I was raised religious but borderline atheist/agnostic. I believe in ghosts/the paranormal, but no actual God. H is full atheist. I started to read about science and it swayed me. I stopped going to church when I was 16/17. I now only go for baptisms, funerals, and weddings.
Neither but I like to talk, lol. I was raised by a religious mom and an anti-religion agnostic dad. I am agnostic but feel a connection to religion and church through my background. I go to church maybe twice a year but it feels good to go. We are talking about religion to our kids a bit and I have brought them to church a very few number of times. I can't fake it, but I want them to have some background because I don't think they would turn to church later if raised atheist/agnostic. I'll discuss my doubts with them when they are teenagers like my dad did with me.
Post by birdistheword on May 21, 2013 20:00:29 GMT -5
I was raised Christian, but never had that "feeling" that I thought I was supposed to get from going to church. I stopped going my senior year in high school and haven't been since. I did get married in the church I grew up in, which I suppose is hypocritical when I think about it. I would consider myself atheist at this point.
I am agnostic bordering on atheist. I will say that growing up I always knew that what they believed did not quite "fit" for me. I did what I had to until they made it my choice.
My kid will not be raised in any religion. If she has questions, which I'm sure she will having religious grandparents, we plan to tell her about a variety of beliefs and encourage her to decide for herself. I do not want to dictate what she believes because I think religion or lack there of is something personal.
My H is mildly religious (believes in god, goes to church sometimes) and we agree on this.
Interesting. I've heard of people being raised religious and becoming atheist but I've never heard it happen the other way around.
DH and I were both raised "nonreligious". We didn't go to church, it wasn't really discussed at home at all. I remember going to church when I was very very young but not for long. My brother and I went to Catholic school and both of us were and still are agnostic. I just...can't. It doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes I wish I could believe. People seem to find a lot of comfort in God and religion but I just can't. For me, it's like trying to squeeze into a dress that's too small. Maybe I could get by a while, but it just doesn't fit and I gotta take it off lol.
DH may be atheist, we don't really talk about it. Even though his parents didn't take him to church growing up and don't go now, MIL is disappointed that he didn't get baptized and we didn't get married in a church. I don't understand why she's disappointed if she didn't bother to raise him religious?
Interesting. I've heard of people being raised religious and becoming atheist but I've never heard it happen the other way around.
DH and I were both raised "nonreligious". We didn't go to church, it wasn't really discussed at home at all. I remember going to church when I was very very young but not for long. My brother and I went to Catholic school and both of us were and still are agnostic. I just...can't. It doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes I wish I could believe. People seem to find a lot of comfort in God and religion but I just can't. For me, it's like trying to squeeze into a dress that's too small. Maybe I could get by a while, but it just doesn't fit and I gotta take it off lol.
DH may be atheist, we don't really talk about it. Even though his parents didn't take him to church growing up and don't go now, MIL is disappointed that he didn't get baptized and we didn't get married in a church. I don't understand why she's disappointed if she didn't bother to raise him religious?
Post by speckledfrog on May 21, 2013 20:51:14 GMT -5
I was raised in a religious household but started to become atheist around 8th grade (thanks, church camp!) and stopped going to church around my junior year.
Post by W.T.Faulkner on May 21, 2013 20:57:34 GMT -5
I was raised in a hyper-religious Catholic household; now, I believe in God, but am not religious and do not attend church regularly, as I find the Church hierarchy kind of gross right now (and, uh, always). BF was raised Episcopalian, but is a firm atheist now.
For both of us, it was less the issue of whether God exists and more of "holy shit, organized religion drives people in power to do terrible things."
I have a friend who has an atheist family but is now born again and very, very religious.
I agree with what frkls said about the Methodist church - more on this later.
I have an interesting religious past. My Dad's family is very Catholic and he was raised as such. He kinda brought that into my childhood. But not much. My mom was raised strict Lutheran. I was baptized Lutheran and attended Lutheran church until I was about 6.
When I was 9 we began attending a Methodist church (I was confirmed here) until I was 14. When I was 14 we attended a Presbyterian church...which was in a Baptist church because their home church had burned and was being rebuilt. We attended some Baptist stuff, too. At this church I was reconfirmed and an "official member" My mom was the secretary for this Presbyterian church. When I was 16 my mom had a huge falling out with the pastor (recovering alcoholic, had some anger issues) and another member (an elder). I haven't been to church since. My mom is still super religious and doesn't attend church. She reminds me frequently how she is "worried about my spirituality".
