Do You Have Different Beliefs from Friends and Family?

  • the footloose doll.

    the footloose doll. (100)

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    I'm not really sure if there's a thread similar to this or not.. I had a look.
    But basically, do you feel left out in your family or social group due to different belief structures?

    For example, my family is christian. And although I respect them and their beliefs, I don't believe in it. I find it really hard sometimes to relate to my family and trying to talk or connect with them is difficult. One thing that I really struggle with is getting help. For ages I've felt down and awful, but I feel I can't fully lean on my family for support because they would see my depression as a result of living life without God. I'm not sure if any of that made much sense.

    But I would love to hear other peoples thoughts and feelings they have if they're in similar situations. (:
    Whether you believe in God and your family doesn't, or your friends don't understand your 'new age' beliefs. Come and talk.
    The thread Do You Share the Same Religion as Your Parents? has been locked due its to similarity in topic to this thread. It will not be deleted, so feel free to read it over and reply here to any posts made in that thread.
    June 14th, 2009 at 07:06am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    My mother and one brother are Atheists. Another brother is Agnostic. My sister believes in some weird animal thing she made up. My stepdad is a Lutheran. I am a Christian. My dad and stepmom are both Christians.

    When I was younger it upset me greatly. I thought my mom was going to hell, blah blah blah.

    When I got a little older it upset me that my stepmom would try and make me sound like a bad Christian because I liked Harry Potter, was bisexual, supported gay rights, and was pro-choice.

    Now I don't mind. My mother and I are very open in listening to the other's beliefs. I'm not scared of my faith or God anymore, which means I no longer fear her going to hell. I know it's not possible.

    One thing that did matter however, was my ex-fiance. Andie was agnostic, but leaning more towards cynical Atheist. (Not all Atheists are cynical.) She made fun of my belief in God, she laughed at me when I expressed a fear I had that she wouldn't be able to spend eternity with me in Heaven. She belittled me and my faith. And that's not a good thing to have in a relationship.
    June 14th, 2009 at 05:28pm
  • Dancing Caveman

    Dancing Caveman (450)

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    Honestly? It sometimes is really difficult to have different beliefs. I'm an atheist, my dad is agnostic, my mom is some type of Christian theist, and my sister is a Baptist.

    I have several different circles of friends: the high school friends are made up of agnostics, Wiccans, and Christians; the dorm friends are mostly Catholic; the English friends are all various types of Christian (though there is one Jew); and then there are my Non-Theist friends.

    I feel comfortable around most of my theist friends because I know that they do accept my lack of belief, but I also know that I could never mix my atheist friends and Christian friends.

    My family is a different matter. I feel comfortable discussing religion with my dad because I know there are some things that he agrees with me on. My mom, however, really seemed to get bent out of shape when she found out I was an atheist, so I just don't bring it up anymore. I often do bring up religion with my sister because I feel like, out of everyone in my family, she's the person I'm closest to, but there are times when we'll just get into an argument.

    I don't tell anyone outside of my immediate family that I'm an atheist, because many of them are deeply religious, and I'm kind of scared to tell them anything because I don't know how they'd take it.
    June 14th, 2009 at 05:55pm
  • Cold Wind

    Cold Wind (150)

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    I'm something between atheist/agnostic, and my family doesn't really have specific beliefs, but they believe in God. And a LOT of my friends are pretty religious...it's weird, but it's not really a big deal.
    June 14th, 2009 at 06:16pm
  • lucky stars.

    lucky stars. (100)

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    My mother's islamic, and I honestly think that religion is bullshit. People have to right to believe what they want to believe, and I should have that right too. I have been doubting it lately. I was raised to be a muslim, but I really don't believe in any off it. And I have no idea how to tell my mum that I don't believe in it. I don't want to get like disowned.
    Religion in general confuses me.
    Maybe I should just leave it for a bit.
    June 16th, 2009 at 04:23pm
  • anakin

    anakin (100)

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    Yessir.
    My whole family is Lutheran, but I've become agnostic.
    My grandpa thinks there must be something wrong with my brain because of it and he actually shook a Bible at me before and muttered about how I needed more religious teachings. My mom isn't really religious or anything, so she lets my failure to attend church slide.
    June 19th, 2009 at 06:39am
  • It's In The Blood.

    It's In The Blood. (150)

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    Jedi. Totally. I believe in the overall positive power of the universe and of mankind, which my friends assure me is Jedi. :| Excuse me if I don't start identifying as one, though.

    I believe in spirits and in magic(k), I believe in the wisdom of myth and legend. Is a very gentle sort of a thing to believe in, isn't it?

