ethics vs freedom being a parent in need of some help i ask that you bear with me while i describe the situation which plagues me i am a divorced father chance would have it that my weekend with my daughter has fallen upon easter weekend this year although i am presbyterian i had married a catholic woman we decided that the catholic moray of indoctrination of the spouse into the faith was too confining and restrictive due to time as we had already set a date and we were married in a christian church which was non denominational during the years of our marriage we did not often attend church when our daughter was born some years later my wife insisted that she be baptised as catholic this wasn t a problem with me during a separation of five years my ex wife was taken ill with a disease that affected her mental capacities she was confined to a mental ward for two months before it was diagnosed it has since been treated effectively in other words professionals have deemed her a functioning member of society during the recuperation my ex wife has embraced buddism her influence over my daughter has been substantial and has primarily allowed me only saturday visitation for a number of years during this period i have read bible study books to my daughter and tried to keep her aware of her christian heritage last fall our divorce was finalized after a year of viscious divorce hearings at that time i was awarded visitation rights every other weekend at that time i started taking my daughter to church quite often although not every weekend i did this to attempt to strengthen the christian ethic and expose her to a religious community today easter sunday i took my daughter to church when it came time for communion my daughter took the bread the body of christ but left the wine the blood of christ professing that she was too young for wine she then balled the bread up in her hand and tried to descretely throw it under the pew in front of us i feel this was a slap in the face to me my religion and an afront to her religious heritage it can be construed as breaking several of the commandments if you try i really felt dishonored by the action my daughter is only nine years old but i think she should have been old and mature enough to realize her actions i have difficulty blaming her directly for religious teachings her mother swears to but when i discussed this with my daughter she made it clear she believed in buddhism and not christianity my initial response of anger moderated was to suggest if there is no faith in christ then why does she celebrate easter or christmas i suggested i would never force her to practice my religious beliefs by celebrating holidays with her again i do not want to drive her from the fold and would be willing to allow her to continue practicing buddhism as though i had a choice seeing her only for two days out of fourteen but i want her to want to embrace christianity any suggestions if you have a response please e mail me a copy i m not a regular reader of this newsgroup naturally feel free to post too thanks and i hope you ve had a happy easter drew drew watson systems analysis encore computer corp dwatson encore com customer services
