A bit of a religion conundrum: [View All]

[knitter4democracy]

And no, I'm not going to give up on faith entirely as the answer. ;) I don't think it would help the situation anyway. *sigh*

Okay, there's this neighborhood kid that my kids really get along with and enjoy playing with. Nice kid. I have talked with his mom at length (we're both stay-at-home moms), and she seemed fine. I've met his dad, been to his house, and all seems fine.

The first clue something was up was when he came to the kids' birthday party this summer. His mom wouldn't let him come to the movie with us (started at our home with food and cake and presents and then moved to the movie theater to see Wall-E) because of a church thing. He was really upset and actually begged me to call his mom and make her change her mind and let him go. I told him that I couldn't go against his mom on this and that she and his dad had already made the decision. He was really, really upset about it and said that they'd make him wait for the DVD (probably because of movie costs, etc.).

So, later that week, I had a chance to talk with his mom, and I asked if it was because they didn't do movies (I grew up Nazarene and had picked up on a conservative Christian vibe before with them--and the Church of the Nazarene is against movies). She said that, no, they were fine with movies but that the church thing was just too important (some choir thing she was singing in) for him not to go. That's when she started telling me all about how they're Southern Baptist and how awesome the singing thing was and that we should go. I told her no, thank you, nicely, and I thought everything was fine.

The second clue was when my kids ran in the house, telling me that Obama was a horrible man and that no one should ever vote for him. I told them that their friend's parents weren't Democrats like we are and that they're allowed to have their own opinions but that we're going to be working with the Obama campaign and are solid Democrats and not to talk politics with their friend if they're just going to fight about it. To my daughter's credit, I heard her yelling at the boy that President Bush is evil and that Obama's not. :)

So, today, my son runs into the basement where I'm cleaning to tell me that his friend wants to talk to me. The boy starts telling me all about his church's Vacation Bible School and how he wants my kids to go, too. I was honest and told him that I wouldn't allow my kids to go there since his church says that we're not really Christians (Southern Baptists are pretty clear on Catholics and Eastern Orthodox going to hell, etc.) and that I didn't want them trying to make my kids change churches (I used to work Nazarene VBSs and know the drill). He was sad but said that he kinda understood, and then I gave the phone back.

Now I'm wondering if I did the right thing. Maybe I should've just said no and left it at that. I'd hate for his parents to be horrified that we're Eastern Orthodox (they've never been inside the house and seen our icon corner--always guaranteed to shock and horrify our evangelical family members) and say that their son can't play here anymore. I'm also wondering how he interpreted it when I said that our churches can disagree but that we can still play together outside of church and be friends.

Ugh. This is one of the reasons I don't like it when people (and I include my past self in this) proselytize. I've already had to fend off the Mormon friends earlier this spring (at least that mom was fine with it), and now this.

Should I call his mom or just let it slide?