    My friends are mainly agnostics and atheists, though I know a fair few Muslims and one of my closest friends in secondary school was Catholic. My uncle's brother (my uncle isn't my blood relative) converted to Buddhism when I was about ten and changed his name from Philip to Saraha which was interesting.

    I sort of have more respect for people who do believe in God, but do it peacefully, than I do for my more outspoken atheist friends.
    June 19th, 2009 at 02:21pm
  • astroz0mbie

    astroz0mbie (160)

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    I believe in God completely, but my best friend is a Wiccan and hugely disagrees with most of my beliefs, but she's not ignorant. We both knew what each other believed when we met, and that didn't stop us.

    I've met people who look down upon Christians for being "narrowminded" and "stupid" but that seems pretty narrowminded in itself. |: They're just paying attention to the ones that act like asses and condemn everyone. I've also met some really devoted Christians who are the nicest, most mellow, non judgemental people I've ever met. For example, there is this girl named Ashley who used to be like a hardcore goth, all out. She's not from a religious family, but sometime in 9th grade she changed entirely. She converted from Wicca to Christianity and she's just so... nice. She's one of the most amazing people I've ever met.

    The same goes for Pagan religions. My best friend gets a lot of shit for wearing a pentagram because we live in south Texas, in "Baptist country" and that kind of "deviance" isn't welcome. But she doesn't gut chickens and chant gibberish. xD
    June 21st, 2009 at 10:03pm
  • goodlilgoth

    goodlilgoth (100)

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    My family doesn't know im agnostic. My grandmother would kill me.I used to go to church...but i never really believed what was being said.And the preacher kept going on about homosexuality being bad...So yeah i left.
    June 22nd, 2009 at 04:19pm
  • Mike Dirnt.

    Mike Dirnt. (100)

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    I disagree with my mother's views on religion. Or on God, rather. I don't believe that God is in a special statue and that the only place you'll find that solace and peace is in a temple. Temples are awesome, for sure, but not when they're crowded and stuffy with people pushing each other.

    My mom loves going to certain temples on special occassions though. I don't like that ideology. I mean, sometimes its nice, but...I'd prefer to just go on a normal Thursday evening or whatever and sit there and kind of meditate/think when it's quiet. =)

    God is everywhere. You don't need to keep knocking on his door or sing hymns at 5 am to prove you love God.
    June 23rd, 2009 at 10:17am
  • wonho

    wonho (225)

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    I'm a Non-denominational Christian. I was never baptized, and I went to church almost every Sunday up until the age of five. But then my dad's friends, who were the main reason we went to that church, moved to a place two and a half hours away, so we stopped going.

    When I was around nine, my faith in God wavered, and I was considering myself Agnostic until the age of fourteen. I'm not exactly sure what made me realize that I believed in God still, but something did, and I have been a Christian again ever since.

    I don't believe in everything the bible says. For example, I believe that love is love, and God is not going to reject someone just because of who they love. And I will not force my beliefs down your throat. However, I do ask that you respect mine, since I am going to respect yours. It's just common courtesy, you know.

    My mother is Catholic, and my father is Baptist. They have always been this, and it is the reason that I was "dedicated" rather than baptized. I don't mind though. Anyway, my father taught me a very different set of beliefs than my mother. My father always told me that I would go to heaven as long as I accepted the Lord as my savior. That no matter what I did, He would never turn me away as long as I kept my faith.

    However, my mother has always tried to get me to go to mass, and said that if I don't sing hymns and pray and attend church every Sunday, I will never get to heaven. She is still trying to get me to go to mass, and I keep refusing, but lately I'm just beginning to snap at her. Now, I'm not saying that all Catholics are like this (cause I know a lot that aren't), but my mother is the type who believes that she can go out and sin all week, then just confess on Sunday and do it all over again. I don't like that, and I certainly don't believe in it.

    I'm not positive, but I'm fairly sure that one of the reasons my parents never got along when they were married was because of their religion. My mother refused to accept my father's way of worshiping, and he didn't like her philosophy on sinning and then confessing, and then repeating that process.

    As for my friends, half are Atheist or Agnostic, and we talk about religion still, but we don't argue or anything, as we can see each other's sides and respect them. I'm very lucky for that, I think. The other half are also Non-denominational Christians like me, but they are slightly more strict in their beliefs. They go to church every Sunday, they don't curse very much, and they go to Youth Group. I don't mind any of that, except for when I have to watch my language. I would probably go to Youth Group and/or church with them, but I feel like I don't belong there. No particularly reason, but I just feel out of place.

