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Anyone else NOT raised in a religious family? My dad is an Atheist, my mom is spiritual but not overly religious at all, my sister and uncle are spiritual but do not believe in any of the bible.

vjohnson51 7 Oct 22
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8

My Father was raised Quaker and mom had a non-religious father and a recovering catholic mother but they were basically agnostic. Mom came from a small town in Montana where all the supposedly nice people attended church, so every once in a while she would try to find a church that she could tolerate. She would ask around and soon a friend would invite her to their church. After about the second service my sister and I would ask how it went. The answer was almost always along the lines of: "Well, the people are awfully nice, but I just can't believe that crap!"

6

Grew up with no religion at all. Which had made life much easier overall.

6

My father was an Atheist, and my mom was a cultural Catholic, but she did send me to a religious summer day camp. My father would drive me there on his way to work, and he would tell me to ask questions. Those questions got me expelled.

I was raised catholic and I asked questions anyway and they got me in trouble, but not expelled, just notes sent home to my parents. My parents seemed to think it was funny. Such as where did they find the penguins and polar bears to put on the ark? My mother saved some of the notes and I found them after she died 50 years later.

6

My parents are believers, but not really religious in any way. Despite growing up in a small very religious southern town, they never pushed anything on us and allowed us to come to our own conclusions about these things. Even when I told them I was an atheist at around 15 or so, they didn't try to talk to me out of it or even raise an eyebrow really. They allowed us full autonomy when it came to our beliefs or lack thereof and I am so thankful for that.

5

I'm a fourth generation atheist. It's been great!

@Allamanda I didn't even know what a god was, until we came to the US, when I was in 2nd grade. I knew expressions line "thank god", but didn't fully comprehend them.

5

No real religion or interest in it in my upbringing, which is fairly commonplace in the UK.

I find it very heart warming abut the UK today which was the cradle of Catholicism, its atrocities, King's fight with the church and protestants breaking away, religious crusades later on.... etc.. Now it is less religious the U.S. is today. Great!

@St-Sinner In a lot of Europe, the UK included, there are state churches, and there is nothing that kills religion quite as fast. If the Us did not have separation of church and state, it would probably be dead there as well.

@Fernapple
Really? Interesting. You mean the state running churches are turning people off faster?

@St-Sinner Yes of course. First, because what does the church have to offer, which is more than an alternative community to that run by the state. Two, because when the church is an agent of the state it is tainted by the crimes of the political establishment, and embarrassed by being an apologist for the political establishment and the crimes of that state. Three, it has no competitive profit motive to drive it but it under prices the other churches. The church is at its strongest in Russia of all countries, because the government tried to ban it.

@Fernapple
I see. Interesting. Thank you.

5

I'm second generation non-religious. My mom would not marry my dad until he quit being Catholic.
My other relatives are different percentages religious.

Good for your mother!
In my family it was (almost) the opposite: she wouldn't marry him unless he stopped being a so-so Presbyterian and became a so-so Catholic!

@Storm1752
Yes, I'm awed that though she was young, she knew autonomy was important.

5

I was raised with no mention of religion from either parent.

4

The only religion I experienced was when neighbors would ask to take my sister and I to Sunday school. I was to disruptive and the Sunday school teacher asked the people not to bring me back. I asked too many questions about their "stories ". LOL

4

Mom was an atheist, after being raised Catholic and attending Catholic schools through college. Dad never went to church.

My ex-husband was an atheist after being raised Catholic. I've been an atheist since age 13.

Our daughter is an atheist.

4

Neither parent or grandparents had any connection to religion and never spoke of a god. Irronany now being ...I once envied friends who went to a church, like ‘everyone else’.. Now, I’d thank their lord for being spared 🙂

Varn Level 8 Oct 22, 2019
4

Yep. It was great. Never went to church, didn't pray before eating, wasn't threatened with he'll, and wasn't molested by a religious leader.

4

My parents were both atheists and not spiritual either. My siblings are all the same.

My siblings, too. The older brother, I definitely encouraged a freedom from religion.

4

The subject of religion never never came up. Pro or con

3

Dad was always atheist. My mom was catholic. We were baptized catholic, but I don't remember every attending church regularly. When I was 6, they divorced and the only time I went to church was with a friend or something. Dad's new wife was catholic/christian, but very reserved about it.

There was a very short period when I was in my early 20s where I was reading the bible and trying to believe because I wanted to be "part of the club." I remember I even ordered bank checks with a cross! LOL!! But, in reality, for as far back as I can remember, I've never been a believer.

My daughter talks as though she is an atheist, but I think she is still fearful of social rejection so does not use the word to describe herself, as far as I know.

One of my brothers is, in my opinion, a hypocritical, bible thumping, fake christian. Talks the talk, but absolutely does not walk the walk.

Sister is a chameleon. One day she "doesn't know," the next she is going to church with a friend, the next she is "spiritual." I think she is an atheist, but has a huge need to "fit in."

One brother is a "deist," whatever that means.

My youngest (half) brother was raised JW, but I don't know what he is now.

