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1. Just like everyone else said pretty much. Everyone feels or thinks they are being discriminated against at least once in their life. It's like dying--you're bound to do it once.

2. Not off hand. Maybe I have, but I can't remember or something. Pretty sure the answer is, "No, not yet" though.

3. Lol No, I personally haven't, and none of my coven members or apprentices have either (that I know of).

4. Yes, but not necessarilly in religious context. We're still teenagers. It's a given that we're gunna do stupid stuff just to feel independent or different.

5. Personally, no, but then again, I don't know that many intimately enough to judge whether or not they have such a complex.

6. When the points are valid, then their "complex" as it is called may not be such. If people are actively persecuting you, granted, not in the fashion of the Burning Times, then the concerns are valid and therefore must be addressed.

7. Of course I have! But not in the way of, "You're coming after me just like they did in the Burning Times!" (Unless giving an example like that.) Whenever I reference it, it's to do research or to explain things to my coven or apprentices. It's to help them figure out that, no, we aren't being persecuted like that, and yes, it really did happen.

8. If the points are valid and you have proof, go do something about it. If you're not sure if the points are valid, take a second oppinion--Hel, you may want to do that anyway, just to make sure it's not all in your head. If the points aren't valid and are just plain stupid--ie, "My parents gave me extra chores because I'm not Christian" or "My teacher gave me an F because I'm openly Pagan/Wiccan/Whatever"--then get a good friend to smack you upside the head, show you how wrong you are, and then grow up. (I'm a blunt person.)

Yes, I am refferring to the inquisition. In religious context? I suppose you can include a coven as religious, but I mainly concider it a sort of second family where you form bonds, learn from one another, and generally enjoy one another's presence. As far as I'm concerned, it is a place to feel like you belong and are wanted in a world that doesn't always want you around (and where I am, this is the case, as I've been harrassed in a couple manners).

What I meant by telling my coven mates that it did happen was just pointing out exactly that, that it really did happen. There are a lot of people who say it didn't happen, just like what they say about the Holocaust (some still reffuse to believe it happened).

Just to clarify, I never reffer to it as "the time when pagans were persecuted" or anything along those lines. There was a time for that, but it was before the inquisition, where the options were "join our church or die." The name for that time, however, I don't know off hand.

*nods* I know a lot of Christians I get along with, as do we all, but especially since the area I live in is Catholic dominated. Hence the harrassment (die-hard Catholics+notoriously close-mind=nothing good for polytheistics). Though I'd like to note it never stops me from being open about who i am and where I stand on things and being proud all the while. I also do a lot of research and so am aware of a lot of the history between Christians (including Catholics), Pagans, and Jews (whom I have the highest respect for), including the long-past time where all of them got along harmoniously about 99% of the time.

All religions are good in nature, what makes them come across as bad every once in a while are those few human beings who twist it all around and then publish (as in the Old Testament) or make them into movies (Hollywood in general). But the same can be twisted around so all is good again. Goes along with the saying "All that can be used for good can alternately be used for harm (as "evil" is really simply only an oppinion and a viewpoint, where as "good" is generally a universal concept and recognised as such)." I could give examples to support this, but I'll spare all you that, unless I'm so asked.