Parents and Religion

[Kryptonite]

Here's a question for ya. :-P

Do you think that if your parents were a different religion, that you would be the same religion as your parents? Or, do you think that you would make your way to your current beliefs regardless of what your parents think/thought?

At 10 years old, what do you think you would have been at?

For me, I'm not what my parents are, so I don't think it would have affected me.

[Hyper Sonic]

Affected not effected

I am not the same religion as my parents so I've not been affected. At age 10 I believe one would be the same religion as parents thanks to a decade of brainwashing

[Grizabella]

Well my family certainly are not Satanists; quite the opposite actually, as the majority of them are Catholics. I guess being raised Catholic did influence me (drove me completely away from all religion - I applaud them for that), but not in a way they wanted lol.

[Lorelei]

I've been a free thinker all my life. (My dad continually got pissed because I kept asking him questions about the Bible that he couldn't answer. This was from age 3-7. )

So, I doubt my parent's beliefs would change that. I'm too stubborn to just go along with whatever is put in front of me. I fight it if it's not something I can wholly believe in.

At age 10, I might have been still in the church, but doubting it. I'd probably discover the beliefs I have now later on in life, but I'd still find them somehow.

[Acheron]

One of my parents is already a different religion to me: she's a Christian, although of the liberal Church of England variety so she isn't particularly keen on brainwashing, although she only got religion when I was about twelve, so she missed the best opportunities. Had my parents tried to indoctrinate me into a religion when I was little, it might have worked: it's very easy to immunise a child against rational thought, as the sheer number of religious people in the world proves.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

I'd have still been the same way and believed the same as I do now. I may have gotten more heckling or support but would've still gone the same route.

[Toast]

Haha my parents aren't even the same religion as each other. My Mom is Agnostic but my Dad is Christian. They never taught me any religion when I was younger, and I'm thankful for that. I'm Agnostic as well. So I don't think it would have made any difference.

[udontno]

Both of my parents are Christian, but come from different denominations. My father is a Methodist and he holds those values to this day, but does not go to church. My mother was raised Baptist, but stopped going there after she heard a sermon relating to divorce and being with men after that. They basically said that anyone who gets divorced and then re-marries is an adulteress. At that point in time she had recently divorced her first husband and she ended up leaving the church because she did not hold that view.

Whenever I went to church, I was taken to my father's church. However, the two churches are not far apart and there are not a lot of kids in the area so the children are spread thin among the two churches, as well as others. I spent a lot of time in the Baptist church because every year they took turns hosting the Vacation Bible School.

Currently, I hold Christian beliefs but I've struggled with coming to a steady standpoint in what I believe in during the past couple of years. I've looked into other religions, dabbled into Wicca when I was much younger and considered it several times since then but I've always been taught that God is real, right, etc so I have a hard time seeing myself in a religion that is totally against that.

I honestly think that if I hadn't been raised in a house with Christian values, I wouldn't hold my views today. However, we don't go to church and neither of my parents are seriously religious so I feel the same way as they do on that subject. I think your parents teach you a lot, especially during the early years of your life and children are easily swayed. I don't think I would know as much about religion as I do now if they hadn't not talked about other religions with me. I think that a lot of people hold the same religious values as their parents, but it also works against them in a way. Some people end up hating the strict religion and totally changing their religion. It really depends on the person but I definitely think that parents lay a formation for your religious views to some extent. It would be very interesting if they did a study on this because this is something that I have wondered about for a very long time.

[thebigmole]

My dad is a Christian but I didn't even know it until I myself started to pay attention to religion which was when I was 15, which is also when I asked my mother what she was and she's agnostic. Anyway I'm an athiest but I only started calling myself that when I was 15. At 10 I didn't know much about religion, though I do recall praying when I was younger but when my grandmother died when I was 9 I stopped. So to answer the question I was not affected but I think that's because my parents didn't try to affect me.

[silentmuffin]

My parents are different denominations...my mom is Catholic, my dad was raised Lutheran but is agnostic/atheist (I don't really know). I was raised Catholic. At this point in my life I'm certain my faith does not fit any established religion. I believe in God, the Holy Trinity, and the moral value of the Bible. However I do not believe the Bible is the literal word of God (though I would venture to say some of the events were based on true events, even if they were convoluted and changed over time).

If my mother were Jewish and I was raised to be Jewish, I would say that yes, I probably would have beliefs more in line with Judaism. I have no doubts in my faith in God, but as for Jesus being God's son and our savior, I have no idea. I'd like to believe it as the pure and honest truth, but if I were raised in an environment that stressed Jesus was not the messiah, honestly I would probably believe that. I can't say for sure. I do think the majority of my beliefs would remain the same, because I've formulated my own opinions outside the realm of Catholicism and I don't think it would be any different had I been raised as another religion. Personally I don't think the "history" of God is as important as the moral lessons that most religions try to teach through that history, so if Jesus is not the messiah, then so be it, I was wrong.

