A sort of spin-off of the whole SOF issue...

[Xuzi]

Were you exposed to people of other faiths as a kid (I'm talking about friendship-type of exposure, not just "the guy down the street was Catholic")?

 

Did it help or hurt your faith?

[Joanne]

Yes. I was allowed to develop friendships regardless of faith.

 

Anything else would have hurt my "faith".

[YLVD]

Were you exposed to people of other faiths as a kid (I'm talking about friendship-type of exposure, not just "the guy down the street was Catholic")?

 

Did it help or hurt your faith?

 

Sure, some

 

I even exposed myself on purpose. We had Mormon missionaries come to the house and I spent a few weekends talking with them, hearing about their faith. I have never lived in an area with many religious people and was not raised that way.

 

I've just never believed. I enjoy learning about other people and what they believe. But, it's just not fathomable to me. I'm happy that others have that in their life.

 

Edited to add that I can't choose a poll answer as I never had any faith to being with!

[GoVanGogh]

I grew up in a rural community in the midwest in the '60s and '70s.

I don't think there was any diversity, either ethnically or religiously. :tongue_smilie:

I don't know that that hurt or helped my faith. I am a Christian and, as an adult, am curious about other religions - not that I will change, but I love learning about other cultures and religious beliefs.

[FaithManor]

I was exposed to several faiths growing up and NONE of that hurt my own spiritual growth one.little.bit. It did increase my appreciation for my own faith.

 

BUT, the thing that did cause damage, was from within my own faith...an oppressive legalism that left me hurt, depressed, defeated, and not wanting to associate with others of my faith. I had very little room in my heart for a few years for those who called themselves_______ even if they were really wonderful people. I needed to protect myself so anyone associated with X had to be kept OUT.

 

This is one reason I REFUSE to participate in exclusiveness in regards to religion. I don't want my children to feel the pain I endured, nor ever be influenced to inflict that kind of pain and scorn on others. So the influence of those who seek to maintain the pecking order in the henhouse is not welcome here. I guess in that way, I am exclusive! LOL

 

Faith

[Melinda in VT]

I need an Other!

 

I was allowed to develop friendships regardless of faith, and I always had friends from a mix of faiths and non-faiths.

 

I left Mormonism at 30, but I left for doctrinal/historical reasons that had nothing to do with my childhood friends. (At the time I left, the friends I interacted with regularly were Mormon, thanks to a decade living in Utah.)

[Halcyon]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "hurt my faith". I was exposed to many people of differing faiths. My father was not a believer, my mother was. I learned different sides, and I consider myself a seeker of truth, whatever form that ends up taking.

[Murphy101]

Yes.

No affect at all.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I grew up in a neighborhood that had mostly Catholics and a few "Publics." We all were friends and played together. I didn't know much else about their faith other than they didn't go to Catholic school and weren't members of our parish. It wasn't until I was about junior high age that I understood that "Public" wasn't a religion. I went to my great grandpa's funeral in a Lutheran church. In high school, I met Lutherans and Pentacostals. I didn't meet anyone I would have described as Evangelical until college.

 

I did have periods of time where I struggled with my faith, but that was more due to poor catechesis when I was younger rather than exposure or non-exposure.

[Jennifer3141]

I don't think I ever really had "faith" in that I'm pretty sure I've always been an atheist but my family did/does go to church and one thing my parents did do right was make sure I was exposed to other faiths, except for a few which they considered to be cults.

 

So I'm "other" too.

[Orthodox6]

Plenty of exposure !

 

My father does not believe in God, and my mother never would commit to anything other than to claim that she was a Christian. We attended services at a Presbyterian church my entire life of growing up, for social reasons, but there was zero religion practiced in my home.

 

That home environment left me very much on my own to navigate the religious arena.

 

As we lived in an area of a major city which was home to a large Jewish population, this was the religion I came to know the best, apart from what I was taught on Sunday mornings. I was very drawn to the family closeness I witnessed in my friends' homes, and viewed their faith most favorably.

 

I often visited churches of assorted types with my friends, and saw their lives "in action."

 

In the end, though, it was a novel about Orthodox Jewish life (read during high school) which made so deep an impression on me that when I started to give serious consideration to Orthodox Christianity, I realized that the elements of that novel I had found so compelling were present also in this particular Christian religion. I believe that the novel, added onto my happy childhood and teen years among my Jewish friends (who were from all of the major groups) contributed crucially to my final choice.

 

Without question, the great and varied exposure to other faiths was greatly beneficial in my case !

