How big is your broom closet?

So, exactly how “out” of the broom closet are you?

I ask because recently I’ve started doing things that are definitely more “out” of the broom closet than ever before. Not that I’ve ever really tried to hide anything about being Pagan, just never so openly “advertised” before.

In the last year, I’ve become active with participating in, and now helping organize, my local Pagan Pride Day (www.frontrangepaganpride.org), joining a Witch Hat Society, attending (and leading) open rituals and workshops, writing these blogs, and other everyday stuff that leave no doubts as to whether or not I’m Pagan.

When I mentioned this post to a friend of mine, she pondered on whether how openly Pagan someone is might be directly related to where they live.

So we did a little digging. Or actually, my friend found a couple of links and got the ball rolling for me. (Thanks, Magdalene!).

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted the US Religious Landscape Survey in 2007 (http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations ). In it, they determined that 1.2% of the US population considered themselves as adherents of “Other Faiths.” Of those, .4% associated themselves with “New Age” beliefs.

Granted, that’s not a huge chunk of the pie, but it’s still a piece.

So we compared that to the Pew Forum’s State by State Religious Commitment Analysis (http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=504 ). In this survey, participants were listed by state and asked to rank religion on four measures; the importance of religion in their lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer, and absolute belief in God.

I cannot say I was surprised at some of the results. Of the top ten states whose residents say that religion is very important in their lives, nine are in the south or deep south. Mississippi ranks the highest with 82%. The last ten rankings, from 47% down to 36% (of which there are three tied ranks), are in the northeast, west, and northwest. The bottom two, which are tied at 36%, are New Hampshire and Vermont.

Coincidentally, each of the top ten “religious” states are considered “Red” states, those states generally considered as “conservative.” Of the bottom 14 states, only four are generally considered “Red” states. The rest are considered “Blue,” or generally more liberal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states )

To further complicate things, in one Pew Survey, people who claimed a religious affiliation were read two statements and asked to determine which is closest to their belief, even if neither one were exactly right. The two statements were “My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life” and “Many religions can lead to eternal life. Oddly enough, the survey found that 70% of the population chose the second statement. (http://religions.pewforum.org/maps )

The state in which I live is in the bottom portion of the State by State Religious Commitment Survey. Colorado ranks at 41, with 44% of the population who say that religion is very important in their lives. And even though 65% of the population of Colorado who claim an affiliation consider themselves Christian, Colorado has the highest percentage of the population who consider themselves as “unaffiliated.” This is higher than the national average of 17%. And only 5% of the population consider their affiliation as “Other,” though this data does not specify what constitutes “Other.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado#Religion )

I know I’m lucky. Colorado is pretty tolerant and has a very large, openly Pagan community. My employer is very open and diverse (one of my co-workers shared some amazingly yummy chocolate chip Hamantashan a couple of months ago. Insert Homer Simpson drool here). A few offices have prayer flags in the windows and nobody bats an eye. Hey, they even said they were open to adding something Pagan to the Christmas/Chanukah decorations last year. Of course, I didn’t think to ask in time to actually come up with anything, but I’ll plan better for this year.

So maybe this tolerance is due to the fact that so many Coloradans aren’t really concerned about religion. Sure, there are folks who are out to convert everyone to their interpretation of faith, but mostly, people here just aren’t really concerned about whether or not you go to the “right” church.

And maybe it has to do with a higher percentage of “other” faiths in the West. Of the 4% of the general US population that consider themselves as “Other”, the highest percentage of them (31%) live in the west. (http://religions.pewforum.org/portraits )

Now I compare this to where I used to live. In 2005, I returned home to Louisiana. There’s a lot of things I love about home. My family, my friends, the food, the availability of Abita Beer, the food, the fact that EVERY parade, no matter the occasion, tosses “throws,” the food, the amazing oak trees, and did I mention the food? But this particular area of Louisiana has a lot of growing to do to become more culturally and religiously diverse.

Not surprisingly, Louisiana is among the top ten in the State by State Religious Commitment Survey, with 73% of the population stating that religion is very important in their lives. Additionally, 90% of the population consider themselves Christian with only 8% of the population as “unaffiliated.” “Other” religions are categorized as either Islamic or Buddhist and only account for 2% of the population.

So it was a much smaller Pagan community and I was definitely the outsider, especially at work. It was not unusual to see Christian images adorning desks, wall, and computers. Hey, that’s great! More power to them. But when I put up a triple moon wallpaper on my computer, I was advised by a co-worker that it wasn’t a good idea. She told me not to tell anyone I was Pagan.

And hey, it didn’t stop there. In 2006, the parish in which I lived (Louisiana has parishes instead of counties) enacted an ordinance against what it called “soothsaying.” It was an obvious attempt to prevent Pagans from practicing their faith, but it was so vaguely written that it could have prohibited even Christian ministers from preaching about certain books of the Bible that pertain to “prophecy.” The Parish’s own attorney advised them against the ordinance and indicated that he would not represent the Parish in court if it was challenged, which it was. On October 7, 2008, a federal court judge ruled the Ordinance as Unconstitutional and the Parish Council repealed it on November 24, 2008.

But while the Ordinance was on the books, it was more likely that I would have been cited for reading tarot cards than my neighbors for shooting shotguns out their back door, despite a clear law that prohibited discharging firearms within 500 feet from a residence.

No, to paraphrase Kermit, it’s not easy being Pagan, especially in a conservative state.

Which brings me back to my original question, how big is your broom closet?

My broom closet has definitely decreased in size in direct proportion to the openness of the Pagan community around me. But even with a large, supportive community, I know many people who are extremely closed mouth about their faith. They do not tell their co-workers about their beliefs and some have not even mentioned it to their families.

I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t think anyone should ever feel the need to gather family members or co-workers and tell them “Hey, I’m Pagan. Just wanted to explain that to you.” No one should ever need to seek permission to practice this faith, with the qualified exception of someone who is underage and beginning this path away from their parents religion of choice.

And I understand that many people fear the reaction they may get if family or co-workers find out that they are Pagan. I have extended family members who aren’t too thrilled about me being Pagan and I’ll admit to being a bit tense about their reaction when they found out. The best I could do was answer their questions honestly and be prepared to use that Apologetics training if necessary. So far, I’ve done the first and haven’t needed the second, but I recognize that I still may.

This is where I have the mixed feelings. People are afraid their Paganism will be used as a weapon against them, making them lose their kids or their jobs. And I’m not saying that can’t happen. But as long as Paganism is kept in a dark broom closet, those on the outside will continue to point fingers and say “if there’s nothing wrong with it, why are you hiding it?”

And sadly, there are those who would exploit that attitude by using someone’s Paganism as leverage. Leverage against the kids (“If you let me slide on child support, I won’t tell anyone you’re Pagan”), leverage against the job (“If they find out you’re Pagan, you’ll get fired”), leverage against other family members (“You don’t want me to tell Mom you’re Pagan, do you?”), etc.

And guess what? To me, that’s blackmail. And blackmail can only be used if you have something to hide.

Have I ever worried about losing my kids over this? I know the issue could come up, but I’m prepared to fight it if need be. Have I ever worried about losing my job over this? Never, not even in Louisiana.

To answer my own question, my broom closet is pretty much non-existent. Yes, it does have something to do with how tolerant my community is.

But mostly it’s due to the fact that I simply can’t deny that I’m Pagan. I can’t live a spiritual life of freedom and a mundane life of confinement.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that everyone has to decide for themselves how big their broom closet should be. But I firmly believe that the Pagan slice of the pie in those surveys will remain extremely low as long as there are broom closets to hide in.