The Christian Manipulation

Over the past few centuries, Christianity and the Judeo-Christian religions have always received the favor of the powers that be. Even in countries where Christianity is not rooted by it's people (id est: Europe, and the Americas) it seems to have taken precedence over native religions. It certainly does not seem to have been of their own volition, though. Throughout history, terror and the fear of punishment drove people to convert. Older gods became demons, and the people who followed their own traditions immediately became "heathens," and were punished, accordingly. Overall, not too much of it makes sense.
Since I have little experience with other countries and cultures, I will only be discussing blatantly anti-Pagan occurrences in the Americas. Despite the fact that this country was founded on ideas of tolerance and freedom, by people following a "peace-loving" religion, they show extremely violent tendencies toward people who have been known as "pagans, heathens and witches." First and foremost of these events was when the first Europeans settlers came to America, for good. The first victims of Christianity's spread to America were the shamanic natives. The Native Americans were either converted or killed, which seems to be Christianity's forte. The natives were actually given blankets and clothes that were worn by those with smallpox, an incredibly contagious and life-threatening disease. This was, as all of us know, not the only time that people of opposing beliefs have been removed to pave the way for what has come to be known as Holy Mother Church. Being from Essex County, we all know about the Salem Witch Trials. This is both the most famous, and most obvious example of discrimination against paganism in the "modern" world. The victims of these trials were called witches, which is a word that was never used by pagans to describe themselves. The descriptions of the rituals performed by these people, for example, bonfires, dancing in the woods, nudity, and animal sacrifice, directly correlate with pre-Christian, European practices. The people claimed to have seen "the devil" who they claimed as a horned man, with a goat's leg, or clubbed foot. This description fits two pre-Christian European gods; Cernunnos and Freyr. The people were immediately imprisoned and executed, on little more than the word of a young girl. Even to this day, the modern Christian organization has not apologized for the actions of the early ministers.
Now, this all seems to be such a long time ago. But, you would be fooling yourself if you believed that Pagans today aren't just as hated as they were hundreds of years ago. I have read many articles and second-hand accounts of the ridiculous treatment and stereotypes suffered daily, as well as going through much of it myself. There have been several court cases and controversies, directly targeting pagans. One of the most ridiculous happened in Indiana in 2005. "Case number 49D010305DR000898 was a child custody case where Judge Bradford issued a ruling forbidding either parent from instructing their son in their shared religious beliefs. The judge questioned how Wicca differed from Satanism and instructed the parents to choose a "mainstream" religion." (Wikipedia.com) This just one of countless cases of Christianity seeping into the government. They seem to believe that because they have the most followers, this gives them the right to act in any way that they please. There is also the question of holidays. All the major holiday breaks and vacations, apart from summer, are based around Christian holidays. (id est: Christmas, Easter) Other Middle Eastern Holidays are also recognized, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Pagan holidays, and other "heathen" holidays, are scoffed at. "It's an unofficial religion, therefore an illegitimate excuse for a day off." My boss told me this, earlier this year when I tried to take the night off for Samhain. Needless to say, I was shocked at the level of ignorance. How could it be recognized in other countries, but not our own? I immediately started doing more research into the discrimination, and found a rather disturbing story. On a petition website, Petitions.org, there was one petition concerning Paganism, and a small story explaining it. An unnamed member of the US army was recently killed in action. This man happened to be a Pagan. Both he and his family had requested a Pagan funeral ceremony, and religious symbols at the funeral, as well as on the tombstone. After his death, all requests were denied. He was given a Christian ceremony, overseen by a Christian priest, with nothing on his tombstone but his name and dates. I, for one, found this deeply disturbing. It seems to me that nothing is sacred, not even death, when a difference in opinions is involved.
Some of the words that have been thrown around, concerning Paganism, like "unorthodox," "non-mainstream," or "non-traditional," are complete nonsense. There is evidence in manuscripts, such as the Kalavela, and the Prose and Poetic Edda, that Paganism has been followed in it's current form for more than 2000 years before the birth of Christ. There are also chalk carvings and stone drawings, across Northern Europe, some close to 40,000 years old, depicting Odin, the All-Father of the gods. Then again, hard fact is something that Christians around the world have never advocated. They have actually been against trying to discover Christ's existence. That just serves to show that too much is set in the words of a group of people who are afraid of the truth, because it might be something they don't want to hear.
I can understand some of the reasons why people dislike Paganism. Many gods, animal sacrifice, and Lord of the Rings-like magic can be a bit much for most people. That is the way that we are normally seen. What others need to realize is that the majority of the things that they assume and hear are wrong. The only commonly held conception that is actually true is the belief in many gods. The others, however, are more questionable. The animal sacrifice question, for example. People hear about animal, and even human sacrifices in the old days. I am not going to deny it, these were very commonplace. There has even been some little evidence of Viking-like human sacrifices in America, dating around the year 998. However, we haven't performed sacrifices, as a whole, for hundreds of years. When faced with this point, most people have said something to the effect of, "Well, you're not allowed to!" This is very true. We are not allowed to perform sacrifices, anymore. Who is to say that we would or would not be doing them if we were allowed? All I know is that we do not sacrifice living things, but people are anti-Pagan because of something that happened hundreds of years ago. There is also the, what I like to call, "nonsense" argument. People only see the commercial side of Paganism, the side from the television and movies, with magic and witchcraft. To set the record straight, we do not do magic. We have never claimed to do magic. Also falling into the "nonsense" argument is the concept of many gods. After I had spent only about 5 minutes, explaining the basic ideas and moral principles of our polytheistic religion to a person I didn't know very well, she asked me, "Don't you think it's all pretty silly, though? Having all kinds of gods and stuff, it's kinda fantasy, isn't it?" No, it is not. They claim that it is non-traditional, then turn around and call it out-dated. Something is very backward there.
There just seems to be far too much prejudice and discrimination going unchecked in a, supposedly, tolerant nation. The one thing that makes me angriest about the overall situation is the rampant hypocrisy. The most historically violent organization condescends to us for being barbaric. The youngest is calling the eldest, non-traditional. And, they murdered Pagans for "peace" for Christian sheep.