I saw this random letter well in the morning, titled “Peganism” in the subject line. Either it’s a reality show head hunter or a concern-trolling Christian.

“Hi, how are you? Im not emailing you to judge or look down upon, just emailing you to spread the gospel of truth. I see that you are a pegan and are likely involved in witchcraft, spells, astrology etc. Those things are of the devil and are very evil. Don’t be the way this ants you to believe but be the way God wants you to be. There are a lot fo ways the devil can get to ones mind and spirit. He likes to deceive with lies and people that are not aware of the truth. In those instances he takes the vulnerable and leads them downs paths of unrighteousness. Everything of  that is not of God is of the devil and that’s exactly what the majority of the people of this world likes. Smoking drinking, fornication, adultery, and homosexuality are among those things that this world loves but God hates. I would like to talk to you one on one about this issue because this is a very serious topic for me and i want people to know the truth about what’s really going on in this world. If you made it this far i thank you for reading and hope to hear a response from you”

My response:

“Firstly, spell my religion right. It’s five letters, not a challenge. Secondly, at least folks in my religion don’t drive people to kill themselves because they aren’t loved and instead treated super poorly. Nor is it widely common or as accepted for people in my religion to active harm or murder gay and/or trans people, unlike Christianity. Seems like we got the whole “love thy neighbor” thing down better down better than you guys. At least kids and teens don’t wind up dead in our care, you guys look like y’all holding a lowkey massacre. 

Speaking of massacres, for a bunch of “loving” and “righteous”, y’all tend to work commonly with the “join me or die” method when getting international with spreading your faith. What bothers you guys so much about the fact other religions – including some older than yours (such as mine) – because it not like a world full of nothing but Christians would get along, y’all still whinge about Catholics and slag off other denominations like y’all don’t pray to the same god or read the same religious texts.

Dude, stop front loading, you do mean to judge and look down upon. Even I know lying is a sin so stop playing pretend, you’re doing your god no favors being fake and therefore devious to spread whatever He has to say. 

I’m “likely involved”? Dude, skim just the front page of my website, I am very much involved with witchcraft and spells. It’s a huuuuuge part of why I call myself Black Witch, because I’m a Black person who practices witchcraft. And just because your religion finds them “demonic” (and even that’s not fully true once you consider Christianity’s background in the esoteric and, y’know Jesus Christ and supernatural powered self) doesn’t mean it actually is. I mean even though the Bible is toted as homophobic (however that is debated since the bible was penned by man, not by god), where does it say there that you guys gotta brutally murder them. Or drive trans people into throwing themselves into oncoming traffic? Or that women should be actively oppressed to the point of mental breakdown and/or death? Like, as a Christian, you probably should pipe down on the whole “you’re doing something bad because I – I mean my god – says so” thing for a little while. Stop throwing stones when you don’t even have a pebble’s worth of reason. 

And notice, I am spelling your religion’s name correctly and “Christianity” is a lot longer than “Pagan”. Maybe your god pulled back on the blessings in intelligence for a reason. So you would pen such foolish emails such as this one.

Dude, stop being a homophobic, sex negative, hyper hypocritical piece of trash. Get over the fact that my religion is different from yours and stop driving people to kill themselves because they can’t stand your hateful ways. 

You wanna do god’s work, then stay out of my inbox and start ripping on Christians who harm others, be it actively or passively. Starting with yourself. You’re the reason why Christianity looks so backwards and barbaric to everyone else! Seriously, shut the hell up!”

Ok, see with this letter, this kind of letter I get ever so rarely. Some nutbag Christian wants to come to my website and share their nonsense as if every religion in this world has to abide by Christian doctrine for some foolish reason. And, yeah, I’m not nice to these kind of letters. I don’t see a reason why since they didn’t start out nice to me.

However, admittedly, I had to look up the word “fornication”, I’m not Christian so I don’t hear the word used much (usually by Christians foaming at the mouth or in reference to a nifty Red Hot Chilli Peppers song). According to the dictionary, “voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.”

Wait. That’s a bad thing?

