These questions were spurred by a discussion with a friend a couple days ago. They are meant in NO WAY to cause any controversy. That is all.
1. Were you raised religiously?
2. Was your husband?
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child?
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously?
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism?
Re: Religion-related poll ...
1. Were you raised religiously? No.
2. Was your husband? No.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? No.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? We will be open-minded and teach them that they can believe in whatever they chose. If they chose to subscribe to a specific religion, we will support that.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A.
1. Were you raised religiously? No, my parents didn't really want to pick a side, since they didn't agree. I came to my own conclusions on my own by going to a few different churches as a young teenager.
2. Was your husband? Oh yes, 12 full years of Catholic school.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Yes and No, we talk about God, Jesus and faith daily, I pray daily as does H. But we haven't set foot in a church since we've known each other (aside from funerals and weddings).
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? We will teach him about faith, God and Jesus, but I will not force him to believe in something. He has to chose for himself. I feel my faith is very strong because I learned about it on my own and made my own choices regarding it.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A.
1. Were you raised religiously? Yes. I was baptized as an infant and confirmed in junior high. We went to church most Sundays, and I was an acolyte and went to Youth Group. The latter was more about the social aspect.
2. Was your husband? Not at all. He went to a Christian school in kindergarten (courtesy of Grandma), but otherwise, no. His parents are very leery of organized religion. His mom didn't even come to Collin's baptism.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? I consider myself to be a lapsed Episcopal. DH was baptized with Collin, and we go to church a few times a year. I think about going more often, but my desire to sleep usually wins out.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes. We do prayers every night before bed, we do take him to church when we go, etc.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes. Collin was baptized at 3.5 months.
1. Were you raised religiously? Same as IG, my parents believe but they never attended church. I actually went to church and youth group with the neighbors growing up b/c it was something I wanted to do. When I was old enough to drive myself I went alone, or with friends.
2. Was your husband? Yes, they went to church every Sunday.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? TJ told me when we were first dating that he didn't believe in God and I had a tough time with it. I still believe but I haven't been to church since before we were married.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? I will teach her what my beliefs are, but it is up to her when she is older to decide what she believes in. So, no. TJ asked me a few months back if I planned on taking her to church, and I don't think so right now but I may in the future.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
M/C 9/21/09 | M/C 12/24/09 | BFP 1/23/10
Madeline Rey DOB 9/30/10
TTC # 2 Jan 2013
BFP 3/12/13 | EDD 11/18/13
It's a GIRL! Lydia Marie!
2. Was your husband? No, his parents are hippies (seriously!)
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Hmmm, that's a tough one. I still identify as Catholic, but we don't go to church on a regular basis
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes...which means I really need to start going to Mass
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes
1. Were you raised religiously? Kind of. I went to Catholic school from 3-12th, yet we rarely went to Mass on Sunday.
2. Was your husband? I think they sometime went to a Lutheran church on Christmas and Easter. His mom was baptized a year or so ago.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? I guess so. The term religious has so many bad connotations.... I go to church services weekly, I am involved in my church community. It's not Catholic.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? I want him to know and love God. I want him know that God has a plan and a purpose for his life. I want the values and "rules" that our faith promote be the cornerstone of his value system. So I guess the answer is yes.
For now, the 2yo room has a lot of cars and a bounce house and serves a good snack, so he is a happy church goer.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? My church does not. I was baptized as an infant and I still consider that 100% valid.
1. Were you raised religiously? Yes - Wednesday and Sunday Catholics, CCD, communion, the whole kit and kaboodle. I remember questioning a LOT of the things I was told - but the real "issue" for me was that my dad beat the crap out of us daily (no exaggeration), confessed on Sunday morning, was 'forgiven' and took communion. In my eyes, he was a sinner and forgiveness was a tough concept to swallow.
2. Was your husband? Sort of - his father and step mom were practicing Jews - his step brother and sister were Bar/Bat-Mizvah'd - he wasn't. He considers himself Christian and was a sporadic church goer before we met.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? We attend church weekly now - and volunteer as well. We attend a non-denominational church where we feel like we fit in very well. I refuse to attend Catholic mass - I'm bitter about my religious upbringing but have found peace at my current church.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? My children both attend church with us now and my daughter is very religious and my son less so - as teenagers it's their choice. LO#3 will attend with us, be taught about Jesus, the bible and religion but ultimately, as a teen, it will be his choice as well. 5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? No - they do baby dedications where they are introduced to their "church family" and we all vow to raise them as a "family" (this doesn't describe it very well...but our church believes baptisms are decisions that you make on your own, not one that someone makes for you)
2. Was your husband? No, mostly just church on holidays.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? No, I became an atheist, ironically while attending Catholic high school, and DH is agnostic.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? No.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
1. Were you raised religiously? Very much (very strict Catholic) ETA: Catholic school from grade 1-12, daily mass grade 1-8, forced church attendance with family until age 22, etc.
