THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270128
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
WHEN KELLY Lancaster was about 5 years old, she remembers sitting smack in the middle of her family's huge garden and talking to the vegetable plants around her. She praised their beauty and tried to imagine how the plants felt basking in the sunlight.
Her family's Virginia Beach home contains more than 75 plants, including a potted tree growing in the garage. The world's greenery gives the 17-year-old her spiritual center.
``The reason I pray to the environment is because the Earth is the foundation of what provided my family,'' Lancaster said. ``I am not so keen on whether to believe that this god-being, you know, totally created the Earth. I'm still not keen on that, and I refuse to give up trying to find alternative ways.''
Her spiritual journey began with her father's teaching about Buddhism. To this she's added her interpretation of Christianity and Indian traditions.
There's room for everything - a cross hanging over her bed (a gift from her Methodist grandmother) and her father's Buddhist shrine in the living room.
``When I say God, I don't think of this big thing above you,'' she said. ``It's everything around you. Tree is God, grass is God, table is God.''
Lancaster, a senior at Tallwood High School, does not favor organized group prayer. ``I believe your religion is very dear and holy. It has no place in an environment of so many mixed cultures and learning.''
- Esther Diskin by CNB