If you know me, chances are you know I am rather open minded. You might know that I was raised Roman Catholic but argued with it from the moment my grandfather taught me how to read using the bible at the age of 4. I connected more with nature and as I grew older I found faith in the Pagan paths as they seemed more natural to me. Older still I found that what I really believed in was the cold hard reality of science and life though I loved the fairy tale of religions, the comfort they provided, but in the end I thought them all to be myths. Thankfully, the Unitarian Universalist community will still have me.
Ever since moving to this state we have not gone to church though and it is clear our older Daughter misses it. She started to go to church and youth group with a friend, a christian church. It has been hard as she comes home telling us that the church says not to vote for Obama as he supports Gay marriage and such things. We reminder her that our morals are higher than that as a family, that we support love and not hate, that gay people are born that way, and that they deserve every right the rest of us have. As a surrogate mother for a gay couple, I really feel this is the truth and the topic is dear to my heart. We also feel that paying taxes to support those who need help is the moral thing to do and those that have more, should give more. And that we are social animals that depend on one another and out society and we are only as good as our weakest member so we must take care of one another.
At 13 I fear our daughter is having an issue with her social life bleeding over into her personal beliefs. She has expressed such but does not see it clearly. I am concerned that she is going to give up what she believes in favor of being closer to friends. I want her to pick her beliefs based on what seems right and logical to her, not what her friends believe and not even what I believe. It might be time to find a local UU church to attend. I love how they teach different faiths and let the kids pick what they believe. It would also give her a larger friend pool, though I don’t take issue with the friends she has now, I just wish they judged others less. I have no intention of getting between those friendships because I know people of different beliefs can be great friends. In fact almost all my best friends are of one religion or another. In the end, I could always be wrong and I am open to that. For now though, I really want my children have high morals and support love and have a sense of duty to society.
