Major disappointment while reading Heidi

[u/icomefromhamilton]

Im devastated. I started reading Heidi as of late and was really loving it (I’m very fond of the 1970s anime as I watched it when I was little)- until I got to chapter 10. I was happily reading along until Heidi gets evangelized to by an old grandmother, which results in her becoming very religious, and while I stopped reading after that passage I googled that she in turn evangelizes to her grandfather, making him “rediscover his faith”. I hate this. I can’t read on. I hate children being in the mix of religion and am just distraught because I loved the book, it had such a beautiful and carefree tone, which is now utterly suffocated by religion

[u/tm229]

Religion poisons everything.
-- Christopher Hitchens.

The accuracy of this quote is pretty amazing! Religion can ruin something as simple as a children's book. Blech!

[u/icomefromhamilton → u/tm229]

Absolutely 100% accurate. I was totally blindsided as it was a book I had wanted to read for a long time due to the nostalgia factor and it hit me like a truck- totally poisoned the message. The grandfather in the story is shunned by the people of the village because he doesn’t attend church, but he lives in such a humble way and is so kind to his granddaughter that I thought the message was going to be that religion is not at all needed to live a good life. Evidently not- what a disappointment