The Catholic effort to convert Witches convinced me to blog about how I spent my Thursday and Friday last week.  In that blog post, the subject of those "The truth about (insert whatever is non-Xtian here)" tracts was discussed.  As I stated in a reply to the post, I hate those things because they're full of ignorance and they really try to scare people into becoming whatever brand of Xtian the tracts were left by.  Most of them have a space on the back so churches can stamp their name, address, and phone number on there; at least, most of the ones I've seen have that.  As a general rule, I rip them in two and trash them.  My brother, Dan, who is a devout Baptist (he loves me anyway) has told me about pastors handing these things out during services with strict instructions to get the "truth" out there.  Truth?  I don't think so.  One that made me kind of giggle touted the "fact" that witches conjure a demon named "Sam Hain" on Halloween so we can cavort naked and perform "unseemly" sex acts with said demon.  Yep, that's really getting the truth out there!  Anyhoo, I've had more than one of these tracts shoved under my office door since the beginning of the new semester last month.  As a result, I decided to take one class period from each of my five courses this term to address the "elephant" in the room.

I determined that in order for meaningful learning to take place, I needed to get across to some of my students that enrolling in my class would not doom their immortal soul to the fiery pit.  I also want to avoid more of those silly little booklets under my door.  I had two classes on Thursday and three on Friday that were utterly shocked when I told them to put away their books because we were going to talk.  I informed my students that I was open to questions and would be brutally honest in my answers - no holds barred!  I also gave those who didn't want to participate a freebie so they wouldn't feel coerced into staying for a religious/spiritual discussion.  Only one person left out of five classes; I was, quite frankly, in shock that there weren't more.  It was slow going at first because I think they couldn't really wrap their minds around the idea that I would be willing to discuss things in such an open, honest way.  The questions ranged from the vague, "What do witches really believe?" to the downright idiotic, "So, can you really fly on your broomstick?"  I had the chance to debunk much of the misconceptions about witches being old, shriveld up hags who are only out to eat babies and kill innocent animlas, or that we worship the devil *rolls eyes*.  The most common theme among all five classes were questions concerning morality.  Apparently, most had been taught that if you weren't (insert religion of choice here) you had no morals or ethics.  Many were floored to find out that I have been married for so long and that I don't take numerous sexual partners for the purpose of ritual - yep, send your nubile, muscular man-hunks my way!  They were also shocked that I have been a foster parent for years and that hubby and I adopted a son last year because some felt that my path should not allow me to "influence" children.  Many were stunned to learn that I raise my children with a firm code of ethics and moral values, and that all my kids are honor students who participate in school activities as well as being active in their community.  The crux of it all is that I'm just like them (mostly) except I walk a different spiritual path.  At the end of all this, I think some real progress was made.  I did make a plea for whomever was leaving their "tracts" under my door to please cease because they're terribly inaccurate and promote fear and hate.  It's Monday, and I don't have one in my office so maybe it worked!!

I did try to make it clear to all of them that there are many paths under the Pagan umbrella, all beautiful in their own diverse way.  Also, I shared some of what I've learned from you lovely people here on WB, and hope I represented our little family well.  I had a few students who desired further discussion with me because they're searching for something that fulfills them.  I referred a couple to this site who I felt were quite sincere.  Mostly, it was positive and I may do it again next semester during the first week of classes.  Hopefully, now that the elephant has left the building, we can move on to more learning centered discussions!  Blessings, all my lovely Pagan friends!!