I am a college student working on a school paper on religious discrimination. My goal with this paper is to understand more about various religions, whether they are discriminated on, whether they discriminate and most importantly what can be done to help the situation.

I have been asking around to see if anyone would discuss this with me, and so far I've not had much luck. I'm hoping that some of you would be kind enough to give me your opinions on a few questions that I have. If you are not comfortable posting your answers feel free to send me a message. I will keep it confidential. I am very open minded  and try to see both sides, even if I don't agree. I appreciate any information and opinions you might be able to give me.

So my questions are:

1) What religion are you?

2) What do you feel is the biggest misconception about your religion?

3) Do you feel there is alot of discrimination against your religion in your community? If so what is happening?

4) WHat would you like for people to know about your religion?

5) WHat do you feel could be done to help the situation?

tolerant_student wrote:

1) What religion are you?

Asatru.

tolerant_student wrote:

2) What do you feel is the biggest misconception about your religion?

There are actually many misconceptions about Asatru; I will list the most common that I have experienced.
*We're Satan-worshipers / devil-worshipers.
*Our gods are false gods / Satan in disguise, and we know it deep down.
*We pretend to be Vikings.
*We're all convicts and ex-convicts.
*We're all racists / white supremacists.
*We're all rifle-toting ultra-right-wing conservatives.
*We're just like Wicca, or we're a form of Wicca.

tolerant_student wrote:

3) Do you feel there is alot of discrimination against your religion in your community? If so what is happening?

Is there a lot of discrimination? That's one of those "yes and no" questions. I mean, I don't generally put my religion on display, so it's not usually a daily issue. I don't make a big secret of it too, so I have had a fair amount of discrimination, usually from proselytizers, occasionally from co-workers. And, of course, there was a very inflammatory, slanderous news piece done by our local Fox affiliate about Asatru that portrayed us as racists, extremists, and linked us with Nazis, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups.

tolerant_student wrote:

4) WHat would you like for people to know about your religion?

We're just normal people. We don't sacrifice babies. We don't want people of every other religion to die. We're folk like other folk, who want a decent place to live, who want enough to eat, who want safety and peace for ourselves and tour families and friends. We have our share of jerks and loonies and crazies in our religion, and we have people who use our religion to further their own ends, but that is no different from any other religion. We believe in freedom of religion, and support it for others' religions. We wish that more people would respect our religious freedom.

tolerant_student wrote:

5) WHat do you feel could be done to help the situation?

First off, Asatruar should just stop talking to Fox News. Period. However, I would welcome a well-done documentary by PBS or a similar group. Beyond the media, you know, it's just educating others a person at a time, dismissing the stereotypes, educating about the reality of the religion. It's a slow process, but I can't think of a way to do it any quicker, and some people don't want to know the truth.


Good luck with your paper.
Frith,
CH

tolerant_student wrote:

So my questions are:

1) What religion are you?

I am an Atheist. I have no religion.

2) What do you feel is the biggest misconception about your religion?

That being an Atheist is a religion.

3) Do you feel there is alot of discrimination against your religion in your community? If so what is happening?

We are one of the last groups that people like to discriminate against. A good example being GHW Bush said we shouldn't be considered as citizens. Many places, until recently, would not let Atheists testify in court. No matter what the persons views are most people would vote against an Atheist candidate just because of their Atheism.

4) WHat would you like for people to know about your religion?

That it is not a religion.

5) WHat do you feel could be done to help the situation?

Better education.

I just wanted to thank everyone that responded to my post. I finally got my grade today and I received a B. I have to say it was a rather interesting subject to write a paper on, but I learned alot!

Do we get to read the paper? :)