Discrimination Today
I used to think that the only people who were discriminated against were those who used their religion as an "in your face, what are you going to do about it?" type of thing. Examples included the person who complained she was fired for being Wiccan when she was actually fired for not showering enough and wearing inappropriate clothing for a work environment, another who insisted on burning incense in his cubicle despite allergies of others, the person who wanted to claim body piercings as part of their religion, all the way to the nitwit in Australia who was jailed for child molestation which he claimed was part of his religion.
So, imagine my confusion when I was told that my religion might be "bad for business" after a co-worker went snooping through my personal websites. What's worse, this co-worker was highly educated, scientific, and quite intelligent, but made the assumption that Wicca is the same as Satanism, and a female Deity is an "insult to Christians."
So I got to thinking, which is sometimes a good idea :-). If I, a professional who is well established in her field, could be the target of misinformation and prejudice, I guess we all could be. Gee, what a concept.
My daughter came home from school and let me know that her history teacher often prefaces his comments on history with "I am a Christian and I believe...." While I don't personally find this problematic so long as he is not advocating that path for others, I have a friend who is a teacher who is terrified that someone might "find out" she is Pagan. If she began a teaching segment with "I am a Pagan and I believe..." would she have received the same benefit of the doubt? Somehow, I don't think so. While it is unconstitutional to fire an employee for their religious preferences, that doesn't mean, in an "at will" employment state, that the employee can't be fired for other, even made up reasons. Then the employee would have to prove that the firing was actually for religious reasons which 1) takes an inordinate amount of money and 2) takes a judge and/or jury who would be sympathetic to an "evil satanist targeting our vulnerable children."
Of course, in some areas of the country, they would just burn down her house and make death threats, which isn't exactly conducive to being happy in the workplace anyway.
So if I, who doesn't dress like Stevie Nicks, doesn't wear a 12 inch neon pentacle, and doesn't start conversations with "I'm a witch, how are you today?" can be presented with a co-worker who believes Wicca is "not just another religion" and is somehow dangerous, anyone can.
So what can we do? What SHOULD we do? I had been of the opinion that if someone gets to know you as a good person, when or if they find out your religious preferences, it won't matter as much. My co-worker had had months of interaction with me, yet attacked. I can't "educate" him without being accused of discriminating against HIS religion in the workplace. How can we educate "the masses" without putting ourselves at risk? How can we counter the fundamentalists who think that everything we say is a lie, and we are hiding our "real agenda" which is obviously human sacrifice and overthrowing "good." Do we have a chance in this "Christian Nation?"
Please leave a comment. Let's think about this.