# Raised religiously? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968 "2010-06-29T19:20:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/81 "2010-07-01T00:27:32Z")
Raised Catholic, very religious upbringing, and years of Catholic boarding school. I was all set to join a religious order when I decided to go for a closed retreat, a shortened form of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, when I had a crisis of faith or a sudden enlightenment. Nothing my spiritual director could do to help me back. Dr. Bernard Rieux’s stance in The Plague, by Albert Camus, is close to my own. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/82 "2010-07-01T01:03:23Z")
I was raised as a Brethern, but am agnostic now. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/83 "2010-07-01T01:21:30Z")
No, thank God. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/84 "2010-07-01T01:30:18Z")
We went to church for weddings, Christenings and funerals. When I was 9, I had to write my own religion down on a hospital form, and wrote ‘COV,’ because I’d consistently heard people say C of E and not realised it was Church of England rather than, as I guessed at the hospital, when pressed for what COV meant, ‘Church of Victoria.’ Our religion was about traditional pretty buildings in which you conduct ceremonies, nothing to do with actual belief. So I clicked ‘indifferent,’ because it really was. > [@TruCelt](#): > > Well, we were Catholic, until my parents needed a divorce. Then we were Presbyterian, mainly because my Mother liked gazing for an hour every Sunday at the married preacher, with whom she was having an affair. > > So, yeah, religious I guess. . . I don’t know why I like this story, but I do. I’m sure it caused some ructions in your family, but at least you look back on it with a kinda Irish Mike Leigh filmic POV. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/85 "2010-07-01T01:39:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I was wondering if this was actually true. Were you raised in a religious background, an atheist background or an indifferent background? I have no interest in whether or not it took, or what your outlook is now. Nope, **lekatt** is incorrect, at least in my case. I was raised in a religious family that only became more religious the older I became. I love them, but their over-the-top Christianity has greatly strained our relationship. The one good thing is, because I’m family, if I tell them how I feel I don’t have to fear for my life. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/86 "2010-07-01T04:49:16Z")
How should one vote if they were raised by new-agey pagan hippies with a major attitude against organized religion? My parents are certainly not atheists but they specifically identify as non-religious. Perhaps “raised on another planet” is the best answer? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/87 "2010-07-01T05:58:57Z")
Raised seriously devout, to the point that I was so inoculated against accepting modern “evolutionist” science uncritically that I looked askance at continental drift in 3rd grade. I’m actually grateful for it. Helped make me good at picking at arguments, & questioning people’s sincerely held beliefs. Of course I ended up using that habit against the church’s doctrines as well. Often, when two people are arguing, they’re both wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/88 "2010-07-01T08:27:17Z")
I was raised in a religious atheist household. We were “taught” the value of community, ritual and people, and went to synagogue every week and for most of the festivals. But neither of my parents (or my aunt or grandfather, who are rabbis) believe in god. Not sure which poll option to click. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/89 "2010-07-01T10:13:50Z")
I was raised Catholic, but the somewhat liberal German variety (though my mother still holds beliefs that the official RC church has long abandoned, like the literal creation story and a fire and brimstone hell). Received all the obligatory sacraments up to confirmation, attended religious ed from first to 12th grade, been an altar boy from the age of 10 to 17. Couldn’t be (and have been for a long time) further away from that creed nowadays (atheist, that is). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/90 "2010-07-01T12:27:37Z")
Indifferently. We attended church a few times with neighbours. Back then we said the Lord’s Prayer in school. But apart from that no mention of God, Jesus, religion or anything like that at home. I’m going to take a wild stab at that being the reason for my atheism. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/91 "2010-07-01T15:17:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Indifferently. We attended church a few times with neighbours. Back then we said the Lord’s Prayer in school. But apart from that no mention of God, Jesus, religion or anything like that at home. > > I’m going to take a wild stab at that being the reason for my atheism. Eh, except you have plenty of us here who were raised religiously by parents who were firm believers in the religion in question… but we \*still \*grew up to be atheists. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/92 "2010-07-01T15:47:05Z")
