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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19751
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
6/12/2008
8:20:40 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 15,531
RSS: 13,569
Comments: 37
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Woman Accuses Shelter Of Discrimination
Author: Danielle Leigh Source: KIDK.com (ID)
Title: WOMAN ACCUSES SHELTER OF DISCRIMINATION
  A young lady seeking help from a faith-based temporary housing program in Idaho Falls is on the streets tonight, looking for shelter.
I spoke with Rachel "Raven" Litzau this afternoon after she was kicked out of the Ruth House. She tells me the organization is discriminating against her because of her beliefs.
Litzau came to the Ruth House two weeks ago with her 17-month-old son. She was trying to get away from her abusive husband and get back on her feet.
The Ruth House is a non-denominational christian housing center. They say they will accept anyone, but Litzau is pagan. And she tells me that quickly became a problem.
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Community Thoughts: There are 37 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Not To Ruin The Mutual Admiration Society, But... | Jun 15th. at 10:11:46 pm EDT
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Michael Thornton (Mesa, Arizona) - Email Me
Why isn't some pagan posting on here that Raven has been taken into their home and will have a safe haven until she can get back on her feet again?
Why is nobody walking the walk?
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| "Didn't Follow Proper Protocol..." | Jun 15th. at 6:48:28 pm EDT
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Serpent (Caldwell (close to Nampa) , Idaho) - Email Me
The sad thing of this is that it isn't uncommon in Idaho. I work in Boise and there are constant issues of the Pagan or just Non-Christian homeless being denied help if they aren't willing to convert or if they aren't already Christian.
I think the problem that the director said his staff had with 'following protocol' was that this woman wasn't denied entrance at the start, and now his organization has to clean up after all this discrimination rhetoric. He probably thinks she should have just been kept out at the beginning.
No, it isn't right that this is done, but that's the issue with 'faith-based' inititatives. Either we need more of them of different faiths, or we need to eliminate them so that there can't be discrimination against those of a different path when seeking help.
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| One Other Possibility Here.... | Jun 15th. at 10:48:35 am EDT
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Aidan Odinson (Collingdale, Pennsylvania) - Email Me - Web
Something else I see here, and it is a criticism of the management.
It is a basic principle I teach to anyone who comes to me for learning on any subject.
One of the very first responsibilities of command is to protect your command from overzealous corporals.
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| "Lord, Lord" | Jun 15th. at 10:43:07 am EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
Should a mother be willing to do whatever is necessary-- including bow, scrape, and kiss *ss-- to protect her child??
I'll put it this way-- I would do it. In a heartbeat.
I have often been accused of cowardice; I have not always had satisfactory answers for those accusations.
A much simpler question is: Should she have to??
I have trouble thinking that anyone in their right mind could answer that one in the affirmative.
"In their right mind," of course, lets out a great deal of all those who are piously, zealously dedicated to the point of view that everyone must subscribe to their belief, and that they must force it to be so.
Not all who call Him "Lord, Lord" serve Him. Most of them, it seems, would turn Him scornfully away for being poor, homeless, and a Jew.
Behavior like this, sadly, is why I feel it necessary to do all my giving directly, rather than through some organization that might be inclined to perform psychological mathematics with TheBibleAsTheyUnderstandIt and the help that is desperately needed.
Others have a point. Want to fight a culture war?? Let us lift up our arms...
...and busy our hands setting up more of our own shelters, more of our own kitchens, more of our own feeding programs. Let us not do as the "Christians" do, but show the sick society around us that the job can be done better, with or without respect to the religion of the doers.
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| Christian Run Shelters | Jun 15th. at 5:39:12 am EDT
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Ixacacau (Moore, Oklahoma) - Email Me
There is a good possibility that a Christian run shelter was this lady's only option. Openings are in very short supply everywhere.
It would be nice if there were a plentitude of shelters that would take anyone but personally, if I had a child and had the choice of sleeping under a bridge or in a shelter, I'd put my pent under my shirt and go to the shelter. Then, when I got on my feet and had a place to live and a job, I'd contact the local media and give them a great article on how the local Christain shelter had helped me out when I needed it without trying to convert me. *evil grin*
Honey catches more flies than vinegar.
