have moving boxes near Richardson or Downtown Dallas?
Question:
Anybody have moving boxes near Richardson or Downtown Dallas?
Answer:
Here's an interesting article from yesterday's paper about a Canadian's
experience moving to Dallas and the subject of religion.
http://archives.theglobeandmail.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&V...
Sorry about the long link. If it's a prob, I'll post the article.
Dallas -- When a friend in the New York publishing business heard we
were moving to Dallas, he advised us to "immediately join the toniest
Episcopal church in the neighbourhood -- in self-defence." During his
brief stint in Fort Worth, he had found this was the only way to
deflect well-meaning proselytizing from neighbours.
Within two days of arriving in Dallas, I realized he wasn't joking.
This city, known as the Buckle of the Bible Belt, is populated by
profoundly faithful people who are not comfortable until you have
revealed the nature of your personal relationship with Jesus.
As occasional Anglican churchgoers originally from Toronto, we found
this just a bit overwhelming.
The telephone-installation woman from Southwestern Bell who hooked up
our phones as we were unpacking the moving boxes, suggested we attend
her weekend prayer meeting. Parents of our children's friends urged us
to send the children to Kanakuk Summer Camp, which we later learned was
a Bible study camp.
Countless other invitations to various Baptist and Methodist churches
ensued in that first week -- all very well-intentioned, all in the
spirit of welcoming us to town. Taking the advice of another Canadian
who lives here, we thanked everyone and informed them: "We're still
church-shopping."
Even the newcomers' committee at the school wanted to hook us up with
the right church. When we lived in Toronto, the public schools
scrupulously avoided giving preference to any one religious point of
view, so students of all faiths would feel comfortable.
In our neighbourhood here, Highland Park, which is home to old-money
Dallas, Christianity is the high-profile faith on campus. The
high-school yearbook contains fond reminiscences of Bible study
meetings, mission trips and church retreats and included the following
statistic: more than 50 per cent of the students attend church retreats
two or more times a year. Soon after the school year began, one of my
son's teachers said "I'm not sure with a name like yours what your
faith is, but your son might consider joining the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes here at the school as a way to make friends."
"We're Anglican," I said. The FCA is an organization of student
athletes that prays before games.
They aren't the only ones praying at school, even though the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals has banned school prayer.
Mothers of football players gather on game days to pray. I assume they
are asking for safety and godspeed for the Highland Park Scots, but I
suspect they must occasionally request a swift and decisive victory.
At the junior high, boys wear T-shirts that read in huge letters, "Be
Like Christ." The girls wear bracelets that say "WWJD" which stands for
"What Would Jesus Do?" -- a fad that has since spread to Canada, I
understand. Before long my daughter began writing on her hand: "I love
Jesus."
Even on the drive to school each morning I'm reminded of the thin wall
between church and state here. On the bumpers of the student's pickup
trucks are the symbols of the clash between creationists and believers
in evolution. Many cars have the Christian symbol of the fish on their
bumpers. Others have a fish with legs, with Darwin written inside.
Still others have a Darwin fish being swallowed by a Jesus fish.
But my favourite is the one with two conflicting bumper stickers: "Have
mercy on me, for I am a sinner" and "Proud parent of an honor student."
At any given moment, that car could have either sinners or honour
students in it.
Depends on the neighborhood I suppose. My girlfriend and I moved to
Farmers Branch (a suburb at about 10:00 on the Dallas clock) and
actually had neighbors knock on our door with leaflets and other
propoganda from their churches. They explained that they "wanted to
be sure we had some place to go". It was all I could do to not
respond "to do what?".
And let's remind all the folks that the US is the only developed
nation where teaching evolution in schools is any kind of issue, and
here in Dallas its a huge deal.
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