The Village News & Views April 5, 2017
Wednesday Get Over the Hump Free for All
I blame DoReMI and basket. :)
Yesterday’s post here on Moose Pond was a wonderful and inspirational recounting of the Rev. Dr. William Barber’s sermon at Riverside Church yesterday in commemoration of their yearlong “Beyond the Dream: Living King’s Legacy” program. If you missed it, please check it out.
As a child I was informed that the United States of America had something call the separation of church and state. I took this to mean that we were supposed to keep religion out of politics and vice versa. Was taught that because “our forefathers” generally left Europe for these shores fleeing religious persecution, those who no longer wished to be a colony of the English Crown held sacred the idea that people should be free to practice whatever religion they chose, presumably as long as it didn’t harm other people.
It seemed like a pretty good idea. I was in favor.
I guess that was a long time ago.
There is a lot of religion in US politics these days. A lot of what passes for religion. Wiser, smarter and more patient people than I have written articles, books and so forth about it. I don’t have that kind of time, or attention span. So I will do what I do best.
Throw around some cat memes.
In the beginning, most of us learn about the idea of God from our parents. We are raised in some form of religion, with greater or lesser emphasis and attention. In most cases, our parents mean well. Whether they themselves were raised in a particular faith or tradition and kept it, or adopted another, if they took their kids to church or temple or Christian Science Reading Room or mosque, it was probably because they found value in it and wanted to provide that value to their children growing up.
As we get older, we have the opportunity to continue in whatever tradition we were raised in, to wander away, flounce off in disappointment or select another option.
It all sounds very logical, however of course it isn’t. Religious faith isn’t simply a set of rituals. It’s a superstition – belief in supernatural causality, that one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events, that contradicts natural science.
Whether God is a white man with a long beard and flowing robes, or a flying spaghetti monster, he, she or it seems to be concerned with us, and in particular, with something called our souls.
The idea of the soul is the single most comforting, and at the same time terrifying concept in history, in my opinion. Comforting, because… death.
Someone back in the dawn of time came up with the idea that yes, we have a soul, and that there are various possible destinations for this aspect of us, which may depend on various criteria.
The simplest version is, if you are a good person, you go to a good place after you die. If you are a bad person, not so much.
You are a good person if you do good stuff, and don’t so bad stuff.
The crux of the thing seems to be what is the good stuff and what is the bad stuff.
And grown people are supposed to make the choice about whether to do good versus bad stuff out of fear that if they die they might go to a bad place.
So back to politics. In recent memory, people who wanted political power decided that instead of separating church and state and leaving it up to each person what they believe or don’t, one way to persuade people to vote for them would be to declare a side in the religious scheme of things. Then people who have strong views about which religion is the right one would naturally favor and vote for people who are of the same creed.
The problem is, this judgement is being made on the basis of claims rather than actual deeds. Well, that’s one of the problems. Another problem is that many of a popular religious faiths’ followers don’t actually seem to believe what they are supposed, according to the written source material on the subject, to believe are good things and bad things.
It’s very confusing. Perplexing. Depending on how important it is to you, also potentially enraging or demoralizing.
There are definitely good people who ascribe to most of the major religions. Just as definitely, there are hypocrites, and bloody awful people who profess to be members of the various communities. Also people who are indifferent, as well as those who are confused.
Adding yet another aspect to the tangle? Science. Remember I said earlier that religious faith is a superstition? That’s not an insult, and hopefully no one got angry when they read that. Religious faith is a superstition, by definition. If you disagree I have no problem with that and will not argue or try to persuade you. But this is where I got the idea to title today’s post Blasphemer’s Corner.
Science is defined by Google as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
Science doesn’t attempt to say “who made the universe”, it simply observes and describes what can be observed, and makes use of that knowledge.
God (gods, Goddess, Flying Spaghetti Monster etc.) cannot be observed except, according to people of faith, indirectly.
Which brings us back to exactly nowhere.
What place does religion have in politics? A very muddy, very messy one. Unfortunately, in the end, the separation of church and state is a wonderful idea which would help people of different faiths get along with each other in theory, but which seems to be almost impossible to maintain. The best we might be able to hope for is an uneasy balance.
