Ignorant family/friends

[jennlabelle]

Have you ever received a bad reaction to paganism from family or friends? Or ever gotten snarky little comments about it?

I have had three instances recently that have really gotten under my skin:

First, my grandfather said that when people are baptized Catholic, they are Catholic forever and there's nothing they can do about it. I said no and he continued to be insistent. What could I do? He's 75 and set in his ways. My grandmother, his wife, has been going to church every Sunday for 70 years. She said right then "Well, I like Jesus but you can't take that bible seriously, there's a lot of crap in it". HAHA! Priceless.

Next, I went shopping the other day with my best friend of literally 15 years. She has recently "found" Christianity and at the same time forgotten that I am Pagan. She has known this all along, I've never hidden it from her, yet a couple of months ago she actually asked me what religion I practiced, thinking I was atheist. I suggested she buy a bookmark that said "Keep Calm and Pray". For whatever reason she thought I was taking a jab at her and snapped at me and called me a devil worshipper. WOAH WOAH THERE BUDDY! I was SO hurt. I sort of laughed it off and said "Yes! I worship Beelzebub! I do his bidding! See any goats around? No, because I sacrificed them!" This has always been the little paragraph I have said when people relate Paganism to anything satanic or devil worshippy. I got it from Willow on Buffy haha.

Lastly, my very own brother. My brother and I were raised Catholic in a non-practicing household. He chose to be confirmed, I did not. He moved to Toronto for university, and started attending an Anglican church for a time. I don't think he still attends but he was just sort of exploring religions I would assume. I completely support this and think it's awesome. However, today I brought up how my best friend had called me a devil worshipper. He said this: "Well you are aren't you... aren't you into Wicca, that's devil worship isn't it?" ............. I have never been so infuriated in my life. I am first of all, neither Wiccan nor a devil worshipper, but thanks for labelling me as two things that I am not. Secondly, I have always thought of my brother as being extremely intelligent. I mean, he is. But right now I think he is an ignorant moron. I hardly know him anymore. He moved away and changed on me. I have been practising since the age of 12, this isn't a new thing in my life. Yet he seems to have ignored this and completely neglected to take any interest. I am just extremely disheartened...

Sorry if this was rant-like. I mean, it was sort of a rant.

[yumiko]

Hi Jenn! Ugh I'm sorry to hear about the negative reactions you've received... that must be very hurtful and frustrating I think you are right about your Grandparents just being very 'set in their ways' and having been brought up in a generation that was not as open minded as ours are now, I mean a lot has changed in terms of social acceptability in the last 70+ years!

As for your born again Christian friend, it sounds like what happened there was a misunderstanding that hurt her feelings and so she felt the need to retaliate. If you've been close for so many years, I'm sure she knows at heart that you are a good person and not a "devil worshipper" because otherwise she likely wouldn't associate with you

Unfortunately there are a lot of myths and crap circulating about Pagan spirituality, and the notion that Wiccans are devil worshippers seem to be a popular one. Your brother sounds like he's just going off of what he heard and I'm sure if he took the time to do some unbiased research he would realize differently. We can't change how other people think or feel, but we can be a source of information and clarity though it can be hard to do so in a respectful way when we feel so hurt. I hope things start to go better for you! Take care

[jennlabelle]

Thanks Yumiko! Your reply was really heart felt and meant a lot. It's hard to be patient with people sometimes... you kind of just get angry for their lack of interest and judgment. I think the important thing to do is project a good image within the community. That's what I always try to do. Sometimes when people find out my religion they are shocked. It's not something anyone would expect from me, most likely because people usually make unintentional assumptions of what a Pagan would look or behave like. I try to promote the idea that just like most other religions, there is no specific epitome of a Wiccan or Pagan. Anyone of any background, gender, or anything at all can be any religion.