There are reports of a boy in Georgia being bullied by his teacher for being Pagan. This sort of thing is something I worry about from time to time when it comes to my children. Not just at school, but at doctors' offices and therapy facilities, scouts and playgroups, in the hospitals we've stayed in and with the nurses Acorn had.
I like to think it won't happen here - a small-ish city in the suburbs, not in the Bible belt (though there are about 4 dozen churches in town), which boasts about its diversity. A place with a mosque, a Hindu temple, several synagogues, and Christian churches of all flavors (and in a number of languages). A place where within 5 miles, I can find several Asian grocers, a couple of Indian ones, a Pakistani grocer, a Mexican grocer, a Polish market, and a couple of Halal (Muslim) butcher shops which also sell other imported goods. A strip mall up the road boasts an Italian deli, a Jewish bakery, and Middle Eastern, Thai, and Greek restaurants.
And yet... our newly elected mayor is making the news for posting anti-gay statements on facebook.
Kinda makes you wonder whether we'll ever figure out how to all get along, doesn't it?
More reasons we want to home school BamBam
ReplyDeleteThis ia a struggle that will never end. For as good as it is to give everybody the right to think, believe and say what they like, this also gives them the right to remain as stupid and ignorant as they choose. (Still, I'd never want to take that right away from anyone.)
ReplyDeleteIt does make you wonder. I live smack dab in the middle of the buckle of the Bible belt. And I actually don't really raise my kids Pagan. My husband is Christian(ish) and I expose them to both ideas but really they are free to choose whatever calls to their souls later in life. The potential for being ostracized is part of the reason but mostly its because I've seen many times that when parents raise their children of just one particular faith the kids later grow older to resent that faith so I decided long ago just to let them make their own choices. My sons are still too young to care but my daughter enjoys going to Sunday school with her grandmother and talking about moon phases with me.
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