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  • From: Cathy <goosecreekfarm AT gmail.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Heinlein, was SE PA going
  • Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:41:40 -0500

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 3:10 PM, <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com> wrote:

>
> > >Before we lived in PA, we lived in VA in a small town in Giles County.
> > Without fail, upon meeting anyone in that small town, the question we got
> > was "where do you go to church?". They asked it before "where do you
> live"
> > and "what do you do".
>
> Very much like that, they are not being nosey or trying to make you fess up
> to being righteous or not. Rather it is the custom to invite any
> unattached
> person to your church. So to answer you question, the fact that you don't
> go to
> church anywhere is precisely what they are trying to find out.
>

As I indicated in the portion of my post you didn't copy in your reply, I
considered that as a possibility. After all, I was raised as a good Baptist
girl in the South and know such protocol. I told the story in response to
Bob's tongue-in-cheek supposition that all Southerners go to church.

I thought a lot about their question while we were there. I think it was
designed to determine my social standing in the community. Just as everyone
in town with social/business aspirations was Republican (even if they were
Democrat), that same everyones attended the Methodist church (even if they
were Lutheran or atheists or pagans). The aspirers wanted to know if I was
one of them, or if my religious beliefs would override social/economic
considerations or worse, if I would make the flagrantly offensive choice of
worshipping with the Episcopals (only appropriate for very old money).
Those who were not aspiring, wanted to know if I was pretentious or one of
them.

A complicated question, but it was small-town Virginia. Did I mention that
we did not buy a home there?

Cathy




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