Welcome aboard.
I was raised by parents who weren't all that interested in religion except for the concept of that's what we do and that's what's expected by those around us.
Went to Catholic schools...'cause that's what the kids of professional men did in the town where I grew up. Blue collar workers sent their kids to the public schools a couple towns away.
Once dad discovered golf he found his new religion. Men only at the country club on Sunday mornings...like he was going to miss that for mass????? Not on a bet. Mom was raised Methodist in the south but I think that being surrounded by midwestern Catholics and playing all the silly games turned her off any religion completely.
We just didn't discuss it. Oh, I was read the children's versions of Bible stories and I had to pray before bed and no meat on Fridays...but that was really about it.
Dad mentally left religion altogether in his early 40s and by the time he died he was verging on anti-religion. He finally came out and told me he was atheist. I guess he thought it wasn't something we were supposed to discuss. He was in his 70s and me in my 50s when he finally said what I already knew out loud.
Moving among religious family and friends I just try to remember to respect "their house, their rules". But I expect it to go both ways. If people can't accept that then limit contact.
I hope it gets easier for you.
As the mother of three grown kids I had to learn to accept that they aren't what I had planned them to be. They are who they are. And that's as it should be.
I was raised by parents who weren't all that interested in religion except for the concept of that's what we do and that's what's expected by those around us.
Went to Catholic schools...'cause that's what the kids of professional men did in the town where I grew up. Blue collar workers sent their kids to the public schools a couple towns away.
Once dad discovered golf he found his new religion. Men only at the country club on Sunday mornings...like he was going to miss that for mass????? Not on a bet. Mom was raised Methodist in the south but I think that being surrounded by midwestern Catholics and playing all the silly games turned her off any religion completely.
We just didn't discuss it. Oh, I was read the children's versions of Bible stories and I had to pray before bed and no meat on Fridays...but that was really about it.
Dad mentally left religion altogether in his early 40s and by the time he died he was verging on anti-religion. He finally came out and told me he was atheist. I guess he thought it wasn't something we were supposed to discuss. He was in his 70s and me in my 50s when he finally said what I already knew out loud.
Moving among religious family and friends I just try to remember to respect "their house, their rules". But I expect it to go both ways. If people can't accept that then limit contact.
I hope it gets easier for you.
As the mother of three grown kids I had to learn to accept that they aren't what I had planned them to be. They are who they are. And that's as it should be.
I'm your huckleberry.
