Long-story, short: Girl and Best Friend (both firmly non-religious and sharp as tacks) went to a local “church faire” the other night. At the time, we knew very little about the occasion other than it was an “Invite Your Friends” evening, with “crafts and games and stuff.” While the larger objective of these events is, of course, to show that “church is so much fun” that the child will drag the entire family back the following Sunday (“save a child, save a family,” as they say), I let the Girl go. I just forgot to warn her about scratching her back.
Girl: “Mom, you know how I sometimes bend my arm back like this to scratch my back? Well, they thought I was raising my hand and I got chosen to answer a question.”
Me: “What was the question?”
Girl: “The question was, ‘If Jesus can forgive sins, what does that make him?’”
Me: “What did you say?”
Girl: “I said, ‘God’ [in a conceding tone]… even though That! Makes! No! Sense! [complete with pleading arm motions]. But, they gave me 3 tickets (to exchange for prizes) for getting the right answer [cheshire cat grin].”
Later, Girl mentioned that Best Friend was going back the following night.
Me: “Why?”
Girl: “They’re having cupcakes for snack [ laughing].”
Notice how they use Disney-ish characters in their material? I thought Disney was the devil incarnate?
Good point. And, if memory serves, McDonalds is a food vendor in Disney parks, which is doubly evil :O
Girl and I thought it was also dumb for them to ask “guests” Bible questions – and ask them for donations, which they also did. These people are so messed up; they should hire me as a consultant next time. They could pay me in cupcakes.
When I was in the 7th grade, I went to one of these things with a friend. It was at a Southern Baptist church. The preacher took my friend and I into his office and explained to me that I would burn in hell if I did not join their church.
That was my first introduction to fundamentalism at its finest.
I bawled and my mother had to set me straight.
I am a Christian, no desire to go to church, and I don’t give a hoot what anyone else does regarding religion, as long as they don’t preach it. (I mean shove it down my throat.) Live and let live is my motto, and support that freedom.
Your daughter is a wise girl, kudos to her.
This story reminded me of my own childhood. My best friend’s mother was a fundie, evangelical Baptist. (this made her part of a rare breed back in 1970′s South Africa. Not like Norfolk, VA now where they appear to be the dominant life form).
The mom insisted that my friend attend the weekly Wednesday evening “saving fests”. I used to enjoy going to them with my friend because the prizes were awesome. I also got fodder for a week’s worth of conversation with my father. We’d spend hours dissecting the manipulation of people’s emotions and would try to work out what psychopathology made people by that bs.
What I like about this story is that these events are carefully designed to take advantage of children (who don’t go to church) by tempting them with prizes and “fun” – yet these strong, smart girls refused to be manipulated by these dishonest adults. I have the greatest respect for each of these girls :)
I see the prizes and the cupcakes as metaphors for “playing the game” to their advantage.
Good for them for showing independence and intelligence :)
Absolutely good for them — they got the bribes without having to play the game. Love it. :)
It vaguely reminds me of a friend’s church years ago. He somehow got on the planning committee and, all of a sudden, the annual fundraiser was a BBQ and kegger party. We had a grand time! :)
Nance
Y’all are taking me back to my own teen years, active in the Methodist youth group because the church was closer than school to our house and I could walk with my friends, also Young Life at high school because they sponsored a ski trip to Windy Gap.
It just didn’t seem fraught or predatory then (maybe it was and I was clueless) and I think I learned (in a casual, unschooled way) some useful skills and constructs from those experiences — the way kids learn from any other ordinary hanging out together. It was of a piece with real life, and the social upheaval of the 60s and 70s wasn’t about Church. We had war protests and race wars in the streets, even at school, so Church to me felt like a casual party or clubhouse or break lounge, a small but literal sanctuary between the big spaces of public life where people I knew — friends and family — all wanted to be good and treat each other right, would come together and put that desire into practice.
Personally I think it is still pretty much unchanged from that, for educated and enlightened people I know in the South now. The dance and theatre people, university faculty and staff, the retired Navy admiral next door, and so forth. They sing in choirs and go to church on Sunday and know everybody, but there’s no crazy cult Christianity control freaks in sight or mind.
Obviously I meant PUBLIC life, Lynn — a little help?
(I made that typo on a community survey about the public schools once and the printer didn’t catch it; we sent out 40,000 misspelled as above. Seared into my memory.)
It must be easy to do :)