[Hillary in KS]

I din't quite know how to answer your poll. I was raised atheist, but I *knew* lots of people of other beliefs. When I was in college I became a Christian.

 

Did knowing other Christians as a child help? I don't know. Possibly.

 

Did it hurt my faith? I suppose my atheistic parents would say "yes." I don't see myself as having a faith as a child, though, so how could knowing believers if other religions hurt it? :confused:

[Rosie_0801]

Which faith are we talking about? I come from a fairly secular place where it is pretty unusual to know another person's spiritual preferences. Mum sent us to Sunday School, I didn't know anyone outside of Christian or Don't-know-because-no-one-ever-mentioned-it. Mum was sure to make us aware of other religions, because she considered it the right thing to do. I was supposed to grow up Christian but had completely dropped it by high school.

 

I can't say any of the above helped or hurt my faith because any Christian faith I had in childhood was really a faith in Mum. My current faith has nothing to do with any of that and to say it hurt is to say my childhood teachings were right/default which I obviously don't believe now.

 

I'm an "Other" I guess :)

 

Rosie

[justamouse]

I was exposed to several faiths growing up and NONE of that hurt my own spiritual growth one.little.bit. It did increase my appreciation for my own faith.

 

BUT, the thing that did cause damage, was from within my own faith...an oppressive legalism that left me hurt, depressed, defeated, and not wanting to associate with others of my faith. I had very little room in my heart for a few years for those who called themselves_______ even if they were really wonderful people. I needed to protect myself so anyone associated with X had to be kept OUT.

 

This is one reason I REFUSE to participate in exclusiveness in regards to religion. I don't want my children to feel the pain I endured, nor ever be influenced to inflict that kind of pain and scorn on others. So the influence of those who seek to maintain the pecking order in the henhouse is not welcome here. I guess in that way, I am exclusive! LOL

 

Faith

:iagree:

[hsbaby]

My best friend was Catholic and I went to church with her family frequently. Another good friend was Mormon. I went to church with her a few times and remember going to a lot of the church dances in middle school. I am Christian and the exposure never impacted my faith. I always thought it was interesting to find out how other churches believed.

[OrganicAnn]

I didn't even have to go outside my family - we are Catholic, one set of Grandparents were Methodist other were Catholic. Aunt, Uncles and 2 cousins are Jewish. One cousin became Buddhist.

 

Friends of all different religions.

[Joker]

Yep, and I was even allowed to go to church with them (or not go if that's how they believed). Sometimes they would go with me (even the non-believers). My parents were big on not judging others - it was the thing that could get us in the most trouble. You did not gossip or judge in my home. There was tolerance of others and the idea that we could always learn something. It strengthened my faith.

[Little Nyssa]

I was brought up in a nominally Christian family, and I was not really exposed to other religions as such, but what did traumatize me was being exposed to existentialism when I was too young to understand it. So I didn't vote in the poll, because I'm not sure existentialism is a religion. Eventually this made my faith stronger, but it took years to get to that point. In the meantime I suffered from terrible anxiety and insomnia.

The first thing that really shook me was being taken to see the play Waiting for Godot when I was only 12. I mean, who takes a child to see Beckett??

[dangermom]

My extended family is a rainbow of religions, from Catholic to Mormon to (former) Rajneeshi. And I can remember 2 other Mormon kids my age at my school--and I had a feud with one of them. So I didn't have a lot of LDS friends.

 

I often went to church with friends, or my dad would take me to visit other churches with him. My best friend was Catholic, and I went to VBS with my neighbor (that was culture shock; they were kind of Pentacostal I think). My friend Rebecca took me to her Missionettes meeting once when I was about 10, and I wanted so badly to be a Missionette too! Until I figured out that Missionettes mainly handed out tracts.

 

I think it was only good for my faith. I can clearly remember being about 8 and knowing that these folks were very nice, but that I had different beliefs and we could all hang out.

[smillard00]

I grew up Southern Baptist in the Bible Belt. EVERYONE went to church somewhere as far as I knew. I had (have) a very strong faith and had leadership roles in my youth group. I didn't have any sort of crisis of faith--I was (and am) very sure in what I believe. But if you look at my group of friends that I hung out with in high school, there were a few Baptists, a Methodist or two, a Catholic or two, I think a Presbyterian, a Jew, and a Hindu. We were all very respectful of each other and, while we didn't have our faith in common, we all came from homes with parents who expected a certain level of behavior, serious attention to academics, etc. I also did a lot with my church youth group, but that isn't who I hung out with at school. In my youth group, we were divided amongst 4 high schools, various grades, and within the high schools we were in tracks (honors, regular, remedial). So in my average school day, I just didn't see my church friends much. I would say I spent half of my free time with school friends and the other half at church activities. If I had been limited to just being friends with the people from my church, I would have been very lonely and I think it would have made me resent the church. I don't think my faith could have been stronger.

