For the first 30 years of my life I belonged to a very fundamental religion. I was able to escape and have had a fantastic life since. This post isn't about bashing this particular religion (Jehovah's Witness for those who are wondering) or any religion for that matter. What this post is about is the mistaken belief that any one religion, any one group of people are the 'chosen ones'.
I have quite a few blogs that I faithfully follow. They vary in subject matter, author style, and interest. I have two that are interesting to follow when you follow them BOTH. Both are written by gals with the same religious background (not JW for those who are wondering!). One is still very active in her religion and along with her husband, they are raising their five children to be active, involved members of this sect. The other gal is a single mum of two who used to be an active member of this religion but left sometime during her college years. The juxtaposition of reading one devoted member versus the one that left makes for an interesting read. From what I can gather through their blogs, they are both funny, kind, gentle women who are great mums.
The other day I was reading the blog of the active member who is currently on vacation in Europe with her husband. Their five children are state side being looked after by various friends and family members (all of the same church!). The mums blog entries this week are in the form of letters to her children. "This is what daddy and I did today" type postings. A good, fun read......until I got to her latest post.
It seems her and her hubby went to a church of their sect in Denmark. It is a beautiful church (as most churches in Europe are...heck, any building a few hundred years old is going to be magnificent!) and this mum obviously enjoyed visiting. The pictures she took of it are great. Then she said "I love that almost anywhere you go in the world, you can find and feel the spirit that can only be felt in a ( I am leaving the name of her religion out) church". Really? So YOUR religions buildings of worship are the ONLY ones that one can feel the spirit in? How about my friends who are Catholic? Do you think they sit in church on Sunday thinking "loving the sermon, but man is the spirit lacking..I really should be a _________". NO! Every person of faith finds the comfort of the spirit in their church, or in their religious traditions. I find it very arrogant for someone to say that ONLY in THEIR religious places of worship can one feel the spirit. Arrogant, rude, and judgmental.
While I love reading this blog, I am feeling that I need to delete it from my repertoire. I had enough of this type of 'ours is the ONLY one' bullshit when I was a JW. I feel that to keep reading her blog (which supports her and her family btw!) is to support such bigotry. Not sure I want to support someone who feels this way. Is she entitled to love her religion? Yes. Should she embrace her faith? Yes! Should she raise her children in her faith? Yes! Should she preach to all who read her blog, and teach her children that ONLY this religion has the spirit? NO...we are all walking our own path of faithfulness. No one is better or worse than another. We are all just trying to get along on this great big globe. Posts like hers do not add a positive tone to the karmic universe.
Hugs to you all,
Jaye
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