Best when used by.......

[osodecanela]

I was chatting with a friend (note, no capital "F", as in he's a non-Quaker) earlier this evening as I was driving home. He's pagan identified, but was raised in the X-ian tradition, Nazarine to be specific. He's come out, and looks as if he's found Mr. Right.

His partner, now divorced from his former wife, has become disillusioned with the church he grew up in and my friend was lamenting their 6 year old (the have split custody with the ex-wife) is not getting any religious upbringing. I asked why he, as a pagan man was concerned that the child have a foundation in X-ianity. I'm still not fully chear on his answer, but suffice it to say he feels as the child wasn't 'his' from birth, he was not comfortable in broadening her spiritual horizons to his Wiccan ways, at least for the time being. He hastened to say he was raised in the church. I asked, "didn't your folks have an apartment?"

Now my friend and his partner live in a small city in western Washington state, a place where both Republicans and Evangelicals abound. I expressed my concern that they, as a gay couple, should seek out a congregation that would be friendly to their social and sexual values, which somehow I doubt would take them back into an evangelical tradition. To my surprise he asked if I knew if there were Quakers up their way.

I hadn't thought of suggesting Friends to him. My first reaction was "wonderful!", until it hit me that the Friends in their area are likely part of EFA, the Evangelical Friends Alliance, and unlikely to be a particularly welcoming faith community for them. So, I countered that the Friends there were likely of another stripe, not un-programmed like me.

He said, "Pasteurized Friends, right?"

I had a wtf moment. The it hit me.

"Um, no. That would be pastoral Quakers. I've yet to meet any Friends that come with a pull date. I know a bunch of Quakers that are vegetarians, but no one that qualifies as a dairy product!"

Comments

[eireangus.livejournal.com]

That was a great post! :)

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

Grazzi bello!

[robearal.livejournal.com]

1. This is coming from someone who is not nor not likely to become a parent. But, as a Pagan, I think it's important for children to be at least familiar with the common religious paradigm, i.e. the three main Abrahamic religions. They need to know the driving force of history. They should also be exposed to other religions as well. This will allow them a basis from which to choose their own Paths.

2. I had a skewed vision of Quakers. My first exposure was when we moved to Friendswood, Texas when I was 7. As the name implies, it was founded by Quakers, and there was still a strong Quaker presence in the town. However, they must have been EFA, because their "meeting house" was a gothic-revival monstrosity, and they seemed to be almost worse than the Baptists when it came to "Thou shalt not"s. It wasn't until 20 years later when I lived in Philadelphia that I learned that true Quakers were actually cool, accepting people.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

1: I got that without setting foot inside a house of worship for anything other than a wedding or funeral. Of course, I wound up an atheist. ;)

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

The Friends of Friendswood sound like 'church' Quakers to me.

Do you know the Race St Meetinghouse?

[madknits.livejournal.com]

While I hesitate to mention them, the UUs have been known to be friendly to pagan type folk. Within a UU church, one will meet people with any spiritual bent, or none, since I've known atheist UUs, including some ministers. They also operate something called the Church of the Larger Fellowship, sort of a mail order church for people who live in places where there is no UU community, but who want a liberal religious experience.

I am having my own problems with the way UUs behave (so many of them are a bit too smug), but they mean well, and I'd rather a UU than an Evangelical experience.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

Funny, I was about to suggest the UU's, when he started asking about Friends.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

:)
loved yer post

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

:D

[biffsf.livejournal.com]

Some of the MCC churches in the region [http://www.mccchurch.org/usa/washington.htm] are progressive, the one in Seattle particularly so.

I'm also aware of the UCC denomination as a possibility for open/affirming via one of my partners, Marilee/Randy