On the way to the pool, with my daughter and one of her friends in the backseat, I overheard an interesting conversation.
Friend: “What’s the difference between Jews, Christians, and Catholics?”
Daughter: “Um … ”
Friend: “I mean, I know Jews have the cool star.”
Daughter: [laughs] “Well, Christians believe that God sent Jesus to die for our sins, and he was the savior. The Jews are still waiting for the savior.”
Friend: “What about Catholics?”
Daughter: “Well, it’s mostly the same as Christians, but Catholics have Mary, and she’s a saint.”
Friend: “Oh, you mean like Satan? Isn’t he, like, really bad and stuff?”
Daughter: “No! Not Satan–saint. Like a good person. A holy person.”
Friend: “Oh! OK.”
By then, we were at the pool, and they got out. The whole conversation lasted about two minutes.
I could be judgmental about the friend’s lack of exposure to religion, but there’s a part of the story I haven’t told you yet. Earlier on the way to the pool, I heard this from the backseat:
Daughter: “Hey, who was that kid with your brother?”
Friend: “Oh, that’s [name]. He’s living with us for a while.”
Daughter: “Why?”
Friend: “Well, he’s going through a really hard time. His parents are going through a divorce, and his mom got kicked out of her rental, so he’s with us. Just for the summer, I guess.”
Yeah. I have absolutely nothing to judge.
