Regretting Being Raised Nonreligious?

[lpetrich]

I may have started a thread about this subject some months back, but I have an interesting update on this question. If I did, I would have mentioned how my sister had been raised with no religion. She finds fault with my mother about that, because she now claims that she has nothing to fall back on in troubled times -- the religion business now looks totally silly to her.

But according to a review of Stephen Jay Gould's Rocks of Ages (http://www.human-nature.com/nibbs/02/rocks.html),
Gould opens by discussing his agnosticism, his Jewish heritage, and his lack of formal religious training (which he regrets), and what he describes as a lifelong fascination with religion.
So he's something like my sister, being unhappy about not being raised to believe in a religion.

[Greger]

I'm quite happy I was born and raised godless. The only thing I have to fall back on is myself, and for every time I do that I become stronger. No offense to anyone, but if everyone fell back on religion every time something hard happened, there would be no progress in the world. Fight, damn you! :)

[Viti]

I was raised secularly until I was 10 years old when my mom decided to go to church. I went with her, got baptized, played in the bell choir...but it just never made sense, religion didn't answer any of my questions on life, living, the nature of the Universe, etc. My dad was always an agnostic, and his naturalistic explanations to my questions just rang more true :: shrug:: I don't regret it at all.

I was raised to problem solve and rely on myself.

[catalyst]

Having seen the effect religion has had on so many people, I am proud to come from a long line of heathens.

Really I have no idea what people could be missing.

[Daidalos]

I was raised in a non-religious fashion by non-religious parents. The funny thing is that religion, or the lack of religion, never ever came up in our home. I remember in kindergarden, when some of my friends discussed Jesus or something, I claimed to believe in God. But I think my god belief was on par with my belief in santa, and when I found out that the santa that came every year were my father in disguise, I became atheist.

I am very glad my parents did not "force" their world view upon, and let me make a decision for myself.

[Goliath]

For those of you who were raised godless, take it from me: you didn't miss a damn thing that was worthwhile.

Sincerely,

Goliath

[Johann_Kaspar]

:) :) :) My mother sent me to catechism (religious courses). After 2 or 3 "lessons" I was asked to better stay at home, because my questions could "disturb" the other children especially when the priest could not answer them. Beginning with Genesis, my questions where about prehistoric men and dinosaurs...
Very early I read I. Kryvelev Of the meaning of the gospels. You already had all in it.

[CheeseheadHeathen]

I'm extremely grateful for having been raised as an atheist. In fact, my parents screwed up plenty of things, but that they got right.

In fact, hanging on out on this board for 2+ years has made me appreciate it even more. Every time I see a thread where someone is scared to come out of the closet, dealing with hangups from their bible-thumping past, or whatever, I appreciate my heathen upbringing more.

And I DO have something to fall back on in troubled times--my own self. My ability to *realistically* assess the problem and come up with a solution. My firm believe that I'm the only one that can run my life--no sky daddy will be swooping in to help. There's more power in that than in any religion I've ever seen.

[Face]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, being raised without religion makes you really take your faithlessness for granted. None of the 'eye opening' new-breath-of-life feelings that comes with throwing off the shackles, none of the probing/experimenting with faith issues, you get the idea.

In many ways, it's somewhat dull - facing repression or control and breaking free is one of the best parts of going from teenager to adult - taking control of one's own life is an astounding feeling. Then again, it's probably better to never have been a slave to dogma in the first place.

[Zora]

You are accepting a Christian reviewer's opinion of what Gould said. I haven't read the book, but I wouldn't rely too heavily on the review.

But getting to the point, I see absolutely nothing to miss about religion in general and Christianity in particular. Sometimes I think it would be easier to be a believer, especially in our society. But, I have also often thought it would be easier to be a little dumber. Since neither is within my power, it seems pointless to "regret" my lack of religious training.

[Loki]

Well, I'll be the rogue and say I'm glad I was raised with religion, and I wish I'd have taken my parents up on the confirmation offer way back when. I love Catholicism; I don't believe in it literally, but the symbolism and the tradition are just wonderful. It's easier to slip in and out of Catholicism if you're confirmed, and I would like to do just that. *shrug* Even when I believed, I never was really able to fall back on it in hard times, so i don't think that's a factor. It's a nice group to be a part of, though, and... It's sort of like a karass, from Cat's Cradle. It gives you ties to a bunch of people, whether or not they're legitimate ties. Common background and all. Perhaps it's especially relevant for me, because I've never fit in anywhere, and that's the closest I come. 'Course, now, most Catholics wouldn't have me, but I can pretend every now and then, when I want some living beauty in my life.

[Godless Wonder]

Hmm. If I had been raised religious, I'm not totally sure, but pretty sure it wouldn't have taken... It didn't take with either of my parents.

