Church.....Religion.....Sprirituality.......they all have different meanings depending on how we grew up. I grew up in the Lutheran Church and my husband grew up in the Baptist Church. We are raising our daughter on the other hand not in any particular church but as a Christian. We are also raising her to be open and respectful of ALL religions and to always be willing to think outside the box. =) One of the joys of being in a racially mixed marriage is sharing and experiencing all of the differences on both sides. "Black churches" and "white churches" could not be any more different. (I don't like distinguishing them like that, but for the purpose of this post I need to.) White churches in my experience, are quiet, prayerful, and pretty conservative. Black churches are the exact opposite. I remember the first time I went to a predominately black church, I was amazed. The singing, the clapping, the holy ghost, it was wild...to me at least! At first I thought, this is not how you act in church, and then I realized, this is pretty cool! Talk about praising God! Do it out loud and do it proud! Not that we aren't feeling the same thing in the predominately white churches, but it just feels so good to shout it out. Don't even get me started with the differences in the clothes! Ohhhh the hats in the black churches....fantastic! I just can't express how much I love the fact that we can teach our daughter the best of all worlds so she can pass that on to her kids, and so on, and so on. Whether you are Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, etc., one day if we all accept and respect each other for whatever religion we practice, whatever race we are, and whatever our differing beliefs might be, then maybe, just maybe there will be no wars, no racism, and no hate. It's so simple, so why do we make it so hard? Call me Tinkerbell, but miracles can happen, right? Friday, May 29, 2009
Church.....
Church.....Religion.....Sprirituality.......they all have different meanings depending on how we grew up. I grew up in the Lutheran Church and my husband grew up in the Baptist Church. We are raising our daughter on the other hand not in any particular church but as a Christian. We are also raising her to be open and respectful of ALL religions and to always be willing to think outside the box. =) One of the joys of being in a racially mixed marriage is sharing and experiencing all of the differences on both sides. "Black churches" and "white churches" could not be any more different. (I don't like distinguishing them like that, but for the purpose of this post I need to.) White churches in my experience, are quiet, prayerful, and pretty conservative. Black churches are the exact opposite. I remember the first time I went to a predominately black church, I was amazed. The singing, the clapping, the holy ghost, it was wild...to me at least! At first I thought, this is not how you act in church, and then I realized, this is pretty cool! Talk about praising God! Do it out loud and do it proud! Not that we aren't feeling the same thing in the predominately white churches, but it just feels so good to shout it out. Don't even get me started with the differences in the clothes! Ohhhh the hats in the black churches....fantastic! I just can't express how much I love the fact that we can teach our daughter the best of all worlds so she can pass that on to her kids, and so on, and so on. Whether you are Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, etc., one day if we all accept and respect each other for whatever religion we practice, whatever race we are, and whatever our differing beliefs might be, then maybe, just maybe there will be no wars, no racism, and no hate. It's so simple, so why do we make it so hard? Call me Tinkerbell, but miracles can happen, right? 
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9 comments:
Tinkerbell??? I will have to start calling you that....or perhaps just "Tink". :)
Love you...and your blog!
Lori
I went to my 5th grade teacher's wedding so I was 8. My friend and I were the only 2 that were white. She was a great teacher and I was thrilled that she invited us. It was an A.M.E. church in a little town in Delaware. Thanks for stirring up a good memory. Maddie
I love your blog Amy. Fun to read. I know you put a lot of thought into it.
Lori and Maddie thanks for the nice comments. I am really having a lot of fun writing this. I am so glad Jamie gave me the idea. We shall see where it goes.
Maddie speaking of stirring up memories, that is exactly what this blog is doing for me. It's great! It's like a walk down memory lane every single time I post.
Lori Tinkerbell came from Dad. =) Tink...I like that much better!!! Hilarious!
Love you both...A.
Actually..when I thought about it, I was 10 not 8 years old. It was 1968. Those were crazy times. I lived in a rural town in Delaware that seemed to have special crieria for acceptance. Even though we were white, my mom was Catholic, which is one of the infamous "K's" in the trilogy of letters. My sister and brothers were excluded from Scouts. Go figure. Must have been a million times worse to be black or Jewish. We had a total of two Jewish families in my high school.couldn't wait to get out of Delaware and am very happy to have raised my boys in SoCal.
What is really amazing is that Jamie and I could not have been legally married in Delaware and many other states in the 60's. It wasn't until 1967 that the law was overturned. Even more amazing is it wasn't until 2000 that the law was officially removed from the books in Alabama! Only 59% of voters voted to change the law. How crazy is that!?! I will stick with So Cal any day. =) However now we need to change prop 8! What is up with that? How on earth does that pass in Calif?
When I was ready to go to 6th grade, the little town I lived in had closed the elementary school which meant I had to go to either the school my siblings went to or the ones the majority of my classmates were assigned to. The one my siblings went to was called "Georgetown Special School District". The Special meant that blacks ere not allowed. It was one of the last districts to hold out on integration.I went with my classmates. There was alot of reverse discrimination and hatred also in that time. Scarey to go to the bathroom where you could get jumped. There was this one girl, who will remain nameless as this is cyberspace. She scared the shit out of me. She was a very muscular black girl, athletic, which major muscle definition. She was very "angry" and very much into "black power". I always seemed to be on the opposing team in gym class playing field hockey. I'll tell you, I always stepped aside when she came barrelling down on me with a hockey stick! I still think about it today and laugh. I was never competitive.
P.S. I can also tell you that interracial marriages are frowned upon in Delaware. My high school friend was all undone because of having a ****** in the Whitehouse. He was raised that way. Which brings back the fact that bigotry is learned.
hey amy :) I just discovered your blog on the internet after searching up advice on interfaith/interracial relationships.. I'm currently dating a man who is pakistani/australian and also a Muslim.. I'm half chinese and half australian and am a Christian.. So not only are we interracial but also interfaith! Your writings have given me a lot of hope! At times I get overwhelmed at all the potential barriers I would have to face if we ever decided to marry and have a child.. Any advice??
Much love :)
Jassi,
Hello! I'm so glad you found my blog. My one piece of advice I give everyone is to follow your heart. You can't help who you fall in love with. Soooo many people told Jamie and I we shouldn't be together and if we had listened to them we would not have this amazing life, marriage and family that we have experienced during our 19 years together. When you enter into an interracial/interfaith relationship just make sure that all aspects of BOTH people are honored. Color is just that. Color. It doesn't make a person, the heart makes the person. Religion is also just that. God loves all of us. We can honor and respect each other's religion but in the end we all love God and that's what matters. I hope that helps a little.
Feel free to always come back and ask advice. We have been through it ALL!
Have a beautiful weekend!
Amy
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