Other brother I assume is atheist, but I've never asked.

My sister said recently that my mom said her greatest regret is "not raising us with religion." Ugh.....

I miss my dad. He was my only like-minded friend in terms of being "someone like me" -- religiously and politically.

Your one brother is probably a NEO-deist, as am I. About as good as you can hope for, being an "atheist."

3

Neither my parents were religious... my mom was thinking about dabbling christianity, probably a friend of hers spoke to her about...

Gerb Level 3 Oct 22, 2019
3

I was raised as a freethinker and atheist and I’m extremely grateful for that. My grandfather left the Catholic Church in 1911 because the priest told him he had to give his custom to a coal merchant who had been prosecuted for short measure, because he was a good catholic and a member of the same congregation. My grandfather, who had already been having doubts about his faith, resented that the priest should think he could instruct him to do or think anything, so he left the church and called himself a freethinker from then on, a person who made his own decisions in life.

@Marionville What's this mean? "give his custom to a coal merchant"?

@Stephanie99 Homes were heated by coal fires, everyone bought coal from a coal merchant. This particular coal merchant had been caught and fined for selling underweight bags of coal...he was a crook.

@Allamanda I should have been clearer in my original text.

@Allamanda Call me an old fashioned gal!

@Marionville @Allamanda Thanks for the clarifications.

2

Me - Atheist father, vaguely Church of England mother (but not a church-goer). Four children - all trusted to think for themselves and go where they felt they should go regarding religion - myself and three older sisters.

Me - Howling atheist.

Sisters - One totally atheist (but doesn't actually howl like me). One vaguely Church of England but not church-goer (like our mother). One strongly religious (preaches in local churches).

All three WONDERFUL people that I feel honoured and privileged to have grown up with.

2

I was raised Reformed Jewish and me and my sisters had to go to Hebrew school until we were 13, but more for cultural understanding than for religious reasons. As Jews we were very secular. Otherwise we never attended the synagogue regularly, except maybe for Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, where they had children's services and our rabbi was actually quite cool. I think I was agnostic ever since I could remember -- even before I knew what the word was, because I always questioned the existence of a god. My parents were also very open about their own religious doubts and it was easy to have discussions with them about these things.

2

Grew up in a very religious family but don't beleive in any of it anymore, and I am much happier!!

2

My mother was angry at the Church for its intrusions into her personal life and my father was more interested in middle-class morality. The emptiness of the latter motivated me to look into religion for deeper meaning. Middle-class morality and Church power died during my lifetime and now I feel my whole society is dealing with an emptiness that economic growth, as the only morality and raison d'etre left to us, cannot fill.

I fear Humanism is limited to middle-class, academic types and isn't having an impact on people in general. I would love to see the ethos gain traction and make a difference but it definitely hasn't in my country. The Gaian idea of living in a symbiotic relationship with our world is a lovely idea. Sadly, all I ever hear about these days is economic growth as the only thing worth pursuing and all my younger neighbours are slaves to their rent and mortgage payments and self-medicating on their time-off.

moreso, since there is no real economic growth.

I totally disagree with this false choice. Yes, atheism is empty, and most of the "atheists" here are actually Agnostics with atheistic opinions, because they can't possibly know for sure there is no god-in-any-sense-of-the-word.
I've not the slightest idea if there's a "god" or not, so I call myself an "agnostic neo-deist."
But I DO know life has meaning for me personally, and I feel there's a REASON it has meaning. To me, that meaning has to do with an impersonal god who doesn't answer prayers and doesn't even know (if there is such a thing as an entity who knows anything at all) I exist, but nevertheless infuses the natural world with matter and energy and light.
And, for me anyway, meaning.
Morality? The Golden rule is the only "morality" I need. (On the other hand, if someone punches ME in the nose, I punch back.)

@Storm1752 I guess that would be this meaning of Logos:
Philosophy. the rational principle that governs and develops the universe.

And why not if you feel it's right?
I'm not sure, though, what you mean by a 'false choice'. Between what and what?

2

i was raised a secular jew with strong cultural identity and no religion to speak of unless celebrating holidays and going to bar mitvvas counts. i realized at age 15 there were no gods and it wasn't traumatic. it never occurred to me to mention that to my folks because since they never mentioned god, it didn't seem like something in which they'd be interested.

g

Pretty similar to my experiences, too!

2

I was never asked to do any religious chore at all, not even follow any custom, religious or social. But parents did not defy religion because religion was very strong where I grew up. Defying only meant one thing - be a social outcast.

I am an atheist today because it was easier to become one without a strong brainwash in the family.

..I’ve long wondered about the frustrations of family before me forced by cultural circumstances to adhere to some religion. Though I’d like to think, they did it for me ~

1

I wasn't. Nuff said!

1

I'm third generation secular. My mom was Presbyterian and grandmother Catholic when they married into the family but chose not to continue to participate in religion. Since we didn't have much to do with my mom's family it wasn't ever an issue.

GwenC Level 7 Oct 22, 2019
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