Now that I have explained exactly nothing and bumbled around in areas better left undisturbed, I think it’s time for me to provide a few random links and some tweets and then go have my nap.
What The Fuck Just Happened Today?
Everybody #Resisting Donald Trump Is Such A Lady!
BREAKING: "Impeach #Trump" banner dropped during Washington Nationals game on #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/OnxtVfKeGg
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) April 3, 2017
#SusanRice is a smart and independent woman who did great work for America in the Obama Administration. RETWEET if you stand with her! pic.twitter.com/ruioKAFHf3
— Protect Robert Mueller ✊ (@DisavowTrump20) April 3, 2017
"I don’t know what it means to be complicit" –@IvankaTrump in an interview with @GayleKing for @CBSThisMorning https://t.co/ruAsy9eK35 pic.twitter.com/yH7P0mMX53
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) April 4, 2017
This is my message to the leaders of the world: it's never too late, save the people of Syria now. #Idlib pic.twitter.com/3ueqy7bm1V
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) April 4, 2017
50 yrs ago today at Riverside Church, I watched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. give one of the most powerful speeches against the Vietnam War.
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) April 4, 2017
That night, Dr. King demonstrated raw courage, saying, “The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.”
— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) April 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/849286733338476544
https://twitter.com/LuvKittensDaily/status/849385992553455617
Thank you for your patience. Love and peace, Village! Enjoy your Wednesday gathering.
We are #StrongerTogether
We are #TheResistance and #WePersist
All are welcome!
very interesting this morning M G, thanks for posting. I’ve never been interested in converting anyone as I prefer the Socratic method of letting people discover on their own what their truth is.
The wind finally quit blowing around midnight after it had turned around to the north and dropped temperatures. We’ll warm up steadily all week which is good for our construction.
Hi wordsinthewind, thanks for coming by and commenting. Your philosophy is very compatible with mine. Also, the word truth is worth a whole diary or three all by itself. ;)
I don’t think there is one definitive thing labeled The Truth and especially when people want to substitute it for belief. So yes you could make a whole series on the concept.
I liked asking questions before I went to law school where I learned how to get to what I wanted to know quicker.
I agree regarding truth. I see it as a gem with many facets.
Questions are a good place to start.
I love this comparison! I’ve often said about myself that I don’t do Truth, but instead I do truths. Your “gem” is a better way to describe that.
Yay! :)
Great piece and the pictures are wonderful. If cats ruled the world, there would be no weapons of mass destruction. Speaking of Bernie, what will it take for him to stop screwing the Democrats? Trump ought to be enough of an enemy, why do we need to have bernie too?
We’re under tornado watch until this afternoon, my headache is so bad I had to stay home again and although I gave my German Shepherd two Valerians she’s still jumping all over and I can’t even lay down. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug
{{{{{{{kathy from pa}}}}}}}}
If cats ruled the world the only possible weapon of mass destruction would be a giant furrball. =^^=
I know it’s crazy but I’m starting to wonder if Bernie is an under the table agent for the Russians…
Yes, you can hose me down now.
Oh hai, Momentary Grace.
Ya’ know, that little thought about jsfv flitted across my thoughts this week. Not in the conspiring with oligarchs and billionaires kind of way, but in a duped/influenced way because it helped his ‘revolution.’
BTW: I really wish our cat overloads would step in right about now.
Alas I think they are too sensible. :(
Unfortunately, I don’t think we will ever be rid of the big BS. However, two of his disciples appear to be losing in the race to replace Rep Becerra in SoCal. The top two are backed by the DNC. Even more interesting, BS narrowly won this district in the primary. A little bit of joy and, perhaps, a turning away from him? We can hope.
{{{MomentaryGrace}}} – religion as community and a code of conduct can be a good thing. An ye harm no on, do as ye will. I don’t really care if you feed the hungry because it supports community or because your religion tells you to. I only care that the hungry get fed. I believe in Energy. I believe in Life. I believe in Love. I wish I didn’t but I also believe in Hate. And what I seriously believe is that if enough people put out enough Loving Energy into the world, the combined strength of that Love will overcome Hate.
