Dear Queenie,
I enjoy reading your columns, especially the more humorous ones.
Anyway, I’d like to hear your thoughts on a personal topic. What advice do you have for young people who grew up with highly religious parents and are now frightened to speak up for themselves as adults because they don’t want to “dishonor” their parents or have curses cast upon them because they want to be their own person, making decisions without guilt and shame?
Queenie, I look forward to hearing from you.—Tired church girl
Dear Church girl,
As long as you are living with your parents and presumably supported by them, you have an obligation to respect and abide by their religious beliefs and practices.
Once you are living on your own and are financially independent, you should be free to have and practise your own beliefs, but you should still have – and show! – respect for those of others, especially your parents. And I hope your parents will do the same for you if your beliefs differ from theirs in any way.
