Ten days ago my 62 year old mother had a stroke. She is largely unable to communicate, and the right side of her body is paralyzed. While we are hopeful rehab will eventually correct much of her limitation, it will be taking months to accomplish it.
As such, I'm out of town helping my family get through this time, and part of that experience is dealing with my mom's church, which she is active in. I attended as a child but left in my early teens. Still, I thought it important Mom's minister be notified early. It didn't matter to me, but I know it would matter to Mom. I think people miss that point in religion too often. It's not about my belief here, it's about hers. I can see value in it from her perspective, even though mine are different.
I hear a lot of people saying that Christians are mean-spirited. They hear about people like the Westboro Baptist Church in the news and presume all Christians behave that way, particularly since Christianity does have a fairly exclusive theology. People presume I left because I found them mean, and I most certainly didn't. I just don't believe the same things as them. This church has held a prayer vigil for my mom. Relatives have informed their churches, and those churches are praying for her, even though their members have never even met my mom. They don't even specifically know she's a Christian, and she's certainly not the same denomination as these other churches. These people understand the concept of community and caring for those who need care. They've volunteered by the dozen to help my entire family, even though Mom is the only church member.
Religion doesn't make people horrible. People choose to be horrible and do it in the name of their religion. Or, as my mom's church has done, people can choose to be kind and decent.
