Cust curious about whether objectivists_tend_ to come from religious backgrounds or not
Is there a way to add
Buddhism, hinduism, and Jedi to the poll?
Oops, I think I pressed the wrong button. I was going to vote “other/combined.” My dad’s parents are Catholics, my mom’s parents are Baptist, and my mom and dad are both atheists.
Raised Lutheran.
Currently undecided.
Non-denominational protestant…
Family background is both Protestant and Jewish. My parents were church-goers, but I knew something was really wrong with the whole thing by the time I was 10 (they tossed be out of Sunday school for being too disruptive! They didn’t like my questions. Heh.)
I became an atheist at the age of 16, after reading St. John and then Marx in my Great Books class.
I was raised in a catholic family, but my parents were so passive about their religion, I was free to explore the nature of existence from the time I was mature enough to do so. By age 9, I had made a conscious and considered choice to be an atheist.
My parents didn’t know about any of this until I was in my early teens Thankfully they had enough respect not to argue or try to change the fact.
What about those families that just pay lip-service to religion? My family-members would tell anyone who asked that they “are Catholic”, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the last time ANY of them actually went to a church service, or prayed before a meal, etc. I’d sure like to think that it’s that way with the majority of people in the U.S., but I fear that is not the case so much, anymore. Or is it?
That’s an insight I would like to gain: sincere “faith” vs. mere lip-service. How much of professed religious belief is merely a caving in to peer-pressure, but which a person would actually disavow if they were to be totally, candidly honest? How many families go to church simply to “maintain appearances”?
I was raised in an Anglican familiy and went to a Catholic high school.
How many families go to church simply to “maintain appearances”?
In my case, the situation is a bit weirder: according to my grandmother, there is not a single “believer” in my family, (with possible exception of my mom’s new-age tendencies) and my parents are perfectly happy with my avowed atheism – yet they both maintain the (essentially racist) attitude that I had better marry a Jew.
i was raised catholic, but my family wasn’t very religious. We didn’t read the bible, pray as family or say grace at dinner, nor was god/jesus ever really mentioned. My mom took my brother and I to church every Sunday, and I attended religious instruction once a week after school, but my father wasn’t involved, nor did he go to church with us. My grandparents on my mom’s side were the same way.
I started having my doubts around 3rd or 4th grade, and declared my atheism to my mom in 8th grade (age 14) just before confirmation. She wasn’t happy, thinking i was too young to make that kind of decision, and insisted I go through the confirmation process anyway (a total fraud). Once that was over with, I never went to church again unless it was part of a wedding/funeral. My younger brother did the same thing. Despite that, i’m very close with both my parents and my lack of religion never really caused any problems except during the initial rejection of the faith.
later,
Bob
My parents were both raised in Irish Catholic families that were strict church-goers. Where I grew up we just went to the church that was basically in our backyard and it was Episcopalian. I don’t remember much about Religion beyond loving to sing in the choir, and the pretty stained glass windows. I stopped going when I was about 8, I was never Christened or Baptized and never took Communion… I don’t think it was very important to anyone in my family beyond the social appearance in our small town.
I decided I was definitely an atheist my freshman year of high school after taking a science class with a teacher who, looking back, may have been an Objectivist even though I didn’t know what the word meant then. A lot of my friends died, or came close to it, in high school and it always bothered me how their families turned to God, or blamed God… when the reasons things had come to drug overdoses and suicides could be traced to rational causes (and irrational choices).
What about those families that just pay lip-service to religion? My family-members would tell anyone who asked that they “are Catholic”, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the last time ANY of them actually went to a church service, or prayed before a meal, etc. I’d sure like to think that it’s that way with the majority of people in the U.S., but I fear that is not the case so much, anymore. Or is it?
That’s an insight I would like to gain: sincere “faith” vs. mere lip-service. How much of professed religious belief is merely a caving in to peer-pressure, but which a person would actually disavow if they were to be totally, candidly honest? How many families go to church simply to “maintain appearances”?
