S/O Religious minorities that you know?

[Amira]

The phrasing of the title of this thread is clunky, but I noticed that several people on another thread said that they’ve never known someone who is Jewish. And of course, some parts of the US and Canada don’t have much ethnic or religious diversity—I grew up in one of those places. Sometimes you’re not going to have much chance to meet a diverse group of people in your hometown. But I’m curious how common it is to not know someone who is Jewish, and if other, smaller, religious minorities also are “unknown” like that.

For comparison, there are 7.5 million Jews living in the US, 6.5 million Mormons, 3.5 million Muslims, and 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Do do you know people who follow these faiths/denominations? 

This is aimed mostly at people in the US because the vast majority of users on this board are from there, but I’d love to hear from people in other countries too.

 

[Danae]

Yes to Jews, Mormons, and Muslims. Currently practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses online only, but two former JWs in person.  I live in the Upper Midwest region of the US.

[LifeLovePassion]

I've known people from all of those religions you have mentioned over the years. I am in the major metro area in MN. 

[Pawz4me]

I know/have known people from all of those religions/denominations. I've always lived in the same area. It's more diverse than it used to be, but it's still not very diverse.

[KungFuPanda]

I live between D.C. and Baltimore. I know everybody.  Half our Christmases are Christmakahs and we’ve celebrated a few Zenmases before our monk friend moved. I grew up in pre-internet Fundy Land so I had to leave home before experiencing any religious/racial/socioeconomic diversity. 

[Eos]

Yes to all you listed, also Hindu, Sikh, Church of South India, Nepali Buddhist, Americans of dozens of Christian denominations as well as more ethnically-based religious groups such as Old Order Amish and Russian Orthodox. I also know American Wiccans (not an ethnicity-based religion) and other new age practitioners. My parents knew people from all over the world and so we knew and met them growing up. My work as a midwife also brought me into contact with many groups.  My husband was brought up in suburban, Methodist Maryland and has encountered people from many of the above but not had any real conversations or friendships with them, which is maybe more typically American.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Eos

[Melissa Louise]

Live in a big city.

Know Hindus, Jews, Muslims - mostly through work.

Don't know any JW's. Or Mormons.

 

[MercyA]

I live in a small rural town. I had one JW friend growing up. Another friend's family members attended a Baha'i temple. I have relatives and friends who are Amish and Mennonite. My grandpa grew up Mormon but was not practicing by the time I arrived. I have an Eastern Orthodox friend. I've never personally known any Muslims or Jews outside of this forum.

It's been super beneficial for me to get to know people belonging to religious minorities here on this forum. Love you guys.

Edited January 15, 2023 by MercyA

[cbollin]

yes on the ones listed.  I've lived in several cities over my life so meeting people at work, or at "mommy and me" programs helped with that.  I went to university in large city and lived in dorms. So more opportunity.   (eta: oh wait, I don't know many JW as friends.  there are the two ladies who visit my house with literature and I chat with them for a few minutes.  but I wouldn't say we're friends)

I'll add on the list:  yes, I do know many of the priestly staff of the Neo-pagan (that's how they self identify) congregation across the river. That's definitely a minority group in our area.

Fun story with my oldest and knowing others in other faiths. When she was in college (attended a local one), she took a World Religions class (Gen Ed thing).  part of the course was to go on field trips to churches/congregations in town. For the field trip to the larger  Jewish synagogue (reformed) in town, the professor had to cancel due to schedule conflicts.  Oldest asked out loud "Can I call my friend from the Orthodox synagogue and see if we can visit there?"  professor looked her and said, " you have friends there?  Oh I've always wanted to visit the Orthodox synagogue but didn't have a connection to call and it just seemed awkward to ask."  "Oh yes, we met at the game room at the comic book store.  On Saturday nights we wait for him to end Sabbath so he can drive to the store. "   And sure enough, oldest was able to ask him to ask the rabbi for field trip and got it set up. Rabbi was glad to be asked and Professor made a new academic contact that day.   Oldest was homeschooled and grew up in church/youth group stuff.  currently part of the neo-pagan church mentioned earlier. 

