GLASGOW, Scotland – The Scottish Pagan Federation (SPF) has urged the Scottish government to become proactive in tackling mass discrimination after initial survey results of Scottish Pagans reveal shocking stories and trends. The demand for support went directly to the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.
Map of Scotland – Image credit: Eric Gaba (Sting – fr:Sting) – CC BY-SA 4.0
Pagan Discrimination Survey was originally conceived by Steffy VonScott, SPF’s current Presiding Officer, in April 2018, at the 25th anniversary of SPF’s annual Pagan Conference. Anecdotal commentary heard during festivals, Pagan events, and community discussions were making clear that discrimination against Pagans was wide-ranging. Von Scott added the current survey later in 2018 as part of a five-year strategic plan.
After another year of discussions, the Scottish Pagan Federation began collecting survey data in November 2020 in a series of four surveys. The Pagan Discrimination Survey set was compiled by the Scottish Pagan Federation in consultation with Aglaja Kempinski, a social anthropologist at the University of Edinburgh.
The survey was developed also with collaboration from, among others, the Pagan Federation of England and Wales, the Pagan Heathen Symposium, the Druid Network. Helen Woodford-Dean, with the support of SPF Community Support Officer Jules Kelly, worked to launch the surveys.
The aim of the anonymous surveys was to gather information from Pagan communities not only in Scotland but also from across the United Kingdom and more broadly in Europe.
The SPF said, “The first survey on general discrimination was released on 15th November 2020 and to date has received 341 responses. The second survey on discrimination in a social context was released two weeks later on 29th November 2020 and has had 119 responses. The third survey on discrimination in the workplace was released on 20 December 2020, whilst the fourth on discrimination in official spheres was released on 15th January 2020.”
They hope to identify “the true extent to which discrimination against Paganism exists in our modern society, in order to tackle it better and identify the problem areas.” It gathered 341 responses.
The surveys prompted specifically for discrimination experiences and the findings to be released this weekend are immediately distressing. The SPF added a cautious caveat that the current findings are focused on Scottish Citizens who are members of the Pagan Faith Community and that subsequent releases of data will provide figures for England and Wales.
Image credit: mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
The data reported show that 41.46% of respondents stated they had been directly discriminated against because they are Pagan. The data further showed that 63.24% of respondents know friends within the Pagan Faith Community who have suffered direct discrimination because of their faith.
The survey also found that 40.86% of “respondents have felt anxious or depressed because of other people’s attitudes towards their faith.” They also noted that just over 50% of survey respondents reported being made to feel ashamed of their faith.
An unfortunately unsurprising number of respondents, some 60% to 70%, depending on the question, reported being the targets of evangelization attempts, accusations of devil worship and/or threats of going to “Hell.”
Some 90% of respondents reported being perceived as “less serious” than other faiths and religions. Nearly all respondents believed that Paganism should be taught in non-denominational schools as an effort to reduce discrimination.
Perhaps most disturbingly, almost 45% of parents who completed the survey feared their children would be bullied or harassed if schoolmates learned of their family’s Pagan identity.
The SPF also gathered anecdotal findings as part of the survey by asking respondents to share in brief statements about their discrimination experiences. Some of the qualitative comments were described as “harrowing.”
Respondent stated concerns about being outed at work and worried about retaliation.
One respondent wrote, “My family was very aggressive against me when I came out of the broom closet and when that didn’t ‘turn me back,’ they mocked me instead. They still mock me.”
Another respondent shared that, “My 6-year-old child was told her god’s don’t exist, only one Abrahamic god exists.”
Still another respondent reported, “I was an adult at this time and my son’s RE teacher told my boys I would go to hell when I died and she would not acknowledge me if I spoke to her at parents evenings, she acted as if I didn’t exist. Due to this I had to explain to two very traumatised little boys that I wouldn’t go to hell and it would be ok.”
Scottish Pagan Federation Logo
Presiding Officer Steffy VonScott & Deputy Presiding Officer Helen Woodsford-Dean noted in a statement:
We were also deeply shocked and saddened at the number of complaints coming in from High School students. Some have not only suffered bullying and harassment from fellow students but have also reported that teachers have actually allowed this to happen; in some cases, teachers have actually joined in, particularly in a Religious Education setting.
They added that “The SPF cannot and will not allow this to continue.”
To that end, SPF confirmed that they have “formally written to the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. We have also written to the Scottish Minister for Justice Humza Yousaf MSP, Secretary for Education and Skills John Swinney MSP, Minister for Community Safety Ash Denham MSP, Minister for Further Education Richard Lochhead, Freedom of Religion or Belief Cross Party Group Conveyor John Mason MSP, and the Head of Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone QPC, asking them all for their urgent action. We have also written a formal request to the Director of Interfaith Scotland, Executive Director of Edinburgh Interfaith Association, and the Chief Executive Officer of Interfaith Glasgow urging for their help and support in tackling these issues.”
All four surveys remain open for anyone interested in sharing their experiences via these links:
The SPF wrote, “As the Pagan Federation moves towards its 50th Anniversary this year (and the 30th anniversary since the Scottish PF was launched in 1991), it is important now, perhaps more than ever before, that SPF shapes long term and robust strategies to better tackle these issues of continuing discrimination against all who consider themselves to be ‘Pagan’.”
The SPF made unequivocally clear, “No-one should face discrimination because of their faith.”
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