Religious Freedom

When I was in third grade, my classroom was next to a class whose teacher was also the principal of the school. It was a small school but new and my class was there only temporarily. I never knew why except that it had something to do with our old school having some repairs done. I don't remember who my teacher was but I'll never forget the teacher next door.

Our principal was an older woman, or at least she seemed that way to me, and she was very strict and stern. We were all afraid of her. She would stand in the doorway of her classroom and watch everything that was going on. If she saw any of the students not acting appropriately, she would immediately call them to her. I never wanted to be noticed by her so I always behaved. I never actually saw her hollering at anyone but I just knew she could and would. Later that year we were moved to the other school and I assume she remained where she was.

My older brother went to school with one of her daughters and I remember my parents talking about the family once in awhile. Apparently they used to attend the church where my family went but left, supposedly because of the minister. I never knew what the problem between them and our minister was but I didn't really care because I liked him and his family. I was happy at our church. After my brother graduated from high school, he went to college and at some point started dating this teacher's daughter. They eventually got married and she and her mother came to be a part of our family, and I found that she was nothing like the teacher I thought I knew.

My brother and his wife never attended our church, or any other church. This made my mother unhappy but she never talked about it. After she died, my brother and sister-in-law started attending our old church which now had a new minister. They have become very active in the church and seem like different people. The new minister is very evangelical bordering on fanaticism and my brother seems to like this.

I often wonder if my brother feels guilty about my mother's unhappiness at his refusal to attend church and is trying to make it up to her. More importantly, he is making sure he will spend eternity with her. I feel sad about this. Not that he has a religion that gives him peace but that he feels he needs to go to extremes in his beliefs, which include judging other people and believing that everyone who doesn't believe as he does will go to hell. He's reached the same place that my older sister is in and I don't feel comfortable around either of them. Their religious beliefs have put barriers between us.