Daily Dose - Rainy Day Post

Today is a rainy dreary day so I've grabbed my laptop and ran out to my favorite coffee shop. Here are some Daily Dose photos I've been building up for a while:

Car decorations:




Every Wednesday afternoon there is an anti-war demonstration on the bridge near my house. A few weeks ago it was apparently sponsored by local churches.

Daily Dose - Analysis

I've completed my month long journey of documenting the religious background noise in my life.

Here are all the Daily Dose posts:

Day 1
Prayer Rug
Weekend Edition (1)
Third [actually fourth] Installment
Prayer Email
Memorial Day Weekend Edition
Last official Post

I set this up as a month long project but it doesn't quite feel done to me yet.

I was fully expecting to discover that the level of religious background noise in my life was not as high as I originally perceived it to be. I suspected that because I'm so sensitive [or I thought I was...] to uninvited religious intrusion that as I looked more closely I would discover not a huge quantity of dogmatic noise but just a few loud holy cankers.

Holy buckets was I wrong! I am exposed to a ton more religiousness than I ever dreamed in every single aspect of my life AND I've been subconsciously tuning most of it out!

There is so much more that I didn't even post about: phone calls with family always ending with "God bless you" (which I, for some reason, always parrot back "God bless you too"), people on TV saying "it was a miracle" or "by God's grace" or "first, I'd like to thank JC", seeing cross jewelry on people and in big box stores, watching the guy on the bus read the bible, seeing cross-shaped clouds in the sky...

I now feel inundated in a religious culture the weight of which is suffocating and I'm appalled at how drastically I've been tiptoeing around strapped with animal fur Jacob/Isaac-style to trick everyone into thinking I'm a member of the family so I can get their blessing.

I need to keep doing this Daily Dose thing for a little while longer; there's more to learn here.

Interestingly, PhychoDiva (in the UK) is having a hard time finding any religious background noise to document. I'm very interested to hear her concluding thoughts when she finishes her version of the daily dose project.

Daily Dose - Memorial Weekend Edition

More Daily Dose photos:

This billboard has been popping up all around the Twin Cities. This one is way too close to my house, but thankfully obscured by trees. The babies wearing backwards ball caps are saying "Embryos are just tiny babies" and below that it says "Heartbeat 18 days from conception."



This salvaged church window was installed into my friend's house.



These people walked past me carrying a giant cross while I was eating breakfast.



Zoom-in on the cross:



Is Saint Michael the patron saint of baked goods?



Another church, I think a car crashed into this one a couple years ago...



Review mirror decor.

Daily Dose - Third Installment

My Daily Dose Project continues:

At a stoplight in Minneapolis:
The blue and white bumper sticker says: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4given. Clever, huh?

Heres a close-up of the "ribbon:"



Where do people even find these things!? Ohhh - from here. What kooks!

These people stopped by my house to talk to me about Jesus, I snapped their picture as they were walking to the next house. I think I may have career potential in the surveillance industry!



The one that got away... I missed nabbing a photo of a giant silver sparkly sticker of Jesus' profile slapped on the side of a humongous white truck. It was so mesmerizing as it sped pass me on the highway I was struck immobile; unable to grab the camera.

Daily Dose - Weekend Edition

My goal of documenting the background level of religion in my life continues...

I, of course, come across many religious vehicular adornments - most of which I'm too slow to catch on film, so I'll let this photo represent for the rest.



Some of my religious exposure is less than reverant.





A stranger gave my best friend this pendent.



At my niece's birthday, my husband and I were accosted by my aunt wanting to know our baptism dates and church for her genealogy research. We also waited awkwardly through a long prayer as the only ones not in "Prayer Formation" (head bowed, eyes shut, hands folded, feet shoulder width apart). I secretly nabbed this shot of some art in their house to document the experience.



These two churches are both located along the last leg of my running route. A pretty genius location I must admit; if I were ever to resort to prayer it would be within that last 1/4 mile.





Another church/landmark I frequently encounter: the Basilica.