I grew up with Christianity taken for granted. In my small town it was just a question of what kind of Christian. My dad was a Lutheran minister. So I lived through all of what you wrote about from the other side. I went to a Christian University, but by that time I had become disillusioned with all things religious. So I walked away from it and mostly attempted to ignore religion and act as if it didn’t exist. That works fine except for when I have to interact with my family or the normative Christian world. In those points I go along to get along. But that doesn’t have me showing up for my Jewish, Muslim, and atheist friends if they need or want it. The school I work for only this year for the first time decided to take off school for High Holidays in September. I am ashamed to say I wouldn’t have done it if I were in charge, but I appreciated the chance to wish people sweet new year. I don’t want to flip from someone who ignores religion to someone who over emphasizes it, but I do want to be aware of the impact of my actions and words.

Thank you for writing!