gypsy8522

A'isha,

My mother attended a nuns school when she was a girl. And some of the stories she told me were very similar to the things you said here. BTW, my mom is not a Christian.

Mosaic

Kutenurse, Congrats to your son, he sounds like a wonderful young man. Catholic school here also have their religious component. That would be pretty standard everywhere for Catholic school I am sure. That is the purpose of them I believe, to not only educate but to maintain a reasonably high standard of knowledge in Catholicism. ( I am not catholic .. not by a long shot ) But I have a couple of friends with children attending catholic schools and knowledge of how the system works is pretty well known here in Oz at least).

My son will very likely attend a State University, that is very much standard here. There are only a couple of private Universities that I know of.

Mosaic

Yikes! that is one scary prayer - no wonder you have spent years getting over it! The mind boggles at all these cute little 5 year olds chanting this and likely having nightmares when they do some small thing wrong!

This reminds me of when I was 8 years old, a church opened across the road from where I lived, and my mother in all her wisdom decided that maybe it wouldn't do any harm to attend Sunday school just to have some grounding in the bible. So off we went, it was fun for 2 weeks, then it became a terror. My brother and I became very scared to go. We did go that 3rd Sunday, and both of us came home crying, we were terrified, the sunday school service had been about fire and brimstone and all us sinners were going to hell! Along with lots of thumping the pulpit etc, we were scared out of our wits!

Of course my Mother was horrified when she found out why we were upset, well she pulled herslf to her most furious height ( she was one scary lady when she had a bee in her bonnet) and she marched over to that church and spoke to the minister and gave him all barrels full and loaded ... my brother and self stood in the protective shadow of our mother and like horrid little 7 & 8 year olds gloated at the fall back to earth of that minister, and the 3 of us stalked off shoulders high, heads back, until out of earshot the the 3 of us fell about laughing on our front lawn.... we did have the ministers parting words ringing after us that we would all go to hell and no there was no more Sunday school for us. If I remember correctly the church was baptist and from what I now know that is their way of preaching, not nice at all!

janaki

A'isha darling,

I am with you on this.

I was 7 years when I went to a Catholic school in US. I still remember the prayer....we used to say it in the morning, before eating every meal and before going to bed. Like you A'isha, I speant a long time getting over it too. I come from a family of non religious people, well educated and well travelled people. My mum is neutral about religion but my brothers and my dad are atheists. I am fine with people with what ever religious faith they believe in as long as it is not assocated with dogmatism, war and crimes. Unfortunately, in real world this is what is happening in the name of the religion.

I also have problem with religious schools. I don't have a problem if children learn about different religions as part of their studies but I strongly oppose teachings of religious FAITH in schools. As a parent I would NEVER send my kids to a religious school where they are forced upon to beleive in a certain faith. Religious faith for me is a personal choice a person makes but not otherwise.

I also would like to add that this post is not intended to offend any one.

Aisha Azar

Dear Gypsy,
I have heard the same kinds of stories from guys who attended Islamic schools in Saudi Arabia. I am not sure if it was throughout the education system, or if they went to special schools. I know that all State schools in Saudi Arabia teach religion. It also used to be true that you could receive corporal punishment in secular schools in the states. I made sure when my child started school that no such thing would happen to her, just in case it was still going on.
Regards,
A'isha

Aisha Azar

Dear Gypsy,
I have heard the same kinds of stories from guys who attended Islamic schools in Saudi Arabia. I am not sure if it was throughout the education system, or if they went to special schools. I know that all State schools in Saudi Arabia teach religion. It also used to be true that you could receive corporal punishment in secular schools in the states. I made sure when my child started school that no such thing would happen to her, just in case it was still going on.
Regards,
A'isha


Dear Janaki and Mosiac,
May god have mercy on your poor depraved souls!!!! ( and mine, too!!) Shall we now bend our heads in prayer and say a good Act of Contrition, an Our Father, recite the recipe for apple pie and repeat our own personal girl prayer. (Learned this one in Catholic school too!!)

Hail, Mary full of grace
Bless my boyfriend's handsome face
Bless his gorgeous, shining curls
Keep him safe from other girls
Amen


Regards,
A'isha

Brea

Oddly, I went to Catholic school. It was the best time of my young life. That said, I did go go juvie afterwards. Really, at least at my age, the worst part about going to a Catholic school is that you are SO sheltered you have no idea what to do with the world once you're in it.

Regarding the fae folk- supposedly they don't come over to messy houses. Also, I would like a visit from the Nac Mac Feegle. Ach, crivens!

__________________
www.breamorgiane.com

TribalDancer

It is too bad that the examples of faith and religion expressed here represent the same extremes that the media portrays. Mine was very very different, and I think more typical of what role religion really plays in the life of the faithful. It just isn't as interesting a news item.

I was raised a mix of Presbyterian and Catholic. I went to Presbyterian church and bible study, and belonged to a youth group until high school. My youth group was incedible--I wish everyone were nurtured in their faith the way I was. Seeing examples of really practical and fun living as a person of faith, rather than just having lessons stuffed down my throat. We played games, watched and played in skits, read the bible and discussed our beliefs, laughed a lot. We had week long trips several times a year, to go skiing or camping or whathaveyou, and I garnered much support and love from the leaders of that group during tough pre-teen years.

