great. witnesses.

[arethinn]

This morning as I was trying to eat breakfast and skim the paper, my mother opened the door to some Jehovah's Witnesses (I assume) and spent a good fifteen minutes chatting with them. After talking about the dog for a while they of course then went on into their pitch and my mother semi-deflected them by outlining her Christian history (born Baptist, converted Catholic) and then saying that "now she subscribed to Native American beliefs". Of course she means something very generalized and "white" by that statement, but still, it surprised me, since it wasn't something I knew, and she still holds to a lot of firmly conservative-Christian kinds of social values (e.g. marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman) and similar Republican political ideas (Bush is a great guy *gag*) that, to me, are somewhat strange to be finding together in the same person as a desire to say the words "Great Spirit". Besides that, it makes me wonder where she can get off being still ill at ease with my being Pagan, especially since she not only knows Pagans in the SCA, but one is part of the Needleworkers' thing my mom has every other Wednesday, and has babbled about it at some length on occasion.

Myself, I would have avoided the situation entirely by not answering the doorbell, and just letting the dog bark. I think of my front door like an email attachment: unless I'm expecting a specific person or package, I don't open it. Hrmph.

Comments

[raki.livejournal.com]

It might have more to do with it being her daughter who is a Pagan rather than a friend or acquaintance. Some people are okay at accepting things at a distance, but not close to home.
Have you tried to talk to her about it?

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

My mother and I are not on close enough terms to discuss spirituality. Note that I said I was "surprised" to hear her mention "Native American" beliefs. That was total news to me.