Panera Bread Hates Pagans I Guess...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Pan America Contact Page: www.panamerica...
Pan America Group Website: www.panamerica...
Flynn Restaurant Group Website: www.flynnresta...
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Form Letter: docs.google.co...
their tweet: / 1375559530378039299
My response to that tweet: / 1375563385383886854
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music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Form letter for those interested: Courtesy of Aliakai and Celeri's Garden
_For anyone looking to use this letter: make sure you actually modify the parentheticals to personalize your correspondence. Companies respond better to letter campaigns with a personal touch. It was written so that folks who are pagans or allies of pagans can use it. Make sure you include a personal story of some kind to help drive the point home, no more than a paragraph or so._
To Whom it May Concern,
This letter is in regard to the recent allegations involving a Pittsburgh Panera Bread franchise location under your corporate care. Although I understand that these allegations are still pending judicial review and regard an active lawsuit, as a pagan *_(pagan ally)_* I have every reason to believe that at least some of what was said was true.
If even half of what is alleged turns out to be true, it’s an egregious violation of rights. It’s said that people vote with their dollars, and in good conscience I can’t continue my support of any business under management by those who would trivialize my rights *_(the rights of my friends. )_* Flynn Restaurant Group’s own corporate policies seem to run counter to these allegations. Something clearly has gone very wrong at the regional level, and it’s the duty of those who would run a franchise to ensure the safety and comfort of their employees and customers.
*_(Add a personal anecdote of some kind here to personalize the letter)_*
At the minimum, a full investigation needs to be done into the allegations and swift action should be taken. The public deserves a statement letting your customers know you don’t condone the alleged actions of those under your employ, and that future employees and customers don’t need to worry about experiencing potential harassment or ostracization for being who they are. I won’t support that. I know others feel the same. Until something is done, I know I, at least, will be finding somewhere to eat outside the management of Flynn Restaurant Group.
Sincerely,
*_(Signature)_*
Contacting corporate Panara and the rest of the chains that Flynn franchise from may also be a good idea.
That is awesome I definitely will as a luciferianist and pagan
I will as well.
They don’t care about black people💀
@@keke9955 facts they don't care about any minority
One time my mother, an agnostic asked me why pagans didn't have churches or do big social events. I said; we do have those things but make them incredibly hard to find except through word of mouth to other pagans so that the Christians dont show up and throw bibles at everyone. She was just like, yeah leave it to them to be the fun police...
She gets me.
Fucking "fun police" my ass... try godsdamn _"Survival_ police"!!!
That actually makes a lot of sense and I'm happy that your religion has been able to have your buildings and I honestly would rather y'all have your temples out in the open and it's constantly see Christian churches because at least y'all don't act like you're better than me or act as if somehow I'm a horrible person just because I don't believe the same thing you do. You are more respectful and understanding about why I am an atheist same goes for Jewish people and same goes for satanists and other groups that are religious but do not feel the need to inflict their religion on the other people I will take all of you any day over Evangelical Christians
supportive mum pog
My mom is a protestant yet doesn't mind that I am a heathen, she even supports my choice, though the rest of my family call me a heathen devil worshipper, like "why thanks for noticing I am a heathen, also I don't worship the devil, but other deities".
@sarah And for some reason you dumbassed protect muslims who are far worse.
I am thankful to work for a business, and for people, that had no qualms about me asking off for the Summer Solstice.
I set aside vacation time for the High Holy Days, as I continue to mature my (Proto-Taoist) practices.
Hearing about this lawsuit is disappointing; living in the Midwest of the U.S, so have become somewhat desensitized to religious scrutiny. I am thankful to now have nothing but gratitude for the challenges placed in front of me that have helped me evolve.
Well I'll never eat there again. As for asking for holidays off....I don't ask...I tell. Strangely I've had Xtians ask me "Hay if I work Yule for you will you work X-mas eve for me?" Which is awesome. Xtians and pagans working together in co existence. lol
See thats how it should go
My mother's coven is spreading this as far as they can on Facebook.
You should make a TikTok to spread this further!
New Zealand's evangelical community is tiny. I worked with a zealot once many years ago but she ended up getting in trouble rather than me, because we're extremely secular. The conversation between her, my boss at the time, and me, basically boiled down to the boss saying, "He isn't bothering you about your God so stop bothering him about his and stop getting in his face." She avoided me thereafter but that suited me just fine. I was 'outed' at my current workplace due to my Mjolnir pendant, which I usually wore tucked into my shirt but for whatever reason I wore it out and proud on this particular day. Nobody asked about it but evidently people were coming up with theories. Eventually at a work party someone was brave enough to ask - they asked what it even was. When I told them about it and my beliefs it ended up spawning a frankly enjoyable conversation where I got to impart knowledge and answer questions to just about everyone I worked with. The only other religious person there is a Muslim and he was also genuinely keen to know.
Of course, I'm probably the only person any of them have ever met who is actually a practicing pagan. In any case, nothing changed, business as usual, and it hasn't come up again in any meaningful way.
As an ex-third abrahamic belief follower I can assure you that the follower of "the third abrahamic religion" might become a problem later on, they're supremacists
@@AM-gm5jg Not in my experience.
@@tomlowe3155 I really wish you all the best , be careful though, they might become violent later
That's an ugly thing to say. The few I've known have actually been better about keeping their religious beliefs to themselves than any Christian I've ever met. Spreading hate is SO 2020, catch up
@@AM-gm5jg the only Islam-related violence NZ has ever suffered has been at the hands of a white supremacist targeting two mosques and killing 59 people. So I think you're off the mark by a wide margin. We care about our diversity here as much as we can.
As an atheist i'm here to tell you I got you and fight on and we're stronger together
When I was roughly 15 years old I was walking out of my local public library and a women handed me a pamphlet. I took the pamphlet looked at it for a moment, and then went to hand it back to her stating I was happy with my faith. She proceeded to scream at me as I walked away about how the devil had me tricked, and I was going to burn in hell.
God, I remember an instance in high school that was a bit similar . For context, I’m Italian and live in northern Italy, and we know that, well, Italy is very catholic not only in population but also in culture. We were having our break and I was chatting with a couple of classmates when one of them noticed my pagan necklace: a depiction of Yggdrasill with all the elder Futhark runes engraved around it. She asked me quite bluntly:” Well, why do you have that necklace?” And i answered, quite naively:” Well, it’s a token of my faith “
She then proceeded to stare at me and tell me in the face: “You know you’re crazy, right?”
Yeah. The funny thing was that she also had a pagan necklace around her neck, a triskelion to be precise. Our other classmate kinda started defending me and said to her :” Well, you also have a similar necklace “
She then proceeded to say : “Oh but this is my lucky necklace, my tiny little triskelion :)” , and she also obviously mispronounced the name.
Yeah, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened to me, but it was appalling how I couldn’t express my faith but she could appropriate it and wear a symbol of faith as a “lucky charm”
Did you tell her about the Star Trek episode, "The Gamesters of Triskelion"...?
@@nairbvel That was the first thing to pop into my head too (and one of my favorite episodes!)!
My favorite, mostly because it somehow offended me far more deeply than most instances of being told I was going to hell was when I worked at a grocery store. I was working the register, scanning and bagging the groceries of a much older woman, somewhere in the 70's age range. While we were chatting she noticed the pentacle I wear around my neck. Her eyesight might've been poor because she asked me if I was Jewish. I told her no, I was pagan. And she looked at me with all the sorrow of a grandmother who loves her grandkids dearly but has caught them doing something terrible that she must, by obligation, punish them for. And she said to me, "I'm so sorry you're going to hell." Not that she was sorry to inform me, but she was sorry that I was going to have to go at all. Somehow that sadness and sorrow that overcame her, like I was a soldier going off to war to die in the trenches with no hope of surviving, that bothered me so considerably more than all the times I was yelled or screamed or sneered at. I've never forgotten it.
In a backwards way, this is kind of a good story -- you met someone whose sorrow was truly based in the "love others" tenets of her religion rather than the "make 'em join or kill 'em" idea.
This is why I personally find religions divisive in a modern multicultural society. Even genuinely good hearted people like the old lady in your comment has been indoctrinated since birth and thus can't see beyond it.
If someone told me I was going to hell, I'd either say, "Good! That's where all my friends will be" or "Of course I am- I don't meet the requirements for Vallhall."
And at least Hel will be fun ✌
Odin's judgement upon Panera Bread... never thought I'd write that.
Just dropping in a word of support. Atheist here, have been told I'll burn in a gleeful voice, been held against my will for a violent exorcism, had my ability to determine right from wrong questioned, been told I'm the worst person possible, been threatened with and been the victim of violence. No pagan ever did this to me, just monotheistic people. I support religious freedom for all, it's your choice, but that also means it is everyone else choice as well. So I will stand beside you my sibs from different cribs. I will stand beside and fight for you. Much love💙
"You're going to Hell."
Yes, more than likely, I'm going to Hel.
had a moment where someone came by to spread the word of their god. I am always willing to listen, learn and have a civil conversation. This conversation ended with the individual telling me that "I feel that you are in a burning house and I am the only one with a pale of water". Basically saying that my religion was the firey burning depth of hell and they wanted to save me. Don't see how a single pale of water would help with a burning house....but I politely asked the individual to remove themselves from my property and never return.
Oh, man. You bring up a really good point.
