LeRoy

I dreamed about my ex Leroy last night. He was taking one of my dogs and moving away. I spent a lot of the dream crying.

Well, LeRoy did just move, from NC to Wyoming, I'm told. I haven't heard from him, so I have no way to contact him. I think I'm having anxiety about that. We were together for 9 years and we've been friends for over 15 now, and it bothers me that I can't reach him.

Thinking about LeRoy reminds me of something the preacher at St. Andrew said to me on "Pie with the Pastor" night. She said that most people who aren't raised in a church never find their way to faith, so it was important to raise children in a faith community. But LeRoy is a great example of someone who was raised in a family with strong religious beliefs but who wants absolutely nothing to do with religion.

He hated going to church. He vehemently rejects the idea that there is any God. He fully believes that religion is the opiate of the masses. Honestly, these days television is more like the opiate of the masses but whatever.

I know a lot of people like LeRoy. John, my high school friend. Both of my parents. Sarah. People who are intelligent, independent types who feel like religion either failed them or abused them in some way.

Raising a kid in a church is no guarantee that the child will grow up to be a person of faith. On the contrary, he or she could, as an adult, be so scarred by their experience that belief becomes, barring a miracle, almost impossible.