Day 4, "Yours Views on Religion"

When I was a kid, my mom would drag me to church with her most Sundays.  When you're growing up on a miltiary base, you generally have 2 options: Catholic mass, or Protestant service.  My mother told me, pointedly, that my dad was raised Catholic, she was raised Protestant - when they went to get married, the Catholic priest would not marry them because my mom wasn't Catholic.  She had an obvious disdain for the rules and ways of the Catholic Church. 

A high percentage of Filiipinos are Catholic, and most of my classmates in school went to Mass regularly.  When I went to Protestant service, it was filled with mostly Anglo-American families. But I liked how no-nonsense it was.  There were hymns, a sermon, some hymns, Communion, bless your neighbor, more hymns, and we all went home.  When I witnessed a Catholic mass as a young adult, I was fascinated with all the ceremony, the rising, the kneeling...........the ritual. It was foreign to me, and I felt alienated from it.

I don't like the idea that there is a only 1 path to know God.  I also have a real issue with churches, and their views of the LGBT population, birth control, abortion. I also have a real conflict taking peoples' interpretation of the Bible as gospel truth.  If you've ever had a religious studies class in college, than you know there are numerous translations and versions of the books of the Bible, because they have been translated from "original" texts so many times over the centuries.  Clergy and churches have had the opportunity to alter the word of God many many times, and I believe strongly they can interpret Scripture, in any way that benefits them.

Since Calvin's been born, I have often thought about introducing a religious element into our lives, but I want him to view life open-minded.  Too often, I feel that religion closes minds - I struggle to find a way to provide spiritual enrichment in our day-to-day, without excluding various points of view. 

Compassion, empathy, hope, sincerity, self-lessness.........I know many religions espouse these ideas.  I want to instill these in Calvin, in our family..........but I still can't bring myself to adopt just one way of looking at the world.