I thought it wouldn't be that crazy to ask Halloween off, a lot of people really like Halloween. But then my boss looked at me really curiously; I put a lot of emphasis on it because they denied a vacation I tried to take earlier this year since I work in the medical field and our company was already severely understaffed. But I NEED this Halloween off. My wife and I are doing a really big, dope ritual. But since I was like, look, whatever happens, I NEED this day he was curious enough to ask and not satisfied when I just said we like Halloween since we don't have any kids. So the quickest thing I could come up with is that we were renewing our wedding vows, which isn't exactly a lie but, jeez. This guy doesn't know anything about me. I really don't wanna explain all of this to him and was surprised that I ended up needing to dodge like that.
And it's so funny, I've gone from completely anti-religious to happy to find myself in a cozy place just on the other side of the line and yet I still had to deal with all that shit when I was super edgy Athiest man. One time, at a bowling alley, literally the ENTIRE STAFF came back to where I was cleaning dishes in the kitchen because we were talking about ghosts, which led to the afterlife, which led to me stating I believed nothing happened when we died and everyone was so SHOCKED and they all proceeded to ask me about it thinking they could change my mind. Christians are super weird, man.
I was very upset at Panera. I haven't been since. I am furious.
I am a Druid and I don't talk about my beliefs at all because it IS an uncomfortable situation.
Hello, my name is Joan and I had the very same thing happen to me. I was working and fired from a Fred Meyers store in Spokane Washington
so i had a similar issue
so I believe that a person's relationship with religion and their god/gods is personal and none of anyone else's business.
I worked for a Chick Fil A.
I was asked if I would be willing to travel to another store that was opening in another state and I agreed. So work began and I began training people and helping the new owners understand policies and practices and so on and so forth and we ended up with a decent working relationship. Religion never came up.
Until it did. There was a girl who had a necklace with a "Star" but was very clearly not a pentacle. THe management wanted me to investigate the girl on the 'low" and find out the meaning behind the necklace and i refused saying that she was a good employee and the and the necklace was tasteful and any perceived meaning or lack there of was none of the companies business. The question came of of my own religion and I responded that I did not discuss my religion or spirituality in the workplace.
WELL this erupted in a big to-do with everyone assuming the girl was pagan or satanist and that i was aiding and abiding her. Our names were drug through the mud and they tried to ruin us Eventually this got back to the owner of the store had worked at originally and he rather pointed told everyone involved that this was a bad idea and to drop it.
They did not, And the girl's father, being a prominent lawyer began to salivate. Everything had been documented and in fact boasted about and it went to court. To make a long story short the new owners ended up loosing their franchise. The necklace? A SNOWFLAKE pendant that had belonged to the girl's dead mother. The franchisee was found guilty of religious persecution a pair of christians because of a snowflake necklace and a refusal to discuss my religion.
I work in pan American panera as a manager and this is understandable that this would happen with how seperate we are from corporate and left to our own in a way. im lucky that my section of stores are very open and inclusive, particularly with LGBT.
I still occasionally experience thoughts of self harm when I remember the first time I was persecuted and it wasn't even because I was pagan. It was because my mother was. I was still a Christian at the time. But it got it that my mom was a "witch" and then it seemed like everyone distanced themselves from me. I lost friends and everyone started picking on me and it escalated and they all joined in one by one until I just stopped going to work one day and I almost ended it all.
Hoping you are okay now, sending you love and hugs! It saddens me that so many humans are still so religiously tribal and hateful.
I grew up in a very Christian school and I was interested in paganism. I was talking about it with my friends and a group of people stated harassing us verbally and were trying to start a fight. Me and my friends had to leave our classroom out of fear that we were going to get jumped. I hate how this sort of thing is acceptable and happens in schools and workplaces. I hope that this issue will be resolved.
Also another fact about this is that they were yelling “your going to burn in hell” and the teacher did nothing to stop the situation. And this happened at a public school.
Late to this video... I currently live in deep south AL and one of the Panera breads in the large city North of me hosts a group of Pagans once a month. It's wild out there. I hope that she received justice from her lawsuit.
Engage!! Push that Algorithm!
your offering to the algorithm Gods is appreciated.
Seconded 👍
I would join in the boycott, but I've never been to Panera bread. So... boycott successful lol.
Take a look at the maps, might be some other restaurants near you.
What a cool name you have
Same i dont think it even exists in england so
You’re not missing much. Mostly, extremely overpriced bagels, muffins, or a cup of soup upwards of $6, and a few $10 rice bowls you could make cheaply at home.
I'm with ya, we can call it a pre-emptive boycott lol
I had a different experience with my manager at Subway. She was a self described witch and openly wore a pentagram pendant. Strangely, she would hire people from other faiths. Its almost as if she cared about the quality of work someone put out rather than their religious affiliation.
Whoa. The nerve of this person 😂
Lol I thought you were gonna say she hates her own- I’ve heard of black people not hiring other black people
Imagine that haha doing what is right
*El Gasp* ! ! !
The audacity of her!
Years ago, I had a co-worker who found out I wasn't a Christian and started aggressively sending out emails to the entire team, several a day, about how America is a Christian country and if you're not Christian you should get out. I took that shit right to HR and by the end of the week, she was forced to apologize to me. Ha ha. It was golden.
Sounds like their dumb ass put all of their harassment in writing for you. Easy to prove that its happening at least.
Plus I thought America was a secular nation, not a Christian one. Unbelievable.
@@ireneduncan4538 i would say pluralist ideally not nessicarily secular
@@ireneduncan4538 It is. Evangelical Christians (Fundamentalist Protestants) have another view based on fantasy.
“Stay away from her she will curse you” not to mention my father burning my books like it’s the 1600s. The fear and fragility in peoples faces when they find out I find both hilarious and sad.
So sorry about your books. My mom wanted to too, but I mentioned they were library books and censorship and book burning and she backed off. She was still sobbing like I'd killed her dog though.
That’s sad!
@@MorganMalfoy13 It was a good idea 👍
My mom and dad did the same thing.
@@MorganMalfoy13 the issue is that generally fundamentalist Christians genuinely literally think that if you don't agree with them you will be tortured forever, more than that, for Pagans, Wiccans etc they think you are worshipping and inviting helldemons into your life and potentially their house (Why they think their God can't protect them from said Helldemons is a different question). But from their POV they are actually doing good, trying to save you from jumping into a firepit. Obviously I don't agree but I get that they aren't evil, they are just stuck up. Ironically as C S Lewis said "the worst tyrant is the one who thinks he is doing it for your own good"
This is our local Panera bread...the pagan community here is boycotting it and any restaurants owned by the same people. Thank you for your well thought out and spoken video. It is appreciated. Thanks as well for the links! That is very helpful. :)
Hey, good luck in keeping the pressure on.
So, all of three people?
Any update on this?
@@Beardblade not that we have heard. the group was in contact with the lawyer handling the case and asked not to do anything that might jeopardize the case, so no picketing things like that. I haven't heard anything else though.
@@amberleebatchelor6949 I hope she wins. I’m a heathen and I practice by myself, my wife is Catholic and always makes smart as comments my way. Don’t worry I say shit back lol, but I feel for the lady
That statement about her "no longer being welcome" and "no one should talk with [her]" sounds like Catholic Excommunication or JW Disfellowshiping to me.
1980's Deep South Southern Baptists were nut jobs also.
It basically is.
this kind of thing is ancient too, they used to "prime sign" heathens before speaking with them for fear that our demon gods would come out of us and possess them and it required a cleric meaning that for the most part the policy was to avoid and not associate with heathens
It's a classic cult tactic
Yeah that's messed up
I worked for Panera years ago when I was living in Florida temporarily. The Panera I worked for was owned by ‘the largest franchise owner of Panera in the southern US’ and the franchise owner would occasionally come in for one reason or another. He was _aggressively_ racist and it was a known fact that if he saw more than one black person working when he came in, what he called ‘the quota,’ he would fire them on the spot. So during these pre-planned visits we would have our schedules completely fucked so that the black employees(and possibly other POC, though it wasn’t explicitly mentioned) wouldn’t be there to face possible termination when he came in. So honestly, Panera being discriminatory is not surprising in the least to me. Besides that the work environment was one of the worst I’ve ever experienced.
that's horrible.
fucking what?
@@OceanKeltoi This was ~9 years ago and this info was relayed to me by two different managers on multiple occasions when he would be coming in. I also heard a few horror stories from a couple of black coworkers from times they were working and he popped in. I remember being so appalled and asking how that was even possible but obviously HR is internal and the priority is to save the company image. Plus workers rights are terrible especially in Florida and other southern states, so as long as he didn’t explicitly say to the employee ‘I’m firing you because you are black’ he was good regardless of if he said that to literally everyone else apparently. At that time I was living in a halfway house after I had just gotten out of rehab and couldn’t afford to quit, the minimum wage at the time was I think $7, so I literally couldn’t even afford food for the whole month and they would make you throw out food at Panera if it was damaged in any way. So I remember not having eaten in days and having to throw out perfectly good food because they didn’t want to incentivize damaging food. Also I would regularly have to work hours after my shift but have them randomly send me home an hour into my last shift of the week so I wouldn’t get overtime but I had to walk 2.5-3 miles each way so it was just grueling. Idk if Panera (or their parent company) is just typically an awful company to work for, if it was specifically this franchise chain, or if it’s just the poor state of workers rights and the prevalence of disincentivizing unionization in the US but I really hope that this lawsuit gets some recognition and media attention if nothing else.
