Really?

About a month ago, Peanut had an emergency evacuation drill at school. The established meeting place is a church a little more than 1/2 mile away. Part of the drill was to go inside the building, find your child's class, and sign him or her out. The child got a sticker to show that he/she had been signed out to a person on the emergency contact list, not a big deal right? Obviously not so.... This church happens to be an LDS (Mormon) Stake Center. As I was picking Peanut up from the drill, I heard, sometimes rather LOUDLY, many grumblings from numerous parents about "mixture of church and state" ,"this is illegal" ,"I am taking this to the school district", "I can't believe that I had to actually go inside THAT building", "who do they think they are, making our kids go in there", "It wouldn't so bad if they met in the parking lot"....... on and on and on. The thing is, there were numerous notices sent home with the kids, a couple e-mails and even a call from the school district the night before the drill took place, so no one should have been surprised that this was taking place. Really, if you are so opposed to your kids going inside a church that you may not like, then pick your kids up early, or just like the big "Obama Indoctrination speech" given to school children, KEEP THEM AT HOME!!! (I, by the way, did not have a problem with my children listening to the President of the USA encourage education, even though I am not an Obama supporter) Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I saw no Missionaries with name badges handing out Books of Mormon at the entrances, nor did I see the Stake President shaking hands with individuals as we picked up our children. I did not see anything that I personally would think was outright religious propaganda. The kids were in the "Cultural hall" or gym of the church. There were no religious themed pictures in the gym, no MoTab playing over the loud speakers, no religious advertisements or any such material that would be questionable. I did see as I was entering the building a picture of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene at the tomb, as well as a reminder for Stake Choir practice. I also saw a poster of families for the primary program "My Eternal Family". I suppose those things could be offensive, but really?!?!? Maybe next year they can have the drill at the Baptist Church that is a couple blocks further away? I would not be opposed to that. If there truly were an emergency that required evacuation from school, I would feel comforted that my children were in a safe building protected from the elements. Would I care that it was a Baptist church? Absolutely not! Where does this close-mindedness and non tolerance come from? Is it living in Utah where the dominant religion is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and people are afraid of the influence of such a frightening people? Really, where does this animosity come from? Why is there such a hatred? And WHY would you live here if the hate is so strong? The community that I live in is more "religiously diverse" than that of many communities in Utah due to the fact that I live near a USAF base. There are at least 20 NON LDS churches within a 5 mile radius of my home, which means that there are plenty of worship opportunities for those not of the LDS faith. Do people who live in Italy near Vatican City, that are not of the Catholic faith have such hatred of the Catholic community? And if so, why do they choose to live there? When I was young, I lived in California for a period of time. When in 5th grade, one usually learns of the history of the State that he/she lives in. I lived in California when I was in the 5th grade. Much of California was "founded" by Catholic friars, saints and missionaries. I had the opportunity to visit MANY Catholic Missions on numerous field trips with my class. I even had a project to study and "build" a Catholic Mission of my choice. With LOTS of help from my parents, we visited the Carmel Mission and built a replica out of clay for my project. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed learning about the history of California which was very influenced by the Catholic religion. Did my parents take me out of school, or get all riled up that I was learning about something "religious"? NO! It was part of the history of the State that I lived in. Did it shake my faith or influence me to believe something different than what I was raised with? No. It gave me a different perspective and view that allowed me to form opinions of my own. I attended numerous different "churches" with my friends while living in CA and learned that people who believe differently from me are just that, "different", not bad, not brainwashed, not crazy, not disillusioned, they just believe differently, and that is OKAY!!! I truly hope that there is never a reason for Peanut's school to be evacuated, but having the knowledge that he is somewhere safe and protected from the elements provides me a little bit of comfort!