Time to Move on

Thanks ladies, I am thinking hard on this matter and praying about it.  I know the easy answer is to just not read the posts that become unpleasant, but it is hard for me when I see someone’s genuine faith being badmouthed.  I am a Protestant Christian – and I do not believe that makes me any more or less worthy than anyone else.  I do not believe that my faith is better than anyone elses or more true.  A lot will consider me non Christian for saying that – but none of us can or should judge another’s faith.  A Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Hindu, Mormon or whoever, even atheists  have the right to their beliefs and I think that has to be respected – and I love my neighbor even if they have different beliefs – we are all human beings on a journey, what is true for one may not be true for another.  I agree to disagree on many issues – but I cannot come to terms with what was said in the post this morning about the Catholic faith – I find it deeply disturbing, especially as I know there are Catholics on this site, who deserve better – it completely confounds and grieves me.  I was really upset this morning, and decided enough was enough – attacking another person’s faith is not the sort of thing that a forum like this should be about – faith is tremendously personal, and I think respect is in order for all faiths, even if we do disagree.  I too have enjoyed and benefitted from this forum, and I appreciate the comments in response to my decision – maybe I will just decide to not read these kinds of post – or maybe as you say, we should ALL think twice before hiting the send button.  We ALL, me included need to remember that we are all God’s children and we all owe each other a certain respect – this forum is for helping one another in educating our children in the CM way – maybe we should stick to that.  I do note that wiser souls than me on this forum stay out of these controversial issues – that is my lesson for the day – keep out of them – however, it is hard when you know that other people may be hurt by what is written and that is where my big mouth, or my typing fingers get me in trouble – because it hurts my heart to think that others are wounded by careless words especially about faith.   I remember in school many moons ago, we were taught that in polite society religion and money should not be discussed as it generally caused ill feelings.  I went to a school where we had prayer and religion taught – but that was the advice – and another piece of valuable advice from then was, that if you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything.  I have hit send on this forum before and  I should not have, and it is easy to do – I hold my hand up as being imperfect – and if I do stay, I hope that we all consider who we might be wounding with our words before we hit send.  Linda

Michelle, you are one of the main reasons I would stay – because we both have teens and have high school to deal with I have often felt you were one person to ask if I ever had a worry, no disrespect to those with little ones, but those moms with high schoolers have been a great comfort and help to me on this forum – none of us know everything and it has always been a pleasure reading your posts and your answers to my questions.  I am taking time over the weekend, but I will stay on the forum because I am now hopeful that with Doug’s very eloquent writing everyone will try hard to keep this as a gentle, kind and loving as it has always been – Charlotte Mason’s teachings are gentle, and nurturing, this group of ladies has always been like that – I would hate to see that change into something else.  Many other forums are not so nice and gentle – and I avoid them – we are all capable of making errors in judgement, I just hope that now we will all take pause before we post and that we return to what this group does best, and that is to encourage each other in the education of our children.  Michelle I appreciate your words and I thank you – I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Hugs – Linda