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Author Topic: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?  (Read 5639 times)

Redfaery

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How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« on: April 19, 2014, 11:55:50 am »
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

missgraceless

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2014, 01:08:39 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.

 
I was raised Russian Orthodox but went to a Catholic elementary/primary school. I guess I kinda resented Christianity as a whole because it was forced upon me by family and school, even though my mom was agnostic and eventually full atheist. For years I bashed everything about Christianity, and I'm still trying to get over that resentment, although I'm much better than I used to be.

But my problem isn't with Christianity as a whole. It's with the followers who pick and choose certain things from the Bible to justify their actions. Not to mention the ignorance of things the Bible actually says. And of course because my eclectic mess of a religion is hugely important to me, people see my... dislike for certain Christians as a hatred for every Christian.

You can't say the entire breed is bad because a small handful of dogs are vicious. Same goes with religion. But people don't realize that, and so they classify me in the same group as the bigoted fundamentalists who hate everyone that doesn't believe what they do.
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HarpingHawke

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2014, 02:04:55 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.

 
1) I don't really resent it as much as I see its effects on the people I care deeply for and feel...icky. I know plenty of Christian people that are lovely, and a few that can be very vicious when they're presented with an opposing view to theirs.


2) When I was younger, I was Roman Catholic as well as Wiccan. Mom was a priestess, and she was gonna teach me, but she never got around to it, as she went full Catholic. And then non-denominational, fire-and-brimstone Christian that enjoys launching passive-aggressive snark at Paganism, while still assuming it's the same as it was in the eighties. So.

I went to Catholic school from preschool through third grade, and I didn't realize that anyone could NOT be Catholic. Then nasties happened and I had to switch schools. For the last four years of my elementary school I went to Waldorf, which was actually kinda (umbrella) Pagan in its outlook on life and the world. We took field trips to Buddhist temples and went hiking and fishing and went to a bunch of churches, and to San Francisco to walk a labyrinth. In the end, though, it wasn't really the religion, it was the people I was exposed to that I had feelings about. Sometimes I feel like religion is a reflection of the person one is, and interacting with those people assisted in solidifying my beliefs years later.
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Hemingway

Emma Eldritch

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2014, 04:37:30 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.

 
1) I grew up in a non-practising Protestant household for the most part, save a brief period after my parents' divorce where we lived in my aunt's basement. She was at the time a Born Again, and she convinced my mother to have my sister and I join the religious equivalent of the Girl Scouts. I 'lost' my bible after a few awkward meetings as a way to get out of going.

(My cousins weren't allowed to do Halloween stuff. I remember feeling bad for them until the older one told me they were going to heaven and they got 'harvest festivals' at church instead. Even at age ten I realised this was a rip-off and she was trying to make herself sound superior.)

2) I spent my adolescence in a heavily Christian city - the second question people would ask you after your name was "what church do you go to?"

I hated it.

There were three churches within walking distance of my house and only one convenience store. Everywhere I turned were condemnations of anyone who didn't believe the exact same things as that particular group.

This was the 90s. Marilyn Manson was scaring the bejeezus out of conservative groups and the Craft had come out. My outcast status simply spurred me on to become the girl in black with a deck of tarot cards in her backpack. I bought Bucky's Big Blue and rejected Jesus, and I've yet to regret my decision.

Typical story, I'm sure. XD

DavidMcCann

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2014, 06:24:19 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

My mother was what one might call a rites of passage Anglican and my father an anti-clerical catholic: they believed in God but in an unobtrusive way. That way I got the positive side of Christianity without the negatives.

Quote
How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

In England asking "what church do you go to?" is only slightly less intrusive than "how much money do you earn?" and on a par with "how did you vote in the last election?" We find such personal questions rude. Religious education is part of the national curriculum and my schools were all officially Anglican with a daily act of worship (a dozen certified atheists or Jews waited in the library and came in for the announcements at the end) but nobody asked us for our opinions, let alone if we were saved.
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missgraceless

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2014, 07:15:19 pm »
Quote from: DavidMcCann;145692
My mother was what one might call a rites of passage Anglican and my father an anti-clerical catholic: they believed in God but in an unobtrusive way. That way I got the positive side of Christianity without the negatives.


