Brian and the fundies

So Brian called to ask if his crush could come visit. He spoke with her father who told him that today was not a good day and that all the parents should get together for a visit first.

I don't know how they are thinking about this. I don't know she has a crush on Brian, or if her parents are thinking about the relationship in those terms. I've been parenting teenagers for quite a while and have become much less protective than I once was. They may be wanting to visit us for the same reasons that any parents want to know the parents of the kid's friends. You want to make sure that the parents are nice people who will supervise the children. You know, not let watch R-rated movies or play with guns.

Religion may or may not be on their minds.

And if it is, learning that we are not ... whatever it is that we are not ... may make them decide that Brian should visit them as much as possible. You know, so that they can save him. They may even decide that Hubby and I need saving too.

So I am not certain how I want to play this. I can easily let Hubby take the lead. Though he is politically liberal, thinks that evolution explains how life developed, and believes that most of the Bible is to be understood as something other than literal history, he is also decidedly Christian. If I just keep my mouth shut, he can talk the talk with them. T'he advantage of this is that we would not become targets for their religious zeal. It might be dishonest of me, but it would pale in comparison to the time I faked a "born-again" experience in order to get a zealot to let me go to bed.*

I know that there is a limit to how much I could keep my mouth shut. If they ask why we switched churches I will have to tell them that it was because our previous church refused to let a gay man serve communion and I can only attend a church where my gay sons are accepted. I'm not biting my tongue on that one.

I did warn Brian. I told him that the church they go to teaches that being gay is a sin. That surprised him a little. He is innocent in some ways. He knows that such people are out there, he just doesn't think that they are very common. Certainly they aren't the nice people he meets. I told him that her parents might think she should not go to boys' houses until she is much older and just might decide that we are a bad influence.

Of course we might not even get that far. I'm tempted to suggest to Brian that he tell the girl all about how much he likes Dungeons and Dragons and or loan her a copy of Harry Potter. That will probably be enough for her parents to decide that he is not right for their daughter.

Well, either that or set out to save his soul from the demonic influences his negligent parents expose him to.

__
*A friend once told me that was "as bad as" faking an orgasm. I told her that if I was exhausted and the only way someone would let me to sleep was to fake that, I would. I value my sleep highly.