[gaillardia]

Other, there's always an "Other"!

I was raised in one faith, and was allowed to go to church with my best friend, who happened to be Catholic.

She went to church activities with me.

I was no longer interested in attending the church I had attended by 12 because I didn't believe what was taught and what the ... eh, I guess you'd call a statement of faith, I didn't believe that things were that way.

Years later, as an adult, when I heard a different statement of faith, that belief sounded like what I could grasp. It sounded true.

Am I playing well? Did I answer your question okay?:D

[MamaSheep]

There weren't many people of my faith where I grew up, so pretty much all of my friends growing up were of other faiths. Or no faith. Mostly other Christian faiths, though. They did sometimes invite me to church, and my parents never had a problem with me going. I also attended weddings and a funeral (for my best friend's little sister) at other churches, and attended a Palm Sunday mass with my girl scout troop. In college (where I was also in the VAST minority) I had a number of friends and acquaintances of other faiths with whom the subject of religion sometimes came up. I think exposure to other beliefs helped me clarify my own, and I see it as a positive influence in my life. I still enjoy discussions about faith with people who believe differently.

[Sputterduck]

Where is the other? *grump*

[Parrothead]

I'm a cradle Catholic. Up until I was about 8 it didn't occur to me that there were people of other faiths. Not that we were isolated or anything it just happened to be how we lived and where we lived. I started school in Italy so you can imagine that I was a Catholic among many other Catholics.

 

We came back to the US and religion never entered into any discussion with any friends that I can think of. Then we moved to NY and I ended up being friends with a girl that was Jewish. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I was about 8.5ish then.

 

Then we moved to the deep south where there wasn an incident and my mom, and subsequently I, left the church. I knew I was Catholic but being so young I couldn't get to church on my own so I just didnt' go. All of my friends until high school were of some other Christian denomination - mostly Baptist. I did go to a Baptist VBS one summer. It was the first time I heard about being saved. I had to go home and ask my mom if I was saved.

 

Just as I entered high school a friend of my mom's talked her into trying the Lutheran church. My brother and I were schlepped there most Sundays for a few years. There was a confirmation class going and I went, but when it came down to it, I told my mom that I was Catholic and really didn't want to get confirmed in the Lutheran church.

 

When I left home I started going to the Catholic church again sporatically. I worked an awful lot of Sundays. It took me almost 30 years, but I finally was confirmed Catholic last (2010) Easter. It ended up being an 8 year process. But that is another story for another day.

[Ellie]

I voted "No, but I still have confidence in my faith."

 

I don't really understand the question, though. I don't understand why or how exposure to other "faiths" would either help or not help one's own faith.

 

:confused:

[smillard00]

I voted "No, but I still have confidence in my faith."

 

I don't really understand the question, though. I don't understand why or how exposure to other "faiths" would either help or not help one's own faith.

 

:confused:

 

Ellie,

Imagine a situation like this: a Roman Catholic child has a good friend who is Southern Baptist. They hang out together and in the course of their friendship, the Baptist child is asking the Catholic child if he is saved and is questioning his baptism as an infant. Some parents would want to avoid a situation like that because it might create a crisis of faith for the child and he might be swayed by the other child's faith and leave his own. Other parents might feel comfortable with it because they have taught their child about his faith and can discuss it with him should any questioning occur to help him through any crisis of faith that might happen.

 

There can be other scenarios, but this is just the one that comes to mind first.

 

Hope this helps,

Samantha

[LauraGB]

No, I was a teenager before I realized everyone wasn't Catholic. Not kidding.

 

I don't know that it hurt my faith, even though I'm no longer Catholic. I think it made for many years of being interested in faith and religion later in life, though. I still find it all very fascinating.

[elise1mds]

I'm another "other." I was the child of a Catholic dad and a Lutheran mom. I was baptized Catholic and raised Lutheran. In high school, I had *close* friends who were Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, agnostic, and atheist. I don't think they affected my faith. If anything, the folks at the church I attended as a teen had more effect on me than anyone else... and they weren't exactly what I would have considered friends.

