Dec 14, 2004
Labels.
My Sister's Keeper: A sibling converts to evangelical Christianity. "No one close to me had ever been committed to placing religion or spirituality at the center of their life before."
I like this piece a lot, because the author (mostly) realizes she can't take her own pre-conceived ideas of what a born again Christian is and plant them on her sister simply because her sister claims that label. It's why I am so, so picky about who I discuss this stuff with. Back in my more atheist days I used to be one of the worst offenders in this regard. Worse, I often thought I was being respectful when I did it. ("Oh, you're a Muslim? Then I won't serve pork! Look at me, I am so sensitive.") It's one thing to err on the side of caution — you know, don't throw a party, invite 30 Muslim friends, and serve nothing but beer and ham sandwiches — but I now understand how annoying it is to have people take what they know about Belief System X and apply it to you wholescale. Christians must get this even worse than I do. At least Islam isn't tagged with being anti-science.
