Religion does matter, culturally (at least)

My kids are woefully ignorant of Judaism and Christianity. We are Unitarian Univeralists and, although Unitarian Univeralism grew out of Protestant Christianity, most UUs are not Christian. My congregation does not teach Judeo-Christian religion / stories until the 5th grade. My kids are in 3rd grade. My kids have no idea who Moses or anyone in the Old Testament is. They know something about Jesus even they don't know much. We celebrate Christmas but only as a matter of tradition. Neither my partner or I are Christian. Our congregation celebrates Passover with a Seder largely because many congregants are formerly Jewish or culturally Jewish or in a mixed marriage. My kids cannot associate Passover with any thing except that they know it's part of Jewish tradition. They don't know the story. Very sad.

My kids understand Jesus was a baby at Christmas and on a cross as an adult. They think the people who put Jesus on the cross were mean. They have no contextual understanding. They wonder if Jesus has email(Jesus@heaven.org?) or is on Facebook. They ponder whether he knows Santa Claus. I couldn't even listen to something they muttered about Jesus' blood. They wanted to know why Jesus died and I replied for people's sins and then they wanted to know what sins were. It wasn't fair, Jesus had to die for people's wrongdoings and killing him with a cross was just mean. I tried to explain that he wasn't killed with the cross but rather on the cross. The kids thought it strange any one would wear a cross since the cross killed Jesus. When they asked what happened after Jesus died, I said he rose from the dead. My son immediately deduced Jesus was a zombie. The former Catholic in me cringed.

Last week while looking in my public library for The Ten Commandments, I stumbled upon Ben-Hur. Turns out the library does not carry The Ten Commandments. For real? In a town with a population which is 30 percent Jewish? Ok.

While watching Ben-Hur, My partner and I laughed at the quasi homo-erotic scenes. Nothing overt but it's there. (I can't wait for Spartacus.) Jesus has a very minor role in this movie. Ben-Hur is Jewish and is much put upon by the Romans who eventually adopt him a Roman because he rescues a commander while serving as a galley slave aboard a ship. (It's fictional!) Ben-Hur eventually returns to Israel where he runs into his old girlfriend who has begun to follow Jesus (who previously gave Ben-Hur some water against Roman wishes after a march through the sand dunes.) The girlfriend and Ben-Hur try to take Ben-Hur's leprous mother and sister to see Jesus but Jesus is on his way to die. Ben-Hur gives Jesus water and after he dies, the mother and sister are cured. They are now all Christians. End of movie. The chariot scene was still the best part.

My son denounced the Romans as very mean people. He is beginning to think they are as bad as Nazis without any understanding what Nazis or Romans really were; but he was not upset they killed Jesus so much as he was upset that the Romans were out to get Ben-Hur time after time. Jesus had a very minor role. He is killed. Ben-Hur survived the desert march, the galley ships and the best chariot race ever filmed. No wonder he was emotionally vested more in Ben-Hur. Other than a passing sadness about his fate, Jesus didn't register with my son.

I see now that when I saw Ben-Hur as a child, it was colored by my Roman Catholic education and daily experience. Jesus was Jesus! The Son of God. For my son, Jesus was a minor player in an exciting movie. Of course, this would be the perception of someone not raised Christian. Well, at least we've begun a discussion about Jesus which is a start. I am hoping to give the kids more insight into Jesus when we watch The King of Kings, but I really am not looking forward to explaining the difference between Jesus' resurrection and zombies returning from the dead.

I am really looking forward to watching The Ten Commandments with the kids. This at least on some levels hews to the biblical account of Moses' life. It is larger than life and one the best lines in movie history is Yul Brenner as Ramses pronouncing, "So let it be written, so let it be done." The kids will at least have some context for Seders.

Then we can move onto less spectacular biblical movies like Esther and Samson and Delilah. I don't expect my kids to read the Bible. I want them to be familiar with some of its stories because there are so many cultural and literary references that they will never get unless they obtain some knowledge of the Bible. The movies will not give them a deep understanding but they will at least make them more biblical literate than they are now.

One interesting thing about my kids' religious perception is that they are non-Christians in what is a mostly still a Christian nation. My kids will see Jesus and Christianity in ways Hindus or Jews do, rather than the way I was raised. For my perceptions of Jesus, see here: (my-own-personal-jesus)

We will see where my kids' understanding and perception and yes, beliefs about religion will go.