I have been reading a couple of threads in the ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wiccan comm about Christian imports, and in the second thread, someone asked a very specific question that I don't really think many took a very deep look. Do Pagans need mainstream acceptance?
Those who replied to that part said no. Now, if the question had been soley 'do Pagans need mainstream acceptance to have a fulfilling spiritual practise?', then I would agree, but ' why do Pagans need mainstream acceptance at all?' Well, there are plenty of reasons. And the conclusion I come to is, that in the US, they absolutely do need some sort of acceptance.
Over the past year and a half I have seen more than I care to of this sort of story: Parent loses custody of their child because they are Pagan of some flavour. We also have stories about teenagers being abused by the faculty of their school and by other students for no other reason than that they are Pagan. People still lose their jobs over this. People still have their homes vandalized and their property destroyed and their pets killed over this.
These days it seems fairly unlikely that there are too many people who don't know what a Pagan or Wiccan is (in the sense of recognizing the word, not in the sense of actually having factual information). That is mainstream recognition. It is big. But not every Pagan was cut out to be one of the Hidden Children. It is for them that I believe we do need to work toward mainstream acceptance ... or at least tolerance.
There have been many who have crossed my path screaming persecution and how there need to be new laws. Almost every time I have told them that the laws that protect you are already there. You just have to fight to have them enforced. I realize that that is not a fight that everyone can win. I think it is a fight that they shouldn't have to fight alone.
The law is there. The protection is there. But so long as those who enforce it believe that any sort of Pagan belief is a fad or a phase, those laws aren't going to be doing what they were intended to do.
If you don't live in the states (and I don't either), then I think the dynamics are different. Canada's government runs differently than the US's does. I believe that the States are in a time of upheaval. It would be really easy to just fall back into the shadows and not deal with it. But I think that would only serve to make things worse in the long run. There is still very much the sentiment that if you hide something, it is because you know it is wrong.
It's a catch 22 that needs to be stomped out.
--Phae
wiccan comm about Christian imports, and in the second thread, someone asked a very specific question that I don't really think many took a very deep look. Do Pagans need mainstream acceptance?Those who replied to that part said no. Now, if the question had been soley 'do Pagans need mainstream acceptance to have a fulfilling spiritual practise?', then I would agree, but ' why do Pagans need mainstream acceptance at all?' Well, there are plenty of reasons. And the conclusion I come to is, that in the US, they absolutely do need some sort of acceptance.
Over the past year and a half I have seen more than I care to of this sort of story: Parent loses custody of their child because they are Pagan of some flavour. We also have stories about teenagers being abused by the faculty of their school and by other students for no other reason than that they are Pagan. People still lose their jobs over this. People still have their homes vandalized and their property destroyed and their pets killed over this.
These days it seems fairly unlikely that there are too many people who don't know what a Pagan or Wiccan is (in the sense of recognizing the word, not in the sense of actually having factual information). That is mainstream recognition. It is big. But not every Pagan was cut out to be one of the Hidden Children. It is for them that I believe we do need to work toward mainstream acceptance ... or at least tolerance.
There have been many who have crossed my path screaming persecution and how there need to be new laws. Almost every time I have told them that the laws that protect you are already there. You just have to fight to have them enforced. I realize that that is not a fight that everyone can win. I think it is a fight that they shouldn't have to fight alone.
The law is there. The protection is there. But so long as those who enforce it believe that any sort of Pagan belief is a fad or a phase, those laws aren't going to be doing what they were intended to do.
If you don't live in the states (and I don't either), then I think the dynamics are different. Canada's government runs differently than the US's does. I believe that the States are in a time of upheaval. It would be really easy to just fall back into the shadows and not deal with it. But I think that would only serve to make things worse in the long run. There is still very much the sentiment that if you hide something, it is because you know it is wrong.
It's a catch 22 that needs to be stomped out.
--Phae
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Date: 2007-07-09 09:50 pm (UTC)It's a delicate balance; some subcultures admittedly aren't as media-friendly (yet, anyway), and I think that having an article coming out saying that all pagans are polyamorous is just as undesirable as an article that says that all *real* pagans are monogamous, and the poly pagans are just screwed up. But I definitely agree with you on the parallel between transphobia in the gay community, and some of the trends in the pagan community.