 Spiritual: June 08, 2005 Issue [#410] |
 
Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Erika  
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Welcome to the Spiritual Newsletter!
spiritual
adj.
1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.
2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4. Of, or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5. Relating to, or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.
YOUR EDITORS:
windac
Ms Kimmie 
Puditat
& me, Erika .
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I got 40 responses to last month’s survey about how one's religious upbringing and how one raises one's children are related.
According to the responses I got, it seems that most people want to give their children what they didn’t get, insofar as religion or spirituality is concerned. What do you think?
Do you consider yourself to be religious or spiritual?
7.5%  Yes, religious.
50% Yes, spiritual.
35% Yes, both.
7.5% No.
I was not surprised to find that most people considered themselves spiritual rather than religious, or both spiritual and religious, and opposed to being religious only. While the two concepts can be related, being spiritual seems to bring less of a controversy, while being religious seems to connote “bible-thumping,” which is unfortunate, since it’s most usually not the case.
Where you raised with a strong religious background?
63% Yes.
37% No.
cherokeebo: I was baptized in the Southern Baptist Church at 9 years old. But I always felt something was missing until I found that I was a mixed blood Cherokee and adopted the Native American Spirituality as a way of life.
Anonymous: I was raised Roman Catholic. I went to Parochial School until after 5th grade. I was an altar boy (and never an object of desire by a pedophile- although I think I scared one once but that is best told in another area). I volunteered with the Encounter with Christ Retreat folks in college. Lately, I find myself attending Quaker meetings and Buddhist Peace Walks.
demor: I was encouraged from a young age to study and understand what our family's religion was about. I was blessed to have an excellent pastor, who, among other things, taught what other religions professed and why all of them relied on faith of one sort or another. I found that finally the belief in Jesus Christ as my savior was the only one that offered any hope for eternity.
Big Mike 2humble2bragbut... : I was raised in spiritual ambiguity and moral depravity. My parents told my brother and me they wanted us to choose how we wanted to believe, but never gave guidance, information, or any starting point for the discovery process.
scherpenisse: My grandfather was a minister, the fire and brimstone kind, and he and my father clashed on the topic of practically everything, including religion. My father now believes in nothing, he's not even an atheist - the whole topic just doesn't bother him and he doesn't think about it. My mother is the kind of person who believes that 'there's something there', but she doesn't attend any church or anything. She's more spiritual than religious - she finds God in nature, she says. Both my parents made the decision not to raise my brother and me with religion, but neither prevented us from learning about it ourselves. My grandparents always tried to give us some religious upbringing whenever we were there, taking us along to church and reading to us from a children's bible. I think the best point I can make in this regard is that my family and me lived next door to a church for seven years, were woken up by its clocks every Sunday morning, but never attended.
Do you feel that your religious/nonreligious upbringing has affected how you currently believe?
53% Yes, a lot.
30% Yes, somewhat.
10% I am not sure.
7% Not at all.
pakole: It gave me the foundation to start on my own path. It showed me some fundamental things that are rights and do not change, while it gave me the freedom to choose.
jllwilliams: In high school, I wanted to be a scientist and dabbled with becoming an atheist. It was so logical and free from emotion. I had an averse reaction to overly emotional religious experiences because my mother relied so heavily on an emotional connection with God. I began my own search for truth and realized that it really did all come back to God and Christianity. I was raised with Christianity, but more of a charismatic background. In my own quest, I've had a more intellectual, spiritual, and emotional connection. I think some denominations focus on a small, boxed-in image of God. It makes them feel safer if they can "control" the picture. God is so simplistic, a child can accept Him. Yet, He is more complex than we can even imagine. That's where faith comes in. My faith has grown--completely separate from what I was raised with.
me_is_me: I'm not sure. I know I tried being Christian for a while but I decided it didn't work. Agnostic describes what I am best. Possibly if I was brought up to be religious I might be.
Ms Kimmie : If my religious base had continued to be one that supported the idea of a loving, benovelent Father, I might still be religious today. I LOVED going to church and reading my Bible until it turned dark and ugly. I spent most of my childhood in fear, pain, and sadness because I couldn't measure up no matter how hard I tried. Every day, my mother was there telling me of the inherent evil in me. I was young and impressionable. I believed her and tried so hard to be good but nothing was good enough. Finally, I had to reject how I was raised and find my union with God in my own way. Enter Buddhism, Toltecism, and Wicca. They are my basis and I love God now like I did when I was a very little girl.
revdbob : Of course--how could it not. And the unbelievably foolish and naive idea that" i will wait and let the kids decide for themselves if they want religion" basically gives them no information with which to make a decision. WE define ourselves not only by what we learn to like, but by what we learn to reject. If I am exposed to training, I can choose to accept, alter, reject, or re-create a belief. If I am left unexposed, I can really do none of the above. Children will choose for themselves, no matter what--even if they have a strong religious upbringing, they will do so. But if they do not have the upbringing, they are unable to make a rational choice at all!
