Do you think you should be judged by your religoin?

[Dentui]

I am; my fellow class members bully me for being the way I am. Also, if any of you live in England, do you know of any covens in Poole?

Editting courtesy of Jameta  

[Jameta]

I have been harassed by classmates, but not because of my faith. Primarily because I do not speak of it, as I'm already harssed for being intelligent/"teacher's pet", having short hair for a period of time, hanging out with "nerds", and just not 'fitting in' with teenage society. I do throw those in the Pagan community who do not know me very well when I tell them the structure of my faith, however; gotten into at least two... "vibrant" debates.

There should be laws in you area protecting you from harassment; find your Students' Rights and Responsibilities handbook (or whatever you guys have), and look for the part about harassment. If you ahve trouble finding it, it should be online, and I can help find it. What youre classmates are doing is basically bashing your moral rights, and you don't have to take that. If the local school board will not help, you can go above their heads. 3nodding

...And yes, I'm very adament(sp?) about bullying. sweatdrop  

[Atma311]

I wouldn't go as far as "bullied" but I've been bothered once in a while about my beliefs, so I've just decided to keep my beliefs to myself. It appears that once you decide to NOT talk about your beliefs, THAT'S when people decide they want to ask you what you believe in xp  

[Canned Toast]

No one should be bullied because of their religion. And it typically isn't a problem for me. I'm to un-noticible to ever get bullied. sweatdrop  

[Yukimura Akechi]

People should never be judged by their religion.  

[Akuma-Loki]

No you should'nt get judged by your faith but people always do, Its like by putting someones else's faith down it makes them feel better.

I keep my faith to myself most of the time but if asked i wont hide it I just hate having to go though all the same questions every time I'm asked by people that are closed minded  

[Keistera]

Should we be judged by our religion? No. Will we be judged by our religion? Yes.

It's human nature to fear what we don't understand. If something seems outside the social norm, hell yes, it's going to be judged. It isn't necessarily right but it will happen.

If you're faced with ridicule based upon your religion, do remember that there is a Bill of Rights to protect you.

The only difficulties I have had:
- my mother thinking I was into Satanism (which, to her, would have been a bad thing - but I don't know enough about it to judge either way)
- A co-worker (who isn't the smartest kid in town) thinking that because I wore a Pentacle and Ozzy/Rock t-shirts, I just had to be a Satanist. (Another co-worker was shocked that I don't do drugs due to said Ozzy shirts)
- People just not knowing what Paganism is, or in my case, equating Wicca with the "love and light" mentality (When I'm far from a "love and light" sort of person... "respect", yes, but there has to be balance.)

The reason I don't have many troubles is because I'm not very public about my path. I have only told those close to me, because they're open and can help me find resources. Other than that... Nope. It's just not worth the trouble.  

[toboetsukasa]

No I also don't think you should be judged by your sexuality or race either.. heart  

[MaddLlama]

Nobody really bugs me about it, but that's because I choose not to make it obvious. I don't really think we should be judged or judge people by religion, but the way people think is that if they know you belong to a certain group, your actions just automatically reflect that group. Personally I think keeping that in mind makes me a better Pagan and a better person.  

[The Bookwyrm]

I don't believe that you should be judged by your religion so much as I believe that you should be judged for how you follow it. And one thing that many new Pagans forget is "To will, to know, and to be silent." You don't have to be ashamed of what you are, but your classmates certainly don't need to know that you're Pagan, Wiccan, etc. You're inviting the ridicule of the ignorant by openly advertising.  

[Panther Nightwind]

I agree with Gypsy Blue. It wasn't fun for in my Senior year of high school to be called upon in my english class for information.

Teacher: "Well, How about we ask our resident Witch Panther here to clarify this."

Panther(me): dying of mortification "Well, *goes into deep discussion*"

And to this day, I can't figure out how he knew I was a 'Witch' stare Maybe it was because when we did the crucible, I kept asking for a witch part stressed and kept correcting what I read when I noticed it was a little "off" sweatdrop