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What is your religion?

by Traute Klein, biogardener

Why do Canadian hospitals refuse to accept "Christian" as my declared religion? I was raised to worship in any denomination and do not believe in splintering the body of Christ.

Hospital Questionaires

Don't you love the questions which you are supposed to answer in the hospital emergency ward? It seems that the staff is more concerned with filling in spaces than with finding out why I am there. Invariably we get stuck at the question about my religion. My answer, "Christian." The nurse does not appreciate that answer. "What kind of Christian?" "Just Christian." "That is not what I mean." Well, that is what you said. I decided against telling her what I was thinking. She just presumed that I was Christian because of the color of my skin, hair, and eyes, and now she wanted to know my denomination. An admitting nurse only knows what is on the form, and the form does not use the word "denomination." What is wrong with being a Christian? If I were a Moslem or a Hindu, would she be satisfied with my answer or would she want to know to which sect in that religion I belonged?

Denomination? What's that?

My mother was raised in the former manor house of a feudal estate. Half of the building had been converted to serve as the local Baptist church, and my father was choir director, band leader, and organist of that church when he fell in love with the girl who grew up in the church, 10 years his junior, the girl to whom he gave organ lessons, the girl whose mother was his finest soprano soloist. Almost everyone in the community was a member of the church. Under Hitler, however, the word "Baptist" disappeared from the German dictionary, never to appear again. The Baptists, Adventists, Mennonites, and Pentecostals all joined to form the "Evangelical Free Church (Evangelisch Freikirchliche Gemeinde)" and the name is used by Baptists in Germany to this day, even though the other denominations left the union as soon as the threat of persecution was over. There was no local church in the town in which I grew up, so on Sunday mornings we joined adherents to the same faith in the home of an old lady. In the afternoon, my mother took me to a Sunday school of what was probably some kind of Brethren church, loosely linked to the Lutherans. After we became refugees in 1945, we were thrown hither and yon and attended any church or home meeting which we could find. No one asked the name of the denomination. We were just happy to fellowship with believers.

Founded in the Bible

One factor remained constant throughout those various church experiences, and that was the Word of God. When we fled our burning city in February 1945 with only the clothes on our backs, my mother grabbed the family Bible. That was the only book which I read in the following three years, and I devoured its content from cover to cover. The teachings of the Bible have always been my guide, and I could never be subjected to any doctrine which claims to supercede that basis of my faith.

And after the war?

For three years, we lived in a small village in Lower Saxony which had a Lutheran church large enough to hold the entire population of the area, so naturally, that is the church which we attended. My mother taught Sunday school, and my father played the organ. No one ever asked why the only Lutheran Sunday school teacher was a Baptist, and no one complained when the church finally, after years of doing without, had an organist. The pipe organ of that church became the first instrument which I played, even though I could barely reach the keyboard from the large bench. Don't even mention the pedals! Our last three years in Germany were spent in Hildesheim, a city large enough to have an Evangelical Free Church (formerly Baptist), and we lived in a tiny two-room apartment above the choir loft, all six of us, and at times seven. Initially, we literally lived in the church, until the apartment was ready to house us. There I sang in the church choir and enjoyed regular Sunday school teaching for the first time in my life. Denominations? I have no idea how many of them we attended. No one cared. War and persecution tie people of like mind to each other in love. No one asks too many questions. During those three years in Hildesheim, Religion was taught as a regular but non-compulsory subject in school. In Lower Saxony, the main orientation is Lutheran, but even there no one asked about denominational affiliations, especially when I was the only pupil in the class able to support my views with Bible quotations.

The Canadian Scene

Coming to Canada and attending church was a real shocker to me. The North American Baptist Church in Winnipeg was founded by immigrants from Germany. I loved the young people's fellowship. We all spoke German. We had all arrived in this country in the last few years. The regular church services, however, upset me. The question of whether German or English should be spoken caused continual squabbles. Unlike the rest of my family, in fact, unlike most of the new immigrants, I understood English. I therefore ventured out to find more peaceful pastures. True to my upbringing, I did not look at the name above the door when I entered a church. All I cared about was the love and the preaching on the inside. One day I happened to be sitting behind the choir director of Calvary Temple, the largest and first Pentecostal church in western Canada. That was it. I got drafted into his choir. I also learned to play the pipe organ, and this time I was able to reach the pedals as well as the manuals, although barely. I never broke the bond with the Baptists or any other denomination, in fact, I feel as welcome among them today as I did 50 years ago.

To go where I am needed

The Pentecostal church has a strong missionary outlook, and soon the pastor encouraged me to help with the music in smaller churches which were not necessarily Pentecostal. So for 35 years, I have been organist, choir director, and teacher for Lutherans, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Mennonites, and Anglicans. I also taught German at the Jesuit (Roman Catholic) College at the University of Manitoba where I enjoyed daily fellowship in the chapel.

Back to the Hospital

So what was I going to tell the nurse who did not want to put "Christian" on my admission form? Maybe I should have mentioned to her that I have Jewish blood in me, but that might have thrown her for a loop. "Look," I said. "I did not come here to die, and I do not intend to stay here long enough to see a chaplain. Just get a doctor to take out this sliver under my fingernail before the pain drives me out of my mind!"



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A church founded by German refugees hides a family whom Canada Immigration wants to split up, sending at least one family member to certain death.
Halloween or the Reformation
On October 31, Europe celebrates Reformation Day, the day when a courageous priest posted his propositions for discussion on the town bulletin board. The reform which Martin Luther tried to promote was not accepted by the established church, and a new church was founded.
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To hug or not to hug, that is the question.
It is all right for the minister to hug married women, but a Sunday school teacher who hugs preschoolers is labeled a child abuser by that same minister.
At the Right Hand of the Father
Don't let a theologian tell you that his word is the gospel truth. Do your own thinking and your own research.