Parents Influence

[Impqueen]

Are you of the same faith as your parents?

How did your upbringing affect your faith?

What was the general faith 'atmosphere' around you as a child?

I ask out of interest and because I can clearly see the roots of my faith in my upbringing. It is perhaps easy to suggest this question is most interesting where parents and children disagree on faith, but the process of growing up within a faith is interesting too. For example - Is there usually a period of questioning and doubting?

[Muslimwoman]

Good questions ImpQueen.

I was very religious as a child, yet my parents were of no faith. My mother is agnostic, father and brother are athiest. Yet I was a real little Bible basher. I was allowed to go to church and sunday school when away at boarding school but never taken when I was at home. My family laughed at me but were very patient with my 'preaching' and boy could I preach.

I think my families attitude certainly assisted with my loss of faith later in my teens. It is difficult to remain faithful when surrounded by people who have no faith. My faith was always there but I 'lost' it for a long time, ue to peer pressure, family and my own desire for sin.

As you know I am now Muslim, through choice and my family seem to be accepting it, although they still take the mickey.

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by Impqueen

Are you of the same faith as your parents?

How did your upbringing affect your faith?

What was the general faith 'atmosphere' around you as a child?

I ask out of interest and because I can clearly see the roots of my faith in my upbringing. It is perhaps easy to suggest this question is most interesting where parents and children disagree on faith, but the process of growing up within a faith is interesting too. For example - Is there usually a period of questioning and doubting?

My parents are both Christian and my sister is now Catholic. I grew up going to church regularly in various protestant denominations, mostly Methodist and Presbyterian. I was a pretty devoted Christian for a period as a kid, once I could wrap my head around religion. I'd say this was probably from the time I was 6 to my teenage years--although the questions started coming very early. I remember laying in bed one night when my mom was tucking me in, asking her about heaven. She told me that you live for ever and ever in heaven, doing whatever you want to do under the protection of the Lord. Somehow that almost horrified me! It certainly scared me. It sounded utterly boring, and the image I got was one of stasis--everything perfect, nothing really happening, nothing changing. Something deep and very alive inside of me rebelled against that visualization, but it was a very helpless feeling. I felt like if that was how heaven was--eternal and all hymns and angels, all fishing and cloud-gazing--than that's how it was, and I'd better resign myself to an eternity in heaven.

I know that probably sounds sacreligious to some people, and it's not like I wanted flames and hot rods and excitement. I didn't know what I expected the afterlife to be like, but for it to be some kind of perfected human eternal life just seemed wrong to me, and scary.

Several years later I puzzled over the book of Revelations wondering how it was that a Loving God was planning all of these atrocities.

Skip forward a few years and combine the awkwardness of being an introverted teenager with a routine of church and Sunday school and youth group that all felt more like social gatherings than any kind of spiritual food, and I'd had enough.

Eventually I took a meditation class in high school. After doing that for a while, I abandoned it and my interest in spirituality began to be channeled into esoterica and magick--Aleister Crowley, tarot cards, and the like. That was kind of a weird time for me. In college I had my first real exposure to Buddhism, but didn't really bite at that point. After I graduated college, the spiritual urges got stronger again. "What the hell am I doing with my life?" I certainly wasn't finding satisfaction in the 9-5 working world or in any kind of long-term goal oriented careerism. I started meditating again. Some synchroncities happened and I almost became a monk of sorts in a minor spiritual movement exported from India.

Now I just flow with whatever, mix it all up. I'm finally beginning to be comfortable thinking of myself as a Christian, but not within any church. Rather Christianity to me is simply about one thing: practicing forgiveness and letting Christ energy flow through you. Or you could say, less controversially, emulating Jesus. Whatever works.

But I still consider myself a pagan.

[greymare]

Gday. My Dad was a catholic, my mother (that raised me) was Church of England, although the only time we went together as a family endedin a horrible fight . I only realised how strong dads faith was awhen at his funeral and people talked about how much of a good catholic man he was.?. I did the first communion thing and confession and first confirmation etc. But after that I pretty much left it all behind. Too busy being a teenage rebel and all that. I dabble in witchcraft and demonology books and tarot cards. I attended a Born again Christian meeting . I started inviting Jws and Mormons in. So I guess I have been wanting to fill a gap. I still havent but thats why Im here. Still looking...........love the Grey

[17th Angel]

Originally Posted by Impqueen

Are you of the same faith as your parents?