@@linseyspolidoro5122 Yup I've heard similar stuff from the Covelli franchises here in ohio. I don't know if they have any in Florida but entirely unsurprising to me.
Welp.... ain't patroning any Panera Breads...
As a pagan who has been fired from Walmart for my religious beliefs, I'm glad to see that this company at least is being held accountable for their actions. To what ever degree, but still. Also, as a fat man, who happens to be pagan, I'm glad to see that this company has no foothold in my part of Wisconsin. Blessed be y'all.
Bro lift some weights
Sue them.
That suck brother that is wrong. Hopefully lord Oden will help you get a better job.
You didn’t sue them??
I actually had a time, when i first worked at a new Gamestop location, my manager was very openly christian, but the assistant manager was pagan. I didnt know the asst. was until he saw my necklace fall from my shirt collar when i was pulling product and he just shouted "YES" and saying nothing else until the store was empty. He was a super cool guy, i didnt even have to say anything and when my mgr called the store a few min later all he said to him was "Odins numbers grow" and never told my manager i was pagan lol good memories
That is awesome!
That's both awesome and also funny. YES!
I remember when I was talking to my non pagan friend about Ostara and talking about how rabbits are very symbolic on that holiday because of rebirth and fertility because she asked why there were so many rabbits drawn in my grimore in that chapter. Then a few days after, my teacher ended up pulling me aside after class then told me that she respects my beliefs but she needs to "inform my parents when violence against animals gets involved". My parents know I'm pagan and VEGETARIAN so I wasn't worried, just confused so I asked what she meant. She looked at me and said "I understand you're pagan but animal sacrifice is animal cruelty and illegal." So I was bewildered and asked her whoever said I was gonna sacrifice animals and she looked at me all puzzled and said "Well, your friend told me that you were going to buy a box of baby rabbits and sacrifice them for a fertility ritual. Needless to say, I explained to my teacher that no I'm not a evil rabbit blood drinking pagan monster and now that friend and I are not friends anymore :/
Holy fuckin hell
I just flip the script on people and tell them that I don’t need to deliberately sacrifice animals because I buy my meat, poultry, or seafood in the grocery store like everybody else!
@@dragondancer1814 perfect!
@@jiejie1119 I’m also a volunteer firefighter/EMT in a rural town that’s located in a “red” and mostly Christian county, and once I had a probie at the firehouse try to snark on my religion. He asked me if I feared being burned at the stake, and I shot back, “Only during fire calls!” He got the hint and laughed at my response too.
What the fuck???
Honestly these managers remind me of an ex-coworker I had. Once he found out I was pagan due to a necklace falling out of my shirt while picking something up he would come up to me and follow me around for hours asking leading or insulting questions and if I reacted negatively I would be repremanded verbally for creating a hostile work place as "He was only trying to understand your beliefs". I found new work and left within a few months.
Very sorry that happened to you
@@crimson9049 Its alright. It was multiple years ago. I have a better job now even if its the hours I once had.
That's how I feel with my father.
@@virgoviking2331 Im sorry. The broom closet with family is always hard.
@@valthearastormcry1420 it's alright! I do what I can not to stress about it, I'm happy with my life good or bad. Light or dark. Life or death.
I had another Marine that refused to be on duty with me because he was convinced that I was demon spawn and I would pervert his soul. At the time I had just been finding a general neo-pagan path. Now I'm a follower of the Mórrígan on a Celtic path. Wonder what that guy would think now
That seems very un-marine of him. Supposed to have everyone's back.
@@OceanKeltoi I agree, although he wasn't the worst. Had a different Marine throw away one of my pendants while in Iraq. I was very upset about that one, as it was a silver Mjolnir pendant that I wore as a protection amulet. Never forgave him for that
@@skafiend167 dude, what the fuck. Yeah, there's no need to forgive someone for pulling something like that. Sorry to hear that.
Pervert his soul? Wow! Seems to me that guy wasn't very confident in his beliefs. You'd think if his faith was really the "gospel truth", he wouldn't have been afraid to serve along side you. It goes to show how fragile Christianity really is.
@@skafiend167 sorry,guy, does this "marine" treat white supremacists in same manner?
Me and my sister converted from Christian, to agnostic/deists, to pagan in a span of about 5 years. Both of us suffered a lot of abuse and trauma at the the hands of the church and our religious parents. I’m a minor and sadly still live with them. While I was staying with my sister for a bit my dad went snooping in my room and found my books on witchcraft. My oh-so-loving-and-accepting parents threatened to kick me out but thankfully my sister was able to smooth things over a bit and my parents haven’t mentioned it to me. When I came home I was putting my things away and when I opened the drawer the books were still there, but my dad had gone and dug through my closet and found the custom Bible he got for and had put it in the drawer as well. I thought it was funny, I can’t wait to see what they do once I come out as a lesbian.
Same tho. I’m a pagan witch who was raised Christian, but my parent don’t know yet. Idk how they’ll react. They also don’t know that I’m a lesbian sooooo
Good luck to you, my dear. Be who you are, and continue discovering who you are. Cheers.
Just be careful that you don't put yourself in an unstable position. You are under no _obligation_ to come out to them, especially if you feel that doing so will risk them kicking you out, etc. If you feel that is a danger, it can wait until you are financially independent of them. ❤️
@@leyruaGood point. After all, Christian's are always "in-your-face" thinking because they claim to be a Christian it is a "get-out-of-jail/trouble/responsibility" card they can play any time they feel threatened. If only they would think for themselves, they would see the absurdity of their crutch. I believe everyone has the right to believe what they feel is right for them. However, once you start using your belief as a weapon it no longer becomes faith.
Awesome!
What always rubbed me the wrong way as a closeted agnostic growing up is that even a lot of tolerant Christians assume that everyone worships the God of Abraham.
Mainly I think it's because they're scared and they need their beleifs reinforced, by collective thinking.
Or they automatically assume you're Jewish if you aren't Xtian. Happens to me a lot.
Growing up in an evangelical christian household meant that either you believed in the God of Abraham or you were worshipping Satan/demons/yourself despite what might come out of your mouth or what you claimed to believe. It's a pretty brainwashed way to view the world.
It's because the vast majority of people practice an abrahamic religion, so they assume most=all. Which is just....🙄
Taco Bell, Wendy's, Arby's, Applebees, Pizza Hut, and Panera Bread.
To save you time and to not sully your Google search history.
Don't forget Chick Fil-A.
@@carmensavu5122 they are not owned by the same parent company.
Not all of those are owned by them. I went to their site and only the Pizza Hut is owned by that group in my area.
It's all shit food anyway
@@dragonmaster613 true but chick fa la is known to be homophobic and would probably treat pagans bad too
I’m agnostic personally. I find all religions, mythology’s, and all other forms spiritual worship incredibly interesting. I love learning about them. One of my favorites is Norse pagan. What happened with the employee is not right, she should be respected.
Atheist here. I disagree about respecting their beliefs. I think it's the _people_ who should be respected. That covers pretty much the whole issue, including the horrible abusive behaviors that have happened over the centuries. I don't necessarily respect what they believe (general _they_ ), but I don't have to in order to treat them as a fellow human being.
I'm surprised to be surprised, for lack of a better description, that shit like this is still happening in the 2020s. I've been a donor of Americans United for Separation of Church and State for many years now, exactly because I support respecting all people and their rights to believe whatever they want, regardless of what I think. The way Tammy McCoy was treated was awful, but the fact that her managers thought this was in any way legal is just as bad. I'm so grateful that McCoy went the extra step of seeking legal recourse -- most people would have believed the threats, been unable to afford representation and given up. When the law is so clearly on your side, and there is potential for a giant damages claim, a smart attorney will jump on the chance to take your case and get a chunk of the award along with the good press of winning on the right side of the case. If there is any evidence to show in court, she'll win this, no problem.👍
Atheist here, I wouldn’t say that all religions should be respected, but rather that religious believers right to privacy should be respected. If they have no desire to speak about their religion in public, leave them be, that’s their choice. If they feel like sharing, they should keep in mind that not everyone wants to hear about said beliefs and should be respectful to those individuals of differing belief systems.
Another atheist here and I second what the two above me have said.
I feel no obligation to respect any beliefs; religious, philosophical or political and I have no problems challenging them even, as long as I'm not being a dick about it.
Also, if I'm visiting a religious temple, a worship place or a ritual, then I'll follow the rules and be as respectful as it is required of me practically.
Btw, I also find religious mythologies interesting, including the christian and the jewish one. I think we can learn a lot about us as humans from comparative religion, even if we don't believe any of it in the strict ontological sense.
The norse mythology I'm most familiar with as it's a cultural thing for me, being from scandinavia, but I'm more interested in more exotic and mysterious ones (at least from my perspective), such as the slavic and native american ones. Or australian aboriginal myths, hindu, zoroastrian...etc.
A person's religion is wrapped up in how they define themselves, if they have one.
I will respect the person and their religion, but I want them to respect that religion doesn't work for me.
While I myself am a Christian, I am also interested in the basic tenets of other religions, and I agree with your statement. The United States was founded, in part, by religiously persecuted people, and the founding fathers wanted to make sure that, as much as possible, this discrimination didn't happen on their watch. Unfortunately, this invariably happens with dealing with human beings. And especially, to me, it seems that people can't 'agree to disagree' anymore, that especially some 'evangelicals' have to shove the Bible down everyone's throat, and that makes me just as upset as if someone insulted me to my face.