Edited January 15, 2023 by cbollin

[Carrie12345]

1 hour ago, Amira said:

For comparison, there are 7.5 million Jews living in the US, 6.5 million Mormons, 3.5 million Muslims, and 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Do do you know people who follow these faiths/denominations? 

All of the above.  Mostly Jewish people. That’ll happen when you make a baby with one of them. 😉 

[Hannah]

South Africa - I know Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Jehovah's Witness, Seventh-day Adventist as well as all other Christian denominations - all colleagues at work.  Friends are mostly Christian or no longer practice religion, but a very good friend is a dedicated Buddhist as is my sister-in-law from Taiwan.

[Ausmumof3]

Sikh, Jehovah’s Witness, Muslim, Jewish (although not recently - I’m assuming you mean people of Jewish faith not of Jewish heritage - I know some of Jewish heritage but not practising). 

[Lecka]

I have always known Mormons.  
 

I have only known Jews during high school and college.  
 

I only knew Muslims in college and then… now I am friends with a Muslim family through a volunteer group.  
 

I don’t think I have known someone who was a Jehovah’s Witness.  
 

I have also known a lot of Pentecostals.  I think in my hometown they can get a poor reaction from people, but another place I lived it didn’t seem like that at all.  In my hometown they can be considered a strange religion that people tell weird things about, and then people ask them “do they really do such-and-such at your church.”  But maybe that is just because I was around younger people in my hometown, and adults don’t act that way.  
 

[madteaparty]

All of the above and more (Eastern Orthodox, Hindu, etc). I work in NYC and used to live in Queens! 

Edited January 15, 2023 by madteaparty

[Carrie12345]

12 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

1 hour ago, Amira said:

For comparison, there are 7.5 million Jews living in the US, 6.5 million Mormons, 3.5 million Muslims, and 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Do do you know people who follow these faiths/denominations? 

All of the above.  Mostly Jewish people. That’ll happen when you make a baby with one of them. 😉 

Re-quoting after pondering…   
In my county/region, we have a LOT of Kingdom Halls for the distribution above! Looks like roughly 4, compared to 1 Islamic temple, 2 Mormon temples, and a few synagogues.  
(And a gabillion mainstream Christian churches.)

[Rachel]

There were a couple JW in my class growing up, plus there are a couple that visit my neighborhood on a regular basis. A good friend from high school was Mormon and I’ve met Mormon families through my kids’ activities. I’m actually surprised there are fewer Mormons in the US than Jewish people. 
 

My bio-mom was married to a Muslim for awhile. I’ve also had Muslim neighbors from whom we learned about Muslim traditions. 
 

I’ve never met a Jewish person that I am aware of. Back around Christmas time I was thinking about this and discovered there are only about 400 Jewish people in the state where I grew up and about 17,000 were I currently live or about 0.3% of the population. 

[QueenCat]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

I live between D.C. and Baltimore. I know everybody.  Half our Christmases are Christmakahs and we’ve celebrated a few Zenmases before our monk friend moved. I grew up in pre-internet Fundy Land so I had to leave home before experiencing any religious/racial/socioeconomic diversity. 

Growing up in that same town, but many years earlier, we had a lot of Jewish neighbors and classmates. We had many Jewish holidays off from school. 

[QueenCat]

I grew up in a town that was created to be religiously, racially, and economically diverse. We had a lot of Jewish neighbors. That was the main other religion but this was back in the '70s to early '80s. 

Additionally, my cousin married a Jewish man. 

