Normalizing Paganism Through Real Conversation

In this episode, we explore the recurring issue of interfaith misunderstanding, focusing on why many Pagans feel scrutinized by dominant religions and how much of that tension stems from cultural friction rather than true persecution. We discuss how religious trauma, especially among first‑generation Pagans coming from Christian backgrounds, can heighten defensiveness and create a sense of being judged even when no harm is intended. The conversation emphasizes that most conflict arises from people—not religions—and that curiosity, not hostility, is far more common in real‑world interactions.

We also examine how online echo chambers, WitchTok aesthetics, and sensationalized content distort public perception of Paganism. Viral videos, exaggerated “us vs. them” narratives, and low‑effort spell content make easy targets for critics and reinforce stereotypes. We argue that the Pagan community must take responsibility for how it presents itself, prioritizing ethics, lived experience, and genuine spiritual practice over trends and theatrics.

Ultimately, the episode calls for authentic interfaith dialogue, healthier boundaries, and a willingness to speak openly about Pagan beliefs without aggression or apology. By normalizing Pagan identity in everyday life, avoiding religion‑bashing, and engaging others with mutual respect, the community can reduce misconceptions and move beyond the victim narratives amplified online.

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Transcript

Why This Topic Keeps Returning

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Welcome to Taking Coffee Talk. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating and following our socials.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

So there seems to be this topic that periodically pops up every once in a while, and it seems to have come across our feeds again. And it's uh you know, and I guess we'll call it um interfaith um conflict.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

All right.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Um you know, where people or pagans are feeling that they're scrutinized by more dominant religions because of misunderstandings and whatever else.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Well, I'm not gonna sit here and say it isn't like some of the pagan community doesn't bring it on themselves.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Well, this is true. I mean, with the way the way some of us dress and act and some of the TikToks and some of the comments.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, TikToks horrible. All right, some of the stuff's dead out on. Yeah, that for some reason they always seem to always focus in on the one that screams the loudest. So I don't really think that's the bulk of the Pagey community, it's just the part that everybody points to.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

Right. And I don't think it is either. And I don't think when I said that about the way we dress or whatever, look, I think it's all fun and games. If you especially when we're having gatherings or whatever, and you want to dress up and be the part and the quote unquote part of uh you know the witch. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

I don't have to dress that way. If you want to dress that way, go ahead. I'm not gonna stop you.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

I'm just saying, I'm just saying in the more public eye, it doesn't really help our our problem.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

I mean, it's just it was just like the whole entire thing during the uh whole abortion thing where we had the one lady going out, supposedly emulating an abortion ritual, and I'm like, yeah, this really helps our case right here. Exactly. And of course, all the Christians saw that went, oh, see what we tell you.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Right. And again, there's that whole misunderstanding about what we do, and and and the sense of humor and all of this, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Here's where part of this problem starts, all right? Part of it. And it and it doesn't help when you have religions going around that think that you are the antithesis of their beliefs.

SPEAKER_04 2:45

Well, this is true, but I don't think it's enough to warrant saying that it's actual persecution. No, I think it's more cultural friction than it is anything else. It's not we're not being persecuted for anything.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I want to sit here and say this, and I and I want to use uh uh something that Lady IVA talks about first generation versus second generation witches.

Public Optics And Pagan Stereotypes

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I think a lot of first generation witches, like me and you, where is you know, where we came from Christianity, I think sometimes we feel that we understand your religion, but y'all don't take time to understand ours.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

We well well, completely forgetting we were sort of raised in that, we really didn't have a choice to learn that. So I think there's also a part in the community where in the world around we can say, hey, we know Christianity just as well as y'all do, but y'all didn't take, but y'all haven't took time to get to know ours, and y'all keep on making complete misconstrued everything we're doing and all this other stuff.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

Well, and I also think that it's funny that you brought that up. I think that it that plays a part and in in the whole feeling of being persecuted is past trauma that you might have had, and this could be religious trauma, and then you know, and it could be directly from the church, it could be from your parents, it could be from family members, you know, where certain things are drilled into your head and you still haven't quite got over those, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

