over 20 years, in multiple locations (including a number of small town, rural, and southern locations), in the military, etc...I can count the number of truly negative experiences I've had from persons being judgemental over my being Pagan on one hand.

And in all of those situations (including the one I mentioned earlier in the thread), I could have been the wrong kind of Christian, and the experience would have been the same.

In my experience of 20 years of being publically Pagan, for the most part, nobody cares. Most times, people are either ignorant (which can usually be fixed if you have a good attitude and personality) or they are curious...sometimes those people are (generally unintentionally) rude. Depending on how one handles it, it can generally be turned around, or not. When people do care, they are usually older and generally close minded about just about everything...its not my religion, its anything that deviates from their tiny sphere of experiece. Those people should be pitied, not vilified. Very occasionally the person is just a hater.


As an illustration, coincidentally, when I was at my last assigned command, I was in a department with 5 Pagans (out of about 30 people total). My chain of command knew I was Pagan...heck, the chaplains even referred new check-ins that were Pagan to talk to me and my chain of command went along with it. But, 3 of those 5 individuals were *convinced* that they were targets because of their religion. Because when they asked for a duty day off they didn't get it, and because their evaluations weren't great, and because people teased them a bit about silly stuff like "getting your woo woo on" at Halloween. But I'm pretty sure it had more to do with their lack of punctuality, their attitude problems, and their generally poor military bearing. I'm pretty sure of this because I never had a problem when I took leave for a festival or asked for a duty swap for a ritual (the responsible way of doing it)--it was longstanding knowlege that I would trade Yule with anyone that wanted Christmas Day with their family. I had fantastic evaluations (EP all the way), and when people teased me about getting my woo woo on for Halloween, I said "hell yeah, you bet"--and the comments were of no different tone or content than they were for the Christian, atheist, or Jewish service members.


To quote Taylor Swift (why gods, why?!?!?) --- Haters gonna hate.

[Norse_Angel]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Well, I worry that if I shave my head, those comments would start being mentioned, but I have never had anyone say anything to me of the sort. My tattoos are always misconstrued as characters of the devil. I have never been mistaken for a skin head, or racist because of my ink.
In our faith, we do everything in our power to destroy the dilution of our symbols, by those who use them as justification for hate, and bigotry. There have been a lot of things done, but some symbols are beyond lost. The sun wheel is a very sacred northern symbol which was stolen and poisoned by Nazi Germany. It's sad in a way actually.

[Odahviing]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

Well, I worry that if I shave my head, those comments would start being mentioned, but I have never had anyone say anything to me of the sort. My tattoos are always misconstrued as characters of the devil. I have never been mistaken for a skin head, or racist because of my ink.
In our faith, we do everything in our power to destroy the dilution of our symbols, by those who use them as justification for hate, and bigotry. There have been a lot of things done, but some symbols are beyond lost. The sun wheel is a very sacred northern symbol which was stolen and poisoned by Nazi Germany. It's sad in a way actually.

If people assume your tattoos are signs of the devil (or whatever else that you know they aren't) I'd use that as an opportunity to enlighten the ignorant. I think we can take some of our symbols back from the Nazis by using them and (when we get the chance) sharing with others the reason we use them... What they mean to us and why they aren't what people think they are.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Insulted for your beliefs?

In our faith, we do everything in our power to destroy the dilution of our symbols, by those who use them as justification for hate, and bigotry. There have been a lot of things done, but some symbols are beyond lost. The sun wheel is a very sacred northern symbol which was stolen and poisoned by Nazi Germany. It's sad in a way actually.

Well here's one to make you smile.... as many of you already know, one of my sons-in-law is from India. When he and my daughter married, some of his Indian friends gave them a coconut with a swastika on it - because to them it symbolised good luck and good fortune. He thought it was hilarious when people kept referring to it as his 'Nazi coconut'!