Rich, my pleasure.

catbonny, Maybe we should get baptism stories together? Probably some interesting ones in there, heh. I’ve been looking a lot a Quakerism and I plan on going to a meeting or two.

xJane, Interesting about the baptism. Would you say, though, that Confirmation plays into the part about you not getting asked? You get baptised young, and then when you are old enough to properly accept it, you do? Or is that wholely too simplistic?

I also ask myself the same question about what would have been different had the question been different. And I honestly don’t know the answer, but the pastor was so rude I doubt it would have mattered. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but probably in the neighborhood of 14 or 15. The thing that got me was not so much the rules–I can understand not wanting to have mad, sue happy parents on your hands, but the way it was handled.

Isaac, I find this very interesting: that you were refused baptism because your parents did not know. I wonder, had you answered that they knew but did not approve, if you would have been allowed baptism. How old were you?

I really like what you said about religion being based on individual and community experiences rather than existing under church authority. I have found that my main problem with church authority is that the people in authority tend to fail the people they have authority over (probably because they are just human.) I find a lot of peace in Quakerism because it IS based on a very individual experience and because there is no one telling me what I have to do I can figure it out for myself.

Thanks for sharing your story.