2. Was your husband? Yes, also Catholic (less fire & brimstone than me, though)
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? I am not religious or spiritual, whatsoever. DH still believes the basics from his childhood, but does not practice.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? No, not really. DH would like to just talk to our kids about what he believes. I'm ok with that as long as they know they are not being pressured into anything, as I was.
*This is all a sore spot with my family, since they believe that if I child does not grow up in a religion, he will not likely choose to follow one later. My mother has finally stopped talking about it, but I imagine it will come up again, once baby is here.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Catholics do baptize infants, but we are not having him baptized, as we don't go to church (plus I'm not comfortable with it).
Photo by J Shelton Photography
Married 10/5/08 | 2 yrs of TTC, tests, procedures & a m/c | IVF #2 =James!
2. Was your husband? Not really
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Nope
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Nope - however, we plan to teach him about evolution AND different world religions, within the context of social anthropology more than "religion". When he is old enough he is free to make up his own mind.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
THIS- exactly
2. Was your husband? Yup, graduated from a private school as well
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Yes and Yes. We attend church on Sundays, meet with a small group, help out at the kids night on Wednesdays, attend the conferences, ect...we love our church and church family
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? No...ours does a baby dedication instead
and this is why I qualified my "Do you consider yourself religious now" answer. Science and religion do not have to be mutually exclusive
I just wanted to say I am so sorry that you had to go through that with your father. :-( That is awful. I also did a lot of questioning of Catholic beliefs and came out on the other side. But I did not go through what you did. Hugs!!
Photo by J Shelton Photography
Married 10/5/08 | 2 yrs of TTC, tests, procedures & a m/c | IVF #2 =James!
This has always been a big topic in my life, and I find the replies interesting. Sorry for the reply-whoring! :-)
I did, as well, Shane! I just tend not to use that word b/c of the confused reactions I've gotten to it.
Photo by J Shelton Photography
Married 10/5/08 | 2 yrs of TTC, tests, procedures & a m/c | IVF #2 =James!
1. Were you raised religiously? - no. my dad was raised Catholic and I always considered myself Catholic and my mom was raised Baptist but we weren't a church every Sunday kind of family
2. Was your husband? - very much so. his mom is definitely religious and it can get very irritating sometimes. i.e. when SIL would have a date to a dance in HS and when MIL would talk about the date she'd say something like "his name is John and he's a Christian" like that automatically made him a good person
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? - nope.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? - haven't really discussed it much. I'm sure we'll teach him about all the basics about Jesus and religion but let him develop his own views as wel
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? - n/a
Thank you
1. Were you raised religiously? No.
2. Was your husband? No.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? I am an athiest. My husband self-identifies as Christian.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? No. When she is older we will explain our personal beliefs to her, and explain religion generally. It is important to me that DD understands that religion is very personal, there is never any pressure to choose or practice any specific religion, and it equally ok to be agnostic/athiest.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A.
2. Was your husband? Very much so. His family attends church every Sunday, and usually gets their early so they can sit in the front pew.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? We are both Catholic.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? We are Catholic, are observing Lent and want to instill in our children a love of God, however we do not want to force the "religion" upon them, the way my husband feels it was forced upon him. We would like to start attending church, it has just been hard deciding when is the right time to attempt it with the babe. We used to go pretty regularly when we were still in Monterey. DH probably only agreed though, because afterwards we would go out for breakfast!
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes, but we haven't baptized Livy yet, simply because we are in WA with no other family. Unfortunately, with his family in TX and mine in CA, we won't be able to have ALL of our family together. But since religion is soooooo important to his mother, we plan to have it in TX whenever we finally take her their to visit.
1. Were you raised religiously? Yes
2. Was your husband? Yes
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? Yes
If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Basically. T Raised presbyterian, attend non-denom church now
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes..
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? No
My Blog
1. Were you raised religiously? Not really. I would say my parents are spiritual but not religious. My dad worked at a non-denominational church for a while when I was 11ish, so we would go to church and Sunday school there. But we stopped going once he left that job.
2. Was your husband? Yes. Catholic family, Catholic school. But he never got confirmed because he literally refused to get out of the car at the church the day of his confirmation. He said he knew by then that he just didn't believe it and it would be hypocritical to go through with it.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Not at all. We would both claim to be atheist-leaning-agnostics.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? No. But I fully intend to encourage them to learn about any and all religions they may be interested in. If they find one that speaks to them I will have no problem with them embracing it. I strongly believe in people choosing their own way as long as they're making informed decisions.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
Bio & Blog | The Chic Bambino | Bumps & Babies Fair
2. Was your husband? Yes
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Umm when we do go to church, we go to the denomination I was raised in, Lutheran. So hard to get in the swing of things on Sundays.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yeah, need to get on that. Heck my parents are still pretty religious and we are just basically slackers.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes- Lutheran.
