Saturday, 10 January 2009
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see relatedReligion in a Small Town and All Its Conflicts
It's interesting the people who come into your life at seemingly random intervals - or the people who leave and then reenter your life when you least expect it.
I have made it a goal this year to explore multiple religions - to look at them objectively, to see what moves me, just to know about them. There is ample opportunity to see Christianity at work in my community - in our town of 5,000 we have 14 Christian churches - but to find those who have other beliefs is quite rare. Which brings me to the latest person to walk into my life...
I run a Writer's Circle at my public library. It's been shrinking as the year passed, so I had to shut it down briefly so that I could advertise and get a few new members. So far our newest addition is, much to my surprise, a man who is a pagan and, moreover, is gay.
To give you a bit of perspective: I live in the Midwest, in a very small community where half of the population is related to each other. We are made up, in the majority, of extraordinarily close-minded Christians. (I know that not all Christians are close-minded - but trust me when I say that many of those living in my town are.) There was a huge controversy at my high school this year because two boys went as dates and danced together. We are not, for the most part, a community that is friendly and welcoming to those who are not WASPs. Even Catholics get their fair share of hate much of the time.
So you can imagine I was very surprised to have this new member in our group. We are a pretty diverse collection of writers, for the most part - one woman writes nature poetry; another writes oftentimes inflammatory bits on the way the government/big corporations are screwing things up; and another girl - my age at twenty - writes really excellent fantasy novels. She and I get along pretty well, as we both write fantasy and are about the same age. She is from a much more conservative family than mine, however - one of those families that believes Harry Potter is demonic and therefore won't let their children read it.
I started my Writer's Circle again yesterday - and at the meeting there was only me, the girl who is my age and this new man. He was very open about his belief in Wicca and about his homosexuality, both of which made this girl very uncomfortable. He had some poetry he wanted to read that would have made this girl uncomfortable, and she told him so after he shared the topics. I think he was a little offended, because later, when I left them alone, I came back and found the girl saying something like, "Well I like to read new things and explore, but with my background I just don't..."
I interrupted at that point. I didn't particularly want to bring religion into my Writer's Circle, and I don't want it to affect the group dynamic. Still, I want everyone to feel welcome. This puts me in the role of a mediator, trying to keep the peace between these two deeply religious people without insulting either.
Personally, I find both religions fascinating and don't have problems with either belief. I hope that comes across in the way I talk to both of them, and I hope I can help both of them feel comfortable in a group together. It will be an interesting and incredibly difficult challenge for me, but in some ways I look forward to it.
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