Sarah wrote: >I was going to send some lines from songs that suggest to me > this - what I call - lack of self-definition, but to be honest, I > feel a bit icky about discussing on the internet someone's decision > to have her child adopted. It was private, and none of my business.
I understand. It's difficult to discuss around some subjects without bringing her personal decisions and acts into it, as much as we try to be sensitive about it. I need to learn more brevity (but I tend to wordiness in my expressions). The bottom line is that I interpreted an implication or equivalency of Joni's experiences with those subjugated to the Magdalene Laundries and I just think that is, at best, intellectually dishonest. I absolutely believe that Joni, from her experiences, had a keener sense of empathy when she read about those brutalized in Ireland but her actual experiences were not equivalent. As for Catholicism, that is probably a subject that could fill reams here. My experience of Catholicism does not jive with a lot of others' interpretation and criticism. I was baptized a Catholic, but had a Lutheran mother who never converted. I was sent to both Protestant and Catholic schools and was immersed in both doctrines. My father, who all would assess as "devout" criticized the church up one side and down the other his entire life. The mean nuns, the narrow-minded and daft priests, the sometimes simplistic dogma - he denounced them all. Yet he is still wholeheartedly attached to his faith. I always thought that is because he (and others) embrace the essential truths of the faith itself versus the dogma.. I was so lucky to have also been exposed to the Lutheran doctrine, some of which I embrace as superior to the Catholic, yet still feel I can call myself a Catholic. All the rules - I hardly know any Catholics that believe or follow most of them, yet they still consider themself a member of the church. It would take too much discussion to explain the seeming contradiction of this, but trying in a simple way - the church also teaches that one has free will and individual conscience and that the bottom line is whether your actions are loving to your fellow human beings or not. I have never believed the Pope is infallible and disagree with his current stances on Iraq. I have always believed I could confess directly to God. I believe abortion is a matter of choice of the individual involved - free will between themself and their God or not. I have actually heard and read Catholic priests say premarital sex and divorce is not always a "sin" but the issue is rather about intent and circumstances. I have also had relationships with men who are athiests and their beliefs versus mine was never a problem Go figure. I have met many people in my life who are very bigoted against Catholics and I think that brings out the sensitivity in those who follow that faith. There is truly ignorant misinformation propagated against them. I don't mind the criticism if it is truthful, but there are so many stupid lies out there. It's one of the main reasons I have a problem with the "religious right." While I respect their right to believe as they will and I will defend those rights, I can't abide them imposing their beliefs on others or interpreting someone else's religious belief to their liking.. Every one I've ever met had the wildest ideas about Catholics and thought they were from the devil. No thanks. Interestingly, in the Protestant school I attended, they beat children with rulers and said other religions, especially Catholics were evil, yet in the Catholic school I went to, they would never strike a child, and the worst that could happen was having to stand in the corner or say ten times more prayers. They also taught us explicitly never to put down another's religion. (And, by the way, I did think forcing children to say all those prayers every day was a form of child abuse and my parents finally put me in public school because they believed the same ;-) I guess my point is that we all have different personal experiences of our various religious or non-religious upbringings. You cannot put all of one group into one box. Kakki
