adontwana

Schmitty had his first exposure to a religious cult last Wed night. A friend from his soccer team invited him to A W A N A and I said sure. We got there and every kid had a little red vest with patches and gems and a matching bible bag. You have to complete tasks to earn patches, similar to scouts. I can only sum up the 1 1/2 hours as eye opening. I got to see small children stand up and recite bible verses, pledge allegiance to the bible (not kidding, one kid stands with the bible and the others put a hand their heart and say, "I pledge allegiance to the bible..."), chant something to the ADONTWANA flag. That's right, they have a flag. Before we left Schmitty wanted to know how to get a red vest like everyone else. Eek, avoid answering.

The best part was when I saw the little boy getting a page in his book signed off stating he brought a friend (Schmitty). My little buckaroo was nothing more than a patch on a vest.

I'm not opposed to religion in my boy's life. I want him to know about religion and catholicism. We go to mass, he goes to CCD and we always stop and say hello to Father Passamonti. But...I don't want Schmitty mindlessly memorizing bible verses without knowing what any of it means. He needs to question things, not blindly follow. Listening to a 6-yr-old recite a verse creeps me out.