Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Christian Cohousing & Diversity

[Catherine Harper (tylik]

On Sun, 7 Sep 1997 THESHLIFE [at] aol.com wrote:

> Cohousing embodies everyone from every background. 

Oh piffle.  Even if you include all groups everywhere, I think you will
find that cohousing for the most part represents certain kinds of people
-- especially when it comes to education and politics.

Furthermore, groups do usually have an explicit values statement -- which,
while it's usually not PC to include religion, is often just as explicit
about who will and won't fit in, if perhaps a tad bit more subtle.  (Have
you ever looked at the values statement for a groups and though "hmm...
doesn't sound like my kind of place"? "Hmmm organic gardeners only need
apply..."?)

Hell, I've been told by individuals that they wouldn't be comfortable with
having me in their community, should the situation every arise (it has,
admittedly, always been pretty theoretical).  So far reasons listed have
been I'm too much of a yuppie (I laugh), I'm too much of a hedonist (or
specifically, I'm poly), they simply wouldn't want to deal with me... And
personally, that's fine.  I don't think it means I'm unsuited to any
community, and frankly, I wouldn't want to live with people who are
horribly uncomfortable with me.  I do get a mite testy if they turn around
and talk about how they're open to everyone... 

So I think the questions aren't "should there be any criteria" -- because
obviously there are -- but "how much should we admit that we have specific
criteria" and "is religion ever an appropriate criteria to admit".  (Which
is not only an ethical question, but a legal one.)

                                Catherine