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What kind of home did you grow up in?

What kind of home did you grow up in?

  • I was told what to believe politically, but not religiously, and we never/rarely discussed them

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    65
None of those options fit, but the last is closest.

We were not told to believe anything, but we were encouraged towards similar beliefs. Politics were discussed less often, at least recent politics (read: not history).

I was homeschooled, so basically our place doubled as a classroom, in some ways.
 
I own the house I was raised in. 7 kids (I was the last), 2 foster brothers, and whoever was related or not who needed to stay somewhere for a while. Sure seemed big when I was a kid, now it is just me and my dog.....
 
I was a kid during the Carter years, it was easy to see what bad democratic leadership meant to a family living off a teacher's salary and a stove plant job.
 
Where is the "None of the Above" option?
 
I've actually been more involved in religion and politics than my parents and, in several ways, I've actually influenced them more than they have me. Our beliefs are similar though.
 
My religious upbringing was very serious. I attended church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night all of my childhood. I probably missed less than 20 services during my 18 years of childhood. My dad was a preacher with ambitions of being a pastor. He actually got to do it a few times but it never lasted long. I often went to extremely small churches (sometimes churches averaging less than 10 people) because my dad saw this as the place where he had the biggest chance to "step in" when the pastor got wore out.

The people I attended church with were very sincere with their faith just like my parents. I never really saw these "hypocrites" that I heard so much about. Because of the small organizations where I attended church I was afforded the opportunity to give devotions, sing songs or pray publicly at a very young age. I describe my religious environment as a child as very magical. In my particular brand of Christianity which was informally called "Backwood Baptist" but also known as "Seperate Baptist" being a deacon was held in the highest regard. Men of good report were set aside sometimes as long as 20 years to be watched for worthiness to serve in that office. The position of deacon was only open to married men that had never been divorced and never drank alcohol. I also grew up in a county where alcohol was illegal and still remains illegal in 2013 excluding the county seat. I looked forward to becoming a deacon when I grew up. It was interesting that Backwood Baptist would allow anybody to preach if they "announced their call to preach" which meant go in front of the church and say, "God called me to preach." If a church need a pastor they might vote for you if they liked you. It was easier to be a pastor than it was to be a deacon. I often heard preaching like the famous Jeremiah Wright message used by Republicans during the 2008 video. I heard many preachers say that American was doomed because they weren't following the ways of God.

Imagine my surprise when I became a deacon at age 30 and the Chairman of Deacon at age 31. My faith is much weaker as an adult because of painful life experiences but Christianity is a huge part of who I am. I love Christianitiy passionately and it doesn't matter to me whether it's fairy tales or not. It was a wonderful thing for me excluding recent events that happened to me while I was Chairman of Deacons.

To answer the question: I grew up in a home where I was told what to believe religiously. All of my sources were sincere people so I really respected their lifestyle and their vision for me to be a humble servant of God.

Christianity was an awesome part of my life and it still remains with me. Politics were rarely discussed. My dad voted in every election and usually voted for the candidate that was already in office and the Republican candidate for president. Politics were suspect as a work of the devil. Maybe that's why I didn't hear much about it.

vasuderatorrent
 
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I was largely not told what to believe, and I discussed whatever I did believe, or wanted to know about frequently with my father. I think he is the only person I've ever known who never got too frustrated to continue at the incessant asking of "why?" by a toddler. More often than not, he returned the questioned when I made a statement.

For good measure, I also saw radically different ways of seeing the world in my own home.

My mother is extremely conservative in many ways, but weirdly flamboyant in a couple, and had a couple different religious beliefs over the course of my childhood -- some kind of Pagan and then some kind of Christian-esque thing that is outside the realm of any denomination I know of (she was born into a Catholic home, but I believe she left that in her 20's).

My father is very liberal, has been political all his life, and agnostic. Though I do think he believes in past lives.

My family is traditional Italian Catholic, but with openly gay and mixed race relatives. It wasn't easy for them to adjust to, but they got over it.

I got to see a lot of different ways to look at the world. Some of them were pretty awful, but a lot of them had things to offer me.
 
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other:

I was raised Catholic, but my parents didn't discuss politics in front of us.
 
I grew up in an era when it was the norm to indoctrinate your children in the parent's religion, morality, and sometimes politics, and this was not merely expected but strongly expected. People looked at you askance if you suggested children should be allowed to form their own views about morality and religion and society, since, being children, they were obviously too damn ignorant and stupid to decide these things for themselves, and if left to their own devices would vote for free candy and no rules.


I'm not far from agreeing with that philosophy... since it is the OTHER, freewheeling and loose philosophy of child-rearing that won over society, and we ended up raising up successive generations of ever-worsening Narcissists who justify their selfishness, irresponsibility, worthlessness and perversion with self-generated BS, because nowadays nobody can tell anyone else something is right or wrong. :damn


Imma find Dr. Spock and kick his ass.
 
Religion (Catholicism) came in waves of interest and lack of interest. While my family was largely non-practicing due to our situation and in turn because of being turned away by a certain Catholic church, it was still something that appeared wanting. We also had a number of rancher relatives that treated religion as virtuous, but procedurally uninteresting and overly demanding on Sundays. Our situation was very much politically active locally and at the state level, and there was certainly a disposition at work, but I was not told what to believe. Nevertheless, the impact was definitely there.
 
