Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Post in Which I try to Make my thoughts MORE clear!

to say that our church is "liberal" is a bit of a mis-statement. The church we attend is actually a scripture based non-denominational Christian church. It is a church where they often use secular methods to make the scripture accessible to the average person.... In this manner, I find their methods to be "liberal". I had hoped in my last post to bring comments on how to reconcile teaching a child you host to accept that others worship differently and to be polite and not put themselves in a position of "judging" how someone chooses to worship. I have issue with not crossing the line on how Clepson's "Haitian" parents are raising him to worship and what he has been taught to believe and the things that I hold true which are a deference to my elders (especially in my children, rudeness is not permitted, I was raised wearing white gloves to church and being silent in front of adults unless spoken to!) and an appreciation that differences are to be embraced. I would hope even in Haiti that it would be important to accept that there are many methods of worship. I know of missionaries from many denominations. LDS, Catholic, Assembly of God and other denominations are all working to make a difference in the lives of the Haitian people. Dispelling hate, superstition and prejudice seems to be a valid lesson to impart to Clepson, but I don't want to overstep my boundaries as his "temporary" mom. I no longer consider myself to be a Catholic, but after 12 years of Catholic education I can assure you that there is no idol worship (don't even get me started)! To allow or to promote such a belief in anyone I meet goes against the grain for me. I don't wish to impose our families personal beliefs on Clepson, but manners and general acceptance that there are many ways to chose to worship seem to be basic fundamentals that would serve him well in his future.... Any thoughts would be appreciated!

2 comments:

Starrgirl49 said...

While it's obvious from your blog, and your interest and acceptance of Clepson, you are somewhat familiar with Haiti, but I don't know if you've ever been there. Not excusing rudeness, but some of what you're seeing as judgment on Clepson's part might be due to the state of the Catholic church in the Haitian culture. Voodoo is so much a part of the Haitian culture that the Catholic church there is deeply "infiltrated" by voodoo. "Religious" signs all over everywhere are, in actuality, if you know the culture, voodoo. It's a constant battle against voodoo and its evil. I'm sure Clepson has been taught to avoid all contact with voodoo, and the Catholic church in Haiti is, unfortunately, predominately voodoo. This is not to say Catholic missionaries or Catholics anywhere else in the world are voodoo, but the native Haitian church is. I hope this does not offend, but rather gives you a little more insight on Clepson's aversion to the Catholic church. Does this help at all? I'd like to know...

Martha Russell,
Hereford, Texas

Momto16 said...

You need to start posting comments that you get. I want to see what people think too :)