Atheists & Agnostics

Apostolic women with this look are a fairly common sight in Central Illinois. I know a little about their ways.

The men mostly hire and favor business with others in their clan. Even when they work for Corporations, (Caterpillar) they give a leg-up to other Apostolics whenever possible. They meet at the house of one of the sect members every Sunday, to pray and have ceremonies, on a rotating basis. The men kiss each other on the mouth, when greeting each other, at these meetings. Some men grow beards, but not all. Apostolic girls are allowed to turn down one suitor from within the church. If she turns down a second, she isn't approached again. I'm guessing there are exceptions.

I lost my best friend to this Christian sect 15 or so years ago. He fell in love with an Apostolic girl, and joined their church.

Before their wedding, he came to the door to give me a shoe box containing all the stuff from his old life that was forbidden in his new one. Some of the things were from times spent together with our circle of friends over the years. Other things were just things he had that had to be gotten rid-of for him to live as a proper Apostolic. There was a bolo tie from Arizona with Kokopeli on it. There were some new age paperbacks, a ring with a yin-yang symbol and a stack of photos from powwows.

I never saw him again. He not only scraped me off. He also cut off his sister, who is a lesbian. His mother was terribly hurt by the schism of it all. He still sends a family photo Christmas card to everybody every year. They have two beautiful kids. He certainly paid a price for that life and he wasn't the only one. Why it had to be this way eludes me. I still miss him a lot.