throughout my travels in europe, i have been in many churches. it has also been hot, so i have often been wearing tank tops or shorts. i completely agree that a church is a sacred place, and that a certain level of respect is required when visiting. my respect for the church and religion comes in the form of silence, reflection, and turning the flash off of my camera.
so far, on two occasions, i have been told that i cannot enter the church unless i cover my shoulders. in barcelona, and again at the basilica di santa croce in florence. surprisingly, i was really really angry. at the first, i had to borrow my dad's shirt to wear, but in florence, i did not have any other pieces of clothing with me. luckily, my scarf was large enough to drape over my shoulders. if i had not had a scarf with me, i would have been asked to don a medical-type blue sheet. now that is respect if i have ever seen it.
why is it that if men are wearing shorts, they are let in; but if a woman is wearing shorts, she has to wrap a sterilized blue sheet around her waist to make it look like she is wearing a skirt?
here is the thing. i am pretty sure, that if there is a god, that he has seen my shoulders, along with everything else. it is this uptight, conservative and sexist structure that is pushing young people away from religion.
i apologize to anyone (including my dad!) who i may have offended with this. i thought i needed more controversy in my blog.
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4 comments:
Hey Sarah.
Bring on the controversy. I was going to respond with a big comment but it got so out of control that I decided to use it on my blog as an update. In a nutshell, I both agree and disagree with what your wrote.
If you feel like checking out why hit up www.irishtim.blogspot.com
Controversy rules! You go girl. (and while I agree with you in principle, you are still visiting their property so you should follow their rules...or don't visit). I don't think god cares what you wear, just what you do, say, and think.
Hi Sarah! Talia here. I found the link to your blog on Steve's one. I love the blogging community! I have a few things to say:
1. Who was the red piner you met at the train station?
2. My cousin went to pisa and instead of taking picures of himself and his friends "propping up the tower", he took pictures of all the people taking pictures of themselves propping up the tower, but at odd angles where it looks like they are just pushing on nothing. Sounds dumb, but i laughed for a solid half hour.
3. THe dinner with the italian familia sounds amazing. i had a similar experience at my local breakfast place here when Kim & Jane wouldn't come with me...I ended up meeting the most darling couple who bought me a coffee to stay and chat with them (sounds like a threesome invite when I say it but it was just coffee, I promise you)
Okay this is turning into an email. Drop me one at closure97@hotmail.com, or better yet, come back to Australia.
Take care of yourself,
Talia
Legalism will be the death of the church; I feel we've talked about this at some point or another. I went to a church where the youth minister was fired when it was learned that he'd seen, and enjoyed, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Personally, I'd have thought there'd be more religiously sound criteria for letting him go than him having watched a particular movie...but when you're dealing with legalism, sound criteria be damned. So yeah, good on you for being upset.
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