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Grew up Baptist and convert to Catholicism, religion and politics was discussed often, with plenty of disagreement. Challenged a pastor or two during our time as well. They rarely handled that well, and that was a lesson too.
 
I grew up in an era when it was the norm to indoctrinate your children in the parent's religion, morality, and sometimes politics, and this was not merely expected but strongly expected. People looked at you askance if you suggested children should be allowed to form their own views about morality and religion and society, since, being children, they were obviously too damn ignorant and stupid to decide these things for themselves, and if left to their own devices would vote for free candy and no rules.


I'm not far from agreeing with that philosophy... since it is the OTHER, freewheeling and loose philosophy of child-rearing that won over society, and we ended up raising up successive generations of ever-worsening Narcissists who justify their selfishness, irresponsibility, worthlessness and perversion with self-generated BS, because nowadays nobody can tell anyone else something is right or wrong. :damn


Imma find Dr. Spock and kick his ass.
My parents taught me their values, but did not insist religious and political views.

They also taught me to think for myself, or at least it seems so.

I wouldn't call it "let em' think what they will", but it wasn't full-up indoctrination, either.


Edit: I think part of the reason for this is that their religion believes someone must choose to join, and cannot be considered a member of such until they are allowed to.

So while I went to church on Sundays, and they taught me their beliefs, I was never a "member" of their religion. In later years I stopped going, and haven't since.
 
My parents taught me their values, but did not insist religious and political views.

They also taught me to think for myself, or at least it seems so.

I wouldn't call it "let em' think what they will", but it wasn't full-up indoctrination, either.


Edit: I think part of the reason for this is that their religion believes someone must choose to join, and cannot be considered a member of such until they are allowed to.

So while I went to church on Sundays, and they taught me their beliefs, I was never a "member" of their religion. In later years I stopped going, and haven't since.


Well yes, ditto; in my faith even if you're 'raised Christian' you still ultimately have to choose it for it to mean anything, and not everyone in my family is one.

But children have to have some guidance, or there is no telling how they'll turn out.

Lord of the Flies and all that.
 
Well yes, ditto; in my faith even if you're 'raised Christian' you still ultimately have to choose it for it to mean anything, and not everyone in my family is one.

But children have to have some guidance, or there is no telling how they'll turn out.

Lord of the Flies and all that.
Indeed yes.

That I agree with.

There's a line somewhere in there that separates "guidance" from "indoctrination". Of course the same is true in any child-teaching environment, be it a school, a home, or whatever.
 
Edit: I think part of the reason for this is that their religion believes someone must choose to join, and cannot be considered a member of such until they are allowed to.

So while I went to church on Sundays, and they taught me their beliefs, I was never a "member" of their religion.

I suppose if you analyze my particular brand of Christianity this rule applies as well. I guess I am just intrigued that you just shrug it off so easily in your comments. It might have been optional to convert but it was highly encouraged. You have to understand nobody wants you to go to hell and all of that. I was raised an evangelical Christian. Specifically I was Backwood Baptist. What denomination or religion were you brought up in that gave you a real choice? I'm not just talking like you have to chose whether you want to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus or an eternity in utter torment burning indefinetly with the devil and his angels. It sounds like you were given a choice which seems foreign to me.

I'm not getting the vibe that you had that kind of pressure added to your decision. What denomination were you brought up in?

vasuderatorrent
 
I suppose if you analyze my particular brand of Christianity this rule applies as well. I guess I am just intrigued that you just shrug it off so easily in your comments. It might have been optional to convert but it was highly encouraged. You have to understand nobody wants you to go to hell and all of that. I was raised an evangelical Christian. Specifically I was Backwood Baptist. What denomination or religion were you brought up in that gave you a real choice? I'm not just talking like you have to chose whether you want to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus or an eternity in utter torment burning indefinetly with the devil and his angels. It sounds like you were given a choice which seems foreign to me.

I'm not getting the vibe that you had that kind of pressure added to your decision. What denomination were you brought up in?

vasuderatorrent
Reformed Mennonite

Damn, apparently there's a wikipedia page....interesting

Reformed Mennonite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Oh wow! What are the odds? According to the Wikipedia article there are less than 300 Reformed Mennonites. Would you say that is accurate? If what you are saying is true, you are a rare find.

vasuderatorrent
I myself am not a member. My parents are, of course.

And that is the exact organization I recall from my slightly younger days.
 
I think youneed to change your avatar when you posts things like this. You are blowing the fantasy that you are Sheldon.

If I knew the story behind Spock, I would've done that instead. However I'm not a Trekkie...thank God.
 
If I knew the story behind Spock, I would've done that instead. However I'm not a Trekkie...thank God.

Well we know Sheldon would never talk about **Boobies**
 
I'm an alternate universe Sheldon Cooper who would never have an unsatisfied Amy Farrah Fowler.

I don't know about that. I can't get the image of Blossom out of my head, or her fast talking friend.
 
My parents brought me to a Community Christian church for Sunday school when I was ~6, to give me some exposure to Christianity. ~8 I realized that people were not speaking metaphorically (even the adults) and asked not to return.

My experience is similar with the notable exception of the word "was" being placed between the "and" and the "asked".
 
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