The Separation of Church and State, even as eroded as it’s been in the last few decades, is still a very strong part of our society. It has been for so long that most Americans just simply do not understand situations where it doesn’t exist – the Middle East being the glaring example. (And the situation in Northern Ireland is still touchy – although great blessings “The Troubles” are officially over.) And really, that’s the greatest problems with Americans in general and America being the strongest military and economic power in the world. Americans have not experienced the evils of having laws saying where you live, what you can wear or eat or work at or own, whether you can vote or hold public office or even be represented in a court of law are all determined by your religion. Americans haven’t experienced war up close and personal for over 150 years. Our American Privilege has caused and is causing death and destruction in the world because we don’t understand how much that separation of church and state has protected us from.
And I never take the Ceiling Cat v. Basement Cat as Good v. Evil – just the cycles of light and dark. light for working/hunting and playing. Dark for rest/hiding – and growing/healing. moar {{{HUGS}}}
{{{{{{{{bfitzinAR}}}}}}}} Your philosophy is also very compatible with mine. ;)
It’s a wonderful thing that the separation of church and state is codified in our laws, for the most part (except where they are being quietly nibbled away at). I definitely appreciate all the accomplishments and victories of those who are other than professed Christians, in all fields, and I appreciate the accomplishments of professed Christians where their Christianity moves them to love, accept all, be kind, support the poor.
I feel extremely sad and sometimes still angry when cruelty, bigotry and hatred are done in the name of Jesus. But that ship sailed about 1500 years ago I guess. I imagine devote Muslims feel a similar anger and sadness at the acts of terrorists who claim the cloak of Islam.
Good morning, Pond Dwellers and a happy hump day to all! MG, what a wonderful post. Neither of my parents grew up in a religious household so, when I was a wee lass, they decided they would join the Catholic Church and there were baptisms all around. After that soaking came the “firsts”: 1st confession (self explanatory) and 1st communion (wafer consumption). Three hoops all jumped through, but wait! Now we have to get confirmed (announce our entry into the church, so to speak). All of that and guess what? Moved back to my dad’s hometown. 300 people. Not a Catholic Church to be found unless you drive 30 miles. Wasn’t gonna happen. So, we hit the Holy days and did Lent and tried our best. Once I hit my teen years, I was already rebelling against the “no contraception” and dresses and hats required. Long story short. LAPSED CATHOLIC. But, I do good deeds, think good thoughts and try to never break the Big 10 ( not the sports division). I’m ok with that. Enough ramblings. 53 and mostly cloudy with a projected high of 75 today.
The first church I ever attended as a child was Methodist. In my teen years I got involved with a group of Charismatic Christians and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Many in the group, including me for a short time, spoke in tongues as part of worship. I attended a Lutheran church with my Charismatic friends and was confirmed in that church.
For a number of years I attended more Catholic services than Protestant, going with friends.
Because I was a huge fan of The Who, and Pete Townshend, I became aware that he was/is a follower of Meher Baba, which started my looking into quite a few other religions, including Buddhism, Shinto, and Zoroastrianism.
In my thirties I reconnected with a friend who turned out to be a pagan, and became a part of their circle for a few years.
All of these things have goodness, have things about them which are attractive, and things which don’t seem to cover all the bases. I’ve even looked at animism and various polytheistic religions.
I finally discovered Discordianism, in a chapter of Margot Adler’s book Drawing Down the Moon, referencing ‘religions of play’.
It answers my needs and doesn’t require that anything make perfect sense, which is helpful because actually none of the various answers to the question of life, the universe and everything really do.
And here we are. :) Fnord.
Good morning, and thanks MomentaryGrace for the diary. I’m nominally Buddhist and still observe the 5 Precepts as much as I can as well as taking part in offering food to monks, but I was never really into the deeper spiritual/metaphysical aspect. I think my mom is slightly disappointed about that.
I would say that my belief/values/ethics system is perhaps more similar to yours or bfitz’s. Though I do think that the concept of karma exists and is valid in that thoughts when acted upon have results, both good and bad. There is a verse in Buddhism that starts “Mind is the forerunner of all things”.
The cat pictures/memes were awesome!
oh hai basket!
In paganism we learn that thoughts are things. If the world around us and within us exists beyond what we can see, taste feel, touch, which science tells us it does, then it is possible thoughts are directed energy which can have effect. It works about as often as anything else I have seen. (anecdote ;))
It is very common to find cats and other animals at Buddhist temples, in Sri Lanka. :) My mom is not keen on having any pets, but there is a stray cat in her neighborhood who “inspects” our place regularly and will sometimes stay the night or use it as a place to rest and recover after a cat fight.
