Heh.

[apocalypsos]

I made a run up to my parents' house and ended up helping my mom swap out her spring/summer clothes for her fall/winter ones. Usually, this ends with my mom finding things in her closet and the attic that she doesn't want, and passing them onto me which, for the most part, I have no problem with. (She has a tendency to buy nice sneakers, wear them once or twice, and then pass them off to me six months later.)

Today, as I was standing at the bottom of the pull-down attic steps, my mom appeared at the top with a long-sleeved pink T-shirt with a large cursive J embroidered over the left breast. "Do you want this?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Did I get the main role in an updated Laverne and Shirley?"

I took the shirt anyway. I can wear it ironically. Around the house. At night, with all the lights off, where no one can see me.

(Apparently it was a gift from my grandmother who, rather than giving it to her daughter-in-law in a silly ironic gag-gift sort of way, is more likely to have given it to her in a completely-out-of-touch-with-our-likes-and-dislikes sort of way.)

My mom and I also talked about the new job.

Mom: "The Salvation Army is a Christian organization, you know."
Me: "Yes, I know. Boy, I hope they don't see my pentagram tattoo, huh?"
Mom: "I'm just saying that you might want to ..."
Me: "I'm not going to be offensive, but I'm not going to lie. If they ask me if I'm a Christian, I'm just going to say --"
Mom: "Just tell them you were baptized."
Me: "Yes, and then I got confirmed, and then I stopped going because I thought the Bible was nonsense, no one seemed to give a shit about behaving in a Christ-like manner towards their fellow man anymore, and I didn't want to be a part of something I saw in large part as being too fixated on promoting sexism, racism, intolerance of other religions and homophobia."
Mom: *makes grumbling noises under her breath*
Me: "I swear to God I'm not going to say that to actual co-workers."
Mom: *still grumbling*

Although if they ask, I'll freely admit to being an atheist. I have to say, I do find it relaxing that my parents don't give a damn they raised two kids, got them baptized, sent them to catechism classes, got them confirmed, and ended up with an atheist and an agnostic out of the deal.

Comments

[shinetheway.livejournal.com]

My parents seem remarkably sanguine about the fact that they sent their first kid to college and ended up with a bisexual pagan who writes gay erotica on the internet. (However, if I'd gone vegetarian, I might have been disowned.) They even sent the next two to college, which I think was a touching show of faith. [grins]

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Is your mom adopting?

[jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com]

(flashing own pentacle) They should be happy they raised two kids who can see when they've been lied to and misled so easily.

Christianity is getting to be a religion for plaster saints and martyrs, not living people.

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

i've worked in a church daycare for four years (granted, it's IN a church but doesn't teach church-y things and we can't play like...Veggie Tales) and m co-workers finally foun out i'm atheist (technically, agnostic) because we were being rebels and playing a Veggie Tales cd and I was saying how I don't care that I'm atheist, I'm totally having my kids watch it because Veggie Tales is awesome.

Which then prompted a lot of "You ARE? Really? So what does that MEAN, exactly?" and then we did art and the subject was dropped.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

A church that -forbids- Veggie Tales? Wha...?

And anywho, aren't VT stories sans jesus?

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

Yeah, because it's not actually during church hours, we can't do any religious teachings (which, fine by me!) so we're not allowed to watch VT or that one gymnast's children's show (I wanna say Mary Lou someone?) because it's Inspirational.

And yeah. We justified listening to the VT cd because it was songs like Where Is My Hairbrush and I Want My Cheeseburger (my lovely cheeseburgerrrr, i long for youuu-whooo!) the most religious the cd got was a song about Daniel in the lion pit and even that was only because we KNEW what it was about.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I do find it relaxing that my parents don't give a damn they raised two kids, got them baptized, sent them to catechism classes, got them confirmed, and ended up with an atheist and an agnostic out of the deal.

IMO, it means they did their jobs as parents well.

[narrelle.livejournal.com]

When I worked for World Vision, a Christian aid organisation, my policy was that if people either asked about my church (or related issue) or wanted me to lead prayer, I would tell them that I was an atheist. Depending on the circumstances I might elaborate taht I have a *philosophy* but refrained from telling them I thought their religion nonsense. I did expect the same respect for my values as I gave to theirs in the workplace, and generally I got it.

So - I think your approach is the right one. It's honest and doesn't *have* to be confrontational.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Seriously? I thought it was a large grouping of people who salvaged things to sell.

But are they even legally allowed to ask you your religous afilliation?

And my parents spent a hell of a lot of effort into Catholic dogma and got someone who now doesn't believe in any organized religion.