[Faith-manor]

In my childhood home town , I had classmates who were JW, and LDS, and one whose family was Wiccan but I knew no one of any other religious group beyond mainstream Christianity or non-religious families. In college, I met a great diversity of religious folks, and had friends and acquaintances whose beliefs were kind of across the religious map including, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, and Islam. When I had a music performance career, I often met musicians who were raised in quite a variety of religious families, but not practicing as adults. My Native American colleague practiced her ancestral faith, but we didn't work together very long so I never knew if it had a specific name or what those practices were beyond a deep spiritual connection to nature and the importance of animal imagery.

My grandsons are exposed to many religions. They belong to a secular homeschool group. Among their friends' families are those of Jewish faith and some who are Jewish by ancestry but not practicing, Islamic, Buddhist, Wiccan, and Hindu. They are being exposed to much more diversity than I was growing up.

ETA: We live in an area with a lot of folks who are Amish and Mennonite. While the lifestyle of the Mennonite group is different from mainstream Christianity, I would never think of them as a different religious group from Christianity just like the Moravians in the town over even though many Christians do not know Moravian or what makes them different from say, Methodists. Different,  but absolutely just another version of christian. However, the local Amish have some rather strange beliefs that are far enough removed from the bell curve of christianity, that I do not believe they can be lumped into that category even though they do practice baptism. For one thing this group does not believe in the trinity, and thinks of Christ as more like Moses, npand do not believe in a holy spirit, so the baptism thing kind of mystifies me. I don't even know if this is common among Amish in other areas, or if they are their own little branch.

I also thought of one more thing. My parents, for a couple of years in my childhood, belonged to an apocalyptic cult. Now the group thought of themselves as Christian, but it was sooooooo a cult. They spent a lot more time worried about predictions of worldwide collapse, current events, some dumb newsletter from "someone in the know", and spent a lot of money prepping. The prepper thing was insane. My dad spent money he didn't have on end times prepper stuff, meanwhile because of that, our family suffered food insecurity, lack of medical care, etc. My brother, mother, and I were eternally grateful when the group fell apart, and he figured out it was bunk, and went back to being a Methodist. But during that time, I think it would have been accurate for my classmates to say in hindsight, " I grew up around some kids whose parents were in a weird cult."

Edited January 15, 2023 by Faith-manor

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

I live in a pretty ethnically non diverse area.  Our biggest minority group is African Americans and they are overwhelmingly Baptist here.  

I am friends with a couple progressive Jewish people.  Progressive as in one of my friends teaches religious school at the synagogue and celebrates Christmas with a tree and Santa and lots of lights.  I have met a few Hasidic Jews, but they do not live here.

My best friend growing up was Mennonite. I have a sister who married into the Old Order Mennnonite faith and while she is now mostly estranged, when I last spoke with her it sounded like they were planning on joining a New Order Amish church. 

I do not know any Muslims. 
I have or have had friends from a wide variety of Christian religions, including JWs, Mormons, Eastern and Coptic orthodox. 

[lmrich]

I lived in a suburb of Cleveland growing up and had classmates of all the religions mentioned. Moved to small town in the South and did not meet anyone who was not a Christian until we moved to a bigger, smaller town and met my best friend who is Hindu. Then moved to Atlanta and met, worked with or lived near all types. 

 

[ScoutTN]

No personal friends who are JW or Mormon, but yes to all the others. Mid sized southern city. 

[Kidlit]

I live in a mid sized area in the Deep South, and I have known at least one person from all of the groups mentioned at some point in my life, with the possible exception of Muslim. However, due to my proximity to a university and involvement with internationals during our homeschool years, I know I had the opportunity to meet students who were Muslim, if I did not get to know them. 

[Wheres Toto]

I'm in Northern NJ, so the NYC metropolitan area.  

I know many people who are Jewish, many Muslims, many Hindus, a ton of Catholics, a few JWs, a few Mormons, just about every other Christian denomination, quite a few atheist/no religion, a few Wicca, at least one Buddhist.    And a town very close to me has recently announced they are putting up a display for the Norse gods.  