Your place is blessed. ;)
Cats have a regular route that they patrol, making the rounds frequently every day or night. Even indoor cats do this. They seem to place a great deal of importance on knowing where everything is, what it is, and if anything has changed.
Hi, basket.
What type of musical master class is it, particular instrument, music genre, composers, etc.? Sounds awesome.
I’ll have to check, it might be piano & classical
{{{basket}}} – people of good will will good. Whatever reasons they have for it, they are putting good energy into the world. my thought on karma is more that you reap what you sow. If what you are putting out is Hate and other forms of Evil Energy, you will get it back. If what you are putting out is Love and others forms of Good Energy, you will get that back. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, all! We may make it all the way up to 50 today, but with the overcast skies which has been the hallmark of our winter/spring. I have to say that I’d almost welcome a week of 20 or even less, if it included blue skies and bright sunshine.
Love this thought-provoking post, MG. I love especially your use and definition of superstition; it very much echoes an early 20th-century, Protestant theologian, Rudolf Bultmann, who first popularized the concept of “demythologizing” Scripture in theological thought. I’ll be doing his work a disservice here, but essentially he promoted the concept that Scripture, especially the New Testament, should be viewed through the lens of myth and allegory which illuminate a central message without being historically true. Virgin birth…not so much. Resurrection…even this, the central tenet of the Christian faith, need not be viewed as a literal and historical fact. Needless to say, he was quite controversial, but at least in the late 70s and early 80s, when I was actively studying theology, his 1921 work, History of the Synoptic Tradition was still used as a primary text for New Testament studies.
As for separation of church and state, I would add that we’ve always had “civic religion” in this country (i.e. “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”), but what’s been happening with the Christian Right is a complete and thorough perversion of that. The Christian Left has slowly and surely been strengthening but is still not as highly visible as the Right. It pisses me off to no end too, because so much of what is professed isn’t even biblical. And I’m not talking just about disagreements about interpretation; I mean literally not found in the Bible. The pre-tribulation rapture and all the “left behind” BS actually stems from the writings of an 19th century Irish bible teacher and further popularized by the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in the early 20th century. Prior to 1830, there was no church, creed, or confession which included what is now so much a part of the Christian Right.
Finally, if anyone has any interest in escoteric, but interesting, reading, I strongly recommend Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God. I normally wouldn’t link to anything by Ross Douthat, but the beginning part of this review gives a good overview of the book: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/books/review/Douthat-t.html Once you get to his opinion of the book, I strongly disagree, but then, I can’t think of any time I’ve agreed with Douthat.
Good morning, DoReMI!! ((hugs))
The weather in Folsom is getting into spring/summer territory. I wanted the rain!!!!
Saw an announcement about a musical masterclass to be held in Detroit in June. I’m intrigued although i don’t know if I could take a week off work.
Chance of rain Friday and Saturday. We can hope, right?
Hi DoReMI! To be honest, I had a couple of second thoughts about leaving the superstition part in the post but what the heck, I figured if it upset anyone I could apologize.
One of the things that always troubled me about Christianity even when I was very much a believer was the exclusion. There can be only one God, this God, everyone else is wrong, and if you don’t accept that and convert, you go to hell.
“I’m the only one who can save you.”
Where have we heard that before/recently?
What I always loved about the Christian faith as I took it from the New Testament was that Jesus taught that no on is better than anyone else, that kindness is always the right choice, that whatever judgments society and culture make, they can and should be questioned against what is in one’s heart.
Whenever I see Christians publicly (or privately) living that concept, I am happy.
Those ideas are powerful ideas and pretty darn revolutionary for that or any time.
Virgin birth? I don’t see the point and wow, good for Mary to have pulled that one off, she managed not to get stoned for having relations outside of marriage (assuming it was consensual and not rape, which, she might have been stoned anyway).
I just cried reading your comment. Because that brought back (as I told DoReMI in DM) a,lot of painful memories from middle school and exclusionary Christianity/Methodism.
