Pagans
of many (all?) traditions have, throughout history, experienced religious
oppression.
They have been suspended, expelled, fired, and ostracized.
They have been deprived of their children in divorce, had their businesses
and
private lands zoned or burned out of existence,
been physically beaten, tortured, immolated, maimed, hacked to bits,
and murdered.
They have been tried in public and clandestinely executed.
The forms of harassment range from the bureaucratic to the emotional
(would YOU like to be portrayed as a green-skinned, warty-faced hag?)
to the violent, the atrocious, and the indefensible.
Admittedly, we are not the only persecuted people.
We feel profound sympathy for those in Rwanda, Sudan, and other nations
who have been forced to endure oppression and atrocity.
However, if now and then, you encounter a pagan who's a bit thin-skinned
when it comes to religious intolerance, maybe these sites can help you
understand why.
In some, you can even find a graphic explanation of the unique torture
inventions
that accomplished bizarre and blood-curdling desecration of
betrayed and victimized members of MANY religions.
Modern-day harassment
of witches makes the national press with distressing frequency in this
Age of Instant Information. Only a few are described here, but further
instances can easily be found via the Web.
First example: In the year 2000 C.E. (Christian Era), Brandi Blackbear,
a 15 year old
student in Oklahoma, was suspended from her school, in supposed connection
with a teacher getting a mysterious illness.
The school's justification was that Brandi had written stories for
English class about magick,
and because she drew pentagrams in her notebooks at school.
All of her in-school personal effects were taken from her with no pledge
to return them,
as they were considered "evidence,"
She was thus unable even to keep up with her studies while in exile.
You can read more about Brandi's story here.
One of the best-known and
most infamous of recent years
involves young Tempest
Smith, who made the tragic decision to hang herself
in 2001 C.E., after ceaseless abuse and teasing by so-called "Christian"
schoolmates,
which continued despite repeated, and unheeded, pleas to school
administration for relief.
And it gets worse.
A report published
in December, 2000, C.E. by the Australian Broadcasting
Company, describes the brutal murder of fifteen
women in Papua New Guinea
following accusations that they had practiced witchcraft. Mobs
had hacked them to bits.
Five
people were burned alive in Andhra Pradesh, India after similar accusations.
Please brace yourself
before reading this graphic article:
Article
- New York Times: Witch Hunts in Java Called a Cover for Murders
Similar atrocities
are reported regularly at www.sanfords.net.
One
would hope that, if a person were deciding about how to feel about witchcraft
and such,
that they'd have the courage to explore sites like these prior to rendering
an opinion.
But, one hopes for many things in this world. Do as thou wilt,
friend.
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