I went to Catholic high school. The religious component was not that large, compared to what some seem to experience--depends a LOT on the school itself. It's very individual, so you can't lump all Catholic schools in the same basket. The impetus for sending me after a lifetime of public school was less religion (though my Catholic grandparents were thrilled) and more the superior honors program, which I was in, and smaller class sizes. Yes, I had a class on religion at every grade, but it was another component of a well-rounded education, not guilt or mind control. One class, for instance, was a comparative religion class in which we were taught about many other religions and our shared history of faith and ritual. We were taught where Catholicism got its roots for it's practices and holidays--from other religions--and taught to respect and have an interest in other faiths. I had to learn Hail Mary and say the Lord's Prayer a lot, but I never had to go to confession, or had any nun or priest do anything untoward or violent. We did not have uniforms, but instead a dress-code (no logos or words on shirts, boys had to have collars on their shirts, girls couldn't wear skirts more than an inch above the knee--things I wish public schools had as rules, frankly!)

98% of our graduation class went on to higher education. The only statistic I roll my eyes at is how many of them married and immediately started having many many babies in college or right after. Yeah, that whole Catholics-must-procreate thing was very ingrained in some families--in some cases some well known families in school had a kid in almost every grade, with several graduated, and some pulling up the rear. LOL

Today, I don't consider myself religious. I consider myself a person of faith--a belief in a higher power. And I believe there are many paths to "heaven", whatever that means. So long as the "endgoal" is something that motivates you to make this life a better one for yourself and those around you, the idea of "rewards in heaven" is fine with me. Any practice which makes someone more loving, more thoughtful (prayerful?), feel more connected to those around them, and strive to be an example of kindness and honesty in the world is worth it to me. Just because some people twist those altruistic lessons into something ugly or manipulative does not diminish the basic message itself, in my mind. Hence a feeling that I have more truck with faith (belief in connective power) than religion (the engine that can sometimes be twisted by its leaders)...but don't dismiss either based on the bad apples that always make the "best stories".

I have been reading a lot on Buddhism and resonate most with it's kind of pantheistic energy--a religion that embraces all religions, has mighty respect for the world around them, believes in the interconnectedness of all things...these are beliefs I fully feel in my heart without having to have been told them. They "feel like truth" to me, if that makes sense. But I can't get past the reincarnation thing just yet...I don't know whether I believe in that or not, and being a major tenet of the faith, I can't rightly consider myself Buddhist.

So I find that religion can be a gentle thing. A beautiful thing. A supportive and nurturing part of one's life. It saddens me that so many experience the extremist and tunnel-visioned practitioners, and believe that is the only way faith can be expressed in a religious context. I am here to say it's not, and painting all religion with that broad brush frustrates me. I don't expect any and every person to have faith or embrace religion. But I would hope they have open minds enough to know that not all religious/faithful people and experiences mirror their own; and instead of reacting with revulsion to the idea, or decide it is because someone has blinders on or was misled, that they look a the PERSON and say, "They must have a reason for feeling as they do. And I respect that experience and belief that is not the same as mine." I certainly have no disdain for people who believe there is no god/God/goddess/flying spaghetti monster. I don't think they are lesser or foolish. I just know their experiences have been different than mine, and what I feel and believe is based on what I have found in my travels, just as yours are a reflection of what you have encountered. And ultimately, the God I believe in truly can see our hearts, and would never deny "heaven" to a good person, no matter what they believe or not here on earth. "Heaven" is a place that collects all the "souls" of generosity, love, and a genuine desire to better yourself and the world around you, and has great capacity for forgiveness for the many (many! huge!) missteps we humans inevitably make along the way. I don't think someone has to belive X, Y, Z, and attend Yaddayadda church a bazillion times in a lifetime to "qualify" for some "grand prize". LOL

But that's just my Pollyanna view of faith and religion...

In short, can't we all get along? LOL

Mosaic

I find Buddhism the most embracing faith of them all myself - acceptance is all encompassing, there is a deep gentle love that runs through the faith. If I had to chose a faith Buddhism would be it absolutely! There is a very bright loving energy that surrounds a person steeped in the Buddhist faith. Re in carnation I don't have any problems with that aspect at all, we are energy afterall, and sure the current body returns to the earth so to speak, but the energy goes on. Energy can never be destroyed only changed. So energy can take on another solid body. We can choose to return into another lifetime... to improve ourselves, to learn lessons not learnt previously. I like that thought. My regret would be not remembering a previous existent, it would sure help one not to repeat previous mistakes, and it would be fun to see how things have or have not changed in the time you have been "away" .

tribaldancer I adore your Pollyanna view of faith & religion!

Actually Pollyanna was my nickname during primary school, so it is kind of a big draw card - a reminder of years full of fun, laughter and the Fae-folk!

belly_dancer

me too...
& love to you TribalDancer!