A coworker of mine told me one day that he was so happy that the end times are coming because he cannot wait to "watch the followers of the occult burn to death and be tortured in a lake of fire by the wrath of God". He didn't know that I am pagan, I think he thinks that I am Christian because I'm a simple, old fashioned, rather conservative guy. It was surprising to hear him say something like that and I didn't know what to say. I have no ill will toward him, but the psychology of being eager to see others suffer is a bit disturbing. Many really do live in a world where they think that pagans are secret satanist child sacrificer members of the illuminati or some crazy thing.
Well, they say the human animal never really changes, which is one of the many reasons why religion cult brain washing works so well. Practice makes prefect regarding the governments. Just image what these people were like back in ancient pagan Europe. In regards to the Glee of watching the dam burn, well that was first taught by the Catholic church and the Protestant carry that tradition. The late Christopher Hitchens covered in in one of his many debates found on YT.
I had a friend of a coworker (not a coworker himself) asked if I drank blood. WTF? I'm a witch, not a vampire!
Makes you wonder what people like him would do if they could get away with it.
@@catheath2858 there is definitely a contingent within Christianity that would like to take us back to the days of crusades and inquisitions.
That's really wierd thing to be exited for. My mom thinks the end days are coming but she'd scared of it because she doesn't want people to suffer. Also probly scared becuse I'm pagan myself
There is a Panera Bread near me that I was already boycotting due to them suddenly deciding that an LGBT board game group that held their game nights in the basement every other week (with permission) was no longer welcome due to "being disruptive." The players were always respectful and made sure they were also buying food and drinks, so it really felt like just an excuse to have them kicked out. That Panera is not owned by the Flynn restaurant group.
On a less serious note...would you play group be interested in playing in my werewolf the apcolypse game I have going?
Our ancestors would have thrown them in a bog.
Looks like date night is moving to a different set of restaurants now.
Both of my Grandpas were religious, Christian men who were invited to come here because they were engineers during WWII. They loved it here, especially our freedom. They were asked to stay and they did, bringing my parents, uncles and Grandmas. They would tell me the importance that freedom of religion is also freedom from religion and the ability to choose your way.
When it was discovered that I simply was not a Christian, and only that was discovered, I suddenly became a "liberal baby killer" and they would pray for me. This is absolutely believable
Sounds about right, especially if you live in the south. I'm an atheist and am routinely told that I'm going to hell by coworkers, teachers, and my parents, so I can sadly see all of this happening. And christians say they're the ones being persecuted, honestly.
If I told my mom I wasn’t Christian anymore she would kick me out of the house, I think becoming an athiest is worse than being gay to her
A few wars ago I was told that if I did not become a Kristian I would go to Hell. I looked over the Mekong River and responded with, "I think we are already here."
@@gregwarner3753 Oh no, which of the countries through which it flows were you speaking of?
Just because you're not a Christian doesn't make you a liberal baby killer. As a Christian I'm saying this.
In the early 90's I was working on a BS in education. During a student teaching assignment in a K-9 school. It came out I was pagan, a teacher saw my pentacle and asked about it. She was cool and asked me to speak to her 8thgrade social studies class about the Salem Trials the Friday before Halloween. I made the presentation (as invited) and by Monday morning I was banned from the elementary school. It was a small town in the Smoky Mountains, word spreads quickly. Due to the ban, I failed the class, couldn't complete my degree, and ultimately had to drop out. Twenty years later I returned to the college, and am graduating magna cum laude in two weeks as a proud member of the now deeply embedded Pagan Student Association.
I felt that. That must have really hurt at the time. I'm 46 and also working on my degree. Congratulations for being so strong and finally graduating. I'm sure your journey was not an easy one. I don't know you and you don't know me, but I'm proud of you.
Good for you! I'm so sorry you experienced that the first time around :(
What is the Pagan Student Association? 🤔
@@rawcontent5166 I would assume it's a club on a college campus designed to represent pagans on campus, give them a voice, a place to congregate, activities to do, etc. A lot of colleges have christian ones and some have Jewish or Muslim student associations now too.
@@thegracklepeck Huh, that's interesting, but pretty cool.
I will say that I grew up with a pagan mother. We celebrated the solstices and such and middle school and highschool were just the worst for me. Whenever ANYONE found out I was Pegan I was met with people in the hallways telling me, a 13/14 year old at the time, about all the ways I was going to burn in hell. I had my head slammed into lockers, I was pushed down stairs and even had people purposefully tripping me up in hallways or shoulder checking me into walls on the way to classes. I've since become Agnostic, most of my friends are atheists but I find it kind of telling that the people who caused me the most harm because of my religion? They identified themselves as Christians. Not Muslim or Atheiest or even other pegans who often would give pause to help me pick up my books or whatever or would walk with me to the nurses office after such incidents, but Christians.
Reminds me of a bus ride back from a field trip. These were kids I'd gone to school with since kindergarten and this was maybe the 10th grade. It started as questions about a book I was reading and turned into well over an hour of a bus full of classmates harassing me. Did the chaperone step in to stop it? Hell no! That was only one incident but it taught me a lot.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. They sound a lot like the same kind of christians that weren't allowed to play with me as a child until my family converted... Strange that abuse and isolation are the overwhelming tactics used by a faith based on "love" and "kindness".
"We Home-Church" is my go-to answer when asked about religion in public. That generally ends the conversation, because they don't know what that means, but it sounds Super Weirdo Churchy, and they don't wanna have that conversation. (I'm down in the Bible Belt. Wise to keep it on the DL)
I admire your ingenuity. Wish I'd been that clever growing up in the south with not only uber-devout faux-Christian family but they were also Trump followers, too. Double whammy! I now live in the north where it is a bit easier to be non-religious.
Me too, I've had a lot of struggles, however I wear it with pride, beyound being something that would destroy me.
I've already found a Goddess. She doesn't like you very much. (I used to be so deep in the broom closet that my familiar was a dust bunny.)
That reminds me of one of the best bumper stickers I've ever seen:
God is Back! And SHE is PISSED!!
@@anniejuan1817 Another bumper sticker I"ve always found amusing is "MY GODDESS GAVE BIRTH TO YOUR GOD!"
😂
@@purplealice lol
Only in the last few years have I been open about my practice. I recently had a potential tenant come view a room we had available (I'm a property manager), I was wearing jeans and a black tank top, with my pentagram, nothing crazy. Gave the guy the tour, explained all the fun stuff they needed to know, and when it came to the end of the tour, I asked him if he had any questions. He nodded and pointed at my necklace, asking "What's that?"
I lifted the pendant and confirmed that's what he was pointing at, he nodded again, I said "My pentagram? I mean, it's no different than your cross, just a pretty piece of metal. Why?"
"You're satanic?" he asks, getting closer to the door.
"Nope. The star would have to be inverted, as it is, this is for pagans. You could say I'm spiritual, my church is the woods. You go sit in a building to talk to your god, I go for a walk in the woods. Is that a problem?"
I swear it was like a scene from a cartoon or sitcom, the dude just shook his head and left. No words after that, he just hoofed it out. Probably the best experience of the trash taking itself out for me :)
I had one guy see my pentagram and ask me if I was Jewish. Confused I said no and then he started berating me for "wearing their symbol".
I just blinked and walked away.
SMH
And they never bought the apartment (assuming that's what the tour was for), right?
.... Hoofed it out....😂
My old manager once spent an entire shift pining over "The Passion of the Christ" while whining about not being able to say "happy Easter " to people anymore. She went on to say it to EVERY LAST ONE OF US before we left for the day. I just smiled and said "Oh, thank you! Happy Passover!"
I didn't work there very long...
Yeah I've had experiences like that, it's interesting she mentioned Easter considering it litteraly comes from paganism 😂
@@geetargaming1586 Lol ironically she owes more to your beliefs than mine! Jesus would have said "happy passover " or "haag sameach" just saying...
I told people "Happy Ostara" all weekend. People just looked at me oddly, possible thinking I was just mispronouncing it, so whatever.
Lol
Especially where I live I expect a lot of "Merry"s and "Happy"s for every Christian Holiday. I don't rly mind, honestly it doesn't bother me. Until the Walmart greeter wearing the "Trump 2020" mask says it like she's correcting me for improper grammar on my way out the door before I've said my usual goodbye...
Then a "WHY *thank you* ma'am! HAPPY YULE to you!🥰" With the sweetest face I can muster under a mask is in order.
She looked terrified. It was nice.
Then I felt bad for scaring an old lady.🤦
I actually had to stop working retail because the religious and sexual abuse (from customers) got to be too much for me. But one of my saddest memories was selling this woman a tiny goddess figure. She worked as a real estate agent and said she kept losing them, when I suggested she could put it on a necklace, she said she was too worried about clients seeing it and deciding to go with another agent. It made me so sad that she had to choose between wearing a symbol of her faith and her livelihood. I know it's a little thing, but I don't think most Christians really understand the absolute privilege they have.