To me, there's a difference between what individuals do and how they interpret the religion, then the religion itself. Again, when I hear a lot of people go, I have religious trauma, the majority of it is they actually have trauma from the people around them. Right. That's what I'm talking about. Not not necessarily the re I think this is where we get a lot of this confusion because we want to attach it to the religion and not to the people.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Yeah, well, that's why I specifically said could have could have been from you know the actual church members or it could have been family members who were part of the church, not like religious texts or anything like that. Right. Trauma trauma doesn't necessarily come from stuffing something that you read, it comes from something you interact with.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Right. So it would be the people. So again, so it'd be the people, not the religion itself. But that's what I'm trying to say is I don't think people make that distinction. No, they don't. When we have this kind of and it can and it muddies the water a little bit worse when we're talking about interface cooperation, I guess. Or interactions somehow or interactions with each other. Again, I have no I have no problem being respectful to Christians as long as they're respectful to me. Uh I 100% agree. And on a daily basis, on a day-to-day basis, it really doesn't matter because people at the Y do not know I'm a pagan. People at the grocery store do not necessarily, I mean, I have my pentagram on and it comes out. I don't necessarily try to hide it, but it's not very obvious either. So right.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

And you don't typically draw attention to it either.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

So no, it's it's my religion. So I might be, I might be a little skewed here.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

Could be. I mean, we all could actually, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I mean, that's kind of like, you know, uh people go around and scream, you know, I see homophobia all the time. I don't, but I'm married to you, and me and you go out all the time. And I'm like, what are y'all seeing that I'm not? I mean, or am I just too oblivious to what's going on around me?

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Or are we just that old that we don't care anymore?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Do you see where I'm going? But do you see where I'm going there where where this logic sort of takes me sometimes? Right. At the end of the day, does it really bother me that my neighbor is out on her front porch praying every day? No. Does it bother me I catch her every so often and she's praying out loud? No, it's her right. She should. I would encourage her to keep on doing it.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Well, and I think I think part of the problem is too, is for lack of a better term, but we've used it before and it fits perfectly. It's all the echo chambers.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

You got the online community, and then you've got people that you kind of hang around with who fit into that same type of community. They just echo the same thing over and over and over again, and it just it's unhealthy. It's unnecessary, um, it's creating unnecessary division.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah. I mean, I mean, don't get don't get me wrong. Do the do the little short snippets they do on the 700 club about the ex-witch help? No. But then the majority of times, if you if you if you listen to them, there's the majority of them are so freaking outrageous or whatever. You're like, really?

unknown 8:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

That's what Jerk Novin did?

SPEAKER_04 8:06

I wish my right.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

I mean, to us, we look at this and we're like, okay, this person's completely full of shit, and we don't know what in the world they're really talking about. But again, it doesn't help because that's Christians' main view of paganism.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

Yeah, well, witchcrap. I th I think their perceptions are more well, and here's the funny thing. I'm gonna say it this way. Honestly, I don't think they really think about us too much.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I don't think they think about us either.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Until the topic's brought up. And when it is brought up, I think they think that we're, you know, we're on the fringe, or it's some it's a trend. Some of them think it's spiritually dangerous, or it might be just a rebellious phase, or

Religious Trauma Versus Religion Itself

SPEAKER_04 8:55

you know, something like something along those lines. But honestly, I wait a minute, wait a minute. What wait a minute.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

55 and I'm still going through a uh rebellious phase, right? I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

I know, but I'm just I think that goes towards the younger generations who come into it.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

But I just I mean, but but they say that, and I'm like, really, y'all, there are some of us that are older, we're not doing the party in, or or any of the and we still believe. Right. Matter of fact, I think I believe now more now than I did when I was younger.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Yeah, yeah, I would definitely say so. Same for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Here's where we have this problem, all right. I I still think there's an issue there to where in the world you have a lot of pagans that are upset because we know more about Christianity than Christianity actually knows about paganism. I also think you have a lot of people going around that are, for lack of a better word, butthurt over the previous religion. You need to deal with those issues. It doesn't help anybody.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Yeah, absolutely. The the only thing is, is you know, how do we how do we educate them? It's not like they're gonna invite us to their church to talk about this.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

What do we do? We actually start having conversations. We sit there and say, hey, everybody, start encouraging all the podcasts to start doing something a little bit deeper. Do more ethics, do more this, do show that we're actually a religion. It's hard not to go to think that we're completely nuts when you're going out on witch talk. The bull that's going out there, all right. This is where we need to start. I can sit here and complain about Christianity all I want, but the fact is that we do have people out there that have read a few books and are out there and they're too busy stroking people's ego, then telling them what in the world our belief system really is about.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

Well, and I think then too, it comes to that we need more people who are willing to uh bad terminology, but come out of the broom closet already. When you're talking to people and religion comes up, mention it. Yeah, talk about it. Um, especially if it's people that you feel somewhat comfortable with. There was a lady at work who mentioned my my pendant on my necklace, and and it's you know, just started a conversation and it just kind of went from there. But it's you gotta be willing to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Me and you were brought up in more of a time where hiding being a pagan was a whole lot easier because well, people got upset. People automatically assumed everything underneath the sun. I mean, I don't get it, but right. I I'm sorry, me being a supervisor at a hospital. I'm sure my my my if my housekeepers knew I was pagan, they would probably in my boss's office every other day. Oh, he put a curse on my card. He put a curse on my card.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

