Everything Under the Moon

Star, I'm so sorry about your stepdaughter, I am right there with you.
Our group used to be heavily involved with the local interfaith group which I still think is a good idea to keep communications open with other faiths, but man...would I get rubbed the wrong way sometimes. After the founder of our group died we haven't keep up with them.
Once upon a time my step son used to go to the local Baptist sunday school,
hey what can I say, ...they came and got the kids on the bus and we adults had a free moment on Sunday morning,
...until one day the boy came home and told me of the mantra they had the all the boys in his class chanting.
Something to the effect of
Who made man....God! And what are women for... man! And who serves you,... woman!
CRAP, I heard enough, I said, "you ain't never going back there again"
The boy doesn't really have a faith but I have a feeling he sides with his mom who is catholic. My house is like going to the oddity museum for him and his kids, but they respect it.

So, people...
let's teach our childen to honor having a mind of there own,
and to love the planet they inhabit,
and hopefully patriarchy won't creep in.

Bb, Firebird

Sorry about your experience, Starwitch. I know you're a great mother and she's lucky to have you in your life. I hope she'll come around when she's older.

Also, all of these stories are pretty horrifying (but not super surprising; I grew up in a really Christian area too). Like the fetus dolls, and "Who serves man? Woman!" Gross. My brother converted to Christianity when he was in high school, and he went to a church camp where they performed exorcisms. Creepy.

Sometimes I'm glad that my parents were atheist so at least I didn't have to go to church and Sunday school (although being atheist was also a whole mess of problems too.)

I'm sorry about your step-daughter, Star. That has to be as hurtful as it is disappointing.

I got pretty lucky, in terms of having a Christian upbringing. My parents took us to church when we were all really little (I have four siblings), but they quickly got tired of the hypocritical thinking and politics. So my mom taught us from the Bible at home. We read a chapter every Sunday and then talked about it. She never discouraged us from any ideas that we might have brought up, since she's always believed that if God made us, he made us think, and therefore our thoughts are just as relevant and right as anyone else's. She was always big on religious tolerance, and my dad was too. So when I came out to them as a Pagan, they were hugely supportive. They said that it might not be their path, but if I was happy and felt spiritual fulfilled, then who were they to judge? Christ never did (They actually said that to me the night I admitted to them that I was Pagan. One of the many reasons why I love my parents, lol).

My husband is agnostic, but his family is fanatically Christian, so we know that if we have children, we aren't going to be able to avoid having our kids exposed to it at some point, especially if they spend any time with his parents. My hope, though, is that between my husband, my parents, and myself, they may learn not to swallow everything they hear. The ideal situation, yeah. I reckon that's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get to it.

Oh, jeeze Xiao. Exorcism camp? -shudders-

Heartsong, I get that. I was baptized because my parents were raised that way but I really lucked out that they changed faiths and realized the path they were on weren't right for them or our family. I'm really happy to hear your parents were supportive, that's something I always like to hear. (:

And I forgot to mention, I know someone from my high school who used to be the 'brainwashed' type and she's now leaving that faith it looks like but because she doesn't know anything else, she's terrified and lost and confused. It's pretty sad, really. ):

That sounds like a... Decent situation. At least your family (your husband and yourself, that is) are within a realm of being open minded and hopefully the children will keep the same open mind as you do when they do reach that stage. I hope it goes well!

Thanks for sharing, guys!

I ran across this video shared on Facebook and thought I'd post it here. The baby girl is being brainwashed at such a young age to behave just like the others.

In addition to that cute weirdness, check out that red light dancing around to the left of the baby when they have the camera pointed that way.

Video

If you have trouble finding the red "angel" dancing around, you can watch this video. I didn't think spirits were normally red, but that's pretty weird looking, huh?

We haven't had children yet, but we (my husband and I) have already discussed this a fair bit.

I will continue my practices, and teach them the natural ways (how to grow plants, how to cook, the basics). Likely, they will be involved in our celebrations (because hey, good food), and when they reach the age that they begin to become curious about other paths, or more into ours, we will give them all the support and freedom we can so they can explore those paths.

My four year old granddaughter called up the wind the other day. Just a tiny breeze, but it wasn't blowing until she asked it to.

Snow