Quote Originally Posted by it-ogo View Post
My classmate girl did not join Pioneers because her parents did not allow her to. They were baptists (Germans from Volga). She was not happy about that.
That post reminded me of a Baptist girl I knew when I was a kid. She was my senior by three or four years, and I met her in a pioneer camp where I went one summer. She was a group leader (вожатая). I was very surprised to meet someone who was openly a believer (she was quite frank about that) yet was wearing the red scarf at the same time. I guess the generally laid-off, "live and let live" attitude that was predominant in the town rubbed off on her parents and they decided to go easy on her and let her join the pioneer organization. She was a nice person, and she was good with us younger kids, so we (and most of us had been brought up as atheists) didn't give her hard time about her religion. Nor did the camp and school authorities, who knew was religious and, technically, she shouldn't have been allowed to join pioneers, leave alone being a group leader, but... I guess in the place where I used to live, the fact that someone was a good person meant much more than their political or religious beliefs. Everyone knew everyone else, and people were generally nice. (Well, of course, there were some exceptions).