Witches Weekly

No Witches Weekly this week, so I grabbed one from the archives, from Jan of 05.


Do you fear repercussions of the re-election of George W. Bush on your rights to practice your religion freely?


Repercussions should always be feared, regardless of who is in office. The fact that there is a right-winged, WASP in the white house simply makes me feel like a more open target. This is a man who wants to impliment christian prayer within schools during school hours, but doesn't want to recognize Wicca as a religion within the US Army because it's a "cult" following, not really a religion. Never mind that the US Army actually recognizes Satanism as a religion, and that one of the largest cults in existance has been proven to be Christianity (see History Channel's "History of Cults" series).


Honestly, the reason one should fear repercussions is not just because G-Dubbya happens to be in the white house. It should be because one understands human nature as a whole (we're talking a group of people, not one individual person). Human nature is flighty, cautious, and willing to beat down anything that it doesn't understand. Since Wicca (and most other pagan religions), is a minority religion within the world, and since most christians still act as though you're worshipping some evil deity when you mention Islam (tied for 2nd as a world religion), you can bet that they're going to be going after those who choose to believe differently with several pitchforks and burning stakes.


Good rule of thumb for pretty much everyone, regardless of their religion is to simply not talk about it at work, or around people that you don't know - unless you're asked about it specifically. And don't talk about it at work pretty much at all. There's a reason that your job is not allowed to discriminate due to creed - don't go pushing it around and seeing how far you can go. Same thing goes for politics. Religion and politics are two discussion topics that, unless you know the person very well, you shouldn't discuss in public areas. It's just not good show.


This, of course, leads nicely into the 2nd part of the question: What steps do you think are important to take in securing religious freedoms for Pagans, Witches and related?


First of all, I'm not all about Pagans, Witches and related... I'm about religion as a whole. It's a private thing for me - something that's deep within me, that I look at in my own time, in my own space. I don't believe that I'm the only one that's right, and I don't believe that anyone else is, either. I believe that each person from each religion can (and should) learn from other religions in order to understand their own beliefs better. Asking whether I want to take steps to secure religious freedoms for a specific group not something that's easy for me to take - nor is it easy for me to explain why...


I went on a rant earlier this month on the whole "femanist rights" issue, and whether I am a humanist or a femanist. I have the same personal feelings on religions. Each and every religion should have equal rights and equal say. Yes, it is important in securing religious freedoms, but those who are securing them should not lose sight of other religions who need rights, too. Each one should be equally represented, or NONE of them should receive rights at all.


Do I believe that it could happen? Hmmmm - well, if everyone would actually drop all of their human nature for about 15 seconds, we'd have an amazing lack of war, hatred, and general unhappiness toward our fellow persons. Let me know how that works out for y'all. I'm not pessemistic - I'm realistic. Human nature wins out over logic pretty much every time. The fight or flight instinct within each and every one of us is there for a reason and it's not going to go away anytime soon.


So - that then begs the next question... Do you feel Pagan and Witch groups should better organize into “churches” to provide a more “legitimate” face to general public? Why or Why Not?


I don't do public worship. Unitarian churches accept Pagans and Witches, with very little issues. I think that's great. Honestly, the Pagan and Wiccan community has created quite a number of groups for those who would worship in a wider community. Organizing into churches will do one of two things, depending on where they end up locating them:


1. Riots, burning crosses, bombings and general threats will occur throughout the entire time that the building is up, and anyone found going into it and coming out of it will find it easier to cross the picket line at Planned Parenthood than heading to and from worship.


2. No one will go to said churches because of the fear that #1 is going to happen should they be seen there.


Either way, the idea of an actual place of worship is not something that is going to go down well in most communities - not even the liberal one that I live in here in the Pac NW... Can you imagine what would happen should a church open up publicly in the SE? I don't think so...


So... The upshot of the entire discussion is this: Worship as you will, just don't think you're exempt from hatred.