Emerson anticipated much of what we and others are saying, struggling with, and attempting to affirm today. Some beliefs are like pleasant gardens with high walls around them. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged. Some beliefs are like shadows, darkening children's days with fears of unknown calamities. Some beliefs are divisive, separating the saved from the unsaved, friends from enemies.
Some beliefs are like blinders, shutting off the power to choose one's own direction.
Some beliefs weaken a child's selfhood. They blight the growth of resourcefulness. Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death, impotent in a changing world. Before any of you get some wild visualizations of me wearing diaper stuck in your mind's eye, let me assure you that this means I grew up in a Unitarian Church School. I am a product of my background.