The Religion Post

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kinnear/the-religion-post_b_3845264.html




This post has been a long time coming. I have written and rewritten it. I have three different versions sitting in draft. It started as a simple question: Should Stevie and I be taking our kids to church? Then, much like every other question regarding religion has done in my life, it led to more questions. Which church? Why? How often? Should we try multiple churches? Shop around? And bigger questions: Is religion necessary for morality? Will my kids be ostracized if they don't have a religion? And then, finally, the biggest question. What if I don't believe? Do I lie? Do I pretend? Does that do more harm than good?

And so it goes... over and over and over. Now, the file titled "The Religion Post" is the only thing I can see in my working folder. It is always there, staring at me, telling me to open it, to finish it, to make a decision. It has gotten to the point that I can't write anything else. It is killing my creativity. This religion post is my white whale!

So here, take it for what you will, judge, comment, argue. Let's get it over with. I need to purge the topic from the editorial calendar of my soul. I need to get back to writing about important stuff -- like whether dogs are like kids and pooping in McDonald's Play Places.

I live in Utah. Utah has a very large population of Mormons. Good people. Kind people. Wonderful friends, family and neighbors. No tails, no more than one wife per family, unusually good basketball players. Sometimes the missionaries stop by my house, but they know I'm not really interested anymore. Last winter they offered to shovel my driveway, and the one kid said "You don't even have to get baptized!" I found that hilarious. I know he was joking, but the thought of trading yard work for eternal salvation strikes me as appropriately silly and wonderful. So like I said, Mormons -- wonderful people.

more at link

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. Be honest with them.

Let them ask questions and explore and make their own decisions.

My grown daughter is an agnostic and probably going to marry a young man who is a Hindu. I do not have a problem with that.

Hinduism is my second favorite religion, after Buddhism--if you can call atheistic Buddhism a religion.