I think that most people who do not have a strong belief in God go to church for a few potential reasons:
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Guilt. I don’t know about how other religions handle things, but I do know that at the Roman Catholic church my family used to go to, on the major holidays, there would be a lot more people attending church. During the homily (when the priest gives a sermon to the church) on these holidays, the topic was almost always geared to guilting people into coming to church more often.
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Tradition. I think this was the biggest factor in my family’s regular attendance of church in the past. My parents were both raised as Roman Catholics, and they are the kind of people that do what they do, and believe what they believe, based on how they were raised. At present, neither of them go to church regularly (in part because of my own objections that I have raised across a number of years). But my sister (and I, despite my objections) are/were still put through the confirmation program.
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Fear. This, at least for the Roman Catholic church, seems to be somewhat of a big factor for people. By this I mean a number of things. There are people out there who are fearful of condemning anything that they have been raised by (tradition) or things that are commonly held by people around them.
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Appearances.
- Social Positive Reinforcement- Besides just the causes noted people feel that they “belong” in religion and it is very difficult to give that up or admit that friends/family are wrong.
My family, and just about everyone I grew up with, was raised according to the tenets of Secular Judaism.
Some of the commandments are:
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Thou shalt go to college and enter a profession.
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Thou shalt not marry outside thy faith.
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Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. Go shopping.
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Thou shalt not go to a synagogue except for a wedding, Bar Mitzvah, or for the High Holidays when thou art wearing thy new clothes and flirting with college boys taking pre-med.
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Thou shalt leave religious mishigas (tr. nonsense) to thy grandmother and humor her that thine days may be enriched by the money she may leave thee.
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Thou shalt not marry a rabbi. What kind of living is that? Better a doctor or a lawyer.
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Honor thy father and thy mother lest they lay a guilt trip upon thee … especially thy mother.
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Thou shalt not pay retail.
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Etc. … :dough:
Jewish. And I better remain a Jew. I married a Shixa oh well.
Jewish guilt: if you dont bring an umbrella, it will rain and you will get sick. I wil pay for your doctor bill if you get sick, despite being too poor to afford it, but don’t you worry about momma.
Catholic guilt: you better give 10% of your income the the Church, or else you will burn in hell for eternity.
I think Judaism is the least evil of the modern religions. It encourages not only education and study, but thinking. “Where shall I put this firewood momma?” “On my head, where should you put it?!?!” It doesn’t have that “because I told you to think it, now shut up” mentality, or the attitude that questions are bad.
"It doesn’t have that “because I told you to think it, now shut up” mentality, or the attitude that questions are bad. "Bearster
I agree, in fact, I have a minorah in my room which I value for the artwork on the base of the stand.. Underneath there is a sculpture of Jewish figures enjoying arguing over the Torah. It is beautiful. (not because it is the Torah, but because you can see the life in their faces and body expressions as they are obviously in a heated debate. and enjoying the use of their reasoning ability)
When I was a young child, I asked my mother “What religion are we?” She paused for a long time and then said “Protestant”. Neither of my parents were actually religious in any significant sense, though. My father is actually virulently anti-religious as a result of his first marriage. (It fell apart when his wife converted to some fundamentalist form of Christianity and he wouldn’t join her, as best I can tell. He doesn’t talk about it much.)
My grandparents were all active in their local churches; my paternal grandfather said grace before every meal until the day he died. My maternal grandfather was quite disappointed when he found out I was an atheist, although he did become somewhat reconciled when it became apparent over time that I nevertheless had a strong moral center. He never did give up on trying to get me to join the Freemasons, though. The only times I can remember going to church apart from weddings and funerals were when I was younger and grandparents were visiting.
Kyle Haight
[*]Thou shalt not go to a synagogue except for a wedding, Bar Mitzvah, or for the High Holidays when thou art wearing thy new clothes and flirting with college boys taking pre-med.
80% lollium
As a child, I would hide or cry (or both) when church activities were even mentioned, and only on rare occasions was I forced to go. I’m glad I hid