All right, I'm being serious. I mean, uh I would probably get fired just for being a big distraction.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

But then again, I think religion is a personal private thing and it should be kept that way.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Well, I think so too, but I I think if you're going to dispel misconceptions, you have to be willing to talk about it. There's no other way around it.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

No.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

I don't mean I mean, that's the whole education part of this.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Well, I mean, that well, that's sort of like my point of sitting there going, hey, instead of you getting all upset because somebody said Merry Christmas to you, just look at them and say, Well, you have a happy yule. And you can totally do that. Out in public, doing your Christmas, doing your little holiday shopping and stuff. Next time you hear Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday, say, Well, you have a happy yule. Right. Nobody's gonna get used to it unless we start. I God, I hate these words are coming out of my mouth, normalizing it.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

And until we start putting out little flags out that says happy y'all.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Start putting out the flags, or these little yard flags that says in bulk and all these other. You're right. Nobody's gonna know, nobody's gonna do. We have to, we to a certain extent, yes, we have to normalize what we're doing. Right. Yes, the average person on the street should have enough knowledge to know what it is we sort of practice and believe in.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

Yeah, absolutely.

Echo Chambers And Outrage Content

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Or at least enough to realize that we're not all the same.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

Right. There's uh there's uh quite the diversity in the pagan community.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Oh god. Uh yeah, yes, there is. There is a big diversity from conservative to liberal to way out in left field to way out in some other field. Right. And I think a few people took a passage to Narnia.

unknown 14:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

And didn't come back. I have to ask this question. For those who do feel like you're being judged or whatever by another religion, why? What is it that is making you feel that way?

SPEAKER_04 14:41

It would be nice to hear those stories and hear those reasonings. Um, I think, in my personal opinion, I think it's because many of us do come from those Christian backgrounds. And there's a lot to work through when you especially, you know, if you've been in Christianity for a very long time and you come out of it, sometimes there's a lot you need to work through to get past all the mental programming. And I think that that that creates part of that um hyper-vigilance that you know creates that that fear or the or the misconception that you're being persecuted.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

How about this? Try to argue it and and take a moment and and put yourself in the same mindset of the Christian, but for your belief system, right? According to them, their belief, it is 100% right, is 100% justified. It being itself is enough justification. When you listen to Christians, that's what they tell you. We wouldn't have this if God didn't give it to us, so therefore it is.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Pagans, take a moment. When you when you're in those moments, take yourself, put yourself in that same mindset, then start arguing with them. What do you mean? How can you not do this? How can you not see that this is the correct way? Are you with what I'm saying? Because again, a lot of times when I hear pagans have these arguments with Christians, we always take it from a more defensive stance to begin with.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

Well, and I think that's because of that. It's that hyper-vigilance, it's that being on the defensive.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Well, and what I'm saying is instead, take it from we we come from the right. This was handed to us by our gods in the same way your god handed you your stuff. Basically, I'm saying use their own argument against them. There's no reason for us not to.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Right. But you got to be careful with that.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Well, what I'm saying is in the way they phrase it, we would not have morality if it wasn't given to us by the gods. I say we wouldn't have morality if the gods hadn't given us the ability to figure them out.

SPEAKER_04 17:09

Right. I'm just saying you have to be careful with that because then it turns into going from defensive to offensive.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

To some extent, yes.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

But when most people switch to offensive mode, they get a little bit more, it becomes aggressive. It becomes aggressive, then that's not gonna help the situation. I think what you're trying to say is that when we ask questions or make statements, don't make it feel like a challenge to somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Right. It's even though it is a challenge. Right, but it's more of a statement of our belief, right? Not a statement of challenging, it's as obvious as picking up a stick.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

In the same way, Christians sit there and go, well, it's obviously right because it came from the Bible, and we get the Bible from God, and that's the whole end of their conversation, right? Because if it doesn't come from God, it's not righteous, so therefore, and that ends the whole entire argument with them.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

Well, and I think the other thing that'll help with that is learn the vocabulary of whoever it is you're talking to.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

Learn how they typically respond. I mean, it's not hard to do. You can watch any Christian programming and kind of get the gist of it. But and I think that'll help you be able to better respond to them when you do have those conversations.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

And here's the sad part is is that you see those people out there, those uh Christian apologists doing these debates and stuff like that online. And the ones they always put out, they they always put out like the idiot that asks the most dumbest questions. I I've never I have never seen an actual legitimate scholarly pagan get up and debate any of these people. No, and if they have, apparently it's not what they put out online. I'm not saying that other religions won't attack you. All right, even even religions that you would not think would, but the majority of times it turns out to be the people, not the religion.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Right. And that is something you have to consider is that it's not it's it's not the religious aspect, it's the people that is doing this, not the religion itself. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

For those who I'm sorry, if you get into a debate with a Christian and you are pagan and you for some reason feel like you have to justify yourself, that's the question I want you to ask yourself. Why do you feel like you should have to?

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

I mean, because at the end of the day, I don't. No, I don't either. Okay, fine. You don't want to believe? That's great. You're a Christian. Life goes on.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Why does it have to be a debate?

SPEAKER_04 19:58

Well, it doesn't, but if if they're coming from a place of curiosity, or if you're coming from a place of curiosity, I think that kind of helps ground the conversation a little bit. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Where it's it doesn't come across as hostile or or aggressive. It's um it's hey, help me understand why you feel this way about pagans.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Please explain it to me. I I I don't quite understand what it is that we actually did to y'all. Right. And what philosophies we actually have that seems to not be the ones you have.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

Right. Because when it comes down to it, a lot of the conflict is

Education And Normalizing Pagan Life

SPEAKER_04 20:40

not being helped by the online community. No, the internet magnifies hostility, it magnifies the misconceptions.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Um, I see a lot of times what's that saying, if it if it bleeds, it leads.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

For news, I mean, again, anger, hatred, and the black pill, and I mean, it it takes five minutes to go out on YouTube or somewhere like that and try to look up something and try to look up good news on anything and try to find it. Right, it's hard to be more rare than a unicorn.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

It really is, yep. But I think I I think part of the problem is is that in these on the in the online communities, especially the pagan ones, they seem to reward the us versus them stories.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

They because they're very popular, you know, and I think what they need to do is instead of rewarding that victim mentality, is to reward the conversations that are going past that.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

When you got these people, they're using that whole entire us them mentality to gain listeners. They're it's an actual way of getting listeners. Listeners to sit there and do that to make people feel like you're special, you're part of the group.

SPEAKER_04 22:05

Well, sure it is, but still, I mean, it's it's it's unnecessary. It's creating bad vibes, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I'm not disagreeing with you. People want to go out there and do this stuff and do this stuff and act this way, or or spend more time worrying about their hair and clothing and their the aesthetics of being a witch.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Instead of actually the work of being a witch.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

For as prevalent as it is out there, yes, it's low-hanging fruit for the Christians to point out and go, look, here we told you. And what do we mean by their selfish and greedy? Look, here's 12 freaking videos on money spells. Here's 12 freaking videos on love spells. That's all they're concerned about.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Where's their ethics? Where's their morals? Where's their where they claim to want to be more spiritual and all this? Where's their growth? Oh, look, here's more witch bottles. Here's more. So, how much of it is our fault? And for the public's way they see us.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

Well, yeah. Well, I think a lot of that's you know, the whole witch talk phenomenon anyway. So, and people, I see more and more people screaming that, oh my god, I can't stand witch talk. Because it's it's gotten out of hand.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Well, see, I find this funny because I I'm like you, I hear more and more people say they don't like the witch talk thing, they don't like the Reddit thing. But yet, when you go back there, there's more. There's always more.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

I was gonna say there's always more.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

If everybody hates this, who's putting this stuff out there? I mean, are we moving into the dead internet theory and half this junk that's being put out there by so-called pagans are just bots?

SPEAKER_04 23:59

See, I'm beginning to wonder. I don't, I don't really know, but I don't it does make me wonder.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

I mean, I again I'm I'm so back to it. I'm in my own little universe here. I I don't get attacked by Christians, but yet I go on Reddit and read about 12 stories about, oh, I got attacked by this Christian late butt. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Yeah, I don't I don't see it. I don't I don't experience it myself, so and I don't know anybody who does personally.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

I don't either. We got students. I I'm around, I I taught class today. Here's what five of us in a room teaching, and nobody popped up and go, Oh, yeah, I was attacked by a Christian the other day because I was paying never came up. Well, who is this happening to for real?

SPEAKER_04 24:51

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

I mean, I know the one incident in South Carolina where it was a Christian group and a pagan group that have both rented a place and they were sort of like passing each other in the night, and there were some bad stuff said to each other. But I mean, generally speaking, I don't think that's anything other than just that incident. Right. It didn't get out of hand or anything, it was just some bad words, and and that's like the first thing I've heard, you know, news-wise. Yeah, in a in a lot of years, yeah. In a lot of years. And I'm back, yes. But if you go out on the Reddit, I'm sure I can find 15 stories of people who were where does this happen?