How did your upbringing affect your faith?

What was the general faith 'atmosphere' around you as a child?

Firstly I was adopted.... So these aren't my "blood" parents.
My dad came from a hard Irish upbringing..... He was a rough and funny man.... Things such as religion never crossed his mind lol.... Football, drink, hard work, and horse play were the only things on his mind.

My mother as a child was brought up as c.o.e... But after the loss of her son she lost any faith whatsoever in a god.

When I was born and brought up, religion wasn't at all spoken of I didn't even hear of things such as a god till I dunno.... 15? First time I ever went in a church was 16 for my sisters wedding.. I have only ever been in a church because of three weddings. I wouldn't put my actions down to their influence... I have always been there only for myself... NO one... Tells me what to think, how to feel what to believe.... Even if they where highly religious, I would have still been a violent rebel child... Even more so maybe....

[Impqueen]

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

Firstly I was adopted.... So these aren't my "blood" parents.

It's funny, but I was assuming this was a 'nurture' issue and that nature and genetics have nothing to do with it. So far the responses support that everyone (with the possble exception of Pathless) is of a different religion to their parents. But this website is a self selecting pool of subjects as we're all people who think about faith. Hmm...

All interesting responses

17th, sorry to have to ask, but do you have a set religion?

[dauer]

Same religion as my parents, different set of ideas about it. And I'm much more engaged in it than they are. But my Zaide's love for Judaism has been an influence, and my mom's interest in alternative healing and the like has been also. Holidays together was also influential.

[greymare]

Hey 17th, I was adopted as well. That might explain the little rebel in us, eh?

[Muslimwoman]

Originally Posted by greymare

Hey 17th, I was adopted as well. That might explain the little rebel in us, eh?

You mean my parents aren't my blood parents?

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Impqueen

Are you of the same faith as your parents?

No.

How did your upbringing affect your faith?

My parents would probably have called themselves Christian; but I don’t recall them going to church or encouraging me to go. Religion at school was at that time only Christian religion, which didn’t interest me as a child. So as a child, I must have been “faithless”. It was not an issue or interest.

What was the general faith 'atmosphere' around you as a child?

As you might garner from the above; the faith atmosphere was pretty non-existent.

I ask out of interest and because I can clearly see the roots of my faith in my upbringing. It is perhaps easy to suggest this question is most interesting where parents and children disagree on faith, but the process of growing up within a faith is interesting too. For example - Is there usually a period of questioning and doubting

As I grew older, the absence noted above meant that I didn’t have to rebel against any person or faith. Nothing had been put in place in a religious sense for me to doubt. I think if they had of tried to push my into something (which would have been Christianity) I would have rejected it. But they weren’t like that, bless ‘em.

It was my own interest years later, sparked not by my parents, that led me to wherever it is I am today. Perhaps I can say that they didn’t guide / persuade / cajole / indoctrinate me in anything so I have always been (luckily) free to investigate what I found interesting without any pressures or fear of censure.

s.

[path_of_one]

Originally Posted by Impqueen

Are you of the same faith as your parents?

How did your upbringing affect your faith?

What was the general faith 'atmosphere' around you as a child?

I ask out of interest and because I can clearly see the roots of my faith in my upbringing. It is perhaps easy to suggest this question is most interesting where parents and children disagree on faith, but the process of growing up within a faith is interesting too. For example - Is there usually a period of questioning and doubting?

My father is Lutheran (pretty straightforward about it, too). My mother just calls herself a follower of Christ, but if you define her based on denomination/path, she'd be closest to Quaker and is of a mystic bent. They were divorced since I was four, so I was raised by my mother and spent vacations with my father.