All this moving around churches kinda turned me off religion. And the drama with my mom at the end REALLY turned me off. I was also a History major in school for awhile and was majorly into the history of religion. I didn't care for the way some stuff went down - and the way somethings are delt with today.
I believe there is a God and in the 'general' teaching of Christianity. I do not think you HAVE to go to church and follow a specific sect to be a believer or a Christian.
Now, I think it is very important to have Emily baptized. I think she should have a "base" to learn upon. I want her to form her own opinions about religion. If she grows up and wants to be Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian - it won't bother me. She needs to make her choices and what is right for her.
With that said - back to the Methodist thing. Before Emily is baptized I feel we need to "find" a church. What frkls said is exactly why I feel a Methodist church is right for us - I feel we will have a lot more freedom in what we believe. Why "find" a church? Because I don't really want to waltz into a church and be like "hey, baptize my kid!". I'm also looking for more a community and friendships. I don't have family here or friends. I feel like church will be a good way to meet new people and would have the sense of community I'm looking for.
H wasn't raised in religion and doesn't care either way as long as Em gets to make her own choices at some point.
I was raised atheist and I shit you not, started going to church at 6. the church would send a freaking bus to my neighborhood to gather up the kids. SANS PARENTS.
But they would come see me during the xmas plays and other cool things. I still love that little church. Good Times!!
Post by statlerwaldorf on May 21, 2013 21:04:53 GMT -5
I was raised Atheist. I went through a couple of phases in my life where I tried to believe in God. Once when I was around 11 or 12 and once when we started going through IF treatments. I just never could actually believe. I was looking for that comfort some people find in religion, but it just was never there for me.
Post by christy082 on May 21, 2013 21:06:34 GMT -5
I was raised Catholic by a mother who chose to convert to Catholicism as an adult. My father never went to church and to this day I have no idea what, if any, beliefs he has. It was probably during college that I started to realize I resented having religion forced on me. Through my own research/exploration I discovered I was agnostic/secular humanist. Within the last two years, I now consider myself atheist/secular humanist.
Post by margotmacomber on May 21, 2013 21:07:24 GMT -5
If the stupid bear eats another post I will shank someone.
I was raised by religious parents that didn't go to church. We went to VBS twice a summer because we lived on the same street as two separate churches and it got us out of the house. Sometime in high school I decided I was atheist, although now I sometimes feel agnostic...it varies.
I've never met someone being raised atheist, it will be interesting if it has happened to someone and they share their story here.
If DD wants to go to church I will take her, although I will also follow up with whatever literature I deem pertinent at the time to continue the discussion.
I was raised to believe in God but around the age of 13 I got my own interest in church. I was very involved in church and developed a relationship with Christ in high school. I "fell away" from that relationship and was wild in college. As an adult dh and I found a church and I recommitted my life to Christ. I now attend multiple bible studies and we go to church every week, sometimes multiple times. For worship and for the sermon. Like anything, in my opinion, faith takes hard work. Maintaining it can be difficult. But I am so glad to be back where I am at. It has completely changed our lives.
Eta... We attend a non denominational church. An every nation church.
Eta again. I don't believe that everyone's faith can fit in one certain church or way of practice. And like ninja, I'm turned off by people who are uppity or use religion to belittle or make people feel anything but love. If everyone who says they are Christian actually based the way the act and their beliefs the way Christ wanted us too, the world would have lot more love in it. It's something I work on too, alot. Cause boy do I need work. Lol.
I was raised loosely everything/nothing with Catholic/Episcopalian undertones. I was baptized at age 9 in the Episcopal church. My dad has dabbled in Judaism and Buddhism. My mom ... I don't really know her story as well, just that she used to yell at me for saying "God" and was raised in an Irish Catholic family. Now they are both atheists.
I'm sort of figuring it out. I love a lot of things about organized religion and hate a lot about it, too. People who are too staunch turn me off. I don't think there's any one right or wrong way to believe or show faith in anything.
ETA also all of my serious relationships were with guys from very religious backgrounds -- Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Mormon -- with varying levels of belief holding and practice in those religions. So I sort of think there's some underlying subconscious desire in me. However, when it comes to applying a lot of things, my logical reasoning sort of wins out. Again -- I'm figuring it out.
