Pneumatised!

(This is a update on my previous blog entry – “Rant – They Never Give Up”

As it turned out, only seven Christians in total showed up at the event. Aside from the older couple who run byTHEWAYministries’ website, there were some young’uns, mostly young men. There was one young lady.

Seems they took their own advice and exercised caution on Saturday. They weren’t preaching openly and merely wandered around trying to hand out little cards saying “What if…?” on them. As security, we followed them around keeping an eye on them making sure they weren’t antagonizing anyone. They approached some of the vendors at the event, and the vendors seemed to handle them well enough. The vendors were told ahead of time that we were expecting a Christian group and in case of any trouble, they were to find security.

The funniest incident was when they left and two came back later and approached a group of teenagers. Apparently they handed the teens their “What if?” cards, then an Asatru practicer intervened and was speaking with the two Christians. Now, if you know Asatru practicers, you know you can’t change their minds for them. So, good luck trying to convert an Asatru! Interestingly, it seemed the Asatru practicer was giving more information to the two Christians than the other way around.

Now, as for the group of teenagers – they walked away (good for them!). The mother of one of them saw the cards they were given and said “You realize they just insulted you?” The teenagers’ response was then to walk over to the butt can, tear up the cards, and then attempt to burn the cards. (Hey, we teach our young pagans well!) Unfortunately, it was quite windy that day and the cards didn’t seem to catch fire easily.

The other interesting thing was the Christians didn’t show up until at least 1:30 p.m. You’d think they’d get up earlier to preach the word of God and to do the work of Jesus. I guess not. Funny enough, us pagans were up at around 6 a.m. to get ready for the event. Guess we love our gods more. 😉

Overall though, no harm, no foul. No swords were pulled out (some vendors were selling ritual blades and we had a no tolerance policy for people walking around the event with blades). For all practical purposes, the Christians were allowed to exercise their right to walk around a public event, hand out cards (as long as they weren’t forcing people to take them), and talk to those who didn’t mind talking to them. If they felt uncomfortable having security follow them around and keeping an eye out… well, they are making some pagans there feel uncomfortable. Event attendees felt better knowing security was keeping an eye out. Pagans don’t go to Christian events trying to convert people, it’s just not our thing. So, for a Christian to show up at our event with the specific purpose of trying to convert us shows ignorance of every person’s right to choose their own religious belief (as long as that belief does not promote or encourage violence). It’s a human right. The same right the Christians have that allow them to wander public events such as this handing out cards and sharing their religious views. (But hey, if you are a Christian and are truly curious about paganism, feel free to attend and gather information. You have the right to do that.)

The day was fairly peaceful. For the most part, if you have sense of humour about these things, it’s kind of funny watching a Christian try to convert an Asatru.

For the record though, I feel a little insulted. I mean, I get the feeling they sent “newbies” out. 😉 They really think we’re that easy to convert???

But “all’s well that ends well.” No violence, only peace. Peace is a good thing.

Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame