BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Pagan Help for research requested

I hope you don't mind my popping into this forum to do a little research for something (fiction) I'm writing.

I was wondering three things. First, what, if any, aspects of your religion are represented in your home, things that an outside observer would see.

Two, how do you deal with mixed-religion marriages?

Three, if you lived in a nation where, in order to have full privileges of citizenship, you had to be a Christian -- voting, lower taxes, etc. -- would you a. openly keep your religion b. privately keep your religion while giving an outward appearance of Christianity or c. truly convert. (I suspect there would be people in all categories, but just want a feel from people. And I realize, unless you are in that situation, it is hard to truly know how you would react!)

there are many things in my home that people would see that are part of my 'religion' but nothing is blatant.

with understanding, married adults that hope for their marriage to survive the seemingly 5 year expiration date have to have outside interests in order to keep their joint life interesting.

I do b now. I live in the buckle of the bible belt, known as Charleston SC.

I have a few items that have religious significance to me, but would not be taken that way to an uniformed observer. Not that I fear it, it just is that way.

I am in a mixed religion marriage. It works fine for us because we both respect each other's path and don't try to change them, we've been together for 15 years and married almost 9 years, so I guess we survived the 5 year expiration.

I would follow choice B if I had to.

I also am not blatant about my religion to the casual observer. We do have a plaque on our living room wall that represents to me the spirits and guardians of our home with a shelf under it that we leave offerings and burn candles and incense. But he looks like something you might find in a garden.

My husband has a statue of his patron god and an icon he made in his office. I don't think it's extreme but don't know what others would think. They are such that they could be passed off as fantasy figures. We don't have pentacles on the wall or anything.

I'm not in a mixed marriage, but if I was, I think as long as we both respected each other and neither one of us believed in hellfire and damnation then we would be okay.

I'm not sure about the last question. I guess it depends on how much fight I had in me and if I felt it was a lost cause. If I had children, I would think of them first and do B.

Even the more subtle things are good for me to know. Don't know if they will show up in the story or not -- but I can imagine my Christian character (who is getting an introduction to the other side -- not in a "convert" way, but in a "this is my family, my life" way) walking into a home and not recognizing the religious significance of items, and maybe commenting on them as art or some such. Or, in a Jewish home, if she saw a menorah, thinking it was a nice candleabra, something like that.

Thanks -- if anyone else thinks of anything, I'd love to hear.

FWIW, I am an agnostic, living in another Bible buckle area, and to protect my son (who is in scouts), definitely am "under cover."

I have fairies everywhere - keychains, postcards, notebooks that I write in at work, etc. There are some nature things I have, but no one has made any comments. I live with my aunt and my books are in plain sight on the bookshelf in my room, but I have told her my beleiefs (she is a strong Catholic) and she was cool with it.

At the local college, I gave a talk on Wicca and told my supervisor what I was doing as I had to leave early. It was no big deal.

I am a widow, but when I start dating (soon), I am hoping to find someone who at least understands that I favor the Wiccan/Pagan/Nature way. If he is not that way, as long as he accepts it - I will be fine with it. I will accept his...I grew up Methodist.

Three - I would probably be a little frightened of people around me, so I would do B.

Me I live with my parents. (kinda had to after I had my son) anyhow, you can pretty much tell my path when you walk into my room or my son's room. I have dragons, athames, incense, an altar, and numerous other things. It's taken my mom about 16 years to finally accept my path. I started practicing with my grandmother on a reservation when I was 10. Heck every sabbat, I'm up to something and my cat isn't' far behind. Mixed religion marriages can work as long as one isn't trying to convert the other or down-sizing/playing the others. So long as both parties understand each other than religion shouldn't be too much of a factor...except around the holidays. As for my religion? I've been out of the "broom closet" since I was old enough to understand (13)In school it was fun to poke at the kids poking at me and my ways. It made them think that maybe I understood a bit more than they did

SyN1c4L, Just want to welcome yoy to the forum, We hope that you enjoy your stay!
Rosie

Um... pardon my ignorance, but what are athames?

But thanks for the insight!

Athames are ritual blades. Generally they're like small double-edged daggers, or actually are daggers. I've heard of people using swords as Athames, but to me for their uses, a sword is just too long, you might hurt something or yourself. It's used in the same manner as the staff, wand or sword...to direct energy at a specific point during your ritual or while you're in your circle. BTW thanx for the salutations. I actually found this site while looking for religious templates for a PowerPoint presentation I have to do for my college course. Ironically I honed in on this section simply because I'd much rather be among people with similar interests than working on a religious assignment that's biased and incomplete. (we're doing Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Confucianism & Hinduism; but do you see any older religion? no :mad:)