Pagan Coming Out Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pagan Coming Out Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-03T00:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-03T00:22:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2013\/05\/PCOD.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html\",\"name\":\"Pagan Coming Out Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-03T00:05:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-03T00:22:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pagan Coming Out Day\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pagan Coming Out Day","description":"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pagan Coming Out Day","og_description":"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2013-05-03T00:05:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-03T00:22:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2013\/05\/PCOD.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html","name":"Pagan Coming Out Day","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-05-03T00:05:15+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-03T00:22:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pagan Coming Out Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":948,"date":"2013-05-02T18:05:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T00:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=948"},"modified":"2013-05-02T18:22:53","modified_gmt":"2013-05-03T00:22:53","slug":"pagan-coming-out-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2013\/05\/pagan-coming-out-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Coming Out Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>I hadn\u2019t planned to write about Pagan Coming Out Day<\/a>, which is today. I\u2019m happy we have this day and I clearly see the importance of it, but I don\u2019t have a lot of personal energy around it. I don\u2019t hide who I am<\/a>, but I don\u2019t broadcast it, either\u2026 except in this strange on-line world where everyone broadcasts everything about themselves.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like it when other people push their religion on me so I try not to push my religion on them. If you\u2019re interested, just ask and I\u2019ll tell you all you want to know and then some. Otherwise, I figure you don\u2019t care one way or the other.<\/p>\n

Then I read today\u2019s Wild Hunt<\/a> and was reminded of Kyrja Withers<\/a>, a Pagan and author of children\u2019s books, who has been subject to violent harassment because of her religion. And I was reminded of Cara Schulz<\/a>\u2019s simple but powerful statement behind Pagan Coming Out Day: \u201cNo one should have to hide their religion due to fear of discrimination and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

I grew up in a time and place where the phrase \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s a Christian\u201d meant \u201che\u2019s not my kind of Christian.\u201d It also meant \u201csomething\u2019s wrong with him.\u201d Jews were tolerated because they were \u201cGod\u2019s chosen people\u201d but that just meant they were subject to a kinder, gentler pressure to convert. The few people brave enough to call themselves atheists were fair game for mockery and harassment. Everybody else was pretty much invisible.<\/p>\n

One of the origins of the word \u201c religion<\/a>\u201d is the Latin re-ligare<\/em>, literally \u201cto reconnect\u201d or more generally \u201cto bind.\u201d Religion binds people together, which is a good thing. But in doing so it marks those not bound as the Other.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re afraid of the Other. That fear goes back to our earliest human ancestors who were never sure if the tribe from across the river just wanted to trade skins and shells or if they wanted to kill them for their hunting grounds. Of course, the tribe across the river was wondering the same thing. \u201cShoot (arrows) first and ask questions later\u201d did not begin in the American West.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re more civilized about it now \u2013 most of us, anyway. But that fear of the Other persists.<\/p>\n

The amazing progress the LBGT community has made toward full equality in the past generation is due to one thing \u2013 coming out. As people began to put a name and a face to \u201cgay\u201d the fears subsided. I can relate to this first-hand<\/a> \u2013 when I got to know a gay person, I stopped being afraid of homosexuality. It was no longer the Other.<\/p>\n

For too many people in our society, \u201cPagan\u201d still means \u201cOther.\u201d That must change. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve always blogged under my own name and posted announcements with my contact info (and I\u2019ve never had a problem come from it). More recently I\u2019ve come to understand that\u2019s not enough. At this point in my life I have a fair amount of privilege and that privilege carries responsibilities.<\/p>\n

I have an obligation to put a name and a face on \u201cPagan\u201d for friends and family who\u2019ve never (knowingly) met one. I have an obligation to articulate what I believe, what I do and why. I have an obligation to be out, not just for myself (though that\u2019s important by itself<\/a>) but for Kyrja Withers and for everyone else who fears they will be targeted as the Other if their religion becomes known.<\/p>\n

Some day, no one will care what god or goddess you do or don\u2019t pray to, only that you conduct yourself with integrity and compassion. Until then, we need Pagan Coming Out Day.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"