Windora wrote:
I know what u're goin through. I disided my junior year in high school 2 b open about bing a witch. I carried books around & told people straight up. Kids made fun & yes even teachers. ( u goin 2 curse me if u get a bad grade & laugh in my face.) So kids wanted 2 know more & understand. So did care at all & some have been lookin into it themself. If u're friends make fun their no friends. Ive learned that the hard way. Good Luck hon

Ugh, I had a teacher who loved to say that when I was in school still. Along with other irritating comments. It was horrible! I had to stop myself from stooping to his level and being rude right back.

Finally, he caught me on a REALLY bad day (what's that saying about PMS and a shotgun? ) and I was wearing my pentacle necklace. It had slipped above my shirt collar so naturally he started cracking jokes the second he saw it. In front of the entire classroom.
As my irritation grew I had to bite my lip and not freak out. Finally he made the joke about cursing him for a bad grade and I turned around, glared at him and replied coldly, "Not if you give me a bad grade. But if you keep making fun of my beliefs, then maybe." And I walked to my desk and sat down. It was the first time I'd ever responded to his teasing and he had never heard me sound so mad before. He stopped making fun of me after that.

People can be so disgustingly close minded and rude. It's hard to deal with sometimes. As for the question about Druidry, here is a website that explains about it a bit. There is a list of topics on the left, titled "The Druid Tradition." If you click it, it shows a whole bunch of sub-topics. Hope this helps!
http://druidry.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=ind ex&topic_id=1&page_id=8

I know how you are feeling. I also know what it is like leaving your home town after being a victim of hate crimes committed by the local occult. I mean church. I no longer live there and my life has improved. Now soon. I'll be getting married to my soulmate. She is pagan as well. Her mom is pretty open minded. But closed minded fools will always be closed minded fools. Now. I look on them with pitty. I pitty them for being so ignorant. I only had to recently hit one in the mouth. He made the comment that all Arabs should be killed. When I told him that my soon to be wife is half Arabic. He said that she should be killed as well. My hand hurt. But not near as bad as his mouth.

Go Caveman!!! I totally agree I pity them. Its bs how people can be. I was just talkin 2 my mom how its crazy that people make fun of people who have born with whatever problems or people who were born a different race that white. So white people I know make me hate being white the way they talk. Really y can't we all just love each other for who we r & get over the difference we alll have!! I wish for peace on earth!!

I know it not just white its all races its just that mostly the only race im mostly around. just mostly what I see. But thats great about u & gf!!

I think one thing that is hurting the Pagan community is too much internal conflict. But Pagans are such a varied people that it makes it hard to agree on everything. If anything. Hate is a learned behavior though. It can be over come. I was brought up in a family full of hate because of my father. I was like that for a long time. Full of hate on everything. Being Pagan has helped me over come that. Then meeting my soulmate has really opened my eyes. We plan to have children. Do I want my children growing up as I did? Of course not.

Elizabeth_S wrote:
Hi, I'm having a problem. Someone at school saw me going on a Pagan site and they kinda shouted "Pagan?! That's a cult!" And when I tried to explain that it wasn't, they didn't really believe me. And lately, people have been ignoring me or have been uncomfortable around me. My friends are pretty supportive but they're all Christians/Catholics/Muslims and they don't really like it when I talk about Wicca.
How do I explain it to them? I don't really know where to start because really, it's not like Paganism can be explained in a paragraph. Well, maybe it can be summarized but how? I'm not sure what I should tell them and what I shouldn't, some of them have never even heard of the words 'Pagan' and 'Wiccan'.
Each time I try to explain that Pagans aren't all evil, they tell me "Oh, what about Druids? They sacrificed humans!" and since I'm not very knowledgeable of Druidism, I don't really know how to answer that. Of course, I know they don't grab random people off the streets and feed them to the Devil, no way do they do that but that seems to be what most people think.
I tried telling them that Witches weren't wiped from the face of the Earth and that Druids weren't all gone but I really have no idea how to explain and where to start.

So my question is:
HOW DO I EXPLAIN PAGANISM IN A NUTSHELL?

I've been in similar situations; I faced some pretty severe discrimination when I worked for Armed Forces Network overseas in the US Navy.

What I've learned, is to live one's faith quietly and sincerely. When situations like this come up (by no fault of one's own actions), the best thing to do is just...explain who you are as best you can. And, if people aren't willing to accept them...just ignore them and keep going your own way.

If people aren't willing to let you explain yourself, nothing you say is going to convince them to see reason. True, the accusations and the discrimination hurt, but unfortunately, narrow-minded people are a way of life. I'm a Druid chaplain's assistant, assigned to a Southern Baptist chaplain (US Army). Truuuuust me...I have had to learn the virtue of "Silence". I've also had to learn to let my actions as a person speak loudly - to live right and just - and to people make their judgements about me based on my day-to-day actions and to leave my faith quietly reflected in the way I treat others.

It's not easy, but the best advice I can give, is to just...walk away. And let your faith shine through your day-to-day interactions with the world around you. You'd be surprised how people's opinions can changed, by continued observation of your own compassion, forgiveness, and kindness toward others, regardless of how they may (or may not) have treated you.

Oh - and Druids most certainly *don't* sacrifice people! Historically...well...I can't say that they didn't (and we're talking way, way back when - like before and during the times of the Greeks/Romans), but cultures and religions progress with the times. Modern Druidry most certainly doesn't condone human (or animal!) sacrifices.

I grew up LDS and one of their favorite quotes is:

Live your life so that those who don't know Him, but know you will want to know Him because they know you.

It can be applied in this situation.
The worst discrimination that I ever faced was the 2 hour lecture I got from my mom on the "evils of Paganism". That was over 10 years ago, and I let it go in one ear and out the other. I suppose that I am pretty lucky in that regard. But I think that the best response in your case, barring anyone trying to hurt you, is to just ignore and live your life the way that you want to live it.