[BrittneyNicole]

My dad is from a Catholic family, and still identifies as Catholic and my mom is from a Baptist home, and still identifies as Baptist.
My sisters and I didn't even deal with religion until I was about 15 because my grandmothers fought over which religion we would be. As of now, I go to a nondenominational church when I have the time.

So, I guess I do think my parent's religious views played a part in mine.

[Oiseau the Little Bird!]

I was taught, basically, to love and accept and respect everyone, regardless of their differences.

The first and last time I went to church was when I was 7 -- my aunt was born again and she really wanted to spread the word/plant the seed/etc, and took me and my sister to her church. Scariest shit ever for a 7 year old. People were crying and the dude was putting his hands on their faces and they just fell down.

Never went back. Lol now look at me.

[R.K.]

Originally Posted by Alex

Here's a question for ya. :-P

Do you think that if your parents were a different religion, that you would be the same religion as your parents? Or, do you think that you would make your way to your current beliefs regardless of what your parents think/thought?

At 10 years old, what do you think you would have been at?

For me, I'm not what my parents are, so I don't think it would have affected me.

Do you think if you're parents would be hardcore fundie muslims lets say , would you still be an "agnostic" (whatever that is, since it tells me absolutely nothing about your beliefs)?

Claiming "I would be the same is ridiculous", since you aren't born YOU the way you are now, furthermore I can bet ya even during the timeline of 5 years your opinions on various issues will & have changed as a result of certain knowledge/experience/etc. So saying "I would still be the same me" even though you are ging to be brought up & have totally different experience is bullocks.

[LillyImp]

I'm a diffrent religion then my mother, but at ten I was a brainwashed little zombie.. Not that I thought everyone should be like that, but I wanted to be perfect. That stopped when I realized I was.. very far from perfect.

[Kryptonite]

So, if you guys were born in another country that was HEAVILY Hinduism, and you were raised as a Hindu, you would still be what you are?

Just making sure.

[udontno]

Originally Posted by Alex

So, if you guys were born in another country that was HEAVILY Hinduism, and you were raised as a Hindu, you would still be what you are?

Just making sure.

I would think I would be a Hindu if that was the case. Your parents start instilling their values into you from the moment that you take your first breath. You want to be like them and imitate them. They should teach you right and wrong and how to do things. Religion is something that is handed down from the family basically, passed on to the next person in a lot of cases. Most of the opinions I have on things that I was taught about at an early age come from my parents. I think that if I was raised Hindu, that would be what I would be.

[Hyper Sonic]

Originally Posted by Alex

So, if you guys were born in another country that was HEAVILY Hinduism, and you were raised as a Hindu, you would still be what you are?

Just making sure.

I honestly cannot say, it's possible I'd be Hindu. After all, every man is ignorant until knowledge dispels the fog of lies. Should that knowledge not arrive you'd be deluded all your life

[DoesThisLookInfected?]

If I had been brainwashed, I probably wouldn't be an Atheist right now, no.

[JungleBanga]

Well I suppose my parents never really stressed religion much. I had a book with kid's versions of the stories in the Bible that I'd read sometimes, but they always felt more like a storybook. I guess if they had stressed religion more I would grow up Christian, but I truly believe I would end up an atheist no matter what.

If I was raised Buddhist, I think I would have been Buddhist. It's more spiritual and philosophical and God's existence is irrelevant. I agree with the Buddha's teachings and they could apply to any religion... I just don't care enough, as bad as that sounds.

[eunoia]

My dad is Roman Catholic. My mother is Pagan. My stepmom is some kinda Christian. My stepdad is a Quaker. Oh my, oh my. I don't know, what am I? xD I went to CCD at the Roman Catholic church when I was wee. I was always getting in trouble for asking questions and stuff, and eventually mom agreed I didn't have to go anymore.

[Union Of V]

I'm not sure, I think it's more a case of whether you rebel or not. Many people won't leave their religion because they don't want to change.

I guess I would still be atheist. When I was small I was constantly begging my parents to let me be christian. Then after doing some soul-searching I ended up totally anti-religion. Then some more soul-searching and I ended realising there's noting wrong with religion, it's just religious dogma that's messed up, so if you need a religion good for you. I can do without.

But I would have still come to a similar religion. I'm either all-in or all-out. And there's no way I can be all in. There's just so much **** in religion.