What Happens When Even Your Friends Are Intolerant Of Your Beliefs?

Let me me the first to say that I deeply regret any comment that I made that made you feel bad. I thought I was a tolerant person, but now I’m not so sure. My own ignorance as to what you believe, led me to hurt you. Which is the furthest thing from my mind. Since I don’t think there are enough flowers or jewels in the world to make up for this, please accept my humble apology.

I’ll be in the doghouse if you need me.

Kat, people fear what they don’t understand and alot of times that leads for them to use laughter to hide their true feelings about whatever it is they fear. They just need to learn that just because they believe one thing, doesn’t mean that all people believe the same thing. I applaud you for standing up for your beliefs and I also ask that they take the time to learn more about your beliefs. If they are true friends, then they should do that for you. That’s just my feelings on the situation. I hope you have a great week and remember keep smiling.

First off Kat, you are responsible for your own feelings. You can’t blame others when you feel bad because someone else may have reacted differently.

Your friends were only masking their curiousity about you. They just did it in a very insecure way. You were given an opportunity to educate someone but you let your vulnerability get the best of you, and you blew it.

Next time, consider yourself a spokeperson and don’t take it so personally. Christians, Muslims and Jehovah’s Witness’ deal with this everyday but they know how to brush it off and still get the word out. I wish you luck with your efforts.

Love, Light and Peace!

Dear Kat:
I read what you went through and i wish i had been there. You have every right to believe in what you chose, so do they. But as a true friend they should never I repeat ” Never ” make fun or hurt you in anyway. What i believe is they are just stupid for not trying to understand something they know nothing about. Don’t ever let people make you feel bad for what you believe. Nowdays people just don’t respect each other for who they are. Only you can help them understand.
Keep your head high your heart strong.
I love you no matter what you believe in.
love mom

From the human perspective I am surprised by those you consider friends to be so openly discouraging toward a belief you hold dear and near. Unfortunately, it does not shock me. Although I do not have much knowledge as to your belief, after reading this, I will be doing research. It has been my experience that the tech world has been filled with giving, sharing, and tolerance. Are we who are relied upon to keep it together going to give into the pressure from the rest to “go along”? I sincerely hope this is an isolated moment of sheer ignorance yet, in my heart, I see a turning point and feel deep regret for both this young woman and for the changing landscape of the Tech.

Dan

“You accept me for who I am”…………….PERIOD. Those that cannot or will not follow that simple rule are the ones that you walk - I mean run - away from, and fast.

Oh Kat, I’m so sorry you had to suffer that indignancy but, Witches/Wiccans have been suffering that for centuries. It’s a small consolation but, at least we’re not burnt at the stake any more

At the same time, being hurt by such ignorance proves you still have your humanity and expectations within you. I’ve also been there, both as a Wiccan and purely because I have long hair. It got to the point that, even when people were nice, I was looking for some form of subtle sarcasm that wasn’t actually there.

Keep the faith Kat, you’ve already come out stronger for it :-)))

Hi Kat. I happened upon this entry a little bit (?!) late in the game and I offer my sorrow that you had endured that ridicule. It’s completely unwarranted as far as I’m concerned.

My wife and I are of the Christian faith. However, we have friends that follow different faiths as well. One of my wife’s best friends is Wiccan and we have been understanding of her beliefs as she is of ours. We don’t have to agree with each other all the time, even regarding religion; that’s not what friendship is about. Sure, everyone has the right to be assholes, but it’s even better for all to treat each other with respect and understanding as fellow human beings.

I saw that someone apologized for what was said to you. That is a good thing. For the people who were unapologetic in making the nasty comments and jokes, they need to be hit with a verbal 2×4 in how important it is to be decent and sensitive to others, even over the internet.

Sad, but people are like that no matter what. I’ve been through it as a Christian and it strengthened my faith. How you handle it speaks volumes as well. Sadly, religion is a joking matter to a lot of people - ALL religion. Muslims respond (and please, not all Muslims, I know) to such humor with violence as we saw by the fallout from the cartoon incident. Christians have gotten used to it, I think. Jews I know tend to join in. Wiccans are not well understood, it’s true. What most people know comes from movies & TV.

Personally, I may disagree with your views and even your religion, but I respect your right to choose. As for your friends, chat with them if they don’t follow this blog. It will go a lot further than holding it inside.

Regarding religion and comedy in general, it’s just the way this world is - “Wholly Moses”, “Life of Brian”, “Saved” - all examples of treating someone’s religion (or at least their perception of a religion) with less than reverence. Maybe funny to some (and I think parts of the first two are funny), but definitely not respectful. (Some might throw Charmed or Bewitched in there as an example of Witchcraft, right? I seriously doubt that it reflects anything closely resembling what most Wiccans would do based on what I know of the religion.)

Anyway, I hope that you are able to patch this up with your friends and this may be a great opportunity for some meaningful dialogue with them.

Funny that folks who believe they are drinking a 2,000 year old guys blood and gnawing on his flesh would make fun of witches liking icky things like bats and spiders.

I guess if you were a vampire and got into drinking blood and gnawing on necks you might have been given a bit of slack.

(The above is intended to be somewhat of a joke, pointing out that just about every religious has practices that seem really, really bizarre from the outside…)