I basically have kids from all those religions (maybe not the Norse) coming to my homeschool science center.   For that reason, we don't decorate for any religious holidays or do holiday activities in class.   We will do seasonal (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) only.  

Edited January 15, 2023 by Wheres Toto

[SKL]

Yes to all mentioned and more.  Though with LDS, it was only through work with a Utah client.  I have had lots of JW friends and my mom was raised JW, so I am surprised the total JW number cited so small.

ETA Great Lakes region.

Edited January 15, 2023 by SKL

[itsheresomewhere]

All the mentioned above and more.  I grew up in a very diverse part of the south.  Now I have added several different orders of Mennonite and Amish to my group that I didn’t know about growing up.  

[Guest]

2 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I live between D.C. and Baltimore. I know everybody.  Half our Christmases are Christmakahs and we’ve celebrated a few Zenmases before our monk friend moved. I grew up in pre-internet Fundy Land so I had to leave home before experiencing any religious/racial/socioeconomic diversity. 

Yup. Same for me. Actually, just the number of mixed-faith/Catholic & Jewish households I know is probably greater than average (average over the US). 
 

The only major faith I don’t think I have know represented is Hindu/Hinduism (not sure which is proper). 

[Hannah]

I grew up in a church-going Christian family, but my Mom did send us to a Jewish nursery school (right next to the synagogue) as it was the best in the area.  She became very good friends with two other Moms.

[historically accurate]

I'm in rural/far suburban midwest USA. I was raised Pentecostal and before high school did not know many people who weren't some sort of Protestant Christian; friends were mainly drawn from our church although we went to public school. For high school, I went to a boarding school that drew gifted students from around the state - there I met many, many religious minorities that I have not met much in other times of my life. Off the top of my head: Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh.  

I founded and ran an open co-op for several years when the kids were younger. It was the only option if you were not willing or able to sign an evangelical Christian SOF at the time, so we had lots of different faiths represented. We currently keep in touch with families who are atheist, Wiccan, evangelical Christian, Catholic, LDS, and JW from that time. We've made friends with a Muslim family at library functions over the years - my middle DD is currently studying Arabic as her foreign language, so we've gotten closer this year as one of their DD's helps middle practice. 

 

[Faith-manor]

13 minutes ago, Quill said:

Yup. Same for me. Actually, just the number of mixed-faith/Catholic & Jewish households I know is probably greater than average (average over the US). 
 

The only major faith I don’t think I have know represented is Hindu/Hinduism (not sure which is proper). 

I don't know which term is the right one either. The friend of my great paint who fave aunt's eulogy at her funeral referred to herself as Hindu. She was a convert to the religion, born to Irish Catholicism. But, though I have known people who practiced the religion, I never really understood what term was appropriate within the community of believers. Aunt's friend was a serious outlier in this rural area.

[fraidycat]

I grew up in a very small city on the Canadian prairies and attended school with Jewish and JW classmates. I don't remember any Mormon or Muslim classmates.

Now, in that same hometown, my co-worker is Muslim and not here, but one of our homeschool group families that we became friends with when we lived elsewhere are Mormon.

One thing that seems different about growing up where I did, is that faith doesn't/didn't really seem to be part of anyone's external identity. There are several churches in town and no one knew which ones, if any, that other people attended until there was a wedding or a funeral.

Edited January 15, 2023 by fraidycat

[maize]

Our neighbors in small-town Utah when I was a kid were Jehovah's Witnesses. I've met a few others over the years but don't currently know any in-person

I had one Jewish friend at BYU, otherwise most of the Jews I know personally I met overseas. Definitely more concentrated in some parts of the US (and if the world) than others. I did know a Jewish Air Force chaplain.

I've met occasional Muslims in the US; there's one Muslim homeschooling family in my area, we did an Arabic class with them for awhile when my kids were younger.

Being Mormon I of course know lots of Mormons.