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| A Sad But Common Fact | Jun 15th. at 3:12:06 am EDT
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Medicine Feather The Traveller (Fort Collins, Washington) - Email Me
I was homeless in a wide variety of places across the US for 9 years and ran across this pretty often. As a Pagan it is very hard to get any help other than free feeds if any sign of your faith is visible at all. My pent I wear got me denied shelter, clothing, gas, jobs and medical treatment at xtian shelters due to hateful and bigoted staff. It got to the point that if I needed help I had to hide my jewelry and my backpack (which was painted in runes and symbols for protection while hitch hiking) if I needed help. It was bad enough that one shelter in Vermont turned me and my girlfriend away while she was having a miscarriage and we were seeking medical help in an emergency. Sadly, pretty much all of the shelters and homeless facilities are run by super-fundamentalist xtian organizations. Frequently during this time I received a lot of help from the Krishna folks, who were often pushy about converting me but never refused help to the homeless. It would be great if more Pagan groups set up shelters and drop-in centers for the homeless.
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| Brian McAllister | Jun 15th. at 2:54:52 am EDT
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Katmandu (elba, Alabama) - Email Me
Mr B. McAllilster has many points. Why can we not open up our own shelters, even if we don't publicly advertise them as being of Pagan groups? And let us accept EVERYONE into them as long as they don't raise any problems. And what about this lady not putting her kid before her pride? That doesn't help her or any of us who may be lumped with her because of the Pagan label. And what was all that about with her supposedly not getting along well with the others in the room? Was there a particular reason for that? Were they picking on her? Was she the perpetrator? Was that all some load of BS for the shelter folks to save their faces?
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| Home For Trouble | Jun 14th. at 6:15:40 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
"Before I talked to Gulden, he hadn't even heard of the issue. He tells me he should have been notified and that his staff didn't follow proper protocol."
Sounds likely. She's probably looking to be persecuted, and found the correct idiot to be waving a red flag in front of, but a neo-pag is just the sort of client the shelter needs, to show it's not prostletising, in any way shape or form that the charges might otherwise stick. Someone in staff might not have gotten that page, or she simply didn't think Pagan Jewelry would go with Job-Seeking.
What people think they say might not be what others think they heard.
I'll bet one of her room-mates is the real well-meaning trouble-maker, though.
Arawn
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| If They Accept Federal Funds.... | Jun 13th. at 8:00:46 pm EDT
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Seshen (San Antonio, Texas) - Email Me - Web
They cannot discriminate. This is from an article about the opening of the center:
"A grant from Access to Recovery-Idaho, a federally funded program that makes money available to traditional and faith-based recovery programs, is helping to pay the utilities at the house and for the administration."
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| Looking At This Logically... | Jun 13th. at 5:52:52 pm EDT
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Bran MacAlisdair (Apex, North Carolina) - Email Me
...which is something we pride ourselves on as a group, this situation may say much more about us as Pagans than it does about the Christians involved.
She knowingly went to a shelter run under Christian auspices. Now, she may have had no choice in the matter; it may have been the only one open. But she knew where she was going and knew on whom she'd be relying for help caring for her children.
That she had no Pagan option indicates that we either lack the organization or the initiative to do outreach ourselves. We have the numbers to accomplish this sort of work, but the fear many of have about openly advertising our religion to the public seems to hold us back. Maybe we'd rather play it safe than help out our brethren in need?
Many of us are first generation Pagans, some coming quietly back to the old ways without the encouragement or support of our parents. How many of us, knowing Grandma prays her rosary daily, flaunt our pentacles in her presence? Not many, and the reason is that we love Grandma, but know she won't understand our beliefs, and that exposing her to them would only upset someone we love. Christians are children of the Goddess as much as we are, even if they don't acknowledge it. We should love them as the Goddess loves them, and respect their sensibilities.
Especially when they're providing a safe haven from an abusive relationship. The fact of the matter is that this was a Christian shelter, possibly funded by the President's faith-based welfare initiatives, but most likely not. They are within their legal- if not moral- rights to help whoever they wish.
When did it become so important for us to cling to our symbols, even when it put our children at risk? Nature is our altar, and the natural patterns of life are our symbols. One wonders what the Goddess, Mother of All, thinks of a mother who puts wearing a piece of metal jewelry above the welfare of her child.