In England asking "what church do you go to?" is only slightly less intrusive than "how much money do you earn?" and on a par with "how did you vote in the last election?" We find such personal questions rude. Religious education is part of the national curriculum and my schools were all officially Anglican with a daily act of worship (a dozen certified atheists or Jews waited in the library and came in for the announcements at the end) but nobody asked us for our opinions, let alone if we were saved.

 
That actually sounds like a great way of combining religion with schools. The Catholic school I went to forced us to go to and do everything they did. But I think I was one of the only non-Catholic kids there. When I joined that school, my mom had to make sure the teachers and nuns didn't correct me when I crossed myself; I know that the Orthodox cross themselves backwards from Catholics, but whether it's right-to-left or left-to-right I'm not sure. I haven't done it in so many years. :P
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RandallS

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2014, 10:18:03 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

I was raised United Methodist. I have no real problems with the religion. It just did not click for me.

Quote
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s (graduated high school in 75) so I grew up before fundie-ism was a big thing (that was late 1970s and on). The religions in my area were Roman Catholic and various Protestant religions (Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Seven-Day Adventist Churches were within easy walking distance, for example). We also had Jewish neighbors although their synagogue was the other side of town.  I can't remember any religious issues, although I got a brutal intro to religious prejudice when I in middle school when some idiots spray-painted nazi swastikas on the driveway, yard, and trees of one of our Jewish neighbors.
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beith

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2014, 10:46:22 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673

1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?


When I was very young I don't think we went to church.  I was baptized in my grandpa's Methodist church at age 1, but I don't think my mom started taking me to church regularly until my daddy started dying.  That was a Lutheran church (ELCA) and after my daddy died she married the pastor.  The ELCA is the more liberal Lutheran (in the US at least).  Homosexual and female clergy, not a very strict interpretation of the Bible, particularly ignoring the old testament, live and let live.  From my experiences they would do outreach into the community.  I invited friends to come to Sunday school if they were interested.  But there's not a big emphasis on proselytizing.  We weren't the Bible-thumping types.  In my area that was typically the baptists and the non-denominationals.

Live and let live is basically my relationship to Lutheranism at this point.  The ELCA is very supportive of being open-minded to diversity and in and of itself there's nothing too offensive about it.  I still play in a Lutheran bell choir.  People can wreck it though, and they do.

Quote from: Redfaery;145673

2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

 
Almost everyone I came in contact with was a Christian of some flavor.  Mostly protestants like Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Presbyterian.  Most towns had a church for each of these (hit or miss with Episcopal) as well as a Catholic church and a Baptist church.  The older I got the more common non-denominational churches were.  The Baptists and non-denominationals were the kids in school who typically did a lot of church activities, Bible studies, and brought up Jesus in everyday conversation.  They would do things like pray in public and were more open about going on about how God or Jesus was their strength.  No one else really bothered talking about religion outside of church.  There was typically a Catholic church in every town, but I didn't really know anything about them when I was young except that they wouldn't let me have communion, I hated fish fries, and Father Ken wore bright red pants a lot.  I can't recall any sort of animosity or tension between denominations.  I went to public school and was actually pretty weirded out by having religion in class when I attended a Lutheran university (I chose the school based on my major and didn't consider how a religious school might be different than a public one).

There were some Jewish people as well.  We typically attended a synagogue at least once a year to worship with them and learn about their practice.  I loved the experience and really enjoyed celebrating the Passover Seder each year.

Overall in my area (upper Midwest), religion was there but not a giant part of day to day life the way it seems to be in the Bible Belt regions of the US.

I think there are three things that really drew me to paganism.  They happened in childhood and so are relevant to your question, but I was never brave enough to give it a shot until just last year at age 28.

