Do you essentially follow your parent's religion?

Post by **yovargas** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:44 pm

Do you essentially follow your parent's religion? Or lack thereof? Maybe not exactly but more or less? Just curious!

eta - to make this more interesting, feel free to identify what they were and what you are, religion-wise.

I grew up in the Protestant faith Seventh-day Adventists and now think of myself as an open-minded atheist.

Post by **Pearly Di** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:48 pm

Yes. My parents are evangelical Christians and I decided to become a Christian around the age of 14.

My elder brother and younger sister, however, are not Christians. My brother is (I think) an atheist.

And I know a lot of people who converted to my faith who did not have a religious background at all.

Post by **Inanna** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:57 pm

Yes... the mixed mish-mash of Hinduism and agnosticism I was brought up with. Learnt Christianity at school, learned to question tenets of Hinduism (and all religions) from Dad, and learned faith from Mom.

Post by **Cerin** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:58 pm

I came to my faith as an adult. My parents were not (and are not) churchgoers.

Post by **Inanna** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:59 pm

Cerin wrote:I came to my faith as an adult. My parents were not (and are not) churchgoers.

But would they identify themselves as Christians? As compared to say, Hindus?

Post by **Frelga** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:03 pm

Not really. My parents are completely irreligious as were three of my grandparents. You may say I followed my grandfather's religion, but mostly because it was the only one that made sense to me.

Post by **Cerin** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:15 pm

Mahima wrote:
Cerin wrote:I came to my faith as an adult. My parents were not (and are not) churchgoers.
But would they identify themselves as Christians? As compared to say, Hindus?

We don't talk about it. I'm not sure how they would identify themselves. They are areligious, though they seem supportive of my sister's family's New-Age (for lack of a better term) approach to spirituality.

edit

If I had to label my parents, the best term would be 'liberal thinkers'.

Post by **Lalaith** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:19 pm

My dad and his family were Catholic. My mom is Baptist. Dad now goes to church with us, at a Baptist church. He didn't go to church with us while I was a kid, not really having a deep faith in God or anything. I was baptized Catholic and Baptist.

You guys know that I'd not be Baptist if it were entirely up to me, having always been torn between the two denominations. I'd prefer to be Catholic or at least something in the liturgical vein, such as Anglican or Episcopalian or Lutheran.

Post by **Frelga** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:20 pm

Lali, forgive my asking but why isn't it up to you?

Post by **Lalaith** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:28 pm

Oh, because it would involve disrupting my entire family. That's the main concern. The girls are happy in our current church and have friends. Freddy's pretty happy, and sometimes I'm happy too. And we have a lot of connections and relationships. My parents joined our church when they moved to this area; my brother and his son also attend. So for me to change would involve a lot of drama and crap.

I'm pretty sure I will eventually. I'm sort of biding my time till the girls are grown. (In the meantime, I attend other churches whenever possible.)

Post by **Inanna** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:42 pm

Thanks, Cerin. That answers my question and refutes my assumption (all healthy things for the mind)

Post by **yovargas** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:07 pm

60 views and 8 votes?

Post by **WampusCat** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:19 pm

I was raised in a progressive (non-fundamentalist) Southern Baptist church, where I was encouraged to doubt, question and think for myself. My parents were both committed Christians who respected other faiths and had close non-Christian friends. Both of my brothers and I are active members of Christian churches now, but we came to that decision on our own.

My brothers attend Methodist churches. I was drawn to a more liturgical expression, so I attend an Episcopal church. My beliefs are less orthodox than my parents', but there's room for that in the Christianity I was exposed to.

Religions give us a framework for thinking about God but they are not God. So dogma matters far less to me than the experience of transcending love, which is not limited to one faith.

Post by **Maria** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 7:06 pm

No. I don't follow any particular religion at all, I kind of make my own path.

If anything, my mom has kinda followed me a little bit on my spiritual wanderings. We don't really talk about it much, but she's dropped an occasional comment that shows she's either been reading my posts on the subject over the years and or is showing a remarkable case of parallel evolution.

Since she is a lurking member of B77, I kind of automatically assume she's read most of what I post over there. I don't know about here, though. She's never mentioned visiting HOF before.

Post by **Cerin** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 7:31 pm

(I would not be comfortable posting with my mother. I wonder what that means?)

Post by **Lalaith** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 7:51 pm

(I'm with you, Cerin. It's bad enough that my mother stalks me on FB.)

Post by **yovargas** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:01 pm

Err, yeah. I've been quite clear to my mom about my stances on religion and such but I would not be at all happy with my mom lurking on these boards.

Post by **Pearly Di** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:04 pm

I wouldn't be comfortable posting with ANY of my immediate family online.

And I adore them. It's like my online life is My Own Secret Life.

And this is off-topic. I guess we need another thread.

Post by **Túrin Turambar** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:01 pm

My parents are non-religious, as am I. I'm not sure it would have been much different if they were, though. Certainly going to a Christian high school or a primary school in Queensland's de facto Christian public school system changed nothing.

Post by **tinwë** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:20 pm

I voted no. I grew up in the church. My father is a Methodist minister, my mother was raised Lutheran but found refuge in a Methodist church in Austria after being ostracized by her peers for having been born in Germany and she has been a dedicated Methodist ever since, my oldest brother is a Methodist minister and his wife is also a Methodist minister, and my other brother plays the organ and teaches Sunday School at his church (also Methodist).

I, on the other hand, have not attended church regularly since I was 18 years old (28 years ago), and the truth is I have never once in my life gone to church simply because I wanted to. I don't have anything against it - I respect my family's beliefs and practices, and I also respect much of what the Methodist church stands for. It's a very practical, service oriented denomination, which I like, but I just don't get anything out of the actual worship aspect of church.

I consider myself to be a sort weak deist, although agnostic would probably be more accurate. I believe that there is a God, but I don't have any opinion on what that God might actually be. I'm willing to accept the possibility that it could be anything that any religion claims it to be, or that it might not exist at all. It doesn't really seem to matter to me very much. In that respect, more than anything else, I definitely do not follow my parents religion.