Vacation bible school imposter?

The church where N went to preschool is having VBS this week, and I signed up N to go. For some strange reason, I feel a little weird about sending her. I'm apparently thinking for the masses who might judge me....the unknown, faceless uber-religious masses.

Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows I am not a church person. I don't go and don't intend to go. I believe in a god and the "do unto others" stuff. I believe in being kind, considerate and living and letting live. That's my spiritual mantra in a nutshell.

Earlier this year, sometime between all-day pregnancy sickness, my first class and my second class, I read the book Religious Illiteracy by Stephen Prothero. It was very interesting and caused me to be more disciplined about reading bible stories with N.

The goal is not to get her to believe what I believe....in part because my beliefs are so nebulous and also because she will have to determine for herself what she believes...but so that she knows the stories of the bible, the characters, the dilemmas. I'd never really thought about it until reading Prothero's book, but one's knowledge of literature, art, music and history can be negatively impacted by a lack of information of all things religious....and not just Christianity. Maybe this is why I selected Jewish folktales to read for the current class I'm taking. To expand my knowledge of the themes and motifs of Jewish oral tradition.

So my motivation in sending N to VBS is twofold really: 1. to give her something to keep her occupied that involves other kids, and 2. to help her develop a knowledge of religion. But I still feel a little weird about sending her....like I really shouldn't for some reason---because we aren't churchgoers, because we don't subscribe to all the beliefs that Christians do. (I no longer call myself a Catholic or a Christian because neither category fits me.)

Tonight I read to her about Nebuchadnezzer and Daniel and was trying to explain why the king put Daniel's friends into the fire. I just said that different people have different beliefs about god since no one has ever seen god, and Nebuchadnezzer was angry because the men didn't believe in the god he believed in.

And it seemed to me that this biblical episode is why I choose not to affiliate with any particular religion. Which is ok by me but makes me feel all weirded out and alien whenever I try to introduce my child to something religious.

This post likely isn't making much sense which is apropos since my feelings don't make a whole lot of sense to me regarding this issue.