The rarest religion I have encountered was a woman who grew up Mandaean but had been excommunicated from her community for marrying a Catholic. She was born in Iraq, had immigrated to Sweden at age 10 (where the largest surviving population of Mandaeans has ended up) and moved to Los Angeles after her marriage, which is where I met her.

 

 

[Matryoshka]

I have many friends who are Jewish, as well as Catholic, all kinds of Protestant from mainline denominations to liberal UCC to conservative Evangelical, Unitarians, Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Neo-Pagans, as well as plenty of atheists and agnostics.  My paternal grandparents were Seventh-Day Adventists; haven't met any others.  These are all people I know well IRL.

Jehovah's Witnesses - my best friend's family growing up converted, but I think then left; I've lost track of them.  I have another friend who used to be JW but isn't any longer.  I've seen Sikhs around but am not personally aquainted with any.  There are roughly twice as many Sikhs in the world as Jews.  That blew me away when I learned that piece of info.  I also had an aquaintance who was Jain (another Indian religion).

I once went to a wedding between a Hindu from Bali and a Mennonite from Michigan.  At a UU church, because they'll marry anyone.  It is a crazy long story how I got invited to that wedding!  That's probably the only Mennonite I've ever personally met.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Matryoshka

[Bootsie]

I grew up in a predominantly Catholic community, everyone was assumed Catholic unless they made it clear that they were not; my family was not Catholic.  Even in that small town (where simply being a Protestant put one in the minority) I knew Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses.  I don't remember knowing a Muslim until I went to college.  

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, QueenCat said:

Growing up in that same town, but many years earlier, we had a lot of Jewish neighbors and classmates. We had many Jewish holidays off from school. 

I didn’t grow up in a school system that recognized Jewish holidays. When my son was in preschool there were a few days where I got him up, dressed, and wondered why the bus didn’t come. Then I’d call my friend “Is there a holiday today?”

Twenty years later my daughter lived in a dorm that had Jewish men on the first floor, a writer’s house on the second, and Jewish women in the third floor. Dd would text the daughter of my friend and ask the same question whenever something especially festive was happening in her dorm. Occasionally the answer was “I’m not THAT Jewish.” 🤣

But, yeah, it’s a diverse town and we have interfaith centers shared by different denominations. Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, UU, Wiccan, and Buddhist are the standard religions here. I’m glad my kids don’t have that hole in their education like I did. We have a lot of Coexist bumper stickers here. It’s also not unusual to see JW and Mormon’s canvassing the neighborhood  I’m probably missing someone. I’ve never met a Zoroastrian 

[QueenCat]

28 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I didn’t grow up in a school system that recognized Jewish holidays. When my son was in preschool there were a few days where I got him up, dressed, and wondered why the bus didn’t come. Then I’d call my friend “Is there a holiday today?”

Twenty years later my daughter lived in a dorm that had Jewish men on the first floor, a writer’s house on the second, and Jewish women in the third floor. Dd would text the daughter of my friend and ask the same question whenever something especially festive was happening in her dorm. Occasionally the answer was “I’m not THAT Jewish.” 🤣

But, yeah, it’s a diverse town and we have interfaith centers shared by different denominations. Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, UU, Wiccan, and Buddhist are the standard religions here. I’m glad my kids don’t have that hole in their education like I did. We have a lot of Coexist bumper stickers here. It’s also not unusual to see JW and Mormon’s canvassing the neighborhood  I’m probably missing someone. I’ve never met a Zoroastrian 

I've tried explaining the Interfaith centers to friends in other parts of the country. They don't get it. I think it's a major part of the essence of the city.

[Dmmetler]

My husband worked for a small boutique software firm owned/founded  by a Reform Jew who allowed everyone to set their own schedules as far as days off and hours worked to accommodate their personal needs. A lot of observant folks ended up working there for that reason, so we knew a lot of Jews, Moslems, and Hindu, particularly. 

 

I was also deeply involved in an inclusive homeschool group and co-op that met in a UU church, and again, we were the refuge for every religious minority homeschooler (as well as a lot of us who had ND kids). The original founding meeting honestly sounded like a joke-a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Wiccan met on a playground.