2. Was your husband? Yes, mostly. I think he was in elementary school when they actually found a church to attend.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? DH graduated from a Bible college and is a licensed minister (if you ever need one, let me know, ;-) ) And I stayed active in church, singing on the worship team and working with children and youth. We're both in the same church group (Open Bible) which is mostly non-denominational/somewhat Pentecostal.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? No, we do baby dedications. When you are old enough, you can choose to be baptized. I was when I was 8 or 9.
1. Were you raised religiously? No
2. Was your husband? Yes
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? We consider ourselves spiritual but we do not go to church.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? We are still discussing this...not sure. Definitely with a belief system, but not sure about attending church.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? We (or should I say my DH) belong to our local Catholic church, and yes they do baptize.
1. Were you raised religiously? No
2. Was your husband? Yes
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Sort of. We go to church when we can. I am not the same religion I was as a child, as I was not brought up in any religion.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes.
The only Easter Bunny I can get behind.
Maxwell Joseph 4/09 Lucy Violet 10/12
1. Were you raised religiously?
Not at all. Neither of my parents were, so they really did not know how to introduce it to us.
2. Was your husband?
His mother is very religious, goes to church three times on Sunday. But his father is not really into the whole thing. He was never forced to believe, or to go to church, but the option was open if he was wanting to.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child?
Not really. I believe there is a form of higher power that guides us. What that higher power is, I have no clue. Dh agrees.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously?
If my children ask questions, I will do the best I can to answer. We will tell them there are angels in the sky, and there is a place full of them when you die. Possibly the whole higher power thing once they are older. We will probably just go with the flow and see what happens.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism?
Dh's mother wants our children baptized, but since neither DH and I are very religious, we decided we do not feel comfortable doing it. I would be clueless.
2. Was your husband? Off and on
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Yes, we go to church a lot and my son goes to the school at the church.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? No. We believe baptism is an act of obedience after salvation.
TTC #2 for a million years: SA normal, CD 23 bloodwork shows nothing amiss, ovulation detected. Next step: ? maybe CD3 bloodwork to check eggs? All out of pocket, so limited IF tests/treatments.
1. Were you raised religiously?
Kinda. My parents believed, and went to church a little when I was young. I started going on my own in middle school and kept going through college.
2. Was your husband?
Not really, he went during those few early years until he was kicked out of Sunday school.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child?
Nope. I consider myself spiritual, but not religious. I don't go by names... I was Methodist then, now I would say I'm not even Christian. I am more a student of the universe (cue psychedelic music). DH is atheist. To honor that, we did not include references to God in our wedding, but instead asked people to join us in a moment of meditation or prayer in accordance with their own beliefs. I realize I sound super-granola at this moment.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously?
Nope. As PP said, we plan to raise him with an understanding of all the different belief systems out there as social anthropology, tell him what we believe (individually), and let him make up his own mind.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism?
N/A
I'm going to make an AWESOME big brother.
2. Was your husband? Yes
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Yes and yes
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yep
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
2. Was your husband? No
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Hell to the NO
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Nope
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? N/A
1. Were you raised religiously?
Some what, I was the one that went with my Aunt and encouraged my family to start attending.
2. Was your husband?
NOOOOO!!!
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child?
I also do not consider my self religious, there is too many misconceptions about religion. I love God which leads me to live happy, honest, respectful person with good morals.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously?
I encourage them to pray if it makes them feel good. We read the bible and they do attend church with us. I do not force it on them. Just like I would never force it on my husband. But my husband has seen how it makes my life so much better and has started to seek, and learn more about the Bible and the history of it. He also attends our family life and church with our family.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism?
I think it is important that you fully understand and are old enough to make the choice for yourself after salvation.
I also don't like the term "religious." You can be religious about many things. However, I feel like there are a lot of crazies out there who give Christians/Muslims/etc. a bad name by the way they act. I also don't get the idea that once you start practicing a faith that you are supposed to be perfect. Everyone is human - we all make mistakes - we're just supposed to do our best, but it's also why we need forgiveness. Especially me lately!
1. Were you raised religiously? Yes - my father is a pastor.
2. Was your husband? Yes, at first. His family was Catholic, but stopped attending when MIL/FIL's marriage got rocky. By the time he was 10 they had stopped going.
3. Do you consider yourselves religious now? If so, are you the same denomination, form of religion, etc., as you were as a child? Yes, I am - but I did a LOT of soul-searching, church/religion studies, etc. while I was in college, because it was really important to me that I have my own beliefs that were rooted in the Bible, instead of blindly following a faith. My H joined me for some of these classes after we'd been dating for a few years, and eventually became a member of my church. I never forced it on him or used it as a condition to stay together or not. Our church family now is an amazingly wonderful group of people, and feels like our extended family.
4. Do you plan to raise your children religiously? Yes.
5. For those applicable, does your church do infant baptism? Yes.