Sgt. Patrick Stewart's widow Roberta was finally allowed in May to put a pentacle on her husband's gravemarker. This is the website of the documentary film made during her battle with the government. Producers Todd Bernsten and Melody Gilbert hope that A Hero Denied will help educate people about the importance of tolerance between members of all faiths.
Stewart is hoping to have the film pre-screened at next year's Sundance Film Festival. My six year old daughter came to me recently and asked me if someone who had passed was in heaven. I told her that some people don't believe in heaven and she promptly tells me "I do". A few days later she is lamenting the weeks worth of rainy weather we've been having and asks why god doesn't make it stop. Now I corner my poor eclectic christian husband and prepare to evicerate him for brainwashing her at such an early age when we'd agreed we weren't going to do that. The very reason we joined the UU church was so that the kids could be exposed to a wide variety of religions and cultures so they could make their own informed decisions.
Come to find out he hadn't done it. Which means there is some insideous xtian somewhere within my daughter's sphere of influence spewing this garbage at her in the typical "Our way is the only way" fashion. I took the opportunity during the god controling the rain thing to explain that god isn't an actual person sitting in the sky remote controling the planet and it's inhabitants. And the other night when she was asking about my pentacle necklace I explained the Five Elements and what they meant, both physically and spiritually. I've been doing this with my 8 year old all along because he has been much more forward about asking questions about god and how things were made and how they work and evolution and whatnot. Must be the autism. LOL But since my daughter hasn't asked, I really haven't brought it up that much.
My first instinct was to go to the day care and school and root out the offending xtian and tell them to keep their fairy tales to themselves. Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that until something drastic changes in this country I will have to learn to live with and be constantly vigilant because of the fact that we now live in, for all intents and purposes, a theocracy. And because of that non-xtians will be subjected to religious persecution, both subtle and not so subtle with absolute impugnity.
In the United States of America, the Great American Melting Pot, we shouldn't have to segregate ourselves for any reason, but particularly because of religion. There shouldn't HAVE to be xtian schools and hindu schools and pagan schools. That's just ridiculous! That's what churches/synagogues/mosques/what the hell ever else religious buildings are for. Schools at least should be a place where children can come together to learn not only academics but citizenship.
Then again considering this country's flagrant mistreatment of GLBTQ individuals, perhaps bigotry and hatred are considered good citizenship for Americans these days.
at 1:28 PM :: ~#~
