If Only I Could Teach the Teacher About Religion

Written by: Idonea

My daughter came home from school tired and frustrated, sprawled across a kitchen chair and told me about her religion lesson. School was almost out for the year, and her lower-secondary teacher had decided to make things easy by assigning group projects.

Each group had been assigned a different “minor religion”. My daughter’s group introduced the Bahá’í Faith. At the end of the lesson, each group presented its work. One group had Wicca.

My daughter chuckled over her bun and juice as she described the teacher’s ignorance. At that point I threw the dishcloth into the corner and headed for the kitchen table, suddenly interested. Grinning, my daughter said the group had not managed to find much information, and so the “all-knowing” teacher had decided to shine by explaining Wicca herself.

“It is a religion in which practitioners think they are witches,” the teacher explained, and continued, “It belongs to the New Age rainbow movement and includes features of UFO religions, because these Wiccans believe in UFOs.”

“WHAT?!” I cried.

“Can you imagine?” my daughter laughed through a mouthful of bun.

I began thinking. First I was furious, then I wanted to march up to the teacher, and then … once again I just sat quietly, astonished. I remembered the Soviet propaganda we had been fed in Finnish schools during the 1970s. Was something else being twisted now? Then I thought more deeply. Of course: ignorance is often replaced with imagination.

My children have lived with a witch all their lives. They know how to respect other religions, but they have also seen real life with witchcraft and goddess religion. To them it is as natural as breathing. My daughter did not take the ignorant teacher seriously; she just found it funny. I was already ready to rise in rebellion, broom and cauldron raised in battle for truth. Her amusement melted my heart, and I realised that accepting everyone as they are is exactly what Wicca should be.

When someone asks, replace ignorance with knowledge. Show the person who asks the right path; the path itself will show what it contains.

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