You’re absolutely right, most Christians don’t understand the privilege they have and in fact many love to go on and on about how “oppressed” they are
Oh, I think they understand their privilege ... because they think pulling the "Christian-card" out every time they think it will protect them against the non-Christian is their prerogative. So many times I have seen them condemn blacks for using the racist-card and then turn around and use the Christian-card as their defense against the racist-card, and they never see the irony.
Yeah, I had a necklace that meant a lot to me but lost it... I gave up, but one of my headmates wanted some stuff for vixs practice so we went looking again. A lot of this stuff is expensive.
A Christian frenemy told me I should keep my paganism to myself so I don't face persecution. When I asked her if she would give the same advice to other Christians, she replied, "No, but we're the majority."
@@nachobidness2553 she's absolutely correct and i'd *love* to know who she thinks are persecuting us
As a Hindu, I can relate to this.
Im an atheist and same dude
@@mari-du7wl Same on the Agnostic side of things sadly.
As a Jewish person, I can also relate to this. I have often struggled with taking off work for my holidays, getting respect from coworkers, and having my identity taken seriously. Even at supposedly open places of work I have experienced jokes at my expense specifically relating to my Jewishness and being unable to take off for holidays. I have also had my beliefs questioned and inappropriate questions asked (especially after I open up about my grandparents being Holocaust survivors. I generally keep my Jewishness to myself unless I am found out by people looking me up on social media or accidentally let it slip out.
Being apart of a minority religion/ethnicity sucks
@@whimsyrosie Really? That surprises me. I'm genetically part Jewish via my Mom's Dad. In the US I wouldn't think Jewish religion is as much a pariah.
@@sillybudgie5527 Yep, anti-Jewish sentiment is still very much a thing here in the U.S., and is actually on the rise. Hate crimes against Jewish people takes up a majority of religious hate crimes. I experience ignorance because of my Jewishness often and have struggled to take off Holidays for work and school, even in Michigan where they have laws preventing religious discrimination. In Indiana, just one state away where they don't have such laws, my cousin was threatened by a teacher that if she took off school for Yom Kippur she would fail her on a test that took place the same day. Holocaust denial is also on the rise, which is terrifying as someone who's grandparents are survivors.
It’s ironic that as a Muslim I can relate to this. I faced discrimination in my job from Christian co workers, to the point of inadvertently being accused of being a terrorist. And I’m from PA too 🤔
"If you call HR about this, you'll be fired on the spot"
Numero Uno reason why americans needs to unionize.
But if you say that, people will start whining about bringing politics into religion. How dare you.
Threatening to fire someone if they contact a regulatory body (their HR department, OSHA, etc.) is a great way to get your ass sued in court AND receive penalties from the government or other regulating bodies. It sounds like management was having an extended amateurs' day at that Panera Bread. Probably best to just rebuild from scratch after all the lawsuits are settled.
'Round these parts, you don't even need a union for that; the state's got some pretty serious laws about that kind of crap and they can be super tough to wheedle one's way out of. (Not to put down unions, just pointing out that sometimes the law doesn't require one.)
Yep, totally agree. FWIW everything happening here is a breakdown of the way the system is "supposed" to work, but the whole point of unions isn't to replace the system, it's to keep it running as intended.
@@nairbvel Then you send your lawyer to HR, who in my experience are the thinly veiled legal team liaisons
HR will go after management when management is about to get them destroyed in court
"Do you believe in god?"
"YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!!!"
Friendly atheists can relate
Friendly atheist here, can confirm.
@@amorphoussolid8512 Friendly agnostic here, can confirm.
Friendly witch here,can also confirm
Yup. And I’ve been lucky enough to not have to deal with that very recently. More often than not I just get people confused because they think I’m a Christian. But when I was younger and much more vocally atheist I had to deal with that nonstop. Either being told I was going to burn in hell, people demanding I tell them my name so they can pray for me (not that an omnipotent god would need my name),I even had someone try to beat me up. But I’m considered the heathen. Ok 👌
@@MamaMOB o you poor 🤦♀️i have now in TH-cam always trouble sometimes i whant to hear a History explained channel and that's a lot about Demons and Angels.And me idiot made some comment and what a things they said to me and i thought in the Bible it is written you shall love your neighbor as yourself .One wrote i'am the hellhound of Satan lol😈and f...words and ,and
I was at thunder over Louisville with my wife a few years ago and we were passing a group of noisy missionaries as we looked for something to drink. One of these guys saw my pentacle around my neck and decided to come over and lecture me on how God hates me and I'll burn in hell if I don't repent and my amulet (he said necklace) was an evil symbol and I've never wanted to fight somebody so bad in my life. The sheer ignorance of what he was looking at and desire to condemn someone he didn't know still infuriates me.
Don't waste your time thinking about toxic people.
Try being a pagan and living in Louisville. It's rough to be around all these fanatics.
@@kyog1990 I do live in Louisville. That was just the last time I wore my pentacle outside of my shirt without being at the highland Renaissance Faire since that's the safest place to relax and not hide my beliefs. Most of the vendors are pagan and very protective of and supportive to those of us most prone to suffering discrimination. It's the best environment in the state to be honest
Also ironically, I've heard that the pentagram was occasionally used in Christianity in the past so that adds to the "confidently ignorant" of the dude
I saw a video on TH-cam, where Christians say that they have the right to kill witches, because their Bible say it is alright. How sad that these Christians are not educated enough about Wicca and other forms of religions, making it acceptable to show hate to any one and still ignore the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The fun when the "local inquisitor" was the fricken' unit commander for me...
This I understand, as a heathen who served in the 90’s I often found myself just not talking to anyone on my Cutters, on the plus side I was the cook so if you want to eat, don’t piss me off.
@@SwampRatNation That's actually pretty badass even for being a pog that's what they're gonna call you anyways. Anyone that calls you one, bam no food for them. Awesome. :P
I’m a little surprised that he didn’t point out, regardless of the already big HR issues of discrimination, threatening to fire someone in retaliation for reporting them is also a massive labor violation that has been in place even longer. The US Government doesn’t like the idea that a company and managers could be shielded from being massively fined because their employees are afraid of whistle blowing and being fired or reprimanded as a result so it is law that retaliatory attacks such as “if you complain to HR you are fired” would probably fall under those laws.
The very fact he brought up the point of the cross necklace vs the pentacle necklace was exactly my story I was going to tell. I got tired of always having to 'prove my faith' to ppl who first badgered me until I told them and then berated me for it when they learned that I decided one day 'if Christians can wear a small cross to work and not be discriminated against, then I should be allowed to do the same with a small pentacle.' I have not been discriminated against by coworkers yet (thankfully) but I have been laughed at, shouted at, threatened and berated by customers who come through my register on the daily, who feel so entitled in their faith that I, the sinful pagan, deserve to be abused publically as a means to try and convince me to turn to Jeezus. I deal on the daily with obnoxious customers who use their religion as an excuse not to wear a mask, to which I promptly tell them to go to another register as I will not put my life in danger because they wanna use Jeezus to explain why they don't care about anyone around them by not wearing a mask. It usually ends in 'your stupid', 'your paranoid', and 'fucking pagans...'
Quote their own scripture to them, "when jesus was tempted by satan to fling himself from the mount because god would send Angel's to save him before he struck the ground, he replied, "do not put the lord thy god to the test". So tell them that even jesus would not he above wearing a mask for even he was human. Then tell them to fuck off and go to another register.
Man why can’t I be called into a jury duty for such an interesting case as this!
Civil suit doesn't have to have a jury afaik?
According to some news sources, the attorney for the plaintiff has requested a jury trial, in this case.
The sad part about this is I bet the majority of those that will be in the jury will be some sort of Christian. If lucky maybe like one or two non-Christians, but odd are low.
It's also a great way to get out of jury duty. Just bring in the right book to pass the time waiting to be interviewed.
@@jaredfarris7898 I don’t think so, during jury selection they’ll probably try and weed out any Christians
I'm skeptic but this outrages me i have many pagan friends just as i have many christian, Jewish, atheist, etc friends. I am so glad that in my small rural southern town people feel safe enough to tell me. I've seen so many shitty things happen to pagans it pisses me off so much.
Which is surprising because small southern towns, well really any small town tend to be rather insular and looks down on anything that's perceived as "different".
Supposedly you are not supposed to discriminate against a person because of their religious belief but . Just what are these people so afraid of that no one can believe anything different from their beliefs. Jesus would be so proud.
@Benjamin Muller indeed horrible things have been and still are done in the name of Jesus and other deities agnostics and atheists don't have clean hands either
I cannot tell you how many times I've been told I'm going to Hell by Christians. Over the years anytime I was told this I just shrugged it off and moved on, but this story just enrages me to the boiling point. I proudly wear my Mjollnir at my current work with pride and no one says a damn thing to me which is the way it should be. I've even had others approach me asking about it and when I stand there with no fear and full of confidence announcing to them I'm a Norse Pagan they usually nod and move on with their life. It's 2022, we shouldn't have to hide in the broom closet anymore and I certainly won't be. Now, if anyone tells me I'm going to Hell I always respond. "Yeah, probably and I'll happily be taken into Her warm loving embrace when my path comes to an end."
I get told all time that im going to hell, I just tell them that im taking them with me, as I laugh while walking away.
I grew up going to Catholic School, so when Christian people ask what my religion is I always say “I was raised Christian” that way I’m not telling them my current religious beliefs but I’m also not lying to them either...
Good strategy.
