I’m painfully aware of the fact that I’ve been lucky. I’ve always worked in places where my religion hasn’t been an issue. I’ve had coworkers and supervisors who’ve known nothing about Paganism ask me about it out of curiosity. Once, I had a teen-aged part-timer who worked for me tell me I couldn’t be a Witch because “there’s no such thing.” (It took me a couple of weeks to convince her that, no, I really wasn’t pulling her leg.) But I’ve never had anyone suddenly become hostile or, gods forbid, fearful of me after finding out where my spiritual center happens to lie.
Like I said, I’ve been lucky. Maybe because my professional life has been spent in and around Boston, which is, after all, only a stone’s throw from Salem.
Lots of other folks who belong to earth-based religions, though, aren’t so blessed. Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt wrote a piece for the Washington Post last week on the subject which may be an eye-opener for some folks. Progress is a lot slower in some places than you might think it is.
I also consider myself very lucky because I work from home and really do not have to deal with office “politics” and the like.