Oy, you don't want to know. Having been a pagan most of my life, I've developed a lot of tolerance for views or practices that the mainstream consider "weird", so I don't fly off the handle about things that are contrary to what I would do or believe. (This includes things that the mainstream itself blithely takes for granted, but which I consider extremely strange or unsavory.) Hey, it takes all kinds, and if Christo wants to drape Central Park in bedsheets, or Serrano wants to photograph jars full of pee, or Mapplethorpe thinks a whip up a guy's butt is art, who am I to think they're immoral? (These are just examples, not what the upset was about.) In a world where innocent people are murdered by the thousands for other people's religion and/or pocketbooks, there are a lot of things that get considered "awful" that are really completely harmless, and I Simply. Do. Not. Get. It.
Along with, as you say, the people who haven't been ostracized doing the ostracization (which isn't quite true - look at Israel), I've noticed that it's the most harmless, peace-loving, and non-violent beliefs that get persecuted and reviled the most. Buddhists are not a "real" religion, because they don't have some Divine Dictator ordering them about (and because they avoid violence). Sufis are "folk Islam", unworthy are real consideration, (despite being the only real hope of democracy and peace with the Islamic world) because they are peaceful, all-inclusive, focused on ecstasy and love in their religious concepts. We pagans get called every damn name in the book - sinful, gross, lascivious, horrible, wicked, you name it - because we think our bodies are dandy and sacred, and the Earth is a perfectly wonderful place to be. We don't consider our lives as a prelude to some pie-in-the-sky reward promised by huckster preachers, but something to be treasured and enjoyed right now. So of course, we're demonic and undeserving of any rights, according to the majority opinion.
Yeesh, enough. I'm gonna go get ready for my gig tonight. Thanks for the support, luv. :)
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Along with, as you say, the people who haven't been ostracized doing the ostracization (which isn't quite true - look at Israel), I've noticed that it's the most harmless, peace-loving, and non-violent beliefs that get persecuted and reviled the most. Buddhists are not a "real" religion, because they don't have some Divine Dictator ordering them about (and because they avoid violence). Sufis are "folk Islam", unworthy are real consideration, (despite being the only real hope of democracy and peace with the Islamic world) because they are peaceful, all-inclusive, focused on ecstasy and love in their religious concepts. We pagans get called every damn name in the book - sinful, gross, lascivious, horrible, wicked, you name it - because we think our bodies are dandy and sacred, and the Earth is a perfectly wonderful place to be. We don't consider our lives as a prelude to some pie-in-the-sky reward promised by huckster preachers, but something to be treasured and enjoyed right now. So of course, we're demonic and undeserving of any rights, according to the majority opinion.
Yeesh, enough. I'm gonna go get ready for my gig tonight. Thanks for the support, luv. :)