Ok... slightly random question... We're looking to re-locate (can't afford to buy/rent any more in the area we live in) and went down to a rural bit of Devon (lived in Plymouth for 8 years, so know the area well) last weekend.
Thought it would be good to take DS (age 4) and DD (18m) to church (CofE) - we go fairly regularly here and although I'm an atheist who lost their faith, I like to think I'm open to being on a spiritual journey - and think it's important that children grow up understanding faith even if they don't choose it in the long run.
So, having a coffee afterwards and chatting to lots of lovely welcoming people. They mentioned the beavers & scouts and how wonderful they get so many in church on parade-day...
"yes" says one lady "they have to come to church or they're out. That's the rule."
"Really?" me, aghast.
"Yes, we give up a lot of our free time to run it, so they can at least come for that service. It's only last year that they stopped promising to do their duty to God, you know".
Carried on in same vein. Turns out that "they" are also "out" if they misbehave ("teachers have to put up with that stuff, but we don't).
I did gently challenge; but as there's no other obvious faith groups locally, apparently enforced presence at a church service is ok for all. As the beaver & scouts leaders pointed out, it's a civil service (remembrance day) and serving members of the armed forces go along.
You might ask, what is my problem; I was at church anyway... but it's the enforced approach of exclusion unless you submit to going to church. If that approach really worked then the church would have been heaving with tiny people (it wasn't and apparently Sunday school is lucky to get 2 or 3 children).
It's put me off moving to such a seemingly intolerant community; esp if I'd like DS to be involved in local beavers & scouts, etc. Plus, he's in early stages of being diagnosed with something autistic spectrum/ADHD/??? so he can be very disruptive and I'd hate to think that he'd be excluded. I'm fairly certain that wouldn't happen here (I know the local leader and he's always fab with DS).
Can anyone put my mind at rest? Or am I just a wishy-washy Guardian reader?
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Beavers, scouts, Church and finding a place to live...
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AcademicOwl · 20/08/2014 10:55
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