Coexist?

Many people in paganism are under the illusion that can coexist with other religions, because they themselves are tolerant and talking about "different paths". This "different path" rhetoric may hold for many other religions but not for abrahamic ones for the simple reason that there is a book called "the Bible" ordering the killing of "infidels" - so they call other religious views and atheists - and witches. The Quran just copies the Bible. Therefore we have to be careful and certainly not naive.

Truth is that in England, the Anglican Church made honest steps to the correct directions. It has recognized the Pagans and Druids and is represented in every celebration and festival of the Druids that is the main pagan faith there. Since things were going that good, the worthless politicians had to ruin it of course, so they brought up the muslims to start the bombings and terrorism and shariah zones or no-go zones. I don't care if you call me a racist, religion is no race, it is a choice and an opinion about the spiritual and therefore can be criticized.

Now, they have created a christian - muslim dipole that threatens to crush paganism between these two combatants. I remind you that both religions command the killing of "infidels" and witches. Have no illusions, the muslims will be after us like the christians. It is only a matter of time.

For now the christians are bullying pagans wherever they can. Here is one of many incidents.

Street preachers evangelize outside witchcraft shop.

Don't think that words are empty. Hitler began with antisemitic rhetoric much before the concentration camps...

Same-Sex Marriage Laws in PA

Living in Pennsylvania my entire life, I can honestly say that their State laws have always been rigid and, to say the very least, reserved! Such had been the case in regards to same-sex/gay marriage. As a ULC ordained Pagan Clergy, it is my responsibility to keep up with ALL State marriage laws throughout the United States to ensure legality.

For many years, there had been a ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. However, on May 20, 2014, all that changed thanks to a U.S. federal district judge who ruled the ban on recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional. And, indeed, it was.

To me, this had not been so much of a "liberal" issue as it was a "human" one. Let us not forget that before the Universal Life Church came into existence, any couple who belonged to an "unrecognized faith" could not get legally married in most, if not all, states. Hence, of course, further proving my point that "church" and "state" should be kept two separate entities. As far as I am concerned, to each their own. My motto is, and always has been to "live and let live!" 

Much like Judge Judy, I am of the opinion that as long as you are a good citizen, pay your taxes, and you work, you should have all the rights and responsibilities as everyone else. No one has the right to dictate to someone else exactly "how" they should live in regards to their personal lives and what they should believe in (and what they should not). 

I actually own three of Judge Judy Sheindlin's awesome books ~ "Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining," "Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever," and "You're Smarter Than You Look."  I love these books! Unlike her on-screen persona which may seem quite "too no-nonsense and to the point" for some, her books are excellent. They combine her life and career experiences throughout her many years as a presiding family court judge with a bit of real-life humor.

Whether or not one likes her, she is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage and has performed them throughout her career as a judge, stating that, "One of the loveliest weddings I performed was with a gay couple. This is a couple who had been together for almost two decades. They love and adore each other and I don't think they could have loved and adored each other any more than if they were a heterosexual couple then (if) they are a gay couple."

https://youtu.be/WS_HVWEFDe8?si=jRbVhvDB5WYsUpra

The bottom line, and regardless of religion and/or state, we are all children of the Goddess and God ~ of the divine universe which created us all. As a member of the Pagan Clergy, I, personally, welcome this new change!

Turning it all around ...

Turn what around exactly? Well, my dear friends, the events that have occurred over this past most stressful week have been, to say the very least, faith-testing! I have been literally attacked by many folks of my own community (yes sadly, I am speaking of some of my "tolerant" fellow Wiccans) who felt the need to have labeled me many horrible things of which I am most certainy NOT! I shall not re-hash the entire story here on my blog and I will spare you all the ugly details. As with everyone, my views are my own and thankfully are shared by many of my close,  more open-minded Wiccan friends dare I say. Let's just say that the events were so bad that I almost had to delete my Facebook account because of them. The only reason I decided not to is because of the very sweet and kind followers of my blogs who e-mailed me expressing their sadness and that they would miss my blog posts and me very much! I am joined with NetworkedBlogs which is linked to my Facebook. Had I deleted my Facebook account, my followers would have also disappeared from my blogs as would their access. To them, I express my very heart-felt and appreciative "THANK YOU" and I will gladly keep my Facebook open for them and only them. I truly love you all, my friends!  ;-)  (BTW, anyone who happens to be curious about my personal feelings on the election results, all you need to do is visit Robin's awesome blog, "Wiccan Writes" and read the comment section of her latest post about the two old gentlemen having a post-election fuss ~ LOL! GREAT post, Robin! Thank you!)

That being said, I have decided that I need a huge pick-me-up!! And so, I have made up my mind to break tradition this year at my house and begin decorating a tad early for Yule this year. Yes, you heard me right! Instead of putting out my Yule decorations on Black Friday as I usually do, I am getting a big head start this weekend. I truly need a change in mood and atmosphere and I believe this will certainly help do the trick!

Now, that's what I'm talking about ...

This morning I was playing catch up with the blogs which I usually follow. One of my favorite blogs is Pagan Culture and upon reading Magaly's latest post, "Witch Is Such a Nasty Word," I felt extremely compelled to share it here on The Wiccan Life. Her post talks about her most recent experience with religious discrimination, and,  a subject which I personally have dealt with my entire life as a witch. Now, keep in mind that while I am a strong advocate of religious tolerance, this is a subject which must go both ways or else it is  pretty much a pointless effort at best. Besides, I am a true believer in "practicing what I preach" so to speak.

I love her post and applaud her for her integrity and truth. I would just like to say, "Thank you, Magaly from the bottom of my heart, dear sister!"  Blessed Be!!!

