Questions!

[Hytegia]

...
Tolerating Intolerance is the heart of every single non-violent movement ever created. I suppose it couldn't hurt to use it for Wiccan and Pagan religions.

IMAH COININ THAT PHRASE!

[white_harmony]

If I couldn't tolerate people's intolerance I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I honestly think that majority of pagans/wiccans at some time in their life would had to have been extremely tolerant of other people's intolerance towards them. We are an amazingly patient people lol. So what I don't understand is why you say Hytegia, that it wouldn't hurt to tolerate intolerance in wiccan and pagan religions? We already do it. We are persecuted by the church at every opportunity. There is always going to be someone's family (like your own, like Mahala's) that just don't understand why you feel the need to reach out to something other than the norm. It might as well be a part of just about any religion, especially with pagans and wiccans, the whole tolerating people's intolerance. Maybe you could clarify for me exactly what you mean when you wrote your post. Because insofar as my understanding goes, it already is something that is incorporated into pagan/wiccan religion, whether it be acknowledged or not, it is simply just there, we simply just do it.

[runewulf]

I think you mean tolerance is a good thing, which it often is, as long as you don't let it grind you down, so to speak. And honestly, short of Buddhists and Taoists, pagans are, as a rule, some of the most tolerant folks there are, overall.


And W_H is totally correct on her above statements.

[Crazy Healer Lady]

I think there is the idea of understanding that not everyone follows the same path; that it is ok for others not to understand; and not be so tripped up by your own ego that you feel everyone needs to understand what you are, how you do it, and why, especially when it gets into why others may be wrong. There will always be people who will hate you, no matter what you are. If you play your cards right in life, the ones who love you should outnumber the others by at least a ratio of 3:1 if not more. There will always be people who may not necessarily hate you, but find things about you that are what they call "wrong." They do not need to be proven wrong. One's ego should be evolved enough that when provoked, they can put this aside, shrug, and go on their merry way. Especially when it comes to family. Much of family dealings is "Bite your tongue, smile, and nod."

It is when intolerance shifts into violence, into segregation, into outcasting, that there is a problem. When one is afraid to be who they are, this must be addressed.

In family situations, it is not RIGHT for a parent to control their child's religious practices inside their home, but they own the home. They want the best upbringing for their child which usually is a Christian lifestyle and spirituality, and luckily, once the child moves out, they have the say of a piece of dust what their child may or may not do. At the same time, they have no grip on their child's spirit, and a child in their home will be Pagan or Buddhist or Christian or Hindu or Sikh regardless. Rituals may have to be done outside of the home.

I guess what I am saying is that I am understanding of those who do not understand and who do not want to. However, when I think intolerance, I think hate crimes.

[Mahala]

Intolerance is a natural thing; Acting on it inhumanely is not. I believe that the Nazi death camps are the worst example of intolerance; Where one 'side' tries to wipe out the others. (And the crusades, the burning times... history does repeat itself, every so many centuries.)