Indifferently. Christianed into the Church of England (Anglican to y’all), thereafter, I don’t remember religion ever being mentioned. Vaguely remember going to Sunday School as a small child, but I think mainly so my Mum could have a morning off. On my 18th birthday, my Godmother (who, by the way, had run off with the Church Warden, who left his invalid wife :rolleyes:) gave me a Bible, as she felt it was her religious duty. My family were all rather stunned by this overt display of religiosity. My (cuckolded) Godfather gave me a bottle of perfume. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/93 "2010-07-01T15:53:20Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > We went to church for weddings, Christenings and funerals. > > When I was 9, I had to write my own religion down on a hospital form, and wrote ‘COV,’ because I’d consistently heard people say C of E and not realised it was Church of England rather than, as I guessed at the hospital, when pressed for what COV meant, ‘Church of Victoria.’ . Brilliant. And sums up many of our relationship with the C-oV-EE. I’m actually doing a brand for a C of E church at the moment (I know! Even God has a brand these days). Went to a meeting with the Vicar and hangers on last week and they held a prayer before the meeting started. Didn’t know what to do with myself. The Vicar caught my slightly stunned expression, and actually apologised. Don’t you just love the C of E. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/94 "2010-07-01T16:04:06Z")
My mom was a nun. (She got better and left before taking the final vows because they - the head nuns - were ‘no fun’) Catholic school for 12 years. I questioned everything. I am the blacksheep of my family and I am so perfectly ok with that. I am the only one who isn’t living in a rerun. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/95 "2010-07-01T16:19:18Z")
I also picked religiously – and back when I was a teenager that meant receiving some serious misinformation about the “morality” of gays, pop music, etc. (my fam has mellowed a lot since, though, thank god) – but no one ever said boo about any kind of “conflict” between science and religion. I don’t think such an idea even occurred to me until at least college, when I started running into people who came from radically different worldviews. So, yeah, while I don’t think it was ever talked about explicitly, we also had the unspoken understanding that science and religion co-exist just fine, properly understood, which I still believe. My mum was a fertility instructor for our Catholic diocese, so she used both heavy doses of biology and heavy doses of Catholicism to do her job. As a kid, I can’t remember ever running into someone who spoke of the creation story as if it were anything but a symbolic, non-literal myth. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/96 "2010-07-01T16:26:17Z")
My parents were raised Irish Catholic and English Protestant, and encouraged neither, but did encourage us having a knowledge of religions. I chose atheist in the poll, although socialist would be more like it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/97 "2010-07-01T16:26:37Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > (who, by the way, had run off with the Church Warden, who left his invalid wife :rolleyes:) I was all set to post and ask what an “in **VAL** id” wife was, when I realized that it was **IN** valid. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/98 "2010-07-01T18:26:42Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Raised Roman Catholic, conservative in practice (fancy-pants high Mass, kneeling during the Consecration, none of that shitty twinky-ding-dong music a la Marty Haugen, stay through the closing hymn and you’d better be puking if you want to get out of going to church) but liberal in theology (same-sex marriage, Jesus was a socialist, evolution–though perhaps as influenced, intended, or forseen by God–and not creationism, etc.). > > Also attended a Catholic kindergarten and grade school (K-8), a Catholic high school, and a Jesuit (Catholic) university (two, technically, since I studied abroad for a semester). So that’s eighteen years of religious instruction, all told (before someone challenges me on the math, I took five years for my undergrad). > > Unfortunately for Mom, I ended up an atheist and lil’ bro is a Buddhist. I’m increasingly convinced you may actually be my long-lost invisible sister, since that’s my story except I’m the Buddhist. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/99 "2010-07-01T19:14:36Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I’m increasingly convinced you may actually be my long-lost invisible sister, since that’s my story except I’m the Buddhist. If you tell me you just got your Master’s in counseling, I will be officially creeped out. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968/100 "2010-07-01T19:47:09Z")
Raised indifferently I suppose. We attended church a few times a year when I was younger, and said grace at Thanksgiving, but that was about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-religiously/544968.md?page=6)