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"I know that whether or not someone can become Hindu is a bit controversial with some people. I came to it via a connection to ISKCON, but would consider myself more "mainstream" than them."
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...
"There's not much else to tell really. Like many people of my age I was sent to Sunday school as a child, not because of my parents' beliefs, but because it was the respectable thing to do. The church I went to was an independent (i.e. run by the group of people who set it up, not part of the Church of England etc.) evangelical one. There was a big emphasis on being "saved" - that's the idea that everyone has a specific moment of conversion, which I never had. I just grew up accepting that God was real (of course I questioned it, but it just seemed sensible to me). The church was very old fashioned when it came to women - only the men could preach or lead Bible study meetings. The crunch came for me when a visiting preacher came and gave a sermon about how the end of the world was near because there were women in positions of power e.g. Thatcher, Gandhi (never been a Thatcher fan, but that's another story). So in a way I did have a moment of conversion because I suddenly thought "what a load of rubbish!" - if God is really like that then they won't be letting women into heaven (well, unless they want the cleaning done!) and if not then this isn't the right path to get there! There are, of course, people with this attitude in all religions, but it was the prompt I needed to go and find something that worked for me. One of the things I like about Hinduism is the idea of being able to see God as both male and female."
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I think it is something worth pondering, if there are people abandoning the Church because of gender issues.
Cecil
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