    But I really like the idea that no matter how badly I screw up, God will always love me and accept me as I am, so long as I keep my faith in him.

    Edit: Wow, that was insanely long... :lmfao
    June 24th, 2009 at 02:31am
  • Little Miss Me

    Little Miss Me (100)

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    i have friends of a lot of different religions. my immediate family is jewish, most of my other family is christian, my cousin charlottes pagan as well as my friend shannon, my friend amelias this very accepting reilgion that idr the name of, my friend cynthia is catholic, my friend julie isnt rly anything at all, my friend snol is islamic, my friends at camp r all jewish, and im a wiccan. so yea, weve all got different beliefs.
    March 13th, 2010 at 03:12am
  • feathers.everywhere

    feathers.everywhere (100)

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    My mom and her side of the family are all Catholic, while my dad was Muslim. Both me and my sister are agnostic though we have different thoughts on God.
    March 13th, 2010 at 07:32pm
  • leaf's a buzzard

    leaf's a buzzard (100)

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    My mom is a psuedo-Buddhist and my dad is Agnostic. I'm an Existentialist, and my little brother is an Atheist. So, there really isn't any religious friction at all. When I hang out with my friends though, some of their parents are pretty religious, so there's a bit of tension. Usually I just stay quiet about my own beleifs, seeing as they're hard to explain anyway, I only really bring them up in intelligent discussions.
    March 13th, 2010 at 10:53pm
  • albus severus.

    albus severus. (100)

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    Mostly everyone I know believes in God, and so does my family, apart from me. I'm Atheist. Though many people don't know that, apart from my parents. I guess you could say I somewhat "rebelled" to believe in God.

    Though my other family members wouldn't approve, nor my friends. And at first my parents didn't either.

    Jeez, is it that bad to not believe in God? I guess so. Facepalm
    March 14th, 2010 at 05:36pm
  • ThePiesEndure

    ThePiesEndure (115)

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    iDestinee:
    Mostly everyone I know believes in God, and so does my family, apart from me. I'm Atheist. Though many people don't know that, apart from my parents. I guess you could say I somewhat "rebelled" to believe in God.

    Though my other family members wouldn't approve, nor my friends. And at first my parents didn't either.

    Jeez, is it that bad to not believe in God? I guess so. Facepalm
    To people who strongly believe in a God, yes it would seem to be bad, because they probably believe you might go to Hell for not believing, so part of it may be misguided anxiety for the state of your eternal soul. [Not my view point, just a hypothesis, even though I am a Christian and believe strongly in God.]
    March 15th, 2010 at 05:27am
  • The Master

    The Master (15)

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    My Mum and stepdad and sister are pretty much Protestant Atheists. They don't believe in God per se, but they still have issues with Catholics and stuff which is really bloody weird.

    In comparision, I'm a bit of a Nihilistic Atheist. I've tried speaking to them about my beliefs but they told me not to be so depressing. XD
    March 15th, 2010 at 12:20pm
  • iMeowTao

    iMeowTao (100)

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    It can be hard having a largely Christian family, not because I dislike their religious preference at all, but because they are generally not very understanding of mine...

    My boyfriend is Jewish, and I'm... I'm just out there to them. Technically, I'm a Taoist, but unless you sincerely want to know, I won't delve into it....
    Anyway, my family is always open about their faith, and apparently scared that I'll burn in hell eternally for believing in Pantheism rather than Monotheism...
    In general, I can go to a Baptist Church sermon (or what have you) and still get something meaningful from it. But last time my boyfriend and I tried we got a strange feeling of being very unwelcome because we didn't ever donate to the church. ^.^;
    (And that was my mother's church... Well, we've given up church-going for the time being.)
    March 16th, 2010 at 03:55am
  • Crash Thrusts.

    Crash Thrusts. (100)

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    My mom is Christian, my brother is Agnostic, my best friend Karen is Agnostic, a few of my friends are Athiests, and my friend Rita and I are Christians.

    Religon isn't something I like to talk about with others, especially my mom, even though she has the same religon as I do. She takes Christianity to an extreme and I don't.
    March 17th, 2010 at 05:17am
  • wxyz

    wxyz (240)

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    Me and all of my friends are atheists, mostly. I think a couple are agnostic and others believe in some sort of higher power, but most of us don't believe in any. The three other people in my family (dad, mum, brother) are Christian, as are my aunts and uncles and grandparents, so I often feel a little bit awkward, when there's a big conversation about said religion going on, and I can't really agree nor disagree. The latter because they don't know I'm atheist and they'd be disappointed in me. XD
    March 17th, 2010 at 11:32pm