I know that this will be, and has been, an ongoing debate forever, but, it’s something that caught my eye today, and I wanted to highlight the story.
A 4th grade school girl in Minnesota has recently hit the pagan headlines. This young girl has been chastised for wearing her pentacle at school. The girl had worn the pendant for some time without anyone taking much notice, but when a supply teacher started at her school, he demanded that she hide her pentacle inside her shirt. Children wearing other religious symbols as pendants weren’t chastised. He told the child, “You should keep things like that to yourself."
The girl was upset and told her mother, who complained to the school. The mother received an immediate reaction from the head of the school and the supply teacher in question was black-listed within his profession.
Here’s where the debate starts.
Apart from a squabble amongst commenters about what the pentacle actually means…the debate ensues. Some points:
- It is not made clear whether the teacher is a Christian or not. Although the assumption that he is has prompted many of the comments left on the story. But, I’d like to point out that the purpose of me including this story is not that it becomes a Christian vs Pagan thing, but more a debate on how the situation was handled.
- Some commenters believe that this man has been made an example of. However, others point out how many pagans have been tortured by people with his kinds of opinions over the centuries, and feel it was the correct response.
One commenter on the story says:
“The child should have been given a public apology. The teacher should have been reprimanded publicly. And then he should have been allowed to teach provided that he knew it would not be tolerated.” She continues: “How did this help her [the child] in her religious experience? I think not much. But maybe someone will have taken the time to point out that pagans are strong enough to feel sorry for people whose religion is so fear filled.”
The comments then develop and describe suicides of young people who have been so badly bullied at school for their Pagan beliefs.
Another says (we don’t know if they are pagan or not) that the teacher had singled this child out, and that “Stupidity should be painful.”
So, was this man, the teacher, a victim of overreaction? Has this just fuelled the fire of people who have such closed minds (religiously)? Could this have made them more adamant that they are right, and we are to be ousted? Has it pushed the universal understanding of pagan beliefs a few steps backward and gone against the essence of pagan belief by causing harm to another? Or should he have been reprimanded as such and made an example of, as a stand for all pagans to be allowed their basic human rights and to be able to, without fear, openly disclose what they believe in should they wish to do so? Is this karma or are we (I say ‘we’ as a collective, but do not wish to put all pagans into one bowl!) condoning the very behaviour that has caused such misinformed nonsense of our beliefs over generations?
This story is included on the Pagan Heart Forum – where comments and discussion about this story, all things pagan (and not pagan!) are welcome. We are a really friendly bunch of people from all over the world, with all kinds of experiences and backgrounds. Feel free to come and say hi!