From my mother (and I also think personality/genetics played no small role), I became very mystically oriented. Started having visions and whatnot when I was very young (about two), and since she always listened and took me seriously, I had no reason to force it out of my conscious mind or pretend I was different. I was not raised to fit into society in any way. She is very much of a "we're not of this world, no need to try" person. I was taught to be responsible and respectful, aware enough of society to navigate it, but keep my distance and honor what was the "real me." The heart of "me," was always my relationship with God, which was not defined for me. So I was able to grow and change and learn over time based on my intuitive spiritual experience, rather than being given a religion and expected to stick with it.

From my father, I developed a love of ritual. Going to the Lutheran church a lot gave me an intense love of tradition, of ritual- especially of communion and group prayer. What the rituals mean to me is different than many Christians, but I still love it. I also developed a love of the small church- I'm not terribly extroverted anyway, so the quiet and small church communities really work for me.

Today, I'm somewhat like them and somewhat not. I go to the Episcopal church and I still love the ritual and tradition and group prayer. It is very meaningful to me and is like moving meditation. At the heart of it, I'm a Christian Mystic. I embrace my experience of the spiritual world and God, and I don't really consider myself any particular denomination of Christian. I'm just a person that loves God and attempts to follow Christ's example. On my own, based on many of my experiences and a desire to incorporate a more structured path to process them, I became a Druid and so I consider myself earth-based spirituality as well as following Christ. The two are not exclusive for me, so there's no conflict. I guess I'm not a Pagan since I'm ultimately monotheist (and panentheist), but I come pretty close and I do believe in nature spirits and so forth.

There was never really a period of questioning/doubting, since I was always encouraged to explore all religions and choose what felt "right" compared to my experience of God. Early on, I began reading works in Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism (one of my favorites!), etc. If you grow up in that kind of household, you can't really rebel. There is nothing to rebel against. There has been lots and lots of learning and changing over time, as I've explored many different religions and taken bits and pieces of what resonated with my experience of God and then chosen the traditions that fit the best (but still always with changing interpretation). But no rebellion. But then I'm not the rebellious type. I don't think I've ever been integrated well enough into any part of society to try to rebel against it. I just sort of float by doing my own thing, partially oblivious to the rest of it anyway. I've been told by some people that I rebel against mainstream US society, but it is unintentional for the most part. I just am what I am, and I don't think much about how it fits (or doesn't) with everyone else.

[17th Angel]

Originally Posted by Muslimwoman

You mean my parents aren't my blood parents?

You're adopted too? lol...

Originally Posted by greymare

Hey 17th, I was adopted as well. That might explain the little rebel in us, eh?

AND YOU?

Oh yah... *gives a rebel yelllll!*

Originally Posted by Impqueen

17th, sorry to have to ask, but do you have a set religion?

Sorry imp you lost me... And that isn't that hard, I'm like a set of freaking car keys.... Do I personaly have a religion? Yes... love and forgiveness... That and ice hockey.... Or do you mean a religion set by parents? If so that I guess would have been c.o.e/catholic.

[wil]

Yes, my parents were Christian. My mother always attended church, my father never did. We attended various denominations as a kid...we moved every few years and attended a number of churches till my mom found a congregation she liked and then we stayed there. So we attended Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Episcopalian as I can remember.

Dad wouldn't attend as he didn't get to question the preacher, or have a discussion on what was said in an open forum... I attended Sunday school for years. After I left home I tried a number of Christian churches various denominations prior to giving up as nothing really resonated. Read some Hindu and Buddhist books, explored Eckankar, Unitarians, Quakers...and pretty much came into a Christian relationship with our creator.

When I found Unity I found a home, tons of people that thought very closely as I. And I had thought I was alone in my understanding of following Jesus.

Now on the flip side my kids have been raised in Unity as questioning, probing Christians. But they've been exposed to a ton of interfaith. It will be absolutely interesting to me to see what they grow into in faith and I so look forward to exploring with them in upcoming decades as they have with me in the last.

[17th Angel]

See, I find that so alien.... A parent taking an interest or even caring about religion of their kids.. lol

[Impqueen]

17th - I meant are you a member of an established religion? If so, which one?

It's cool you expose your kids to Interfaith Wil, I wish I'd known more about others beliefs as I was growing up.