This post nicely captures the nuances and ambiguities that parents face when introducing religion to their kids. I have an eight month old daughter and we recently did an infant baptism/dedication for her in front of our church congregation. We want her to have some kind of spiritual formation and internalize what we believe are the positive aspects of Christianity, without making religion coercive. My wife grew up in a rigid evangelical environment where church was not optional, questions were not welcomed, and a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible was assumed to be the only way of reading it. We intend to do things differently with our daughter. What does that look like? We’re still trying to figure that out.
I really appreciate you sharing this, Dan. And "what does that look like?" Phew. When you figure that one out, please let me know :) But for real, the very fact that you're asking the questions and open to the journey is everything. Being able to live through all the uncertainty that comes with raising a child--how they'll react to you and the world on a daily basis, how they'll "turn out" in the future, etc.--if that's not faith, I don't know what is.
This hit hard. The way you wrote about loving someone fiercely and still not fully sharing their beliefs felt so honest. My wife and I have bumped into a similar tension. It is a strange thing to hold tradition in one hand and autonomy in the other. The line about faith being an evolving belief, not a fixed answer, is one I will carry for a long time. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks so much for reading and responding! You're spot on in naming that tension between tradition and autonomy. And since a lot of time has elapsed since the events of this essay, along with conversations with my partner, I'm thinking more lately about how traditions are influenced by cultural background, and that Jenny's desire to appease her mom is baked into being what we call a "good Filipino." As a lot of folx know, Catholicism and Filipinx culture are more intertwined than Jollibee chicken and rice... :)
Thank you for unpacking that. It’s wild how much of who we become is shaped long before we ever get a say. Really grateful you told the story the way you did. It gave me a lot to think about.
This post nicely captures the nuances and ambiguities that parents face when introducing religion to their kids. I have an eight month old daughter and we recently did an infant baptism/dedication for her in front of our church congregation. We want her to have some kind of spiritual formation and internalize what we believe are the positive aspects of Christianity, without making religion coercive. My wife grew up in a rigid evangelical environment where church was not optional, questions were not welcomed, and a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible was assumed to be the only way of reading it. We intend to do things differently with our daughter. What does that look like? We’re still trying to figure that out.
I really appreciate you sharing this, Dan. And "what does that look like?" Phew. When you figure that one out, please let me know :) But for real, the very fact that you're asking the questions and open to the journey is everything. Being able to live through all the uncertainty that comes with raising a child--how they'll react to you and the world on a daily basis, how they'll "turn out" in the future, etc.--if that's not faith, I don't know what is.
This hit hard. The way you wrote about loving someone fiercely and still not fully sharing their beliefs felt so honest. My wife and I have bumped into a similar tension. It is a strange thing to hold tradition in one hand and autonomy in the other. The line about faith being an evolving belief, not a fixed answer, is one I will carry for a long time. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks so much for reading and responding! You're spot on in naming that tension between tradition and autonomy. And since a lot of time has elapsed since the events of this essay, along with conversations with my partner, I'm thinking more lately about how traditions are influenced by cultural background, and that Jenny's desire to appease her mom is baked into being what we call a "good Filipino." As a lot of folx know, Catholicism and Filipinx culture are more intertwined than Jollibee chicken and rice... :)
Thank you for unpacking that. It’s wild how much of who we become is shaped long before we ever get a say. Really grateful you told the story the way you did. It gave me a lot to think about.
Thanks so much for giving me the space to share this story here, Kevin!
Great piece, Jason!
Thank you, Jack. I appreciate you reading and the kind words!