Something I'm looking into

My friend Lacey who knits and knew Anne first is a Baha'i. I am fascinated by other religions so I am looking into it. I think that I like the Episcopalians enough to not switch, though I'm not much for religious practice anyway. (note that I don't exactly attend church regularly)

I give my mother credit for my religious curiousity. When I was in the depths of insanity that is preteen puberty I was very angry about going to church/Sunday School. My mom thought that it was important to be reminded that there is a god and that you need to be a good person. In elementary school she told me that I could be Jewish if I wanted, but I had to go to Sunday school and Hebrew school and services, or I could go to church and sunday school with her. From my point of view, 2 hours on Sunday morning was more than enough religion in a week, so I stuck with her, since I couldn't find a lower-commitment religion anyway.

When we moved to Minnesota, Eckankar's Temple of ECK was right there in Chanhassen, and if you want a weird religion, that's it. I'm not super familiar with it, but the ECKs that I've met are definitely a little different.

My father is from Salt Lake City, Utah, but as far as I know, he is not and was not raised in the Mormon Church. But he doesn't talk about it. Which makes me curious about Mormons, especially because Mormon Fundamentalists are nutty and sometimes violent.

Which brings me to my curiousity about the Baha'i faith. I will be asking Lacey lots more questions, and reading, but I think in the end I won't switch because it is a non-ritualistic religion. I like pomp and circumstance and stained glass and ritualized cannibalism and fancy vestments. What can I say, I was raised in a fairly High Church Episcopal congregation.

Do you have any further reading reccommendations? Your own story of religious curiosity or nuttiness? Leave comments.