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| This Is The Problem With Faith Based Initiatives | Jun 13th. at 4:23:26 pm EDT
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ofssacerdos (Arvada, Colorado) - Email Me
Because oftentimes they require you to convert or be one of them in order for them to agree to help you. Helping others should be their FIRST priority regardless their religious affiliation (if they were allegedly following the teachings of their own religion) . It's too bad we often don't have the numbers or revenue to help our own in situations like this.
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| For Some, Misery Is A Tool... | Jun 13th. at 1:32:16 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Unfortunately, It is better to choose one's battles carefully when children are involved when needing help, unless they are so blatant one really can't stand being there.
Some religious run places are pretty much like that, though, they won't help at all unless you join them, so they do often discriminate. And these are the ones who should be run out of business, since they hope that your misery is enough to drive you to join them and use it as a hammer to drive home that point. Anyone can need help at any time, but that shouldn't mean that they are shiftless and treated as such- or they have to give up their beliefs-or lack of beliefs in order to receive it.
We do need more places that don't discriminate when people really do need help.
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| Peace | Jun 13th. at 12:12:10 pm EDT
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Silver Dragonfly (Lucama, North Carolina) - Email Me
It is amazing the negativity you can drum up so fast! My first reaction would be how to get assistace to Raven. Yet, I think the biggest thing here is was she asked to throw these things away or put them away? The decades of fear instilled in Christians does have to be taken into consideration. If we act out in anger, we only instill that fear more. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" Fear is the driving force behind christian beleifs. Fear of "Hell" for example. For centuries we've been shuned, feared, and persicuted. If we are to remain open we need to lower our voices and carefully teach acceptance to our youth and any others we can touch with a kind heart. If you were to yell at me for half an hour about your feelings, I would remember none of the problem and wind up yelling back and angry as well. Take that same problem and calmly talk it over with me and some time and I'm pretty sure we can come up with a solution. This is a cycle that all humanity doesn't seem to want to break. This particular young woman happened to be in a christian center. What ever her beleifs were she should have been respectful and already put those things where she could enjoy them and not where other people could or might be influenced by them. (remember that fear thing) Just because a shelter is non-dinomnational does not mean it is not run by and suported by a christian church. If a christian was in a Wiccan run and suported shelter would she/ he get the same response if at every meeting she/ he started spouting off scripture and damming us all to hell. Although I no longer hide I am still extreamley careful who sees and or hears my conversations, photos, books, ect.... People in general act the worst out of fear if we continue to shove things in the face of other cultures we are doomed to return to suclusion. that is something I for one am not ready to accept. With a kind and loving heart a lot of things have been done over the years. Most things done by force are regretted by those who have no choice to accept it. Regret Quickly turns to spite.
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| We Can Debate... | Jun 13th. at 10:19:38 am EDT
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Crystalos Faebourne (Livermore, Idaho) - Email Me
this until the moon rises in the west. the real isue is not who did what wrong... but rather what can we do to help one of our own in need. sure maby she should suck it up and remove her ring. ( the book thing though.... no im sory but when is a fantasy novel evil?) but when is it right for any charity to have a policy of discrimination? (appently even the director of this one claims they don't) i want to applaud KIDK for running the story sadly i dont normaly watch my news on that channel i found this story here first. also i want to applaud not only the men and women at KIDK but the local pagans in Idaho Falls who are working together to help Raven find shelter and employment, an act that speeks volumes louder then any words written on this page. i always thought being a witch was about trying to change the world around us to be a better place even changing the world when we need to. when did we start arguing over our diferenses instead of celibrating them? dont get me wrong, we are all entitled to our oppinions and diferences but shouldnt the needs of others come befor our own petie disputes?
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| ... | Jun 12th. at 11:58:00 pm EDT
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argilcath (Rapid City, Colorado) - Email Me
[quote] Robert Gulden tells me he's not even sure Litzau violated any of the organization's rules.
They don't have any standards on jewelry and the only rules on literature state that the ladies can't read books with descriptive words... [/quote]
I *am* curious about "books with descriptive words". Seems that would include anything well-written, no?
I also agree that: (1) she should not have to hide her faith to be helped; and (2) she should put the welfare of her child ahead of her need to display her books and jewelry. To do otherwise indicates that her priorities are as skewed as those of the shelter staff.
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