What a nice review of your journey through the religion forest that made up your young life in the US. I, too, was born and raised in the USA - in my case, in southeastern Virginia - and had to navigate a similar trek. So, your references to both the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance struck a chord with me. I must be older than you as they never let up through my elementary school days with either - something I did not understand was strange until I immigrated to Canada. I don't know whether my Canadian friends were more shocked by my tales of growing up in the south by the idea of praying in school or swearing allegiance to a flag.
I love the way you understood (or misunderstood, if you are religious I guess) profanity and wish we'd thought of that. As it was the admonishment to never, ever take the "Lord's name in vain" was so entrenched that I don't think I ever heard them used as swear words until I was not a child anymore and likely a teenager. Swearing, not the fancy word "profanity," just wasn't an option as child-rearing advice came from whoever thought washing someone's mouth out with soap was a good idea. Our solution was to turn other, slightly questionable, words into swear words. Even those were subject to punishment, so the day my mother hear me say, "oh snot," she let me know that a switching would be in store if she heard it again. I thought I was so smart when I changed the offensive term to "mucus." It even passed the mother test for a while, until my little brother, being too young to know the meaning of the word "mucus" thought we had misspoken and did his best at substituting an understandable word. So, the day came when we heard him say in frustration, Oh MUSIC!" and all of us burst into laughter. Poor kid...
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Vickie. I tried to share my personal thoughts on religion, without it coming across as an anti-religion screed. I do sometimes get fired up when I read about the rise of Christian nationalism.
Anyway, I appreciate your comment, and thank you for reading my stuff.
I know how nice it is to write something from the heart, work hard on it to make sure it cannot easily be misinterpreted, and have someone validate your idea by saying that they understand the experience you are describing. You, sir, are brave enough to put your story out there where people can relate to it or fight against it, and I tip my metaphorical hat to you for that.
I was also raised in "God fearing" country and moved to Canada as I entered my adulthood. I did not realize how infused with threats of "hellfire and brimstone" the very air was where I grew up. Having a Pentecostal Holiness minister for a grandfather gave it extra umph, I'm sure, but I bet US citizens telling people in the rest of the world about having to recite the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the school day would draw puzzled stares. In somewhat recent days, the province of Quebec enacted legislation stating that anyone filling a civil servant's job could not wear any outward symbol of religion - including clothing. I don't know - I do believe that it is hard to separate culture from religious beliefs. At the same time, I do appreciate their efforts to stand by the statement that government and religion must be kept separate.
What a nice review of your journey through the religion forest that made up your young life in the US. I, too, was born and raised in the USA - in my case, in southeastern Virginia - and had to navigate a similar trek. So, your references to both the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance struck a chord with me. I must be older than you as they never let up through my elementary school days with either - something I did not understand was strange until I immigrated to Canada. I don't know whether my Canadian friends were more shocked by my tales of growing up in the south by the idea of praying in school or swearing allegiance to a flag.
I love the way you understood (or misunderstood, if you are religious I guess) profanity and wish we'd thought of that. As it was the admonishment to never, ever take the "Lord's name in vain" was so entrenched that I don't think I ever heard them used as swear words until I was not a child anymore and likely a teenager. Swearing, not the fancy word "profanity," just wasn't an option as child-rearing advice came from whoever thought washing someone's mouth out with soap was a good idea. Our solution was to turn other, slightly questionable, words into swear words. Even those were subject to punishment, so the day my mother hear me say, "oh snot," she let me know that a switching would be in store if she heard it again. I thought I was so smart when I changed the offensive term to "mucus." It even passed the mother test for a while, until my little brother, being too young to know the meaning of the word "mucus" thought we had misspoken and did his best at substituting an understandable word. So, the day came when we heard him say in frustration, Oh MUSIC!" and all of us burst into laughter. Poor kid...
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Vickie. I tried to share my personal thoughts on religion, without it coming across as an anti-religion screed. I do sometimes get fired up when I read about the rise of Christian nationalism.
Anyway, I appreciate your comment, and thank you for reading my stuff.
I know how nice it is to write something from the heart, work hard on it to make sure it cannot easily be misinterpreted, and have someone validate your idea by saying that they understand the experience you are describing. You, sir, are brave enough to put your story out there where people can relate to it or fight against it, and I tip my metaphorical hat to you for that.
I was also raised in "God fearing" country and moved to Canada as I entered my adulthood. I did not realize how infused with threats of "hellfire and brimstone" the very air was where I grew up. Having a Pentecostal Holiness minister for a grandfather gave it extra umph, I'm sure, but I bet US citizens telling people in the rest of the world about having to recite the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the school day would draw puzzled stares. In somewhat recent days, the province of Quebec enacted legislation stating that anyone filling a civil servant's job could not wear any outward symbol of religion - including clothing. I don't know - I do believe that it is hard to separate culture from religious beliefs. At the same time, I do appreciate their efforts to stand by the statement that government and religion must be kept separate.