[gardenmom5]

my parents attended a presbyterian church when I was young. one grandmother regularly attended presbyterian church and aunt was a missionary in India for 40 years, the other regularly watched whatever televangelist was on tv and loved to preach hellfire and ****ation. (she was also a flaming racist and not a very nice person.)

 

then they started attending an ultra-liberal unitarian church (by unitarian standards!). I despised the place (it's also where my siblings got into drugs), and there were some there who positively gave me the creeps:ack2:. I started attending other churches when I reached my teens until I found one I was comfortable with and have reared my children in.

 

I think my father was searching for something (but died when I was 12), and my mother couldn't decide if she was agnostic or not. (yes, I mean agnostic). My sister dabbles in buddism, and my brother is searching for something - I think - and comes up with something new at least once a year it seems. (and must shove it down everyone else's throat because he's spiritual and we're not. yeah. that about sums it up. words cannot express my anger at him:cursing: when I found some of his garbage in my mother's apartment next to her chair after her death. 'what happens to sinners when they go to hell . . . " but it totally explained why less than a week before she died, she wanted to know what I believed and I felt such an overwhelming impression to assure her God loved her.:Angel_anim:

Edited July 16, 2011 by gardenmom5

[gardenmom5]

a child has a good friend who is ___. They hang out together and in the course of their friendship, the ___ child is asking your child if he is saved. Some parents would want to avoid a situation like that

 

I tweaked this a tiny bit - my daughter had this happen to her AT PUBLIC SCHOOL. some little girl in 2nd grade came up to her completely out of the blue, told her "Jesus died for you", asked her if she was saved on a number of occassions, and generally had my daughter extremely upset. I told my daugther to next time tell her "and then He was resurrected". the girl was totally confused and shut up. the best thing I can say is she left for her denominations private school.

[Audrey]

Were you exposed to people of other faiths as a kid (I'm talking about friendship-type of exposure, not just "the guy down the street was Catholic")?

 

Did it help or hurt your faith?

 

 

Not really, no. I knew mostly Protestant and Catholic Christian and Jewish kids. I wouldn't call that a diversity of religious exposure.

 

I don't think it impacted my faith. I never really felt any. I liked our church's activities and the people there. I just didn't believe the story. I don't think more or less exposure was going to have any impact on that.

[Osmosis Mom]

How do you define faith being hurt?

 

I actively sought out diversity and would visit Indian neighbours, eat their bread and chat with them. I'd have fun with the Kurdish men, playing ping-pong, and just generally enjoyed people when I lived in a lower-income place with community facilities.

 

I eventually pursued by religion because the people of it were so friendly (and convinced), but then I sort of grew up a-religious if you don't count going to church christmas and holding Christian holidays...

 

Why are you asking? Do you want to raise your kids in a bubble?

[asta]

Where I grew up, everyone hung out with everyone at school, extra-curricular activities, etc. And it was a very diverse group.

 

But ultimately? It came down to the LDS and the Catholics being stuck together. ALWAYS. We were the only ones with big families. No one else really understood us ("how come you can't do anything on Sundays? Why do you have 'hand me downs' if you can afford new? [gee, because it makes sense!] "Oooo, you have a bigger house than we do" [um, yeah - lots more kids...])

 

It wasn't until I was a grown up that I found out most people thought we were both in cults. :lol::lol:

 

 

asta

[Laura Corin]

I was an atheist, and strong friendships with Anglicans did not change my mind.

 

Laura

[Hwin]

Where I'm from, it was either Christian or not Christian. I was raised Catholic but never taught that it was different from Protestantism (well, any more so than the different Protestant denominations were different from each other). Most of my friends were Christian/Catholic but we didn't talk about our faith a lot that I recall - I also had friends who did not believe in God and that didn't hurt my faith.

 

I went through a time of having a lot of interest in other faiths, reading books, even trying to be agnostic... I wanted to believe in something more interesting and unique than all the people who go to church every Sunday... but, in the end, the same faith was still there. :) I go to a non-denom church now, for whatever that's worth.

[SailorMom]

I need to clarify.

I was exposed to other faiths - raised Christian. Didn't bother me, as where I was raised it was completely normal to expect a lot of people to disagree with you.

I'm now a Deist - and I said that it helped strengthen my faith to be exposed. I know this isn't what you meant; however, deism is a strengthening of my faith in God.

I could never, even surrounded by Christians, embrace revealed theology. It was undermining my faith in God. I felt (even though I was raised around many faiths) that if I wasn't a Christian I must not believe in God. So, what a relief that I can, and I have far more faith and no fear.