I can pretty much trace my initial religious awakening to the fact that my (Catholic) dad married my (Lutheran) mom in defiance of Catholic precepts at the time that forthrightly declared only Catholics could enter heaven. (This view was actually restated by the recent Pope Benedict as late as 2007, though his successor has been sounding a far softer tone.)
When I was in third or fourth grade listening to the priest’s lecture on this matter in a religious education class, I thought of my kindly mom at home, denied entrance to heaven with us because she was reared in a different faith tradition.
This was such self-evident poppycock that I remember being not so much offended or outraged as I was dismissive.
The thought did not escape me that if the padre and his faith could be so blindingly wrong on such a simple and obvious matter…
Believing in a heaven where my mother was denied entrance required suspe...
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