Gtky: Religion

[snapdragon]

seventythree I know exactly what you mean about communities. Every community has its own feel, and it stinks when the city you have to be in doesn't have a community that you feel quite at home in.

[chailife34]

I'm Jewish, but am much more spiritual than religious. I know there is something bigger than myself and believe I have encountered G-d many times in my life. Religious traditions are important to preserve but certainly don't rule how I live my life. My mother became a born-again Christian when I was a teenager and the church she joined was very dogmatic and hypocritical. My father is a living carnation of Job from the Bible, yet has lost all of his faith in recent years. DH has no real religion to speak of. Despite being Bat Mitzvah'd in Jerusalem, I'd say that I really just believe in the Golden Rule.

[seventythree]

Feb 16, 2015 0:21:40 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

seventythree I know exactly what you mean about communities. Every community has its own feel, and it stinks when the city you have to be in doesn't have a community that you feel quite at home in.

Totally! I'm actually kind of hoping this LO will help me/us to integrate, like maybe I'll befriend some other moms at the church. I don't know. It's a large parish which sometimes makes it less inviting, but I keep telling myself it might mean that I just haven't found the right people yet. It's really frustrating, because the services leave me feeling spiritually fulfilled, but then leaving without having anyone to talk to/see/check in with just makes me sad. Heck, the building's not even set up for it! Some churches have a nice big vestibule that naturally encourages lingering and chatting after a service, this one is tiny and kind of screams "okay get out".

[freddyisready]

Great thread!

DH and I are both atheists. I would actually classify myself as an Anti-Theist, which means I believe that religion does more harm than good. I have been an atheist since I was 9 years old, even though my parents sporadically took us to church. I enjoy keeping up with religious news stories and like reading about religion and atheism. I have attended many different churches and religious events and have enjoyed them as a spectator.

We will raise our children according to our beliefs. We will exercise their critical thinking skills, nurture their skepticism, and seek scientific explanations for their questions. We will teach them to treat all humans with tolerance and respect. We will read the Bible stories, but it will be from the viewpoint of a skeptic and not a believer. I would also like to take my children to different churches and discuss what we experienced and what their (each church) beliefs are.

I would hope that my children embrace scientific thinking instead of magical thinking when they become adults, and I won't lie, I would be disappointed in my teachings if they don't. But I would respect my child's decision.

[queenrichie]

My DH and I are both Christian! We actually met at church. We will for sure take our LO to church and have her dedicated to the Lord as a baby. I think it's great to understand other religions and cultures. In fact my parents (who are also Christian), never pressured me to be Christian and encouraged me to know the doctrines behind the bible and learn other religions as well. They wanted me to make my own decision. I ended up getting baptized as a Christian on my own will after I graduated high-school. I plan to encourage my daughter to do her research as well!

[snapdragon]

Feb 16, 2015 0:46:22 GMT -5 seventythree said:

Feb 16, 2015 0:21:40 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

seventythree I know exactly what you mean about communities. Every community has its own feel, and it stinks when the city you have to be in doesn't have a community that you feel quite at home in.

Totally! I'm actually kind of hoping this LO will help me/us to integrate, like maybe I'll befriend some other moms at the church. I don't know. It's a large parish which sometimes makes it less inviting, but I keep telling myself it might mean that I just haven't found the right people yet. It's really frustrating, because the services leave me feeling spiritually fulfilled, but then leaving without having anyone to talk to/see/check in with just makes me sad. Heck, the building's not even set up for it! Some churches have a nice big vestibule that naturally encourages lingering and chatting after a service, this one is tiny and kind of screams "okay get out".

I also moved into a bigger community, and my old synagogue had a much better "congregate and chat" area too! I feel so invisible! It helps when LO starts school or you go to play groups and things like that. I think bigger communities just take more time.

[irishvodkagrl]

Bare with me, this is kind of hard to explain.

I was raised Irish Catholic. What I mean by that is my Grandparents stressed a lot of the traditional mystical Irish aspects and melded them with Catholicism. I learned to pray the rosary and also to put out milk and honey for the fae people in the garden. I was taught about the Saints and also how to use herbs in ritual prayers and appeal to old Irish deities for help.

I love my religion and plan to raise my kids the same way. They will be baptized R.C. and I will continue our Irish traditions.

[rels09]

I am pretty much an atheist, at least mostly. My family went to church went I was really little because my parents liked the pastor, but only sporadically when I was school-aged. (My parents and brother are all pretty much atheist now.) In high school, I participated in Young Life a little bit, but mainly because I had a huge crush on one of the guys there...

H grew up going to church his whole life, and his dad is very religious. I would say H questions a lot of aspects of the Christian faith (when he actually bothers to ask himself the questions), but does believe in God and really likes the community aspect of religion. I am fine with accompanying him and our kids to church, as long as the pastor is really engaging (I really appreciate a good sermon) and the church is in line with our values of what religion should be, based on the true teachings of Jesus (which I can appreciate very much, even though I don't believe in his divinity).

We had a pastor who married us whom we loved and enjoyed going to his church, but he retired. We are going to try out a similar church (very liberal Presbyterian), but if we don't like that one, we might go Unitarian, since I would probably be a little more comfortable there.

[stargazerlily]

I was raised Unitarian - I liked it but I don't have really strong religious beliefs, more along the lines of believing in a higher power and holding to the UU principles in my daily life:
1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

DF identifies as Christian. We've talked a lot about wanting to find a church locally. I really want to raise DD in a supportive religious community where she'll have support from other families and her peers in living life according to morals and principles, but DF is very skeptical of UU churches (he is very libertarian and I think he's a little uncomfortable with all the social justice activism - I'm a bleeding heart liberal lol so it's right up my alley) and the ones he has gone to don't feel really comfortable for me...and TBH, Sunday is the only day off that we have in common, so we talk about going to check out a church and then that morning just want to take it easy, rest, and spend time together. But I'm going to start pushing him more to check some out with me because I really want to make this happen, I think it'll be really good for us as a family. And I'd love to find a church choir to join, I did that before and really miss it.