 

My mother was very involved in ecumenical and interfaith outreach, so I grew up knowing a lot of people who were involved in different faith communities, and with an understanding strongly informed by what Aslan told the young Calormene in the Last battle. 

 

We live around the corner from the LDS temple, so we often saw missionaries, especially young ones-my favorite story on that was that we were homeschooling one day when two elders stopped by and asked if they could help with anything, and L called out "Do either of ya'll know Latin?" One turned out to have been homeschooled and used the same books, and the two of them happily worked on translations while his partner and I chatted. They've also helped with things like yard work. I think we're on a list of "people who won't slam the door, so are good practice". 

 

I am convinced that our neighborhood JW's were sent by God because when we first moved here, I was so lonely as a stay at home mom of a toddler that I practically pulled them inside just to have someone to talk to. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Dmmetler

[lulalu]

I grew up in a city of around 70,000. I knew Jews (in my extended family), animist/shaman, Hindu, Mormon, and there were a few Muslims that went to my high school but I didn't really know them. That was my experience until I was 18. 

 

[Dmmetler]

Oh, and I grew up in a Mennonite area, so know a LOT of Mennonites, ranging from Old Order to "indistinguishable from almost any other Protestant". I don't really consider them a minority because, well, when your neighborhood sledding hill and place to buy candy are both on the Mennonite college campus, YOU'RE the minority in your neighborhood. It did mean that when I first ran into a fundamentalist who covered, I confused both of us because I assumed she was Mennonite....

[katilac]

6 hours ago, Amira said:

For comparison, there are 7.5 million Jews living in the US, 6.5 million Mormons, 3.5 million Muslims, and 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Do do you know people who follow these faiths/denominations? 

All of the above, plus Baha'i, Buddhist, pagan, Hindu, Unitarian Universalist, and I'm possibly leaving one out (and of course don't always know). 

Mormons seem to be the rarest, and/or with less well-known locations and events. As far as I know, I've only ever met one Mormon, other than online. 

I live in a diverse metro area in the American deep south. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

In Japan- knew a lot of Buddhists, Shintoists, one medium (but I don’t know what her religion was called), a lot of atheists, Christians (both Catholic and various Protestant denominations which were the minority there), JWs, Mormons, one Bahai family, Christian Scientists and “Moonies” (I can’t remember what their proper name is). 
 

US- Buddhists, Shintoists, New Agers (don’t know how they divide themselves more specifically), Hindu, Muslim, Taoists, various Orthodox and Coptic Christians, Jewish, Mormons, JWs. Maybe others too but as I mentioned in the other thread these identifications are often not talked about directly so I would have no idea unless someone mentioned it in some way or have certain clothing or household decorations/religious symbols that would identify them as having certain beliefs. 

[smfmommy]

I know Mormons and JWs.  I live in CO near the Utah border.  Not many Muslims in my social circle.  I have acquaintances in many smaller variants in the protestant Christian world as well.  

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by smfmommy
simplifying

[Farrar]

I live in DC, grew up in GA and NC, college in MA. I have had in my circles at various points...

Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Sikhs, Orthodox Christians, 7th Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Baha'i ... Not all necessarily right now though. I had several 7th Day Adventists friends in elementary school. And there were a few Sikh families that I went to high school with so I knew those kids. A very good friend in college was raised Christian Scientist, so I knew them and their family. I've known Orthodox families, but I can't think of any that I'm in touch with or see right now. The two moms that I knew who were Orthodox have converted. Oh, I guess the Ukrainian and Russian families I know are probably Orthodox! Duh. I don't know if any of them are religious at all though, so I'm not sure. I went to college with someone who was Baha'i and then I have known a couple of Baha'i families who were homeschooling. I currently know lots of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.

