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Tales of a 5-Year-Old Sunday School Drop Out
Growing up, I was raised Baptist, strict Baptist. I was raised in the Church and attended Sunday School every week, rain, snow or shine from the age of 5 until I aged out at somewhere around 12. It was very important to my parents that their children be brought up with their values. Well, I should say it was important to my mother. My father was a self-described believer but not a Christian. My mother, on the other hand, was very devout.
I remember having a lot of questions surrounding the things I was taught as a kid. Questions no one could answer to my satisfaction. Responses like you just have to have faith, to make little girls like you ask questions or there are some things you aren’t meant to understand did nothing to satisfy my curiosity. And as I got older, I understood these responses as more of a means to shut down further inquiry than to actually provide any meaningful answer.
That being said, even when I grew up, I identified as a Baptist. I certainly wasn’t a practising Christian of any kind, but I felt somewhere that it was important to have a core set of values. I felt it was important to pass these values down to my children. So, I packed my oldest (we’ll call him J) off for Sunday School when he turned 5.