SPEAKER_04 25:34

Well,

How To Talk Across Beliefs

SPEAKER_04 25:35

look, I don't know, but what I do know, and I can speak from experience here, when you're talking to other people about what you believe, don't just regurgitate information. If you speak from lived experience, stay away from stereotypes, stay and stay away from all that, you know, like I called it before, regurgitated information. You set some boundaries, maybe not with whoever it is you're talking to, but set some boundaries for yourself. If things seem to be getting a little hostile or a little aggravated, know when to disengage. But generally speaking, most of the people I've talked to, they were just genuinely curious.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Right. I mean, sitting there and trying to give them the technical manuals of our religion is just going to sit there and quarrel and right. Yeah, I mean, you need to talk about, hey, this is why I believe in this.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Right. Even if it seems like they're coming, quote unquote, coming at you, if you treat the situation with mutual dignity, typically that tends to defuel the situation.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah, it deflates the other person's argument real fast when you don't take the bait. Right. If they're if they are getting aggravated or mad, right. Sitting there being it sort of takes the wind out of their sails. So sitting there being calm, being rational about it, listening to what they're saying.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

Right. I think the other part of this is as a community, we need to stop Christian bashing or other religion bashing. We need to quit assuming that all other religions or people who follow those religions are oppressive. We need to understand that trauma comes in many different forms. Everybody's gone through a little bit of trauma here and there. Right? It's a universal thing at some point, and we need to stop treating our religion or our beliefs as morally superior. I think if I think if we do those things, that will also help um diffuse misconceptions, misunderstandings, and whatever else is fueling this problem.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Well, well, again, if we're coming from the point that all paths are valid, getting mad at a path that you don't agree with doesn't help anything. No, it doesn't. Most of the pagan religions that we are talking about, we all start from the premise all paths are valid. Right. And just because you don't like that path does not mean it's not valid. It is still a valid path for some people.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Right. We always say we don't we don't teach you the way, we teach you a way. A way. And there are many ways. Respect it. That's all you gotta do is respect that somebody is somebody else's path is different than yours. Could be Christian, could be Muslim, could be Buddhist, could be whatever.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

And it it and then find to ask questions. All right. There's nothing wrong with that. If you don't know, ask. I'm sorry, if you're a Christian and you're listening to this and you think that the only thing witches do are cast spells. Talk to one of us.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

See what it else we do. Yes, there are some witches out there. Yes, that's all they do, it's cast spells.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Some goes on. Some, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

But not all of us.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

No. And there are many of us who don't even deal with deity. But again, that's not all of us.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

And just because you had someone in your past who was Christian who might have done something bad, doesn't mean that that person that you just met five seconds ago has anything out for you other than to ask questions. Right. Again, there's this automatic assumption that ooh, all Christians are out to get us. Oh no. They want to, you know, bring back the burning times.

SPEAKER_04 29:42

Well, keep in mind that there are Christians who believe that we're out to get them. So true. It works both ways. Just saying.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

I all I want to do is end on this is we are not the antithesis

Respect All Paths And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 29:55

of Christianity.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

No. No. And last couple of things that I want to say about this is we do not need validation. Paganism does not need validation to be real. No. Neither does any other religion.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

No. The fact that people follow them is validation enough.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

Exactly. And the last thing that I want to say about this is just because it feels unsafe doesn't mean you are unsafe. There's a difference. If you're feeling unsafe, you need to get to the root of the feeling. What makes you feel that way? Is it some trauma that you need to work through? Is it some misunderstanding that you need to clear up? Just because you feel unsafe doesn't mean you are.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Is your feeling of feeling unsafe really that they're unsure what in the world you've gotten yourself into a debate that you're not sure about to begin with? Right. Can we be honest about what's going on here first?

SPEAKER_04 30:53

Right. Think of it this way it's of it's about authenticity. If you can be authentic with yourself and your beliefs, then you can be authentic when you're talking. Right. You can be authentic when you're talking to other people.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yes. And with that said, I want authentic coffee here.

SPEAKER_04 31:11

Yes, let's go get some authentic coffee. Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another episode. Pegan Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary. Please visit us at Life Temple Seminary.org for more information, as well as links to our social media. Facebook, Discord, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

We travel down this trodden path, the maze of stone and mire. Just hold my hand as we pass by a steel blazing pyro. And so it is the end of our days to walk with me till morning breaks. And so it is the end of our days to walk with me till morning break.