Being Pagan in the South: Different Beliefs in the Bible Belt

Being Pagan anywhere is difficult. People have been told that your religion is evil. They believe this because the people who are telling them are people they trust. I have never experienced being a Pagan anywhere except in small towns in the Southeast US. But, I do know it can be a scary experience.

I live in a community that thinks the Harry Potter books are evil because they encourage children to be witches. Most people who believe this have never read the books or seen the movies. They just automatically believe the people who have told them it is evil.

Being Pagan in this type of environment means you can never tell friends or family who you truly are. You can only reveal your inner self to people you know are also Pagan or are at least Pagan friendly. It is not easy to figure out who these people are. They are also afraid of being ostracized.

I have read first hand accounts of people who are openly Pagan and are constantly tormented by their community. Some people have their pets killed. Some have their property damaged. There are even instances of people being physically attacked because of their religious beliefs. These types of attacks make other Pagans fearful of being open about their religious beliefs.

One instance of abuse happened to a personal friend of mine. He is not Pagan. But, he is also not Christian. Some teenagers from his neighborhood spray-painted Christian religious slogans on his car. He called the police, who came out to investigate. When the police officers saw what had been done to his vehicle, they refused to do anything about it because they didn't feel it was a crime. His vehicle had been vandalized and he was going to have to pay someone to get the paint taken off, but it wasn't a crime. How is that not a crime? And, this type of thing happens all the time.