Religious “Rites” of children
Religious “Rites” of children
Chicago today is host to a courtroom decision, in regard to religious upbringing of a small child. Both sides, debating on how their three year old daughter should be influenced religiously/spiritually in life until adulthood beyond the years of parenting a child, with the father being loosely Catholic and the mother being Jewish in her beliefs with the resulting lawsuit based on pre-marital contracting where as any children would be raised Jewish in her mother’s argument to the courts. Child’s father is accused and shown taking the young girl to be baptized in defiance of the mother’s permission and wishes, resulting in the mother insisting the father be placed in jail for six months.
Religious choice now being used as the adult act of defiance to possibly underlying issues not made public. Now the child has been baptized into Christianity as a stunt by the father. I am not sure this act personally would be called to my attention if I have not witnessed something very similar in my own neighborhood. Again a three year old girl taken into a church and baptized at three in more of the tank setting and horrified of the process bluntly done by a father as a custody stunt done in retaliation of the mother. The three year old child I know still has vivid recollection and anything yet close to feeling part of a religious ceremony.
When do the rights of a child become lost to rites of the parents regarding religion? A child is born, and in my own case at birth – dedicated to God and still given a rite in life to choose at a later time, resulting more in a blessing of birth. At eight by my own choice, I chose to be baptized in a river ceremony, none the less even at that age; a full understanding could not be fully formulated. Another child of a stricter religious order is processed through parental beliefs and rites of passage in the hopes of the parent, the child will remain in the faith through adulthood creating a life choice in ritual a parent finds binding for life. Rights of the parent become the rites of the child. In Chicago as with my own experience with this nature, it is highly unlikely the child in any form was part of a decision process. Do I believe the father should serve time as a criminal for his act, no. Our country was founded on lines of division of church and state, where acts of religion were found to be less punishable by state, unless those acts were and are of criminal nature in regard to the church.
Where do I feel God/Source would stand on this issue? A return of love would still be sent in knowing all paths of faith return in love also from this world. A mortal religious act done in defiance or possibly for wrong reasons in physical thinking, his love for the mother/father/child is not swayed by ritual. A child torn between paths of faith out of bitterness is going to associate bitterness in relation to forming their own opinions of God and religious or legal vehicles used in defining who they are and asking later in life “who am I?”, the person I choose to be or the one I was said to be molded to be. Ultimately in our world now a voice of decision will come from the child in adult form regardless of today’s outcome in Chicago for this three year old girl with the saddest attribute being religion being used as a point of control and bitterness between two parents she loves. Will she question if this God that says this is important really understands her and pain being felt? If she does my only wish is that she feels warm in relation to being happy in life. Her truth will be found as her parents will move beyond using the God of their choice as a weapon of control and deceit. Love is always returned and with the parents in Chicago today and a little three year old girl in wait of knowing in life whose rights and rites will affect her childhood years. May they all be blessed in moving beyond usage of church and state into honoring of child and joy?
Comments