Oh and by far the best thing my father has done for me is to always answer my questions honestly (if age appropriately) and talk things through with me. I remember before getting baptized watching a PBS special on the Bible and talking to him about the historical aspects of it. Questioning how true in the historical sense it could be, how do we know what people said, etc. He didn't dismiss anything and we talked it through -- he didn't really push a side, just talked to me. He did that with Judaism and Buddhism too. I love that about him. He'll still ask me questions and talk through stuff with me like that
I was raised in a non-religious household. Neither of my parents are Christians, and they did not raise us to believe in any higher power. My parents weren't anti-Christian or anything, but religion was not a topic of conversation when I was growing up.
I started exploring my faith when I was 15-16, I had what I would consider my "defining moment" when I was 17, and I was baptized when I was 19. My relationship with God has been an incredibly important part of my life since.
I was raised in the Congregational church. Our branch was pretty liberal, though; one of our ministers was a lesbian, things like hell and sin were never mentioned. It was all about God's love and WWJD. I was super into it up until about age 20. Then I started drifting further and further away, especially when I was living in Berkeley. I got a lot more interested in Buddhism. I was fairly content with my religious beliefs during this time.
Then in my early 30's I had a pretty bad night when I completely lost all faith, and I was devastated by it. I'm still agnostic to this day, and I can't really see going back to believing in an afterlife, but actually I would like to. I'm happy that my older daughter believes in God even without encouragement from us (H is also agnostic).
i don't think i was ever actually an atheist, but i was definitely a non-practicing-whatever by the time i graduated from high school. when my mom was young, she worked for catholic family services and was on track to become a nun. something happened (she never said what. it might have been her rape and subsequent abortion) and it turned her off to the entire church thing all at once. she never went to church and never made us go. i accidentally got involved in the methodist campus ministry in college only because i was involved with habitat for humanity and it was under the "chaplain's office" umbrella. my small, liberal arts college also required religious studies courses to graduate. the combination of learning actual biblical studies/theology instead of sunday school nonsense, and finding out that the methodist church was so huge into social justice BECAUSE of the gospel really kinda pulled me in. it was never a "getting saved" thing, but a "seeing how God works in the world" thing. historically, the methodist church has been very progressive and committed to issues of liberation, equality and social justice. it's falling behind now because it's concentrated mostly in the southeast and Africa. the idea that God is continually creating and re-creating is very important to me. i also think that the world is starving for love, and that God wants desperately to provide it. we just can't stop fighting each other, hating each other, being afraid of each other, trying to be better than each other to help.
I really like this! Maybe I need to check out a Methodist church.
To respond to the OP, I was raised SUPER religious (church three times a week, no drinking, no school dances, etc). I ended up at a pretty religious-based college and believed in god for quite some time. That was about 15 years ago though and I've only been to church a handful of times since then. Recently I was out with my parents (who are divorced and both drink quite a bit...BIG no-no's from the way I was raised) and my dad and I got into a discussion about religion/god. I told him I don't know what I think any more. I'd like to believe in a god and go to church and raise my kids that way (not anywhere near as strict as I was raised though), but my heart just isn't in it. I don't know if I believe in god or not and I have a hard time going to churches since I was always raised that others were wrong and the one we went to was right. I hate it.
I attended private Catholic school K thru 8th grade, but my parents were never crazy religious. We went to church only on special occasions and rarely discussed our faith or prayed together. They sent me to private school more so for a better education and experience vs the so-so schools in our zone.
I'm agnostic/borderline atheist, as is my ex-Mormon H. Raising Freethinkers is a great book for us. I've always wondered if one of our kids will go on to be hardcore Evangelical or something.
Post by snipsnsnails on May 21, 2013 22:31:38 GMT -5
My parents were and still are staunch atheists. My mother was raised in a Mormon household and left the church when she was 18. She still holds a lot of hostility toward Mormonism and organized religion as a whole.
When I was in middle school, my grandmother was the organist at an ELCA church so I would tag along with her and my grandpa sometimes. My parents never supported this.
It wasn't until I was in high school that I decided to explore Christianity. Now, I'm very religious - some might even say hardcore.
So, yeah, I guess I was raised atheist and am now a believer.
Post by gretchenindisguise on May 21, 2013 22:38:29 GMT -5
I was raised in a non-religious household. My mom was raised catholic, became atheist. Dad was raised methodist, I think he's agnostic.
In 7th grade I started hanging out with religious folk. I was baptized Methodist in 8th grade. Transitioned to Catholicism in college and was fully converted 1st year of grad school.
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