My Dad dragged me to a Christian school fish fry fund raiser once held in a church gymnasium. We wound up sitting next to a couple of outwardly nice old ladies. They kept asking me what church I went to and, not wanting to be rude to the elderly, just responded I lived in the next town over. They seemed confused, my Dad got uncomfortable. Part of me wishes I would have just straight told them I was an Atheist, since it was only a short walk to my Mom's(divorced) anyway and could have got a ride home from their.
Same
Ditto.
I used to do the exact same thing.
SASS witch here. One of the customers at my work is an office that manages a few local Panera locations, and I went on their website trying to find contact info. No luck with that but I did find a page that was essentially the owner's statement of faith and it was just so cringe and culty. Already decided never to eat there again before finding out about this lawsuit but now I'm gonna share with other pagan-friendly folks in my life. Thanks for the video Ocean, and for encouraging action on our part. Hoping for social change so one day I'll feel comfortable wearing my pentagram at work😈
I work in corporate IT, I read SASS witch as SAAS witch, needless to say I genuinely thought that you where offering Spells as a service.
@@minermortal1997 lol, apologies for the confusion- SASS in my case stands for Skeptical Atheist Science Seeking and I unfortunately have a very solitary practice so I can't help out with any spells
I'm already going to hell for being gay, what is paganism on top of that? I'll be going down the LIl Nas X way.
Right, because same. 🙄😒
Welp. I guess we will all ride the stripper pole to hell together 😏
I’m an atheistic bisexual Jewish metalhead. Is there an extra hell that I’ll get sent to?
@@eliasaltman4439 Boi you go down to Extra Mega Hell my friend. Meet me there I'm handing out drinks.
@@nightytam223 cool, looking forward to it!
This attitude is prevalent in military life as well. My roommate, a Christian, started bullying me when I told him I was atheist when we were training on our jobs for our future units. He even tried to choke me once for defending myself. Later on when we were in the functional military, he kept throwing death threats my way.
Fucking hell thats over the top
Damn!
Wow it's crazy this video came out today. I myself peeked out of the broom closet yesterday . At work over the intercom system they was asking Easter trivia questions. You answer the question you received candy. At first the questions was light and cute, with simple answers like Peter cotton tail it the color pink. Then my department received our trivia . there is only my assistant myself. Question was what does the egg represent during Easter. I was in the area so I popped my head in and said. The answer you want is the resurrection of Christ, the shell is the tomb and Christians died the eggs red represent the blood if Christ. U received a smile and candy. I turned to walk away but stopped. Turned back and said, but the correct answer is that the egg representing rebirth long before for christianity in the pagan religion. I received a look of total shock. From that moment every question was heavily based in the judaic religion of Easter. Even to the point that scripture was booming over the load system. I'm old. My tolerance levels are nearly depleted. My pocket of fucks is running low and I'm saving them for grandkids.
"My pocket of fucks is running low and I'm saving them for grandkids." This is poetry, thank you
I do give a fuck if decent people get choked by religion fascists on the workfloor. You can have some of mine for strategic moments ahead. The others you should indeed save for the people you love. Good luck!
I just fell in love with you! LOLOL!!!
I wanted Panera Mac and cheese so bad. The other day... I’m so glad I made a pound of white cheddar from scratch and not giving my money to these terrible companies
Out of curiosity, do you have a good mac and cheese recipe you use?
Similar experience happened to me working at petsmart when the manager found out I was Pagan. I always tell my jobs that I will work every Christian holiday so Christians can worship in place that I can be off on mine since they don't really overlap (at least ones my family really takes part in). I was mocked both to face and behind back with other coworkers and refused off for sabbats and eventually quit. I was a teenager so I didn't realize that what they did was a sueable offense.
Worked for Walmart in Utah, playing with my Tarot cards minding my business. I've had an older lady come up and sat with me asking what I was doing. I was honest, I was off the clock and thought it was a harmless subject. I then got revelations read to me, told me I was going to hell unless I repented. I took this straight to my manager because she worked in a separate part of the store. Apparently I wasn't the only one she was doing it to as well, there were a few Muslim girls too.
Utah is just all around religiously odd, as a state that was actually settled because of religious discrimination and intolerance you would think it would be more open. Explaining what it’s like to be a heathen in Utah is impossible unless you experience it first hand. As a Heathen who was raised within the Mormon church and experiencing this first hand I feel for you.
@@SwampRatNation People always want religious freedoms for themselves, never for others. Religious Freedoms way to often mean my way or highway.
Ocean,
Something similar to this happened to Telltale’s daughter in her school. A public sex Ed teacher instead of doing her job tried to convert the entire class to her brand of fundamentalist Christianity. After she was exposed, instead of being immediately fired as the teacher should have been a Facebook group was set up, and the two of them received violent threats.
yeah .
I've heard about this. Telltale is a friend of mine. The way the town has responded to his daughter standing up for her rights is ridiculous.
@@OceanKeltoi,
Disgusting isn’t it?
It's always disgusting, and ridiculous, but these townspeople have taken it to threats of arson, beating, kidnapping, and murder. Much worse than the usual vandalism and theft and bullying.
Even the fbi seems to be involved, which is fair given they talked on facebook and planned how to kidnap his daughter. It was deleted but nothing ever is, and dont tell me the fbi doesnt has to facebooks data.
My patron god is Loki. I have a pendant used to wear that was a representation of him. Key phrase there. "Used to wear". I had a supervisor tell me it was inappropriate to "promote the worship of an evil being". Loki isn't evil. He's chaotic and possibly a hearth god who watches over children. But because of Christian twists on his stories he's seen as Literal Satan
I think I almost made someone's head explode when I wore my Loki pendant and Thor's hammer at the same time.
@@anthonyhayes1267 you'll have to imagine my sarcasm but "oh nyo. How could you? Thor's super good and awesome and powerful and perfect and Loki's evil and mean and a murderer! Why would you wear the symbols together?"
I've dealt with mostly in my family. When my grandmother found out I was pagan she informed me that me being pagan is what causes my mental illness.
Is she a doctor?
Oh fun. We love a judgmental grandma.
it's all cause of that gosh darn phone you stay on all day 😡
My mom asked me if I had played with a ouija board with my friends at some point because my depression was really bad. Thankfully a. I was old enough and mature enough that I could recognize that as dumb AF and b. could also honestly answer, no. I never have. Then I gave her shit about it because seriously!?
Just shows she has no knowledge of what mental illness is and how it works
Let’s be honest if this was Christianity Panera would be BLASTED. But seeing as it’s everyone else it’s ‘a ok’
Oh they're still going to get blasted don't worry. I wonder how Mr Flynn would feel about owning a couple hundred thousand empty restaurants there's a lot that can be said about a home cooked meal and most of it's good if you even have a small inkling of what you're doing.
@@Sodoffshotgun That's righr, not only can we make tastier healthier meals....rhink of all the money we'll save😁.
I've posted this story before, but after I started wearing my Mjolnir pendant on the outside of my shirt at work, I was stopped by a co worker for a come to Jesus moment, saying I wouldn't find salvation through Thor or Odin but only through Jesus and Him. I quickly dismissed his attempts to convert me by politely saying I don't believe in the Christian salvation narrative and left it at that. After this he kept trying to have conversations with me, such as asking me about fishing...weird stuff to be going on in a work environment. Thankfully he was in no leadership position.
lmao, he wanted to 'fish' you for his religion. Coz, Y'know, Jezus loved fishers...
I haven’t had this at work luckily, but baby witch me in high school got scolded by a lunch lady similarly. I used to wear my pentagram necklace every day and never had an issue, until this cranky old lady who was always rude to everyone, but gave me my food and then sneered “they allow you to wear that?” And I just responded “yeah, it’s my religion” and I walked away. I also used to work at panera tho, ironically in high school, and wow I’m grateful I didn’t have to deal with this
When I was in 7th or 8th grade, the hall monitor (an old Hawaiian guy who road a bicycle up and down the halls) stopped me. He told me my necklace was no good and tried to make me give it to him. I started crying. Fortunately I was with a friend who defended me saying he had no right to take my jewelry. After that, I made sure it was hidden in my shirt whenever I saw him.
youre not a witch lmao
@@loverollcake bro what? Speak up I can’t hear you over that unholy cacophony you have playing on your channel!
When I was in middle school and first getting into paganism, I wore my pentagram to school. It was small and unassuming, I wore it every day. Most people never commented on it. Except this day I went to the nurse's office because I felt sick- and the nurse pointed at it and asked what it was. I could tell by the note of alarm in her voice that she knew full well what it was. I answered that I was pagan and it was a symbol of protection for me (a child's understanding but it was a simple and effective way to explain).
She started to ask what my parent's religion was. I told her that I was also Jewish and my parents were Jewish, but that I identified as a witch/pagan as well in tandem with Judaism. Then she asked if my parents knew. I said "of course they know! My mom is a witch too." Which was true.
She looked so horrified and she just said "...you know that's really dangerous stuff, you could get really hurt. There are cults and sacrifices and terrible things. Just be careful. Talk to your parents about it."
Obviously she thought I was lying about my mother being a witch too.
I waited til she left the room and I started laughing. In hindsight, it was a really messed up thing to say to a 12yo and I'm angry that she would feel bold enough to invalidate my religion in that way. But her understanding was so juvenile, I couldn't help but find it funny at the time.