1) I could never reconcile that a loving and merciful god would send people to burn eternally in Hell, even the most wicked but especially those of us who were only human.  Should I really burn forever for calling someone a bad name?  Really?  I also didn't understand why some things were sins.  Why does anyone care if I say "shit"?

2) The father of one of my good friends was pagan.  He was studying some sort of nature-based witchcraft (I didn't really understand at the time) and was generally a hippie in many ways.  We loved spending time with him, and I was really fascinated with his practice.  He took us to new age-ish shops as well and the imagery really stuck in my mind.

3) The main thing that turned me off from Christianity, in addition to my point #1, was the hypocrisy.  I saw a lot of it being the adopted daughter of a pastor.  The guy in the pulpit preaching about how to be good each Sunday acted like an insecure child in the home, starting horrible fights and generally being awful (why would you call your child "brain dead" for forgetting some simple household chore?  I was a fucking teenager!).  He also said something completely unforgivable about my grandfather...my dead dad's father who had accepted him like his own son into the family.  I hate how he took my mom and he took my name.  I think he is a lot of the reason I converted.

Another big thing was I have a lot of ideals of personal freedom.  I'm very liberal about social issues and freedom is a big theme in terms of being a USAmerican (for me at least) and a lot of the music I listen to.  I couldn't reconcile that with my birth religion.

I also saw a lot of terrible things with the politics in the background as well that a less-involved churchgoer wouldn't be exposed to.  Cliques and trying to push people out of the church and all sorts of terrible things.

Eventually I came to realize I only felt any sort of spirituality being immersed in nature.  Going to church was just going through the motions.  My childhood experience with my friend's pagan father resonated so much more.  I saw an article online about Samhain and after reading comments from pagans on the article, I started exploring.  TC opened my mind to accepting the existence of multiple gods.  Before I came here, I just couldn't process the possibility, due to my upbringing.

Redfaery

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2014, 09:22:52 am »
Quote from: beith;145707
The main thing that turned me off from Christianity, in addition to my point #1, was the hypocrisy.  I saw a lot of it being the adopted daughter of a pastor.  The guy in the pulpit preaching about how to be good each Sunday acted like an insecure child in the home, starting horrible fights and generally being awful (why would you call your child "brain dead" for forgetting some simple household chore?  I was a fucking teenager!).  He also said something completely unforgivable about my grandfather...my dead dad's father who had accepted him like his own son into the family.  I hate how he took my mom and he took my name.  I think he is a lot of the reason I converted.

Another big thing was I have a lot of ideals of personal freedom.  I'm very liberal about social issues and freedom is a big theme in terms of being a USAmerican (for me at least) and a lot of the music I listen to.  I couldn't reconcile that with my birth religion.

I also saw a lot of terrible things with the politics in the background as well that a less-involved churchgoer wouldn't be exposed to.  Cliques and trying to push people out of the church and all sorts of terrible things.

Eventually I came to realize I only felt any sort of spirituality being immersed in nature.  Going to church was just going through the motions.  My childhood experience with my friend's pagan father resonated so much more.  I saw an article online about Samhain and after reading comments from pagans on the article, I started exploring.  TC opened my mind to accepting the existence of multiple gods.  Before I came here, I just couldn't process the possibility, due to my upbringing.

 
Wow. That really sucks, beith.

I really am enjoying everyone's thoughtful replies, so I guess it's time to share my own story more in-depth.

I came to hate the fundamentalist version of Christianity that was forced upon me in high school with a seething passion. Going to an evangelical protestant school in 8th grade was not the best choice, but it was the only choice at that point, since the bullying in public school had become absolutely intolerable.

At first it wasn't bad. The principle was a nice little old lady, and our teacher was a Quaker. Even though in my particular home area, Quakers are likely to be just like any other evangelical Protestant, this guy was more like a traditional Quaker in his beliefs. He was very much a peaceful, gentle guy who loved his students and especially empathized with what I was going through. Then the little old lady retired and the school got taken over by an uber-fundamentalist who didn't believe in gravity. Seriously. He said it was the firmament of the Heavens pressing down on things.

