Religion is an extremely sensitive subject.\u00a0 Even those that do not claim to follow a religion are usually adamant in their denials of faith.\u00a0 Discussions about religion with people that practice different belief systems often move from thoughtful, logical discussions to emotional and irrational arguments.<\/p>\n
Many religious groups obviously believe their way is the only way.\u00a0 They attack the practices of others when they are different from their own, ignoring obvious commonalities and opportunities for dialog.\u00a0 Usually what those groups know and say about us and what practice is wrong (either they do not care or have information from bad sources).<\/p>\n
I’d like to think that we as Pagans are above such things.\u00a0 After all, we all know it’s impossible to find two Pagans that believe and practice the same way.\u00a0 In fact, our path generally embraces and upholds religious pluralism because we ultimately respect individuality and the personal nature of our connection to the Divine.<\/p>\n
But, in reality, it’s easy to get pulled into these discussions.<\/p>\n
We want to defend ourselves and what we believe.\u00a0 We want to correct misconceptions about us.\u00a0 If we attack others in doing so, however, using the same methods we condemn, we are only adding fuel to a fire that we should be trying to put out.\u00a0 We aren’t going to change the perception of the people in those groups anyway \u2013 they are literally set in their ways and aren’t interested in knowing the truth about us.<\/p>\n
Instead we must try to build bridges where we can, when we can, with those willing to listen.\u00a0 We must take opportunities to try and build on the commonalities between us and other groups rather than focus on the differences.\u00a0 We should try to correct misinformation where possible without unnecessarily attacking others.<\/p>\n
This is obviously difficult.<\/p>\n
Like many others on a Pagan path, I come from a winding road of self-discovery, of trial and error.\u00a0 I’ve collected bits and pieces of what I’ve learned that make sense to me.\u00a0 I’ve worked to discard those things that do not work for me and refine those that do.\u00a0 I’ve had mixed results.<\/p>\n
Some of the most helpful lessons I learned came from Buddhism.\u00a0 I worked (and still do \u2013 it’s why it’s called a practice) on mindfulness and understanding.\u00a0 Why do I feel a certain way about something?\u00a0 Why do I react this way?\u00a0 As I work on myself I find that I also learn to better understand others.\u00a0 What drives the person I’m talking to?\u00a0 How could they possibly say something like that?<\/p>\n
Buddhism teaches that the lines created from the differences between us, those things that separate us, aren’t real anyway – they are illusions we create when we identify ourselves with a particular group, and change as that group grows or shrinks:\u00a0 “We are people” turns into “We are Pagan” and then “We are Wiccan”.<\/p>\n
When I talk to people about the differences in our faiths I can relate to my experiences on other paths and build an understanding of where they are coming from.\u00a0 I can then hopefully build upon what we have in common.\u00a0 When given the chance to explain some of my beliefs I have heard \u201cwe actually believe that, too\u201d or \u201cthat actually makes sense\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, not everyone is willing to have the conversation, but it’s a start.<\/p>\n
The signpost for me is to remember that I have the opportunity to be part of the solution \u2013 to provide positive and accurate information about our community to others.\u00a0 One of the reasons I was excited for the opportunity to write for Pagan Pages is the site’s motto – \u201cFrom Knowledge Grows Acceptance\u201d.\u00a0 It is what I wanted to do here – to be part of a group that creates and spreads the good, positive information about our community.<\/p>\n
How have you handled discussions that turned into arguments?\u00a0 How have people reacted when you’ve had a chance to have a reasonable discussion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Religion is an extremely sensitive subject.\u00a0 Even those that do not claim to follow a religion are usually adamant in their denials of faith.\u00a0 Discussions about religion with people that practice different belief systems often move from thoughtful, logical discussions to emotional and irrational arguments. Many religious groups obviously believe their way is the only way.\u00a0 They attack the practices of others when they are different from their own, ignoring obvious commonalities and opportunities for dialog.\u00a0 Usually what those groups know and say about us and what practice is wrong (either they do not care or have information from bad sources). I’d like to think that we as Pagans are above such things.\u00a0 After all, we all know it’s impossible to find two Pagans that believe and practice the same way.\u00a0 In fact, our path generally embraces and upholds religious pluralism because we ultimately respect individuality and the personal nature of our connection to the Divine. But, in reality, it’s easy to get pulled into these discussions. We want to defend ourselves and what we believe.\u00a0 We want to correct misconceptions about us.\u00a0 If we attack others in doing so, however, using the same methods we condemn, we are only adding fuel to a fire that we should be trying to put out.\u00a0 We aren’t going to change the perception of the people in those groups anyway \u2013 they are literally set in their ways and aren’t interested in knowing the truth about us. Instead we must try to build bridges where we can, when we can, with those willing to listen.\u00a0 We must take opportunities to try and build on the commonalities between us and other groups rather than focus on the differences.\u00a0 We should try to correct misinformation where possible without unnecessarily attacking others. This is obviously difficult. Like many others on a Pagan path, I come from a winding road of self-discovery, of trial and error.\u00a0 I’ve collected bits and pieces of what I’ve learned that make sense to me.\u00a0 I’ve worked to discard those things that do not work for me and refine those that do.\u00a0 I’ve had mixed results. Some of the most helpful lessons I learned came from Buddhism.\u00a0 I worked (and still do \u2013 it’s why it’s called a practice) on mindfulness and understanding.\u00a0 Why do I feel a certain way about something?\u00a0 Why do I react this way?\u00a0 As I work on myself I find that I also learn to better understand others.\u00a0 What drives the person I’m talking to?\u00a0 How could they possibly say something like that? Buddhism teaches that the lines created from the differences between us, those things that separate us, aren’t real anyway – they are illusions we create when we identify ourselves with a particular group, and change as that group grows or shrinks:\u00a0 “We are people” turns into “We are Pagan” and then “We are Wiccan”. When I talk to people about the differences in our faiths I can relate to my experiences on other paths and build an understanding of where they are coming from.\u00a0 I can then hopefully build upon what we have in common.\u00a0 When given the chance to explain some of my beliefs I have heard \u201cwe actually believe that, too\u201d or \u201cthat actually makes sense\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, not everyone is willing to have the conversation, but it’s a start. The signpost for me is to remember that I have the opportunity to be part of the solution \u2013 to provide positive and accurate information about our community to others.\u00a0 One of the reasons I was excited for the opportunity to write for Pagan Pages is the site’s motto – \u201cFrom Knowledge Grows Acceptance\u201d.\u00a0 It is what I wanted to do here – to be part of a group that creates and spreads the good, positive information about our community. How have you handled discussions that turned into arguments?\u00a0 How have people reacted when you’ve had a chance to have a reasonable discussion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}