Ignorance is bliss

Ignorance is bliss and, my friends, have we got a lot of "blissful" people out there! Upon reading Diandra's lastest post from her blog, "That Witch Is True," I have decided to re-post this particular post about the ignorance of religious intolerance. I, personally, have not as of yet received any "nasty" little comments or e-mails about my blog or my posts; however unfortunately, some other Wiccans/Pagans in our community have. In my view, this is simply unacceptable although not surprising. Anyway, her post is as follows:

I just got my first Christian hate mail

(The stupid thing is, I do not remember exactly why I got it. Wait, I will just post it:

"My fault pagan, I didn't notice the "Calvinist" perspective comment was still on my blog description. It doesn't seen you noticed either to me though, you should have just pointed that out. It was in very small lettering. Also it's very hard to find that setting in wordpress, and when you are bogged down all the time with all kinds of Hell, like I am, you don't always notice those little things. So, sorry for the insults on that. Why did you put fundamentalist Christianity on your last blog post, this one, and not point out the history of pagans?: Pagans are known for being cold blooded sexually immoral murderers of their own children: https://eternian.wordpress.com/category/ancient-egypt/
In Europe that was severely curtailed by Reformed Christians.And in Asia and India female infanticide continues by the Hindus and those with folk religions. You conveniently, in your bias, overlook these long known facts.

If the evil Catholics hadn't beaten and converted the majority of pagans, that child prostitution, child slavery and female infanticide, and money-hoarding would still be going on.

Also, not all children who are hit by their parents will think it is okay, it depends what else they learn in their lives."

http://eternian.wordpress.com

I remember reading and commenting on something about beating children some time ago, but I am almost sure it was not on a Christian blog - how would I get there in the first place? I mean, I do read a few blogs which are written by Christians, but they usually do not touch the subject of faith, because I am fairly sure that would lead to unpleasant comments from both sides and might cause me an aneurism.

This e-mail confused me. It did not upset me, strange enough, and I also have to admit I find it rather amusing.

My (Diandra's )response was as follows:

"Good morning, Mr. Knight,

I am sorry but I think you confuse me with someone. I thought very hard about it for approx. 30 seconds, and I do not think I have ever visited your blog, nor would I take the energy to read or comment on a Christian blog - simply because in most cases it would lead to less-than-friendly exchanges of opinions without anyone benefiting from the incident. In my experience, some religions do not get along as well as others, and while I do have a series of Christian as well as Muslim friends who have simply accepted that, although my soul is (in their opinion) damned, I am still a rather pleasant being. ^^

In my opinion, neither Pagans nor Catholics nor, for that matter, Calvinists are evil per se. It usually depends on the person and their ability (or inability) to connect with others. It is easily possible for someone to be a Pagan and yet be someone I do not like, just as I highly value several people who do not share my faith, just for them being decent humans.

And, just for the records - yes, I do have sex, and I have never killed any children.

Kind regards,
Diandra Linnemann")


Hmm, I repeat, ignorance IS bliss. Of course, all this man need do is take a good, long, hard look into the history of "his" religion (or atleast get the facts about the history of Paganism right)! Though I must say that I really love her response! ;)

Lost Comments from previous post ...

I want to thank April and Robin for taking the time to share their comments on my previous post, "Prejudice Never Sleeps.". I have re-posted them as they were lost when Blogspot was down and I could not retreive them other than to scan the printed pages that I had saved in my blog book. Please click on the pic TWICE if you would like to read them - again, thank you and Blessed be!!!

Prejudice Never Sleeps

It never ceases to amaze me how the ignorance of others seems to breed like some sort of terrible disease with no known cure.  I wasn't going to post this, but I feel so strongly about the subject that I feel I must share it with all of you.

Today, I was threatened by a few of my co-workers because of the mere fact that I am a Wiccan. Mind you, I do not advertise my religious beliefs nor do I even wear a pentagram to work. The only thing I am guilty of is printing off copies of my blog posts (at home!) for two of my co-worker friends who have asked me to do so becuase they say that they enjoy reading them. I always place them in their desk drawers - never on top of their desks.

So, this morning one of these "so-called" co-worker friends approached me at the switchboard and informed me that a few of her fellow co-workers were not happy about my blog posts and told her to warn me that if I did not stop distributing them to these particular people, they would go directly to my supervisor about it.

Now, first of all, I do not and nor have I ever solicited these posts or my personal religious beliefs in the work place. Unlike a couple of other employees I work with who actually keep a Bible or the like at their desk every single day, I do not feel the need to advertise nor push my beliefs on anyone else. I have no problem with them wearing crosses or the Star of David, etc. (to each their own), but I do not appreciate, nor will I tolerate, someone threatening my job or my livelihood. The way I see it, what right do they have to do this? Who are THEY to mess with my life in this way?

Further, the only way anyone would know about these posts (or my business) is if they have actually gone into these employees drawers and snooped. As far as I am concerned, I did nothing wrong and furthermore, the only people who should have the right go into someone else's desk drawers are the Supervisors.

These same people are also spreading out right lies about me as well - claiming that I am "rude" to customers on the switchboard phones and distributing these posts on company time. Neither is true, in fact, I have been covering the company switchboard for 7 years now and do these same people honestly believe that if this accusation were true, I would still be responsible for this job? And I have never done any of this on "company time." I go into work early every day and if I have a post to distribute, I do it BEFORE the start of work! Not to mention, there would be no way I could even so much as get into my blog on the computer at work as they block all of these sites.

Of course, not only did these cowards not confront me personally about the fact that they apparently have a problem with me, but the "gopher" who approached me about this refused to give me the names of my accusers.

It appears that some people do not have anything better to do with their work day than to stick their noses into other peoples business and make threats about someones job due to the fact that they are ignorant when it comes to other peoples religions. Sometimes I have to wonder - will prejudice against others ever end?