I got a good bit of nastiness from my fellow students because I was a Catholic who toed the Catholic line. Namely, I wasn't a fundamentalist and I believed in evolution. All in all, it was indeed better than public school, since the other students weren't trying to be malicious. They just didn't understand that I believed something different from them, and that they should let me believe that way.

Still, my experience there, and at the Accelerated Christian Education center I went to next left me with nothing but disdain for what I saw, even though ironically, the people at the Southern Baptist ACE center were far more tolerant of me being different from them. I just happened to hate their curriculum even worse, since it was actively anti-Catholic, and also completely inadequate as teaching material. It took me forever to get the concept of "object of a preposition." (as in, don't end a sentence with a preposition) Because nobody would sit me down and TELL ME WHAT IT WAS. When the little booklets fell short, they gave me a bigger book to look at. Finally, I told my mom (an English major and former English teacher), and she was like, "oh...this is what they mean." and I was going, "Well, that was simple."

As for Catholicism, I actually had mostly good experiences at my Church. Even though the other kids in Sunday school were assholes, and eventually I refused to go anymore, the priest at the time was completely understanding and actually got me a dispensation to go ahead and get confirmed without going through the last year of classes, because he knew that I had tried really hard, and that I did indeed know what I needed to know.

In fact, the first two priests I knew at my church were both good, although the first was WAAAAY better. He was an oblate of St. Francis De Sales, so he'd taken a bunch of other vows on top of the usual celibacy. (That, as an aside, is how I think celibacy can actually work. It has to be combined with a basically ascetic, austere lifestyle, so people won't just sign on thinking they can "trade off" sex for the power they get as a clergyman). He frankly exuded holiness. Even though he retired when I was quite young, my mother got in touch with him when she and my dad were going through their crisis of faith. He called, and I happened to answer the phone. I was lapsed at that point, but just hearing his voice it was like..."Ah! I feel blessed!"

The second priest was very conservative, and prone to preaching politics. In fact, he was an alcoholic who'd been sent to our (dry) town to get sober. (He did). He was a horrible sermonizer, but very much willing to go the extra mile to help my dad with his social justice work. (My parents, even at their most conservative, were very much into social justice, such as abolishing the death penalty. Anti-Death penalty work is in fact kind of my dad's life mission, as he is the foremost criminal defense attorney in the state). As I mentioned earlier, he was also very understanding of me, and in particular how my Asperger's (though it wouldn't be diagnosed until I was 15) affected my ability to be a proper practicing Catholic.

He really did do his best to accommodate my needs. Not only did he say "Can't deal with the other kids in Sunday School? That's fine. You can get confirmed anyway." But also towards the end, when I had finally gotten the point across to my parents that Sunday morning Mass was almost unbearable, he said "fine. I'll give you a dispensation. Just come during one of the weekday services." Really though, I have to admire him for knowing how to talk to me as a kid.

When I was little, the symptoms of my various disorders (Asperger's syndrome, ADHD, and also some anxiety and OCD-ish tendencies) basically weren't being managed well at all. I had problems with obsessive thoughts and actions, especially (still do, but I'm better able to manage them now, both because of medication and cognitive therapy, and also because I've learned that they're just NOT A BIG DEAL). Well, since a lot of these obsessive thoughts centered on things that were important to me, a lot of them were religious in nature. Specifically, they were often what might be called blasphemous or sacrilegious. Certainly to a young, impressionable, and devout little Catholic. And they really bothered me. I was convinced that I was sinning without even wanting to. It bothered me so much that my mom took me to see this priest (I think she had explained to him beforehand what was really going on), and he sat me down and reassured me that everyone has unwanted thoughts that get into their heads sometimes, and that God totally understands and doesn't hold this against you.

