LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Witches Voice essay is interesting for its amazingly accurate portrayal of the "intellectual constipation" and sheer patronizing bloody-mindedness of the True Believer™.

A small taste:

"Have you ever read the Old Testament?"

"Some of it," I say, "and that's all I need. I found it appalling."

He says something else, attempting to make me see... something. I ask him, "So, is this something like, 'do not suffer a Witch to live'?"

He smiles and almost nods... and continues smiling, as though he thinks I've finally seen the light or something. I can't stand it.

I've had enough. I hold up my hand and tell him, as calmly as I may, that I appreciate what he is trying to do for me. No, I'm serious. I can understand where he's coming from... from his point of view, I am going to burn in Hell. He is concerned for my soul's wellbeing. I tell him that I am happy where I am. I have found my path, and everyday I go forth upon this path and search for answers. And I don't want him to continue. Be glad for me, as I am for you, that I have found my path. This is unacceptable to the preacher.

"I have your answers right here," he says. He has one of those small, digital things... an electronic Bible.

"No, thank you. I have trod that path and been left unfulfilled. I found no answers, I got no results. Perhaps I will tread that path again some day, but today is not the day. Thank you for what you are trying to do, but no thank you, just the same. I seek and I learn, and what you have is not for me." He smiles at me... he smiles, and it is condescending, like a parent patiently correcting a wayward child.

"There is doubt in your voice," he says gently, soothingly.

The proverbial snake in my garden.

The whispering in my ear.

There is no doubt in me... though he sought to plant some.