Religious Rant
Okay, so yesterday, Magnus (and his entire team) got this message from a co-worker:
“I just wanted to say to everyone, ‘Have a wonderful Resurrection weekend and Sunday.’ If you will be in town this weekend, I’d like to extend an invite to all to visit my church, Moving On Up Church, in Brooklyn Center on Sunday morning at 10:30am. After all, He died for all and was resurrected for all who believed in Him to have life and be able to live without fear of death: He was/is our new testament Passover and is ever interceding for us.”
Dude follows with this PS: “Celebrate his resurrection at some church, after all – none of us woke ourselves up this morning and it wasn’t Mother Nature or the Tooth Fairy.”
I’m sorry, but it was my freaking alarm clock that woke me up this morning! So I could come to work! Work! Where people aren’t supposed to impose their religious beliefs on others!
Magnus sent that to me because he knew that it would infuriate me. He said it was because I get pissed off at Christians, but this isn’t the case at all. I just believe that one’s religious beliefs are private and that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. I would certainly never try to persuade a Christian person that my beliefs are superior to theirs. How would I know? But part of Christianity (for some people) is the concept of witnessing, converting people to that way of thinking.
This led to a discussion that Magnus and I had about morality. We don’t intend to raise our children in a church. This caused him to ask an interesting question: how do we instill proper morals in our children? It shocked me to hear this. It’s a completely foreign notion to me that he would have gotten his morals from outside his family! People talk about the church and morality, but really, what does that mean?
The best writers are taught to “show, don’t tell.” I think the same is true with morals. Demonstration of proper behavior and a sense for right and wrong is really far more powerful (I would think) than hearing about it from a pulpit. So where else would you learn these things but in your own family? Even if you’re hearing about it in church, you’re probably not really learning it there. You’re learning it at home when you act and see the response to your actions.
So – where did you get your morality? What are you doing for Easter?
iamsamiam said,
April 14, 2006 at 1:40 pm
My morality? What morality?
Seriously, though, I try to envision a world where I would like my children to live and that persuades me daily to be a better person. Morals are somewhat relative, but most can agree that killing is bad (in most cases) and being good to your neighbors is good (especially if they have a riding mower and you don’t).
I agree about showing versus telling. I can tell Kennedy and Ava to share their icecream, but if they don’t understand the joy in such actions, they might never bother to try. I find that the church is high on telling and quite low on showing these days.
lemony said,
April 14, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Yep, I second that. I can’t say I got my sense of morality from my parents or church, unless I consider they both taught me how NOT to act in many cases.
I think my aunt, the old hippie-artist, gave me the one thing I held onto most throughout my life, which was to treat other people how you’d like to be treated, and just be yourself. I probably emulate her more than most authority figures in my life, because she is authentic, kind, and respectful of everyone, no matter who they are.
For Easter, I’m working, so I’m sure I’ll fall prey to some super charged-up people bent on sharing the miracle of Jesus right after church and before they go home to dinner.
As for me, I’ll just be amused that all of the cute decorative eggs and bunnies are symbolic of fertility and the rebirth of nature in spring
Samantha Tengelitsch said,
April 15, 2006 at 7:11 pm
The Christians like to “borrow” old ideas.
We’re dying eggs- since they’re farm-fresh I’m worried that the dye will look funny. (but funny is good) They’re boiling as I write this. ;:-) Have fun Ladies!
lemony said,
April 15, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I did love dying eggs. It is fun and messy, and semi-unpredictable. We always used paper towels underneath our workspaces to catch excess dye, then would dry out our died cloths and make butterflies out of them to hang in our bedroom windows.
Samantha Tengelitsch said,
April 17, 2006 at 6:39 am
Have you ever used coffee filters to make butterflies? If you get the filters wet and then touch a marker to them, the color spreads throughout the filter – it’s neat. (Sorry for being so far off topic!)
katenmw said,
April 25, 2006 at 2:17 pm
No! I didn’t know you could do that. Show me sometime!