House District 54 candidates have been asked if they believe in God. Three Republican candidates have all responded in the affirmative. My response is that my spirituality is none of your business. If you stay out of my spiritual life, I’ll stay out of yours. Despite what some Christians believe, America was founded on the principle that there should be no religious persecution, and individuals should be free to worship or not worship as they please.
I was raised in a family where religion was a constant presence. My mother descended from a French Canadian family steeped in the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. The French King forbade non-Catholic settlement in the Americas, so most French Canadians were Catholic. My father’s family originated in Finland, where until the 1520’s people practiced either Finnish paganism or Catholicism. In 1593, by decree of the occupying King of Sweden, Finland’s official religion became Lutheran.
My Finnish grandmother had trouble accepting my French mother and her family, believing that the marriage of my mother and father was an “interracial” marriage, and therefore was against the teachings of the church. Grandma was a bit opinionated, but not particularly educated. She dropped out of school after the 4th grade and became a servant in the household of a family with a higher socioeconomic status. She was steeped in Finnish paganism, but did not have the intellectual discipline to understand. Her household was ruled by superstition, but she sat in a Lutheran Church pew every Sunday morning.
Naturally all this family consternation made me curious about religion. When I first left home to attend college, I attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Auggie is a Lutheran college, with a seminary on campus. Graduation requirements include credits in religious courses plus weekly attendance at either a Lutheran church service or a discussion of religion by contemporary philosophers. I did coursework in comparative religion, where we studied the major religions of the world.
I also met my first husband, who is Native American, at Auggie. His adopted family included a Jewish father and a mother who was the daughter of a medical missionary in India.
Today my mother is attending a Presbyterian church, where she is struggling to decide if she should formally join the congregation. A Native American prayer group is praying that I win election in November. Most Americans are worshiping the god of football. And I’ll be walking my dog along the River Front Trail celebrating the diversity of life on this planet. Go Saints!
Homework:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Canadian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Finland
http://www.omsakthi.org/religions.html
http://www.tomorrowhillfarm.com/RiverFrontBikeRide.html
I was raised in a family where religion was a constant presence. My mother descended from a French Canadian family steeped in the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. The French King forbade non-Catholic settlement in the Americas, so most French Canadians were Catholic. My father’s family originated in Finland, where until the 1520’s people practiced either Finnish paganism or Catholicism. In 1593, by decree of the occupying King of Sweden, Finland’s official religion became Lutheran.
My Finnish grandmother had trouble accepting my French mother and her family, believing that the marriage of my mother and father was an “interracial” marriage, and therefore was against the teachings of the church. Grandma was a bit opinionated, but not particularly educated. She dropped out of school after the 4th grade and became a servant in the household of a family with a higher socioeconomic status. She was steeped in Finnish paganism, but did not have the intellectual discipline to understand. Her household was ruled by superstition, but she sat in a Lutheran Church pew every Sunday morning.
Naturally all this family consternation made me curious about religion. When I first left home to attend college, I attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Auggie is a Lutheran college, with a seminary on campus. Graduation requirements include credits in religious courses plus weekly attendance at either a Lutheran church service or a discussion of religion by contemporary philosophers. I did coursework in comparative religion, where we studied the major religions of the world.
I also met my first husband, who is Native American, at Auggie. His adopted family included a Jewish father and a mother who was the daughter of a medical missionary in India.
Today my mother is attending a Presbyterian church, where she is struggling to decide if she should formally join the congregation. A Native American prayer group is praying that I win election in November. Most Americans are worshiping the god of football. And I’ll be walking my dog along the River Front Trail celebrating the diversity of life on this planet. Go Saints!
Homework:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Canadian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Finland
http://www.omsakthi.org/religions.html
http://www.tomorrowhillfarm.com/RiverFrontBikeRide.html
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