Yeeeaaaaaaaaah, Paganism has starkly opposite feelings about sex. We’re not as negative about it. Y’know, since it’s 100% totally natural and the concept of virginity and marriage are man-made and institutionalized concepts. Sex is only a problem when used as a weapon:

– threats to make people (usually women) quiet, such as rape threats/rape jokes

– forced upon others as an act of dominance (such as thinking to “teach that b*tch some respect” or that a lesbian needs to sleep with a guy to “like men again”…by forcing it on her*)

– be forced upon others, be it through passive reference (cat calling) or actively (trying to make a woman drunk so she’s too bleary to consent, cornering her)

– forced upon others via using religious and/or cultural beliefs (such as thinking your wife has to sleep with you because marriage and therefore she can’t refuse)

Remember, everyone: if there’s no clear, willing, enthusiastic consent, it’s rape. And cat calling is not a compliment, ever. There is a difference.

Back to religious differences. My religion greenlights what Christianity calls “fornication” – I mean, with the all the gods and goddess we have that has screwed everything on the gender spectrum (and off of it), it would be incredibly irrational to be sex-negative (and homophobic and transphobic). Even Pagans who pray to more virginal deities have (or should have) a basic understanding of not being as sex-negative on average. Marriage doesn’t make sex holy or anything. Nor better. Stop sounding like a White Republican.

There’s a reason why I have Bedsider.org in my Links of Interest. Having sex isn’t bad as long as if it safe and consensual. Who cares about marriage? Fuss about marital rape and theeeeeen you’ll have a point.

And why would I want to agree with some homophobic person? Dude, you guys convince people to kill themselves, how is that Christian? How is hating someone to the point you drove them to murder themselves a good thing? That is so confusing. You’re supposed to be loving individuals but you are some of the most hateful, prejudiced things walking the planet. And you guys talk an awful lot of crap about Islam for folks who are worse by further than a simple stretch. Y’all thought slavery was ok! “Civilizing the savages”? Seriously? Y’all tend to believe women are beneath men for some stupid reason, how is that showing you’re civilized? Y’all wanna complain about ISIS as if they’re a major threat but won’t say anything about the Ku Klux Klan, especially since they’re on the comeback. Y’all wanna “preserve life” by forcing women to go through with unsafe or unwanted pregnancies but then pull all warmth and care when that child happens to be Black, gay, trans, woman or combo! Or, better yet, want to put a gun in their hand and tell them to join the army. For what? Certainly not to pass out flowers to the depressed and in need!

If you’re going to use being homophobic and sex negativity as your selling points, you may need to hope God kills off your internet connection and render you mute because you’re not making Christianity look good by a long shot. You’re just making folks go, “Yup, still hateful as ever. Still want to oppress people like usual.” Might as well have thrown in, “Christianity also supported slavery, do you want to pick cotton? Kinda counts as frolicking in the fields, if you ignore the blatant refusal of your human rights.”

‘Ey, Christian folks who read this blog, you better come collect your “Brother in Christ” because he’s being reaaaaaaal loopy right now. Don’t pull any of that “Not All Christians” crap to me, tell him that. NEW: Now you really can collect him because his info (including Skype and email) is below, thanks to refusing to leave me alone, click here to jump to bottom ->[☆]

What is with all the concern trolling about how I practice witchcraft and that I’m Pagan? That’s not demonic in and of itself. At least people from different backgrounds aren’t worried I’ll try to murder or oppress them because some book told me so.

“Oh, it’s so eeeeeeevil.” How? The occult is not automatically demonic or wicked.

The response I got later on:

“i would like to speak to you face to face or atleast by voice, as i can explain my view better in my opinion. Do you have skype or if not do you think we can talk by phone?”

My response:

“Uh, why can’t you type? It’s going to be the same hateful, concern trolling bullsh*t regardless of whether you say it or type it. You’re view isn’t unique, I’ve heard it maaaaaaaaany times in the 10+ years I’ve been Pagan.”