I had a similar experience thankfully since I have a super aggressive union that my stores management is afraid of. I've always worn my mjolnir and arm ring under my clothes so I could keep to myself but after I saw many Christians wearing extravagant crosses so I said "if they can openly wear their religious symbol why can't I? " . Not even a week later My Manger came to me and said that I wasn't allowed to wear either. I asked why . To which he responded "you can't wear symbols of those FALSE gods here we are Christians here." I then said "that may be your opinion but to me and many many others there's nothing 'false' about them. I know that it's illegal to discriminate based on religion when it comes to employment so unless you are going to tell Christians they can't wear their crosses then I'm gonna keep wearing the symbols of my religion. " At this point he was getting a bit frustrated and said "that is completely different our God is ACTUALLY real , take it off or go home and don't come back unless their off!" Then I said "I wonder what the union would have to say about this, I have the union reps phone number why don't we give him a quick call? " then he just yelled "fine forget I even said anything! " and walked away and hasn't said anything since.
Punk ass fascists. That's what they are.
I love the "real" religion BS.
I mean....our Gods and Goddesses were talked about millennia before their God got his book.
A very good friend of mine was harassed at work for not being christian. Every day at work his supervisor was saying "god bless you" and she was literally trying to "lay hands on him" to save him. Then came allergy season and him and his sassy self started saying "possess you" to her every time she sneezed. She lost her fricking mind and went to HR but we took videos of her trying to touch him while praying and she got fired hahahaha
Ooh i love this happy ending / Uno reverse card!
I was bullied at work until I was fired because I was an atheist socialist I'm still bitter about it.
Yay! Good! Lol
@@photofreak56 You should sue them.
Not as a pagan, but as an atheist, I try to avoid conversation of religion due to the hostility, whether it be passive or not. I've only recently started telling family members that I'm atheist, or atheist but leaning pagan. My christian family always tries to make me go back to Christianity and so I just continue to try to avoid the conversation.
Yeah it feels like they think there religion justifies any actions they take
@@misssheltered1081 Ironically, doing enough research is what gets a lot of people OUT of Christianity. 🙄
@@leyrua Happened for me! Now I know with 100% clarity that Christianity isn't the truth
Ironically as a buddhist I get asked if I need religious holidays off.
I've told my boss 50 times now Buddhists dont really celebrate holidays.
Yet she still asks 50 more times.
At least she's trying to double check and make sure you get any days off if you need them
Didn’t happen to me directly, but I used to work with a man who was *very* Christian. Like, read the Bible on his lunch and mentioned God as often as possible kind of Christian. And it was always creepy because he was the nicest, most friendly man there was, and I genuinely believe he meant no malice in any of his words. But one day I overheard him chatting with a new girl in the break room and when the subject of his his book (the Bible of course) came up, she casually mentioned she was Buddhist, and he responded with a smile and this utterly matter-of-fact “Oh! Well, you’re going to hell, you know.” Poor girl had no idea how to even respond to that.
Religious gaslighting. Being friendly while saying abusive things doesn't absolve you of being abusive.
@@amandaforrester7636 exactly
I was got the “you’re going to hell” from a nurse when I was inpatient on a psychiatric unit as a teen. That was over have my lifetime ago and it still boils my blood thinking about it. My spirituality was why I had asked for help instead of acting on my impulses.
I’m 32 next month and can’t wrap my head around how any adult can think saying something like that is appropriate, let alone a mentally ill teenager receiving medical care from you.
Cause Chrstians are hypocrites like that I tend to find.
I’ve been lucky to not have grown up around many zealous religious people. But I remember one instance where I felt uncomfortable announcing myself as pagan. My uni had a pagan society, which I joined in my first year and I still participate in two years after graduating. But in my final year I was one of three who manned our stall at the annual multifaith festival. It was just a room with different faith societies gathering, to get to know eachother, learn more about eachother, eat pizza, create candle holders and have a quiz. One pagan wasn’t going to be joining us for a while so it was just the president and I. The president had to leave for a while because he had a delivery earlier than expected. That’s when this guy, sharply dressed, came over from the Pentecostal society. He shook my hand and did everything a gentleman would do. I was initially at ease. Then he asked what paganism was about. It’s such a broad term, and I explained as such, then went on about Wicca, which I was a part of at the time. I explained how wiccans believe do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt someone. Then this guy went on about what if society deemed self harm was okay, and he started being really vicious in his words despite his gentleman persona. I was in shock, and didn’t know how to respond because I’m not confrontational. He specifically waited until I was alone, and when he realised he couldn’t get much out of me, he moved to pick on the catholic’s (who were looking at me with such pity, they were actually very nice). Then staff told him to cut the shit otherwise he would have to leave, which thankfully he did. But I felt so sick after such a confrontation with me, and then the conflict with a different denomination of the same religion.
And that’s just one experience in the U.K. where you don’t hear about these kind of attacks as much as you do in America. I truly feel sorry for pagans in America, especially the ones living in the Bible Belt. I can’t imagine what you go through, or the fear is so great you can’t bear to talk aboht your spirituality out loud in fear of very real retaliation
Bible belt Pagan here🙋♀️ I still haven't gotten the courage to come out of the broom closet because my work and family life would be horrendous 😳 Thanks for the sympathy though, lol.😂
I lived in georgia for a bit and it was hell. Every morning and evening on the school bus I had the one kid harassing me the whole time to join their church or FCA (fellowship of christian athletes) or to pray for me. That was for a good solid year and a half. There was a couple other pagans I knew and they didn't fair any better. Actually one of them, their mom knew and was a totally b**** about it. There were a couple mornings my friend would get on the bus looking like someone dumped a water bottle of her because her mother would douse her with "holy water" and would call my friend a demon and all sorts of other things.
@@dylanbjornholtlund2791 Yup, you know exactly how it is. I live in Georgia and that's seems to be the general mindset about anything that is not doused in Christianity. It's really sad.
Bible Belt pagan here.
Let's start from the beginning, late 90s. Highschool.
1) Bus full of students on the way home from a field trip. About 50 miles from home I started getting questioned and harassed about a book I was reading. Of course, the adults didn't stop it.
2) Teacher is concerned I'm into "devil worship" due to the genres she sees me read and my choice of subject matter for my senior year research paper. Family gets called. Family tells the teacher and principal basically to get f**ked.
3) Georgia. Federally supported job training program for broke young people. My roomie and I were both Pagans. She got in trouble for doing tarot readings (someone who didn't want to pay ratted on her). I had a small shrine next to my bed. I'd kept my head down until this point. Both of us had stuff taken by staff. My family got called (I was 22 at the time). The staff got the same response my highschool had. Our stuff got returned.
Those experiences along with the random "I'll pray for you" judgemental comments from folks who sometimes see my small pentacle ring haven't helped me deal well with these kinds of folks at all.
Your sympathy means a lot to me Inky Flame, and I can empathize with reluctance in discussing such traditions. Try being a Norse Pagan living in Albuquerque, New Mexico... among a predominantly Catholic population. And working at a convenience store on the westside of the city, where you are likely to be jumped and beaten for such a thing. That's not happened to me personally yet, but still... one day, there was a guy with a bible (no I'm not capitalizing that) actually telling the customers in the store to pray with him or they wouldn't be "saved". I don't know why he bothered to do so with me, since my Mjolnir pendant was clearly visible. I expected him to refrain from wasting his precious time and breath on me, which is how most people feel when they learn about my path. Even though I can't imagine he missed it, it simply didn't matter to him to acknowledge the clear difference between our paths, and he just kept on talking like the symbol of my spirituality wasn't blatantly hanging from my neck. As a last illustrative point, an ex of mine who was in an abusive relationship with a supposed Norse pagan assumed that he was full of bs when he would discuss his religion, and she also assumed that because he was a borderline white supremacist, every Norse Pagan must be as well. I'm glad to say that more or less everyone at work knows of my traditions, since my necklace is always clear to see, and no one actually harasses or mistreats me. With the exception of customers.
I'm an atheist but I stand with polytheistic and pagan people. I hope Panera faces consequences for this
Thank you friend, you rock 👊
So just christians🤣🤣🤣
@@عقبةبننافعبنالقيسالفهري ?
@@عقبةبننافعبنالقيسالفهري _"just"?_ try "for fucking _once"!_
@@عقبةبننافعبنالقيسالفهري Piss off, abdul. You're worse than any christian
I am a pagan and I am also a bisexual trans man. I worked at a Meijer for 7 years and while I did not mention me being a pagan often, a coworker in my department was a Jehovah Witness. My family has a very bad history with that religion, while me and my parents were not involved, other family was and we saw its dark side very quickly. I think she saw my "Witches datebook" planner that I used to keep track of my work schedule as well as moon phases, and etc. She hated me. She avoided speaking with me, she talked behind my back about me being gay and I over heard her calling trans people 'perverts' (She didn't know I was trans). It was horrible.
Geez, that sounds terrible. I'm so sorry you had to put with that constant harassment.
Oddly enough, I'm a bisexual trans guy named "Zack," too.
I hope you're doing alright now, and stay safe, brother. 👊
Thank you for all you do Ocean. My wife and I saw Aliakai's video on this and I loved your coverage of this too. You all inspire me to really speak out and be proud to be Pagan. Thank you!!
congrats man.
