fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2972 ]

[ SECRET POST #2972 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2972 ⌋

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Am I the only one who finds it weird that a whole family suddenly converts into Christianity at some point in time?

Me. Like, Mom, Dad, and kids too?

I mean, I'm not judging, just really trying to picture this scenario in my head.

Yeah, I thought this was a bit weird, but I can imagine situations where this would happen. E.g. if they joined a religious community where their ancestors came from - say, an Old Orthodox one.

I have a similar story. One of my exes is Catholic and his entire family converted from like...Methodism or something to Catholicism a few years before I met him. He was the first to do it, but the rest followed.

It's kinda weird and I'm not sure why that happened. He was also pretty weird (to me at least) about his approach to religion overall.

I kinda like that my family was never like that. We've all formed our own beliefs, and while our parents' beliefs/lack thereof has influenced what we were exposed to, we still made our own personal decisions about what information to pursue and what to do with it once we had it.

See, I can understand converting from one denomination of Christianity to another... because it's still like, the same religion, the difference is in the details. And unless you're really invested in the dogma, church is church.

But from atheism suddenly to Christianity? That seems a lot more jarring. No religion to suddenly everyone has one. idk.

My parents were like yours though, I think. They tried to encourage us to find our own faiths, and didn't bring us to church or anything, but encouraged us to learn about religions. We all ended up atheist, but you know, I like that we got there on our own.

But from atheism suddenly to Christianity? That seems a lot more jarring. No religion to suddenly everyone has one. idk.

i'm prob assuming too much, but i did assume op actually meant agnosticism.

You know you can be both agnostic and an atheist at the same time? And that that is actually the case for most atheists and theists -- that they're agnostic?

uhh I think you're trying to split hairs here with your own personal definitions, ones that no one else uses...

Are you for real?! Those are the official definitions.

On the other hand, probably a case of don't feed the trolls? I hope.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2015-02-22 23:53 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2015-02-23 13:01 (UTC) - Expand

yes. but claiming to be an atheist is a lot more radical. it involves active philosophical rejection of supernatural beliefs.

I love your wording. top kek

Only if you have the worst possible understanding of epistemology and are choosing the definition of the word based on the fact you don't want to be called an atheist.

You're the one who clearly doesn't understand the terminology as it's commonly used here

because it's still like, the same religion, the difference is in the details.

Lol. Don't tell that to my Catholic ex. (We didn't date for very long...)

I went to a couple really relaxed churches, one of which I wouldn't even qualify as a "church", I don't think. Didn't have a lot of dogma growing up, I think, compared to some of my peers.

You don't want to say that to certain kinds of Protestants either. I don't know how many times I've told my brother that Catholics are in fact Christian.

True!

It's frustrating to me how different denominations want to think they are the One True Christianity^TM. I'm glad the only denomination I've ever identified with is Quakerism, which arguably isn't a denomination at all, and I'm quite content to just be nondenominational right now. People are really good at missing the forest for the trees (their own special trees which are of course the only true and right trees).

(no subject)

sarillia - 2015-02-23 02:43 (UTC) - Expand

People who actually convert to Catholicism always intrigue me. Like obviously it's open for converts, but it's always seemed like one of those religions/denominations that you're born into. You're Catholic because your father was Catholic and your father's father was Catholic and so on and so forth.

are you from the usa or an european country? it's more of a social religion in those places, but the catholic church as an institution is still very engaged in promoting conversion - http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/679/where_converts_are_made.aspx , http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-stats-show-continued-growth-in-africa-asia/

USA, which is why there's always this huge disconnect with my personal experiences vs the church as a whole.

At least half the USA Catholics I know (if not more), don't believe half the dogma, don't go to church regularly, etc, but they still call themselves Catholics, or at least identify as Catholic? It's almost like a sort of Judaism where you're Jewish because you were born Jewish rather than your actual beliefs and/or practices.

I went to mass for Ash Wednesday and actually ran into a friend who I had NO IDEA was Catholic, and we were both like "yeah. we don't go to mass as often as we should, disagree with a lot of the church teaching, but in the end we're Catholic." And then we talked about how much more awesome the service music was in the 90's.

But on the flip side, I do have a couple family members who are a lot more hardcore, don't believe in abortion or gay rights (and at least one uncle who I think is against birth control due to how many children he has, which even my GRANDPARENTS have sarcastically commented on), and then I read about shit going down in places like Argentina and the Philippines, and then I'm reminded just how schism'ed the church really is.

The recent American nun controversies I think display it the best:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/05/21/catholic-nuns-go-rogue.html
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/09/under-pope-francis-vatican-criticisms-of-american-nuns-keep-coming

It does kinda seem that way to an extent doesn't it? A lot of people just take it for granted - their family is Catholic, therefore they are Catholic.

It may have to do with some of the rituals practiced within the church (such as baptizing infants and various other stages of recognition for children), or it may just be a social thing, but you don't see this nearly as much with other Christian denominations - if someone says "my family is Christian" they typically mean most or some or maybe one parent or something like that, and it doesn't necessarily imply that they are also Christian. But with Catholicism it kinda does.

In some sects, the father converts, and being the head of the household, everyone converts along with.

To be fair, it's one thing for a father to make a decision about the "official" religious beliefs of the family. It's quite another to actually believe something, too.

I don't, if it's a family where the kids are still under-aged.

The parents think it's a good idea and the kids go along with them because it's their parents, and the parents have explained out the reasoning why they think it's a good idea.

Adult children I find harder to believe, and teenagers may be more "Whatever, I'll do it to keep the peace" and maybe drift away from it in adulthood if they don't really believe.

ngl, I always find it creepy when parents force religion on their kids instead of letting the kids decide what they believe for themselves.

Forcing religion on your children is how organized religion has lasted this long.

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