Today is Sunday and I have been thinking about Christianity and peoples reaction to it. Take the regulars at The Coffee Shoppe this morning. The ole cooter who sits at the next table thinks it is smart to call Jesus, Jesse. He is 82 and says if God could help him with his backswing he might be interested. Then there is the guy whose ancestors said strange words, rolled around in the sawdust and beat the living you- know-what out of the kids. A bit jaded? I reckon! Then I remember when reactionary Christianity invaded educational circles in the 70s. The mood was that if it is old, it is good since rote, regurgitate and remember (not so much!) surely must be Christian. As a principal, I once made the vast error in spiritual judgement by changing the rote-based spelling curriculum to one where the students demonstrated the use of the words in writing. A very incensed woman called me on the phone and demanded I change back to Christian spelling lists. Irked a bit, I asked her what made the word, Chrysanthemum, for example, more Christian than Buttercup? I never shall forget her answer, Because it it HARD! I want my kids to work HARD when they study their spelling at night! I wanted to tell her where she could take her black-hose-on-a-hot-summer day and her sensible shoes and go. But at times like this my when my genteel Southern upbringing collided with the current Christian mindset, I demurred and opted for the former. (In retrospect though, I doubt that Chrysanthemums will ever grow on HER grave!)
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 22:31:23 +0000
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