Aside from the fact that the priests at my Church were understanding, I found that the mystical, ritualistic practice of Mass just spoke to me on a deep level. The Catholic Mass is inherently beautiful, in my opinion. Even in a rather simple, cheap-looking church like the one I went to, that doesn't have a choir or deacons or any other really fancy trappings. The congregation sang old protestant hymns off key (and there were some REALLY BAD singers in the crowd), and our church decor was rather tacky, but there was always a quiet sanctity and clear feeling of holiness in the empty church that I just couldn't deny.

I agree with Stephy that Catholicism was a gateway drug to Paganism for me. And I have to give a shoutout to Jack for saying that "Paganism is a recessive gene in Catholics" (I think I'm going to put that in my signature...). I found a lot of what I like in worship through going to Mass and also through the private devotions, and also puzzled out a lot of what I *didn't* like.

For example, I learned that I need beautiful (or at least, special) things to focus my attention on and to perform ritual with. The icons taught me this, as did my time as an acolyte, feeling a sense of awe while rinsing the priest's hands during the central Communion rite. Being an altar girl also taught me that I need to be involved in worship, rather than just a spectator. I've come to extend this, and I now see a need to have a great degree of autonomy in my worship. I don't just want to assist a priest/ess in worship. I want to worship on my own terms, because that is even better.

It also taught me what *didnt* work for me. Beyond the obvious - Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit just aren't for me - I learned that my devotion is best done at home, and alone. I hated sermons, no matter how good they were (and at my church they were often quite bad). Sitting in a building full of other people and getting a blanket, generic lesson just didn't feel right. I'd rather have my goddess suggest the lessons that *I* need to know at that moment, because they're probably different from what the person the next pew over needs.

So...all in all, I actually had very good experiences with Catholicism. My Catholic faith really gave me strength when I was attending private, evangelical schools. It ultimately wasn't for me, but I feel like had I been raised an evangelical outright, like most people in my area, I would never have found my way home to Sarasvati and paganism.

That was really long...I'm sorry if I rambled.:o Does it make sense?
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Emma Eldritch

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2014, 03:44:48 pm »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;145680
I went to Catholic school from preschool through third grade, and I didn't realize that anyone could NOT be Catholic. Then nasties happened and I had to switch schools. For the last four years of my elementary school I went to Waldorf, which was actually kinda (umbrella) Pagan in its outlook on life and the world. We took field trips to Buddhist temples and went hiking and fishing and went to a bunch of churches, and to San Francisco to walk a labyrinth. In the end, though, it wasn't really the religion, it was the people I was exposed to that I had feelings about. Sometimes I feel like religion is a reflection of the person one is, and interacting with those people assisted in solidifying my beliefs years later.

 
Oh my gosh, you went to a Waldorf school? I was JUST listening to a podcast that mentioned those! They sounded pretty odd, but kinda cool.

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2014, 05:16:11 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
-

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?


 
I was raised as a Baptist.  Growing up I didn't really have any problems with my church or my faith.  As I moved on to college I couldn't find a church that made me feel the same welcomed way the church of my youth had.  In college for a religion class I had to do a paper about my religion and I felt I agreed with what I learned about the basis of my religion.  Then I started working for a business that was run by people who belonged to the same "born again" church.  Posters about their religion was all over the work place.  Some of the posters indicated that other religions were totally wrong in their beliefs.  This really bothered me a lot. After that, I wasn't sure where I fell in the religion spectrum.  

 In my hometown there were several churches:  Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Latter Day Saints, Jehovahs Witness, Catholic, Lutheran.  I don't remember any conflicts with them.  They/We all moved in our own circles.  I didn't hear anyone talk down about other religions.

Tom

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2014, 05:50:18 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.

 
I was raised in a non-religious household. My father was a rather staunch atheist, though he encouraged me to read mythology I suppose he thought it was a way that would encourage me to see Christianity as "just" mythology as well, though it didn't quite work out that way. My mother on the other hand, I think she is Christian on some level, but hasn't really practiced it beyond going to Christmas services with her family when we visited them.

