My family was never really religious.
\nWe were a mixed family, Catholic and Assembly of God.
\nBoth had strict dogmas that prevented them
\nfrom marrying outside their faiths, so, of course,
\nthat is what Mom and Dad wanted to do.
\nThey succeeded. The Catholics won, though. My dad
\nattended catechism classes so he could marry my mother.
\nI only learned that recently. They were married at the church,
\nnot in the church. They married in the priest’s rectory,
\nand only my mother’s brother and his wife attended to witness.<\/p>\n
I used to say I was raised miscellaneous protestant. Going to church
\nwas a big effort for my parents. They wanted us to go, yet neither
\nof them was particularly religious. What is it about the Catholic
\nchurch that makes so many young people turn away?
\nThey wouldn\u2019t let us go to Catholic church, but they let us go
\nto every protestant church any of our friends invited us to.
\nVacation Bible School, summer camp, all holidays were spent
\ngoing to church with someone else. Until I hit thirteen.<\/p>\n
A minister at a non-denominational chapel I had attended
\nwanted to baptize me. I was afraid to tell my parents until the morning
\nof the event. They refused to let me go. That cut it for me and churches.
\nEven when my mother had bouts of going to the Methodist Church or
\nthe Presbyterian Church, I refused. I discovered I had opinions of my own.
\nToo many of the pastors I talked to couldn\u2019t answer my questions, they
\nsimply said, \u201cYou have to accept it on faith.\u201d That is when I knew
\nthose people were no smarter than me, and didn\u2019t have all the answers.<\/p>\n
It jaded me. I decided to study everything from anybody.
\nLater when I married, I converted to Catholicism and had a Catholic
\nwedding. Years later, I studied Sufism. When I married again, I converted to
\nJudaism. My husbands felt it was important for me to be like them,
\nso I played along. I always saw the truth behind all religions, and I studied
\nevery one of them deeply, from their own scriptures. It never bothered me
\nto convert. I saw the unity behind all the forms. The same truth
\nilluminates them all. I studied Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism.
\nThere are isms for so-called non-believers, too, like Agnosticism.
\nPantheism. Scientology. Rosicrucianism. Universalism.<\/p>\n
Today I am happy to let people be what they want to be, believe what they
\nchoose to believe. I accept the annoying southern behavior or assuming
\nthat everyone is a Christian. Every doctor\u2019s nurse I see, every grocery clerk,
\neven in fast food drive-throughs or bank lines they smile and nod and say
\n\u201chave a blessed day.\u201d They see my white skin and friendly smile, and assume
\nI am like them. It used to baffle me why they would do that.
\nThen I gave up worrying about it. Today I am happy to hear someone say
\n\u201cI\u2019ll pray for you\u201d or \u201cPraise Jesus\u201d. I don’t actually care, but I always thank them
\nand say \u201cI need all the prayers I can get.\u201d That usually satisfies them, and
\nit doesn’t commit me. I say it sincerely. It makes my life simpler, and in truth,
\ndon\u2019t we all need all the blessings we can get? \u00a0And so it is. Amen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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