I have met JW's. They're all over my neighborhood. And have been friendly with some of them enough recognize them and say hi as they're standing on the corners, but not friendly enough to know their names. The JW's and I got into a disagreement when they wouldn't stop knocking on my door when my kids were babies and I really lost it at one of them because it's like, can't you hear I've got two babies screaming, so maybe just leave and stop knocking right now? I think I got on their do not knock list after that. But other than on this board, I've never known any JW's beyond that.

I did not meet a single Mormon until I was well into adulthood. They were a group out of The Great Brain books in my mind. I knew they were a practicing religious minority, and I had seen all the TV ads that they aired in the late 80's. But beyond that I had no personal concept of them. I later worked with one Mormon and then there was a Mormon family in our small co-op one year.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Farrar

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, QueenCat said:

I've tried explaining the Interfaith centers to friends in other parts of the country. They don't get it. I think it's a major part of the essence of the city.

I’ve had the best luck comparing them to military chapels. You do have to be careful and not go to the wrong St Johns service. It’s kinda like The Barn and The Other Barn and no visible signage. Columbia wants people to get lost and make friends. 

Edited January 15, 2023 by KungFuPanda

[QueenCat]

6 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’ve had the best luck comparing them to military chapels. You do have to be careful and not go to the wrong St Johns service. It’s kinda like The Barn and The Other Barn and no visible signage. Columbia wants people to get lost and make friends. 

That's a good way of putting it.

[lewelma]

Here in NZ, people don't really talk about their religion, so unless you have some outward sign like a cross or a head scarf, I wouldn't know. In addition, 50% of people state that they have no religion. Both of our last 2 prime ministers have stated publicly that they are agnostic and no longer follow the religion of their childhood (Judaism and LDS). 

[Xahm]

I live in a diverse area of a diverse Southern city where we have just about all religions. A good friend grew up about 45 miles away in a different world. There were Baptists of different kinds, some Methodists, and a few Presbyterians. The few Hispanic families were assumed to be Catholic, and people went to the Chinese restaurant to leave tracts for the owners. I have no idea what her teachers actually said, but my friend and her peers got the idea that after the nation-hood of Israel, all the world's Jews went to live there. On a field trip to my city they saw a modern synagogue and were astounded.

I feel just as astounded to hear her stories. We're the same age, roughly same economic class, same race, same religion, same state, but vastly different educations.

[Harriet Vane]

In my current set of friends and acquaintances that I interact with regularly--lots of various flavors of Christian, numerous Buddhist, one Jew (and by extension, her family as my acquaintances), one Hindu. I work with a couple Muslim women, but since we're all remote our interactions are limited. Diversity is a core value with the company I work for, though, so it's been an open topic of discussion more times than you might think.

When I lived in Chicago, we knew people of all flavors. The nearest suburb to us (Oak Park) is known for its diversity, and we loved it. In our current city in another state, we find it's much more difficult though we still have been able to form ties with a fairly diverse set of people.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Harriet Vane

[BlsdMama]

7 hours ago, Amira said:

For comparison, there are 7.5 million Jews living in the US, 6.5 million Mormons, 3.5 million Muslims, and 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Do do you know people who follow these faiths/denominations? 

 

From Sperling:

Religion in Iowa

54.5% of the people in Iowa are religious:
- 1.8% are Baptist
- 0.3% are Episcopalian
- 16.8% are Catholic
- 12.2% are Lutheran
- 8.6% are Methodist
- 1.5% are Pentecostal
- 5.3% are Presbyterian
- 1.1% are Church of Jesus Christ
- 6.4% are another Christian faith
- 0.1% are Judaism
- 0.1% are an eastern faith
- 0.2% affilitates with Islam

 

i know no one in person here who is Jewish, currently Muslim, Mormon, or Hindu. 
In the Army in California there was more diversity but we’re long removed from that world. 

[DawnM]

Yes to all of those, although I only currently know JWs online, I haven't met any where I am now.

I also am friends with some Hindus and Buddhists.