Do you intend, or do you now, raise your children the way you were raised as far as religion is concerned?
25% Yes.
28% Somewhat.
47% No.
kimberlyb1968: I never planned on "dragging" my children to church. I figured that, when it came to beliefs, that children should form their own. I would answer questions for them, but never pressure them to be like me.
princesstorina: I intend to take my children to a church they like and agree with. I've been forced, as an extrovert, to attend church with many introverts and I always feel excluded and out of place. I don't feel at home in my own house, in God's house.
dream_child : I truly believe that everyone needs some religious foundations in order to be truly complete. My children and I both attend a traditional Baptist church, but I am not as strict in their participation as my grandmother was. Currently they have chosen to participate in plays that the youth put on, and they sing in both the youth and mass choirs.
👼intuey  : I raised mine in Church, but a different denomination. I also raised them teaching them myself a lot about spiritualism, which is somewhat different from traditional religion. They have a lot wider knowledge than I did growing up. They are now grown and very spiritual young adults. I am so proud of them- they now want to do the same with their children.
robbitman0know: I feel that I was raised with the intent to think first. Decide second. And this makes sense to me as I sit in this small room and think about it for a moment. Growing up as a curious child, it seems like I was able to figure out my beliefs as they came to me. Through thought and question and thought and question, over and over again, I feel like I had learned enough about each subject that crossed my mind in order to intelligently and personally decide how I feel about the issue. Living very open as I grew up allowed me to find what interested myself and explore it, rather than handing down traditions as if we lived in an unchanging world where new thoughts and experiences never happen. I'm not saying that traditions are bad, but it troubles me to find that so many religious families are so narrow-minded.
Due to the large amount of thoughtful responses, I can’t post them all without a novel-length newsletter. I’d like to apologize to those who I did not quote. Everyone who took this survey wrote with insight and honesty. Thank you so much.
Until next time,
-- Erika
The items I choose for this section are ones that I have found to be interesting or thoughtful. I do not choose these items based on grammar, spelling, item type, genre (as long as "spiritual" is one of the three listed), or my personal beliefs. Enjoy. 
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alainal: I’m not sure I agree with your theory. By ‘Strong Religious Background’ do you mean having parents who raised you in a Christian setting? If you do, then I don’t think it’s any easier for someone with a strong religious background to find their beliefs than for anyone who doesn’t.
Since I was born, my parents have tried to insure that I have a strong Christian background. My Mom is a minister and my Dad is a Deacon. Every school day before my brother and I leave the house, my mom prays with us and recently she has started to read a psalm before prayer. Anyway, my point is that I have a strong Christian background, but I couldn’t be having a harder time finding my beliefs. I’m at the point where I’m questioning whether God is even real.
I don’t believe the Christian background is helping. I feel pressured to be a Christian by my parents and people who know I was raised a Christian. I feel like my life with Christ is everyone’s business when it should be between God and me.
I don't think a "stong religious background" necessarily means being raised in any particular religion. I would say a strong religious background would entail being raised in a home where the parents' religion of choice was practiced and taught to the children. If you have a strong religious background, to me, that means that when other people asked you what religion you were, you can reply without a doubt and you know what being a part of that religion entails. Of course, this is just my opinion, and it's obvious that not everyone feels the same way I do.
On the other hand, I do not intend to imply that one who has a "strong religious background" continues to practice/believe that religion today, or that they ever did. But if you were raised in a religious environment, I would say you had a strong religious background no matter what you believe. Again, this is my opinion. I hope it helps you see what I was trying to get at.
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Restless Writer : Hello...
I was not raised in any religion and was not really given any starting point. I was searching for something throughout my life and I didn't find it until my aunts and cousins starting taking to church. I found what I wanted in church and really wish that my parents had raised me in church. Yet some of my cousins who have been raised in church questioned their beliefs much more and much longer than I did. So I think that you should raise their kids in church but also give them a chance to have their own opinions on what is being shown to them. This will save them hardships later on because they'll truly believe what they are learning and aren't just doing because its something they've always done.
I think it is important to practice a religion that you truly believe in. But how can one really gauge how much someone else believes?
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