Religious Discrimination Options

Please keep this respectful. Any slurs or attacks against other members because of their beliefs will be deleted.

I'm curious to see what members have to say. In my life time I've been riddiculed by my family, who are Catholic both on my mom and dad's side. I've been picked on in grade school too, thats not surprising growing up in a small town with small minded people. But I've never really enountered discrimination in a work environment or otherwise had my rights overtly broken. In college, well mine at least, people either don't really care or are openly curious. I guess there have been a few religious nuts I've banged heads with, but nothing that really impeded my rights.

Now I do hold a certain level of resentment for religious fanatics of any sort, be they Evangelicals, Jehova's Witnesses, KKK, Pagan knights or cults that I percieve as dangerous. My main resentment towards Christianity in general stems from the idea of conversion. I do not think it is right for any religion to pressure or coerce any other denomination to convert. In prision I did not openly discuss my belief either. But in that kind of environment thats a good choice regardless of one's beliefs. I'm also bitter from just the general "holier than thou" attitude I've encountered in grade school and day to day life. All these aspects have formed a kind of prejudice in me against Christians. Not because all Christians are closeminded fanatics, but because a few roten apples spoiled my pie, so to speak.

For me, this manifests as a messure of mis-trust and disdain. I don't often talk about my beliefs with strangers because I don't want to be oustrasized in my community. And yet a portion of me finds pleasure in pissing off fundies. I've been known to challenge the various Mormons or whoever who periodically come to my front door and try to tell me I'm going to hell and need to accept Christ into my heart, under their banner no doubt.

Of course I do try to be respectful, usually, in these "debates" that get stired up. And I always respect people's beliefs in day to day life.

So where have you, if ever, experienced prejudice or discrimination because of your beliefs?

Do you hold any prejudice against a particular religion?

I had a friend once that was a devout Satanist. I was just a pup in the magickal realms then, but I listened to his advice on magick and used those words to get better at magick. He took off for another state and I was left to teach myself magick--which was OK considering my prefered paradigm was not Satanism, it was using the Necronomicon. The more I used it the more I realized it was a way to reach never before realized heights and goals. Magick wasnt about spells and power anymore--it was about Evolution! But as I was excited by this realization my friend had returned from his year long journey a new man---A GODDAM REBORN CHRISTIAN---- THE WORST KIND!!!!! Boy did he waste no time trying to convert everyone and their mother to "his Lord Jesus Christ!". Everyone naturally ignored him as he was a very vocal Satanist in the past so they looked at him like he was mad. But me being a loyal friend, I supported his new cause if it made him a better person. But in due time the venom was pointed at me and my methods. Then came the inevitable "all magick is evil"--at this point I went off on him reminding him of his limited view point on magick. How the only magick he ever practiced was Satanism. Based on that of course he would view all magick as evil--but in essence he was way off mark! I tried to explain the goals of my system as well as the Qabalistic system as well (as I feel they are very much related). He had made up his mind and wanted to hear nothing of what I had to say. This is when I started to lose respect for my friend. Naturally we hung out less and less. I saw his judgement as foolish and meek more clearly each time I met him. To him if you werent w/ Jesus you were w/ Satan--simple as that garbage. Well at this point I dont hang out w/ the fella at all--havent spoken to him in like 3 years--and dont see myself speaking to him anytime soon--as I dont hate him, he was my first magickal teacher---but I dont respect him anymore. All because of these four letters---WWJD......

great posts, y'all

WWJD......

wither a fig tree cause it had no figs and it pissed him off

transmutate water into wine so the party could keep on rockin (at the request of his mother no less!)

raise the dead, heal the sick, etc, etc, etc...

walks like a mage, quacks like a mage, must be a mage!

the rest of his story is usurped from the paganos methinks, like walking on water, loaves and fishes, etc

how much is real we can't say these days cause of the church's assimilation of just about everything

hmmm...if you say damn, does that make you a christian? i'll never say damn again!