This makes me so intensely sad. My lifelong Methodism/teachers of Methodism was apparently so different, so beautifully unique; I wish you never had to have experienced the ugly Methodism.
I learned that too, but not from my church…it was more often from “Christian” groups that I associated with in addition to church. It’s so unbearably wrong; so completely a perversion of what Christianity is supposed to be; so destructive and hurtful. I know some churches proclaim this; some in my own church proclaim this. But it’s such an incomplete and damaging understanding…and one of the reasons I’ve been on-again-off-again with my own church attendance. I feel pretty confident when I say that if Jesus were walking the earth today, he wouldn’t recognize the religion that has grown around his name.
Oh basket, I didn’t mean to cause tears. {{{{{{{{{{basket}}}}}}}}}}}
I understand them, though. I was never excluded as a child for my religion or ethnicity, in that I am fortunate. I was excluded for being fat, being too smart, and for that undefinable something other kids sensed and often rejected. I know now looking back that it was something I projected from having a single, alcoholic mother who taught her daughters 1) to lie about mother’s drinking b) to fear exposure, that it would somehow rebound on us along with her and c) other people couldn’t be trusted.
My mom told me a story when I was probably in my early teens, about “pink monkey syndrome”. The story was that a group of monkeys were being studied by researchers, and the researchers painted one monkey pink. Before, all the monkeys played together and liked each other. After, all the others turned on the pink monkey and rejected and attacked it. What lesson was I to learn from this? Don’t be different, but if you can’t help it (I couldn’t, just as she couldn’t) you will, inevitably, be attacked and rejected.
I’ve always hated and resented any kind of exclusion. I fight the tendency to exile myself before it can be done to me, in social situations. And sometimes, I don’t fight it.
basket, know that though I am only a friend over the internet, I regard you with pleasure, appreciation and joy each time I see your words on my screen. It doesn’t take away the hurt of the past but maybe it will help a little now and then in the present.
{{{MomentaryGrace}}} – you have apparently – by your words and actions – Healed much of the pain that childhood brought, though the scars of course still can hurt when “the weather’s in the wrong quarter” – moar Healing Energy.
My mother was a self-medicating bi-polar – runs in my family. She self-medicated with alcohol. (Some the younger members of the family use/used marijuana.) That caused some issues but not the kind of issues you grew up with. Instead of the pink monkey story, my mother gave me Dr. Seuss’s Sneeches – she was probably the most inclusive person I’ve ever met. Still working on being like her, even though I’m 7 years older than she was when she died. Love is love is love – she of course never saw Hamilton although she’d have loved it – but I learned to love from her. (Funny thing is, when she was in her 50s and I in my 30s, she said she was learning to love from me. Weird, isn’t it?)
I don’t think it’s weird at all, actually. {{{{{{bfitzinAR}}}}}} :)
Your mom sounds like I would have liked her a lot. Makes sense, I like her daughter.
My mother was a complicated story. She was self medicating as well, but I couldn’t tell you what she was dosing. She didn’t drink because she enjoyed it, she drank to numb herself. I think I knew from pretty early on that she was in a lot of pain. Unfortunately I don’t know the secret of that pain. I know obvious things – her marriage failed, she was raising two children on her own, and there was a disapproval from her family, who nonetheless supported her to an extent. Co-dependent is the correct term.
On the other side from the negatives, she was brilliant and creative and quixotic, when she was able to be. I came home once to the apartment she lived in and discovered she had painted a beautiful little tropical fish on the wall by her bed. She explained a little sheepishly that the bedside lamp threw a shadow on the wall’s bumpy surface that looked like a fish, and she stared at it and stared at it until she had to paint the fish.
She loved horses and dogs and cats. She once made a pet of a praying mantis that got into her apartment – didn’t try to kill it, just watched it, and kept track of it.
She raised her daughters to respect intelligence and science and art. She could have been so much more, had she not been so broken.
{{{basket}}} – my mother brought me up with the “you drew a circle to close me out, I drew a bigger circle to bring you in” concept I’ve tried to follow my life long – but she tried to teach me that because I was excluded from most groups in school. Not overtly due to religion usually – public schools in Houston in the 1950s and 60s had lots of different religions and the folks who didn’t like that usually had their own church schools for their kids – but I just seemed to never fit in. Brought up around both Catholics and Baptists so knew the terminology but not what it meant in their contexts. I didn’t know some of the stuff the kids took for granted, knew lots of stuff the kids didn’t know and thought I was “acting better than them” because I knew it. And that just hurts. Nobody can be more welcoming than kids if they’re brought up to be. And nobody can be less welcoming than kids if they’re not.