I'm a UK Pagan. I used to work in a care home it was a Christian care home. In my eyes care is care. When a conversation came up and I was asked if I had a religion I said yes Pagan. Which point they said they would pray for me to find the light in Christ because it's the only way to save my eternal soul. I told them don't want to go to a Christian heaven and walked off.
Me too. And why would I? All my friends are gong to hell apparently anyway so that's where I want to be. ;-)
I can sympathise with you on that.kind of in the same leeky boat.The morning prayer on the intercom is an intrusion on any non believer.
I was at a diversity and inclusion workshop, of all things, and I mentioned my faith as a Pagan and Witch and my co-worker sitting across from me was horrified and basically put me in the position to have to explain that I don't believe in the Devil, I don't work evil. That my faith was one about nature, reverence for life, and Pre-Christian beliefs.
Diversity and inclusion... except for us!
@@amandaforrester7636 ain't that the miserable truth :( ....
Fifteen years ago, I naively answered honestly when my boss asked me about my religion. While was not fired, the next day, my desktop was plastered with post-it notes from Revelations and all the "repent now" verses. Btw, Jesus and I are on great terms, I have a problem with his toxic fanbase. Blessed Be )O(
I work in the army. More than a few times after "voluntary" prayer moments I was approached by my more religious coworkers asking why I didn't participate. I replied that it's not my faith and it would be disrespectful to theirs if I was there. "So what's your faith then?" I'm a pagan. "That's ridiculous!"
Just give them a long blank stare followed with silence and they'll shut up pretty quickly.
I am not pagan, but I'm an athiest that lives in Texas. This seems very familiar to me, and I truly wish it didn't! I thank you, Ocean, for all the content that you put out. It gives me a greater understanding of others and the beliefs they hold.
I’m right there with you dude, I was once reprimanded in elementary* school because I didn’t want participate in the Christmas Assembly at church even though kids with different theistic beliefs where allowed.
*I’m British we don’t call it elementary school but I wanted to make it easier for you.
@@minermortal1997 oh man I feel that. I'm a pagan, have been for around 4 years now.
In my high school (which I only just left) around Christmas time and Easter the school held *mandatory* religious assemblies. Oh you're not Christian? Too bad you gotta sing. You hold different beliefs on religion? Nope, not true. *Sing* .
This *very public* school forced me, atheists, Muslims, Sikhs. Everyone else. To participate in what was basically a church service twice a year.
If you didn't participate, you got in trouble. If you tried explaining why you didn't want to participate, that's talking back.
I saw that school give out detentions to a friend of mine who moved there from Syria several times for him not participating.
This was in Scotland. Not some southern state, not some third world country where you'd expect such a thing but Scotland.
Suffice to say I left as soon as I could (after 5th year)
@@celticconlanger6401 I am also Scottish so yes I am more on your page than you can even fathom, my apparently non denominational primary school lightened up the rules a little as I got older so other faiths could be exempt but apparently having no faith isn't a valid excuse. My Secondary school's chaplaincy used to hijack remembrance day even to talk about Judo/Christian dogma
I'm an athiest asexual originally from Texas. It's frequently a case of "when you find god, he'll lead you to the right man." I try to avoid talking about religion or sexuality at work, even to coworkers I think are receptive to it. Nothing good will come of it.
I’m also an atheist in Texas. When some of my neighbors found out we were atheist they started avoiding us, doing things like holding their hands up in a cross symbol when they saw us like we were vampires or something. They told the neighbors to be careful around us because we will steal from them or r*pe them (since we don’t have a god telling us not to). They threatened to call the cops on us for things like walking our dog around the park where everyone walks their dogs. It was 3 different neighbors doing this shit. Several others just avoid us and say they’ll pray for our kid.
Our kid went through a bit of a crisis in 2nd grade because we basically got kicked out of Cub Scouts for being atheist. My husband ran the tiger scout meetings and the troop leader (?) was irritated that he wasn’t opening every meeting with a prayer. Too bad? Not every kid in the scouts is Christian, so we weren’t going to make them pray.
Then the troop leader started trying to make a rule that the Cubs go to a specific church 2 Sundays a month (it’s the church where Cub Scout meetings are held). A full half of the cub scouts were Catholic and the church was Methodist, so that didn’t even go over well with the Christians. It ended up causing a Catholic vs Protestant rift. But they were all in favor of more prayers at meetings except us and the one Muslim family.
Because we opposed the prayers, the leader started spreading lies about my husband and about my son (who was 6 at the time and couldn’t understand why his friends suddenly didn’t want to play with him. He was heartbroken.), and about the Muslim family. So we said fuck it and left.
Thankfully, we had a couple atheist friends with kids the same age as our kid. And we talked with them about discrimination and how to fight it. But he’s 11 now and he’s always a bit defensive about religion because he’s afraid Christians are going to suddenly ghost him or bully him.
When my parents found out I was pagan it was interesting. My dad told me about some great aunts from Germany that were witches and my mom told me she and a girlfriend practiced magic a bit when they were young. But my evangelical sister was a thorn in my side for years until I finally had enough and quit speaking to her. As long as my parents were cool I was good. Its hard to believe my sister was a product of the same parents I had.
"Join our cult"
Yeah sounds like Christians to me
While working at a gas station i complimented a mjolnir tattoo on it's detail. The customer thanked me and said it was for religious reasons and the woman working next to me [my manager at the time] gagged and left to the bathroom. I was worried and later she told me she was sick and went home early. The next day another manager told me to not talk about satan while on the floor as the other manager is a medium and is sensitive to people mentioning demon names. I still don't understand fully what happened as I was a dollar short the next week and was fired. So i guess that counts.
So let me get this straight...you were fired, for offending a woonatic by existing in her presence, by a guy who doesn't know the difference between the guy in the red suit and the guy with the hammer in the Avengers movies?
@@autobotstarscream765 I always find it ironic that the first Avengers movie went out of it's way to assure the audience that Thor wasn't a god to coddle the fragile minds of conservative christians because they wanted that sweet bible belt money. It was an insult to Cap, who accepts people's differences as one of his core values.
@@azuretiger-kfpmarketingstr6018 Yeah, that kind of thing is annoying and smacks of "False God Superman" Snyder gibberish, but at least Endgame went the other way and had Cap wield Mjolnir as America's weapon, as if he were whooping Thanos with a cross, but instead of Christianity's sacred symbol, it was the symbol of the followers of the Norse gods irl being shown as an all-American symbol of justice. 😎👍🇺🇲
I’m pretty sure mediumship is blasphemous according to the Bible.
@@jamestheawsome100 it is, it's considered 'trafficking with spirits' and therefore condemned.
Whenever anyone finds out I'm a Heathen and tells me I'm going to hell I always just say yeah probably, though we call it Helheim.
As an Atheist, I like to respond by happily inviting them to the BBQ and hot springs party, clothing optional ;). Reactions vary, but are never boring.
I've been a retail manager for several years, and, yeah, asking an employee about their religion is a huge no-no. It's actually illegal in my state, and I thought it was everywhere. We did have one store where the manager and all of her employees were Wiccans (she would only hire coven members, which was another problem, but not my problem) down here in the middle of the Bible Belt. The comments we'd get from customers who went out of their way to come to our store because they assumed we were all Christians were funny sometimes. They would come in and ask where the religious books were, and I would ask which religion and they would get mad or go speechless. I got told we shouldn't have the Qur'an more than once. We had a good mix of faiths among our employees, though, and one or two very passionate atheists.
I've just discovered your channel and for that, I'm thankful. I grew up Roman Catholic, but the extents of which neo-Christians will go to to make someone's life miserable is absolutely horrific. Thank you for showing me the discrimination that Pagans face so I can be a better ally to my Wiccan friends.
If anyone wants a sample of what to say to these folks in a comment here is what I am going to say "It has come to my attention that your company is involved in a legal matter concerning the religious freedoms of one of your employees. The rights of individuals freedom of speech, thought, expression and religion are some of the most important rights that we have, and I encourage you to take action to uphold these values. This includes holding people responsible who have infringed on other rights, creating policies that uphold values that respect individuals’ personal freedoms."
In my freshman year of university, I was sitting in the student union, talking with some friends while eating lunch, while talking I had said something, "by Odins beard, or Thors Hammer" something unimportant like that which led to me bringing up my Heathenism to these friends, now I know what you are thinking but these friends were genuinely interested and accepting about it. But at the table next to us. Someone was I guess listening in and they came over and confronted me, how I needed to "find god" or "I would burn in hell for worshiping those demons" the whole spiel every Heathen has heard at least once, apon them saying "your soul will burn in hell for eternity if you dont find god" I responded "if your Heaven is filled with people like you I dont want to go there" and I just left, I didnt want to deal with it, the broom closet is so comfy sometimes
Why,... honestly the god most sounding demonic, is the old testament one . Good to see the others interesting .
Good for you, I love me some good sass! :) Also, another question is: why do I need to find god? Did he run away from home? I didn't catch the Amber alert.
@@carmensavu5122 he was last seen talking to a short green man next to a Toyota Corolla. Possibly high on ketamine
Unrelated but is saying stuff like "Thor's hammer" considered acceptable or not (ie. Is it equivalent to "taking god's name in vain")? Or depends on the context and/or the person who says it (eg. Acceptable only if you are a believer)? I'm atheist but happy to learn about all faiths as long as I don't get proselytized to.
@@trashAndNoStar I use it, along with others ie Thors Beard, I don't really see it as being equal to "using God's name in vain"