Honestly, I've been pretty much given zero religious instruction in my life, so most of it has been self-taught and due to my extensive reading of mythology as a child, I discovered the idea of polytheism pretty early. I wouldn't call myself a pagan that early since I didn't know of the term, but the idea of multiple gods was always the one that made sense to me to the point that the fantasy cultures I invented were always polytheistic.

I suppose the people I was surrounded by were Christian, but I never was exposed to a great deal of it or at the very least, I'm not sure if it had any real great influence on me outside of some stuff I've picked up from just growing up in the US as a whole such as the idea of Easter and Christmas being major holidays, though I only had seen them as secular celebrations.

HarpingHawke

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2014, 07:21:34 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;145778
Oh my gosh, you went to a Waldorf school? I was JUST listening to a podcast that mentioned those! They sounded pretty odd, but kinda cool.

 
Yup, they're pretty weird! I'm just happy you know what they are, because last time I mentioned it, somebody misheard me and said, "You went to Hogwarts?" :D: Yes, of COURSE I went to Hogwarts.

That aside, they put the focus on learning and not on grades, which is pretty frickin' nice, because you're not just memorizing for a test and then forgetting everything afterwards. Case in point: I still remember Norse mythology from fourth grade. That was a while ago. And I'm also down for anything handwritten, because handmade textbooks.

Just curiosity here, but do you happen to know the podcast off the top of your head?

Oh my gosh, I'm really rambling, aren't I? :o It's just been a while and I kind of miss it...
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Hemingway

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2014, 10:13:47 pm »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;145791
Yup, they're pretty weird! I'm just happy you know what they are, because last time I mentioned it, somebody misheard me and said, "You went to Hogwarts?" :D: Yes, of COURSE I went to Hogwarts.

That aside, they put the focus on learning and not on grades, which is pretty frickin' nice, because you're not just memorizing for a test and then forgetting everything afterwards. Case in point: I still remember Norse mythology from fourth grade. That was a while ago. And I'm also down for anything handwritten, because handmade textbooks.

Just curiosity here, but do you happen to know the podcast off the top of your head?

Oh my gosh, I'm really rambling, aren't I? :o It's just been a while and I kind of miss it...

 
Whoooa. That is so fascinating! Much, much different than the standard.

I sure do. It's called The Last Podcast on the Left, specifically the episode about gnomes. XD

stephyjh

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Re: How do you feel about the religions you grew up with?
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2014, 11:08:43 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;145673
Yeah, I know this has probably been done a million times before, but I didn't see any recent threads, and I had a slight twist on the issue I wanted to bring up as well.

The first question:
1.) What is your relationship to the faith (or lack of faith, if you were raised in a non-practicing or atheist/agnostic household) you were brought up in?

The second question probably isn't going to be applicable to everyone, but it's one I'd like to ask about:
2.) How did you feel about the predominant religion(s) that were around you when you were growing up?

I ask this second question especially because it's not just the faith (or non-faith) we're raised in that shapes our views of religion and what path we choose. It's also the other religions around us, and I personally think I would've had a much harder time finding my path if I hadn't been raised a devout Roman Catholic in an area full of fiery evangelical protestants.

I grew up hardcore, homeschooled, Disney-boycott fundie, and my parents were actually mild compared to some of the people we knew (the ones who wouldn't allow their kids secular music and called FernGully "new age nonsense" and thought recycling was a violation of man's dominion over the earth and wouldn't let their daughters have haircuts or pants). The uncompromising position that the man is the head of the household protected my dad from any consequences for abusing me and my mother and kept him from getting the help he needed for his bipolar disorder.

I later converted to Catholicism. When I had just split from my kinda-husband (long story, but I'm thankful for the annulment) and had to have an incomplete miscarriage medically completed to save my life, I needed my religious community more than I ever had before. My priest said that a hysterectomy to remove the body part that had failed would have been acceptable (I was 22!), but my abortion wasn't, and I was excommunicated as a baby-killer.

So yeah. I have the obvious opinions about the two denominations.
A heretic blast has been blown in the west,
That what is no sense must be nonsense.

-Robert Burns

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