{{{HUGS}}} and Healing Energy to you, my friend. Lots and lots of Healing Energy.
43 and soggy in chicago metro. Hi guys!
Susan rice is being made the scapegoat or distraction for Trump’s ties to Russia and it’s really pissing me off.
Black, female, and a Democrat…it’s a trifecta for the opposition (and I don’t just mean Republicans).
Amen, to that DoReMI!
Predictable, sick and stupid, but it also won’t work. #TrumpRussia is not going away.
Hi everyone…Thanks Gracie…Love the thread…Kittehs and all…
Sorry for my absence lately…Gonna try and do better by MM and you all…
Great News…
Now the next step is to get him out of the WH entirely…
Hi, Batch!
Yeah, good news. May there be more real soon.
Hi Batch! Always nice to “see” you.
Saw that. Rumor has it there’s friction between Kushner & Bannon,
Random question that I’ve decided not to ask at The Orange…does anyone know how long Michael’s TO is for? I tried to get on SOB last night to see if he was over there, but I was on my phone and it kept freezing up.
Give me a minute and I’ll ask him…BRB
Oh no! I haven’t stopped by the orange place for several days. Didn’t know.
Michael, Urizen and another( can’t remember who) all got TO…Michael called their “god” the
Burlington Bozo….Which I thought was rather apt.
Asked…as soon as I get an answer I’ll relay the answer
Thanks, sweetie!
Sorry for the long delay Sherry…Michael says a week.
Shh. Don’t tell Batch I told you. One week.
Hmmmph…LOL
Sounds about right….
Since we’re doing belief systems, I’ll give it a go.
As a Reiki practitioner I recite the 5 Reiki precepts each day. (And do what I can to live them. Some days better than others :)
Our belief systems all share certain universal precepts, don’t they? But try telling that to the folks who are so scared of Muslims (or Sikhs or Jews or Unitarians…!) The need to define in negative terms rather than seeking the shared positives really seems to be a Conservative trait.
Yes, indeed they do.
Good things to try to do. Out of that list I have trouble to some degree greater or lesser with most but the worst? Do not worry. Am a first class worrier.
{{{{{{{inkaudlay}}}}}}}
Yep, the worry thing is the most persistent for me also :)
I heard this in a 12 step meeting and thought it wonderful-worrying is paying interest on a debt you haven’t made yet. That really helps me when I do start to worrying about something, I get to ask myself if this is a debt yet or if I’m just paying interest.
Thanks, wordsinthewind. Excellent way to look at it.
Al Giordano’s twitter page is alight with fierce comments from older women about this election and the Resistance.
https://twitter.com/algiordano
He started following me today after a reply I made on that thread!
Yay, you!
He started following me today after a reply I made on that thread!
My story, raised in Presbyterian family, was hugely alienated by all the religion in the public grade school. Lived in Italy for five years and grew to hate the supremacy of the Vatican. That was the end of organized religion. Have delved into ancient Celtic spiritual lore and finally found my home in shamanism. In fact tonight I’m very excited to be starting a web course with one of the leading authors focusing on animal spirituality.
Shamanism is a wonderful practice/belief. Very empowered. I’ve been told by a friend who is also a web client that my patchwork coat of spirituality has a very shamanistic vibe to it.
I don’t know if souls exist, but if they do, they are not restricted exclusively to humans. No way.
I spent my 30s very active in the Catholic church – the ritual had appealed to me for years but what really appealed to me was the strength it appeared to give the Kennedy women in helping them face the tragedies of their lives. I was recently divorced and dealing with single-parenting so wanted that helping strength. And the ritual is very helpful to spiritual growth – as long as you can override the words. Once the words started being so annoying I couldn’t override them any longer, I left the RC church by way of the Anglicans (and really, the music is what kept me there for several years – until the words got in the way again) and went back to my pagan beliefs I grew up with. We just didn’t call them that. :)