Maybe, if this was years ago, I wouldn’t mind giving a live chat but dude, now? Nah, it’s not like the guy is going to magically drop the “I’m a crappy person” act over the phone and all of a sudden start sounding super accepting of people from different backgrounds (which is how Christians are supposed to act. Not drive people to the grave). He’s just going to keep going “But what about JESUS?! What about JESUS?!” as if, eventually, I’m supposed to feel bad and then come back to Christianity, rebuking all the chicanery (and fun) I had for the past 12 or so years. To other Christians maybe, this is a fantastic controlling tactic because of the reminder that God is angry and how he’ll hate them and ruin their lives if they don’t get back in line. I’m not Christian. Going, “You should go to church” is going to sound stupid to me. Because I have no interest or even religious reason to go.

Dude responds:

“im not like that, every person is different. I don’t hate you. I don’t hate anyone, thats not what being a Christian is about. You have many that claim to be true Christians but don’t act the part. If a person is not going to be 100% percent dedicated then that person is not a true Christian. A person cant live the lifestyle of unrighteous and then on sunday think they are ok just because they go to church and don’t even pray or ask for forgiveness. You may have met some Christians that are this way but im not.”

He said in his first message that gay people existing is a bad thing. How is that not hating anyone? Seriously?! And why do I care about what hypocritical things Christians do? I already know that happens, it’s actually rare to see Christians be the kind and loving individuals they’re supposed to be. He’s being actively hypocritical here, how is that not like acting like nearly every Christian I have ran into? Does this guy think I’m as stupid as he is?

“You’re homophobic, sex-negative, trying to act high and mighty, sound like nearly every other usual Christian to me. Dude, seriously you’re just like pretty much alllllllllll the other Christians I’ve met. Isn’t there some gay kid you have to bully to death or some pregnant woman to shame for considering getting an abortion? 

Stop pretending you’re a good person when you said plainly that you’re against gay people, how is that a good person? You don’t even know anything about the occult, just a bunch of fearmongering crap that always get said. Get over the fact I’m from a different religion. If I wanted to convince people to throw themselves in front of an 18 wheeler, I’ll be sure to contact you. Ok?”

“I just want the chance to talk about this face to face or by voice. True righteousness doesn’t involve those things in which you said. Why would i want to bully someone, i would never do anything like that. And you may not think i dont know things but i may know more than you know about what you follow.”

Why does this dude care about wanting to talk on a more personal level so freaking much? Besides, this guy must not know what true righteousness is himself because, again, he talks badly about people who are gay, have sex outside of wedlock and harmlessly practice the occult. And I doubt he knows much, he couldn’t even spell my religion’s name right, repeatedly. I’ve spelled names to entities and faiths much more complex than five simple letters and I still get it right. And just about all Christians say “Why would I bully someone?” but they still do it anyways. Ask all the dead LGBTQ folks. And women folk. And folk who isn’t Christian.

“You can type, you can’t be that dumb, can you? Over the phone, you’re not going to suddenly go, “Oh my god, gay people are fantastic! Trans people are god’s creation, just like cis people! You obviously have a different religion so I’m not going to bother trying to sell mine to you. Women have complete rights to their own bodies, even to have abortions if they’re feeling shaky about the pregnancy.” That and I don’t really use foul language in print, but I do verbally. And I would just talk over you the whole time, you’re not going to say anything respectful anyway.

Again, you couldn’t even spell my religion correctly. You proved without a doubt you don’t know anything. You’re homophobic. You proved you don’t know anything. You think occultism is automatically demonic. You proved you don’t know anything. 

Are don’t you have some scientist to argue with about evolution? Stop trying to sell Christianity to me, I’m not interested in terrorizing innocent people. Notice how you’re being super pushy even though I said I am not interested in what you have to say? Why would I want to join a religion that facilitates that. My faith may have gay people, people with active sex lives and spells but at least we don’t have over-pushy people.”

“f course i can type thats not the point the point is i would like to talk to you rather than type as i think i can express myself better that way. im not afraid to talk to a person with another religion as i know who i am and who iam guided by. I don’t down people and talk bad to them, no matter what they do to me. Im not asking for your adress all i want to do is talk. I like meeting new people and this topic is number one in my life.”