OTOH, when my last gf broke up with me on account of my atheism, one of my friends suggested that I fake religion. I don't think I could have done that in any case, but having been raised non-religious, it really isn't even an option. There's just no way I could fake it, I wouldn't even know how. Had I been raised religious, faking it might be an option, not that I would have done it. I suspect my friend is in this situation, faking religion for the sake of his wife. i didn't press him on the matter though.

[colin]

The red or the blue pill, huh?

Ignorance is bliss, being a sucker, a sheep and a pawn isn't what human nature is all about. I'm glad my abandoned, poor, teenage Mom didn't have the oppertunity to force religion on me. It left me free to think on my own.

"Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more."

[cjack]

I'd have to say that I'm forever indebted to my parents for the non-religious upbringing.

The first time I really realized the gift I'd been given was in college, when I ran into a fundy preacher guy at the library.


I'd seen him around, and his tactic was pretty simple: Find someone who had been to church as a child, but hadn't gone in awhile out of rebellion or apathy or whatever, then try to access the pre-programmed "Fear O God" instilled by the church and use it to turn them into drooling fundy Christian drones.

He tried this crap on me (okay, I enabled him when I stopped to chat) and it frustrated the hell out of him because I'd never had the Christian Mind Control program installed in my brain.

I realized that by the simple act of not taking me to church, my parents had Fundy-proofed me!


What was really great about my ubringing was that my parents, when we were old enough to start asking serious questions, never turned us off to religion or told us anything negative about it. We were told "you want to go to church and find out what its all about? Great...pick a church and we'll take you."

I never went, but my sister did for awhile...until she figured out it was all bunk!

[Barcode]

My family are screwed up enough, so I'm grateful religion was kept out of the mix :)

[Fyrefly]

I was raised Christian, but ditched when I was fifteen. And I basically wish that my parents had raised me as an atheist - religion pretty much fucked me up.

[fr8trainman]

Ipetrich wrote: "So he's something like my sister, being unhappy about not being raised to believe in a religion."

Why is your sis whining about the past? She can't change it. There is nothing preventing her NOW from joining a mosque or church. How can people miss what they did not have in the first place?

Happiness,

Fr8trainman

[Silent Acorns]

I was raised quasi-non-religious. My mother was raised Catholic, but she lapsed before I was born and so I was never baptized (unlike my older sister). I never talked to my father about his religious beliefs. all I know is that he was raised Dutch Reformed and "converted" to Catholicism to marry my mother. It's strange now that I think about it. They were both well read and educated in the liberal arts, but what little theological talk I had with them was exclusively with my mother. When I see her later today I'm going to have to ask her what he believed.

So, my religious upringing was limited to philosophical discussions with my "Deist Catholic" mother. When I was young (less than 6) I more-or-less just assumed God existed. When I realized that there was no Santa or Easter Bunny I basicallly put God on the same shelf and have been an atheist ever since (although I only recently became confortable with that label).

No regrets whatsoever.

[Kevin]

He tried this crap on me (okay, I enabled him when I stopped to chat) and it frustrated the hell out of him because I'd never had the Christian Mind Control program installed in my brain.

I realized that by the simple act of not taking me to church, my parents had Fundy-proofed me!
This is exactly why most Christian evangelists and apologists are frustrated by me, and in turn frustrate me. Everything they've ever read or heard about atheists is steeped in conservative Christian preconceptions about them, and these preconceptions take the existence of god for granted. Thus we all are rebelling, would rather be 'sinning,' and so on. The fact that people can genuinely dispute the accuracy of Christian dogma is something that never comes up, since it is so 'obviously true.'

My parents didn't prompt me to become an atheist, but they didn't raise me with any sort of religion either. In fact, I didn't even know what saying "Grace" meant until I was twelve (and thereby hangs a humorous tale :D). In fact, my parents are apathetic about religion, but for some reason I seem to have a deep interest in philosophy of religion and world religions. That said, I don't regret for a moment having been raised secularly. Quite the contrary, I'm quite grateful to them for it, because it's allowed me to regard the subject of religion with a detachment that I don't think I would otherwise have had. If I were religious, I would have probably ended up Christian and, no matter how liberal, my choice of reading would have probably been guided by snap decisions about what would 'please God' or 'displease God.' I doubt I would have even investigated other religions and philosophies, let alone atheism.

My fuller story is in the 'testimonies' thread at top.

[Norseman]

Weird, I was raised religious, discovered I was atheist about the same time I knew what the word meant, and somehow I still have never needed to "fall back" on anything. Whenever I have a problem I just deal with it (unless it's a spider in which case I run my pansy ass to the other side of the house and grab a can of bug spray while I sit somewhere far from the spider; I'm an arachniphobe).

[Clete]

I'm glad I was raised non-religious. Several people I've known who were raised with religion are frighteningly deficent in the stress coping-skills area. It appears to be some kind of a pattern.

[Plognark]

My parents could barely have fucked up more than they did, but for all their issues and dilemas, they had no time to instill any sense of religious belief in me at all. For that I am strangely grateful. :rolleyes:

I don't regret it one tiny little bit.