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RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY
The Baptism We Never Wanted
But they did
I remember my Nana’s favorite sweater. She lived with my parents after her husband died and wore it when she told us she had cancer. I do not remember my reaction. My wife and I were expecting our first child at any moment; I certainly would have been sad to know about the cancer, but I was also happy that our baby was so close to joining us.
I can’t remember when Nana was admitted to the hospital. I’m sure I was told how bad the cancer was, but those were busy times for us. We probably had faith in the Oncology doctors and imagined Nana would be fine.
We had other problems very quickly. Our daughter was born prematurely and whisked away immediately. We spent heart-wrenching weeks unable to touch her, only peering through the window where our poor baby was hooked to tubes in the incubator. Eventually, she was strong enough to come out, and we could take turns feeding her. Despair turned to joy, and we took her home after a few more weeks.
Then the trouble started. My wife and I are not religious, but her family is Catholic. My wife’s stepmother called and told us our child must be baptized before she could meet any family.
We thought this was asinine, but as it was also a completely meaningless gesture to us, we…