This guy is not going to express himself better verbally. Trust me. If his typing and my decade plus experience is an indication, he’s not going to express himself verbally. It’s going to be the same nattering annoyance, just with a voice attached. And I’m not really that respectful verbally when I don’t feel respected so it’s not like he would get a word in edgewise. Simply not my thing.

In addition, this dude downed people in his initial email! Unless he doesn’t consider gay people as, y’know, people. And why bring up fear? This isn’t a mental game of chicken.

“You’re doing a terrible job expressing yourself (and your religion) now over print. I highly doubt you’d be better by voice. I don’t care about whether you’re scared or not, it’s nothing to do with fear. It’s the blatant fact you’re not RESPECTFUL talking to a person from another religion. You’re just trying to shove your religion down their throat as if your faith is the right one and theirs isn’t. You don’t respect the fact I’m from a different religion. You don’t respect the fact that I’m not interested in hearing Christian opinions about my faith. You don’t respect anything. 

Why should I talk to you? You’re not respectful. You’re pushy. You do down people. You slagged off gay people and those who have sex out of wedlock in your very first message. How is that not downing anyone? I don’t care about how you feel about this topic, you’re not really interested in talking to people in honest conversation or meeting new people.  Just shoving your religion down their throat unnecessarily out of the clear blue. That’s not getting to know people.

Are you sure you’re not stupid? Why can’t you get that you’re not talking to me? Or better yet, if you do, I’ll just tell you what a hypocritical piece of sh*t person you are because of how rude and disrespectful you are. You’re really making your religion look as terrible as usual.”

Look, I already have Christian friends and how did they become my friend? By not being prejudiced, terrible sacks of crap as people. I don’t mind talking to them about religion because they’re not shoving theirs down my throat. They already know I have a faith of my own that is separate from theirs, and that is ok. I don’t appreciate – no one does, frankly – having someone peel into my inbox going, “What you’re doing is wrooooooooooooong, so sayeth my religion. That you don’t follow. But you should.”

There’s hundreds of Christian blogs and writings out there, I don’t go and seek them out and go “Sooooo, what you’re doing is wrong. You should be Pagan.” We just don’t proselytize in Paganism. The few who do should get that memo because if we don’t like it when Christians do it, it’s because it’s not a good thing to do. Ever. That’s not the norm. It’s rude and terrible.

Yeah, proselytizing Christians should miss me with that “Let me tell you why you’re wrong” nonsense. I don’t care for how Christians feel about my religion, it’s a different faith. Not every Pagan is perfect (I regularly point that out throughout this blog) but at least we’re not acting this bad on the regular.

And if you’re going to try to talk up your religion, learn to spell mine right.

*This is the same thinking police officers have about minorities respecting them. Ironically, harassing, beating and killing them on sight isn’t doing such a hot job portraying the “Officer Friendly” look.

———

☆ And this is where the post would have ended if the guy didn’t continue contacting me. Look, I was upfront about not wanting to talk to him and not wanting to listen to anything he had to say. That pushiness doesn’t get you anywhere. Well, except on the path of getting his info put out there, which – after I told dude to knock it off several more times – is what’s happening. I made a post about it on Tumblr since it’s a little pointless to regurgitate all the info and additional evidence since apparently he’s been at this for three to six years. He’s been messing with people for this long and across social media.

Name: Jared B. Tunstall
Blog: Live By the Gospel (Blogger)
Email: livebythegospel@yahoo.com
Skype: livebythegospel@yahoo.com (Jared Tunstall; Philadelphia, United States)
Twitter: @Livebythegospel (rarely used, active since 2010, last tweet was 2012)
Youtube: Prudent221 (shows his face via several videos he’s made)
Facebook: Jared Tunstall (incorrectly lists the actual founding father Benjamin Franklin in “Education”)

I also found the dude’s home address and home phone number but I’ll keep that as my nuke button if he decides to contact again…unless he wants to thoughtfully and thoroughly apologize for his behavior.