I have been a practicing Pagan my whole life. I come from long and religiously diverse
lines of clerics, empaths and healers on both sides of my family. I came across this story this morning and, I must admit, my reaction was less than positive. I have long held tolerance for the
religious contradictions in beliefs that American society is famous for
because tolerance and positive perception is what I was taught from a
young age, particularly as a follower of this Pagan lifestyle. After all, fanatical persecution has long been a bed of brambles along the sides of the enlightened path, has it not? That being said, as a mother
who kept her girls home for these "religious holidays", how do we teach
our own students and children to positively react to this type of public
propagation of ignorance? IS there a positive reaction to be had?
Even with my years of practice at stoicism in the face of religious debate, I found this
public newscast to be appalling. I have contacted several of the Pagan and Wiccan communities that I subscribe to to get other more diverse reactions to this startling blast of close-mindedness. Most of the feedback has been outrage. I would be EXTREMELY interested in
hearing what other intelligent pagans feel as a reaction to this blatantly downgrading newscast. Is there a way to properly defend
against this type of shallowness which is based on rampant misinformation and half-knowledge? What are others' thoughts on
this as teachers and educators? It seems that we need, as a community, to stimulate intelligent conversation on some possible
POSITIVE ways to handle this type of absurdity. What have others said in
public situations that arise such as this? I know I have had several
rather testy conversations over the years concerning my wearing of a pentacle. However, a part of me has always believed
that society as a whole would evolve and move past the propaganda and half-truths, not
DEVOLVE into publicly televised expressions of said ignorance.
How can we, as a collective society, ever hope to advance to the next level of consciousness when we are tearing down and belittling the very religious freedoms which formed the core of the foundation of this country? The answer is: we can't...and not many people care. We have degenerated into a society primarily composed of shortsighted, unenlightened fanatical followers who tunnel-vision one belief system or another. Most have no clear knowledge of other religions or spiritual paths, nor are they interested in learning about them. Teachings of mental discipline in schools and homes has severely declined. Our children rarely attend church or religious services anymore, and those who are curious learn about religion through(yup, you guessed it) the internet, social media and You-Tube videos of public newscasts.
Just as we, the United States of America, were built on ethnic diversity (meaning people of different cultures and languages), we were also built on the core idea of freedom from religious persecution. Or so our forefathers decreed. Nowadays, we have grown so full of ourselves that we forget these ideals and foolishly demand that all citizens ONLY speak American English(bastardized English mixed with stolen and mis-spelled words from other languages) and follow only Christian(whatever branch, just pick one) ideals. How is this progression? It's not. I, personally feel that it is regression at its worst and creates a potentially explosive situation. So how do we positively combat such blatant displays of philistinism and unenlightenment? What do you think? Is it possible to have a positive outcome to this public display of ignorance? Check out the video and let me know.
Here is the link which I am referring to: http://www.causes.com/actions/1733105-demand-fox-news-apologize-to-pagans-and-wiccans
