Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

[Ophidia]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

Ah the simple people, cant manage being an adult and being interesting at the same time. God love them.
Just as well theres enough charitable people in the world to support the less fortunate

Most of the truly interesting Pagans I know are old. They grow out of the 'omg, gotta go to work, can't party late on the weekends' stage & into the 'I don't care what anyone thinks of me, I'm wearing the bright green antlers today' stage.

Which actually segues nicely into another one of my pet peeves.

Why are our 'elders' so weird? Anyone remember Otter Zell breeding unicorns? Wtf, man? Granted, when I became Pagan, most of the 'elders' were suffering from Post Hippie Syndrome, but still. Weird.

[Zephyranth]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

What really bothers me about being Wiccan is that so many people who aren't serious about the religion are attracted to it because of the media attention it has had throughout the years.

[theAmbassador]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

"Oh no don't cast a smell on me! Haha!"
I can't stand the initial reactions I get my coworkers. My wife stresses that I shouldn't be open about my involvement in paganism, but when coworkers (most of whom I work in a single open work space with) see books that I read or websites I visit they ask questions. The fact that most of them don't take my beliefs seriously and instead resort to jokes and snide remarks is a problem for me. I'm sure ignorance plays into it, but there is a difference between being curious and outright rude. I shouldn't have to hide my beliefs like in some modern day witch hunt or something.

[pixie]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

The way people WITHIN paganism nit-pic at the details. 'You're not wiccan because...', 'you can't call yourself a Heathen...' 'You're not a witch you're a...' All that bullcrap pisses me off more than anything else. Oh and people who point and laugh at the fluffy bunnies. As if anyone's path is so perfect and flawless, that they can afford to sit on their pedistals and laugh at the mistakes of others.. eugh. I guess, what I'm saying is the thing I dislike the most about being pagan, is other pagans (90% of this forum excluded of course!).

^^
All this! I feel the same!

[callmeclemens]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

Two things: First, all paths are not found so easily some come with various pit stops before they find themselves here, I hate hearing people being accused of flavor of the week Religious tendonsies. My second pet peeve is more of a personal thing. As I have such a strong Christian background I tend to now ignore and avoid Christianity as a whole. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but for me its like seeing an ex-girlfriend that had been really bad for you for a long time at a party. You still have your affection, but you know its best left alone. While im thrilled with my Pagan Religion, Life, and Spirituality. I still feel like removing all those things from my life can sometimes limit me.

[PhoenixMask]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

That I can't be open about it because people are jerks.

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

People assuming that because I'm white and a Germanic Heathen that I'm racist.

[Jembru]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

People assuming that because I'm white and a Germanic Heathen that I'm racist.

People make negative assumptions based on your skin colour and religion and DON'T see the irony?

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

People make negative assumptions based on your skin colour and religion and DON'T see the irony?

Nope and trying to explain it to them is an exercise in futility. I have to laugh or else I would cry.

[Clive]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I don't catch a lot of flack when people find out that I'm Pagan. Most people are very kind and some of them ask reasonable questions, but one of the things that irks me a bit is when people ask me, "Is that why you wear black clothes?" Now, I do wear a lot of black, mostly band t-shirts and such, and in the wintertime I wear a trench coat, but I don't think this is a fair question. Since when do modern religions have a dress code? I realize that some religions like Islam have certain standards and whatnot, but why in hell would somebody assume that my Bauhaus shirt and baggy black pants have anything to do with my religion?

The only thing that really bothers me is that I don't know any other Pagans. If there are any serious Pagans around here then they must keep quiet or something.

On a related note, I've never been to a Pagan gathering, but my roommate has. Apparently WV used to have Pagan Spirit Gathering every year, but from what he's told me it was mostly about walking around naked and partying. Not that there's anything wrong with frivolity, of course; "All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals," after all, but he also told me that he belonged to a Pagan group when he went to Marshall University and they never really did anything substantial either.

So it's no wonder that so many non-Pagans assume that we're all alcoholics and drug abusers when a great deal of Pagans can't seem to distinguish religious practice from a sloppy party.

[Monk]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

The way people WITHIN paganism nit-pic at the details. 'You're not wiccan because...', 'you can't call yourself a Heathen...' 'You're not a witch you're a...' All that bullcrap pisses me off more than anything else. Oh and people who point and laugh at the fluffy bunnies. As if anyone's path is so perfect and flawless, that they can afford to sit on their pedistals and laugh at the mistakes of others.. eugh. I guess, what I'm saying is the thing I dislike the most about being pagan, is other pagans (90% of this forum excluded of course!).

I have to agree with Jembru 100% on this as I've been on the receiving end of this type of criticism more than a few times.

[Jembru]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I thought of something else, although not quite a peeve as such. I have a love-hate relationship with the WOTY. Having a whopping eight festivals, plus any secular ones I feel like borrowing, is fantastic. However, having the year so definitely marked out like this, makes time seem to speed up. It's not quite so bad now that I am solitary, because I can just drift idly from one sabbat to the next, but in a coven/group, it feels like as soon as one is over and done, you are already planning for the next. One minute you're thanking the sun god as his work is done and he fades into the spirit worlds and then before you know it, it's Yule again.

Maybe this is nothing to do with paganism or the festivals some of us celebrate, and everything to do with being 30. I've heard the older one gets, the faster time seems to go.

[TheTeddy]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

People assuming that because I'm white and a Germanic Heathen that I'm racist.

I have a bit of the opposite. When people figure out I'm Pagan they don't really believe me because I'm half black.

[Clive]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I thought of something else, although not quite a peeve as such. I have a love-hate relationship with the WOTY. Having a whopping eight festivals, plus any secular ones I feel like borrowing, is fantastic. However, having the year so definitely marked out like this, makes time seem to speed up. It's not quite so bad now that I am solitary, because I can just drift idly from one sabbat to the next, but in a coven/group, it feels like as soon as one is over and done, you are already planning for the next. One minute you're thanking the sun god as his work is done and he fades into the spirit worlds and then before you know it, it's Yule again.

Maybe this is nothing to do with paganism or the festivals some of us celebrate, and everything to do with being 30. I've heard the older one gets, the faster time seems to go.

I know what you mean. I've always been a solitary but ever since I was 11 I've noticed how much more quickly time seems to pass every year. Drifting between the festivals, as you say, does help. I tend to leave my altars set up and choose music and prayers dedicated to each Sabbat between festivals, only beginning to prepare for the next one a week prior.

I have a bit of the opposite. When people figure out I'm Pagan they don't really believe me because I'm half black.

Really? That's silly. I never knew that race was even an issue. Granted, if you take a look around the Pagan community as a whole it does seem to be rather white-dominated, but still. Whoever said being white was prerequisite?

[Ophidia]

Re: Biggest pet peeve about your faith?

I have a bit of the opposite. When people figure out I'm Pagan they don't really believe me because I'm half black.

My best friend is black and Pagan. I'm white. Guess which one of us was Norse-centric & which one of us leaned towards Vodou?

She caught a lot of crap for being interested in Norse Wicca, Asatru & Odinism, both for being black and for being Pagan in general. I've felt very welcomed by the various Diasporists that I've encountered - not one of them said anything to me about the color of my skin. Among my Pagan friends & acquaintances, though - I was shunned for condoning and participating in animal sacrifice and encountered more ignorance and senseless hatred than I had from non-Pagans.

Racism and stubborn ignorance is always a peeve for me.