UU is probabliy where I'd belong eventually. They were one of my
first "hops" and I liked them a lot. Too political for me
though. They loved talking politics at coffee hour. Society of
Friends was a blast: I loved just sitting there with the whole
"speak when inspired" bit. Also liked Vipassana meditation but
that was self study. Episcopal was truly beautiful; the best
music for sure. Yeah, I enjoyed church hopping. I was MR SCIENCE
after a brief obsession with Osho after the Eastern Orthodox.
and a few years ago, started a process of self-integration of
all of my interests and figuring out "what are my views of
everything". Still working on that project but getting places.
== I made a stop into the world of Philosophy about a year ago,
to try to understand it as much as I can and got about as far as
I can with it about 3 months ago, mostly looking for fundamental
flaws in the systems so I could put things in the proper places
that work for how I think. == Well... my mother referred to
Baptists as "Scary Christians", although I think he was
referring more to the more politically minded and evangelist
minded. She herself was raised in something called "Dutch
Reform", which I don't think exists much anymore, and she
wouldn't wait to get away from. She was raised with the fire and
brimstone stuff and refused to pass that on to us, and she
didn't. = I never knew much about Dutch Reformed myself. Odd
that I shouldn't have investigated it at all, except perhaps
transferring my mother's own not-so-great experiences and
deciding "don't look". I know she was raised with Calvinist
beliefs - that I figured out myself when dong some
theology/church history studies as a teenager. "Mom you realize
you're basically a Calvinist who also believes in
Reincarnation". I was a smart-ass, very proud of myself. And she
knew more than I expected when she agreed. smile emoticon ==
yes, having been raised in it, big fan. No Hell. not much
emphasis on salvation or even Jesus (more of a hippie Jesus I
guess they'd call it). Just "Be Good, Do Good". Minister had no
more power than the council, ... in fact, the church ladies had
the most power, really tongue emoticon == t was a very
empowering church to grow up in. At any given moment, I'd be
tapped on the shoulder and have to be an acolyte or suddenly
find out, I'd be giving a lay reading. Nervous, shaking because
i hate public speaking, I'd get up there. Always in church plays
[got to play Matthew at last supper plays four times as a
teenager, and once they did the whole thing and I was the
criminal up on a tall VERY UNSAFE cross next to Jesus, behind a
blue veil. They never did THAT again... probably broke a bunch
of safety laws somehow... ... and I was the church custodian
from age 13-18, so I was at the church every single day after
school. == I feel genuinely bad for people who had awful church
experiences growing up. I have a lot of friends who are VERY
atheist (and spreading-the-word wherever they go) and
invariably, they were raised in church environments that were
VERY Bible or strict in other ways. To me, they transferred from
one Bible to another, replacing Bible quotes with Dawkins
quotes, and instead of lists of Sins, it's lists of Fallacies..
and Word of God is replaced with Logic is behind Everything -
but to me, amounts to the same idea. ==
