My Mind Is Blown. Prejudice Is Alive And Well
…but maybe I shouldn't be. I've been blogging alot on aesirkindred and here as well as the yahoo group http://www.heathenthing@yahoo.com. Here's a sample of one of the responses to a fellow shocked heathen who had no idea such things were happening: I was surprised too at the firestorm of prejudice out there but it doesn't surprise me anymore because I'm near your age and I've seen a lot of B.S. out there. I threw that subject on the table because I was looking for a focus for a book I am working on and I was curious as to how heathens with disabilities fare: and what people have told me has shocked me. Digging deeper I have found the tip of the iceberg. People being asked to leave, people barred from joining, and worst of all, people being called by the Gods only to turn away because of the prejudice.
Our religion is in the grow or die phase and we need people and it's wrong, as some have argued, that maybe those people didn't have the right stuff to be Asatru. No, it was imperfect human beings who built a wall of bigotry in their hearts and won't let people in that have turned people away. Who wants to taste bitter medicine twice if they don't have to? That's the way we have to look at it.
We have to remember the virtue of hospitality and fidelity. And remember that selective misinterpretation of the Havamal and rigid judgment (what I call Saga-thumping) are exactly the same traits that makes Christian Fundamentalists such unpleasant people.
And I think that's the crux of the situation. How many people who in their heart of hearts believe in God are turning away from religion and becoming atheists because of the fact that fundamentalist churches are the fastest growing churches in the U.S. and that the ones that are dying are the middle of the road ones?
I encountered such a fierce JoHo trying to shove the Watchtower in my face. That sure didn't make me want to join. Also another fundamentalist group recruited a young good looking girl to push those awful Jack Chick comics sidled up to me with a breathy "do you believe in God" tried to corner me.
Come on, does this make you want to join their church?
So, one of the things we need to do is be hospitable. Disabled Asatruar meet with challenges every day, do we need judgment on top of that? People watching over us with their interpretation of Self-Reliance on their lips?
For some of us, dressing ourselves is self-reliance. I have an autistic daughter who can't speak for herself so I have to speak up for her. But she can navigate over 100 websites from memory and won't let me near her computer unless she has a problem she can't fix herself. She's 6.
The same goes for other "invisible" disabilities. Those with epilepsy, for instance. I have a first cousin who can no longer drive. She is forbidden by the state of Ohio to drive. She had two grand mal seizures while driving and the last time she almost killed herself in a car crash. She has no choice but to get someone to drive her places. She lives in the country and the U.S. is built for cars.
So it's all in context. She's doing what she can.
Doing what we can with what has been given us. We've been called by the Gods. So the Gods see us as worthy.
Now I'm seeing there's quite a number who need to.
Our religion is in the grow or die phase and we need people and it's wrong, as some have argued, that maybe those people didn't have the right stuff to be Asatru. No, it was imperfect human beings who built a wall of bigotry in their hearts and won't let people in that have turned people away. Who wants to taste bitter medicine twice if they don't have to? That's the way we have to look at it.
We have to remember the virtue of hospitality and fidelity. And remember that selective misinterpretation of the Havamal and rigid judgment (what I call Saga-thumping) are exactly the same traits that makes Christian Fundamentalists such unpleasant people.
And I think that's the crux of the situation. How many people who in their heart of hearts believe in God are turning away from religion and becoming atheists because of the fact that fundamentalist churches are the fastest growing churches in the U.S. and that the ones that are dying are the middle of the road ones?
I encountered such a fierce JoHo trying to shove the Watchtower in my face. That sure didn't make me want to join. Also another fundamentalist group recruited a young good looking girl to push those awful Jack Chick comics sidled up to me with a breathy "do you believe in God" tried to corner me.
Come on, does this make you want to join their church?
So, one of the things we need to do is be hospitable. Disabled Asatruar meet with challenges every day, do we need judgment on top of that? People watching over us with their interpretation of Self-Reliance on their lips?
For some of us, dressing ourselves is self-reliance. I have an autistic daughter who can't speak for herself so I have to speak up for her. But she can navigate over 100 websites from memory and won't let me near her computer unless she has a problem she can't fix herself. She's 6.
The same goes for other "invisible" disabilities. Those with epilepsy, for instance. I have a first cousin who can no longer drive. She is forbidden by the state of Ohio to drive. She had two grand mal seizures while driving and the last time she almost killed herself in a car crash. She has no choice but to get someone to drive her places. She lives in the country and the U.S. is built for cars.
So it's all in context. She's doing what she can.
Doing what we can with what has been given us. We've been called by the Gods. So the Gods see us as worthy.
Now I'm seeing there's quite a number who need to.