S/O Religious minorities that you know?

[Scarlett]

I went to high school with a big family of Mormons.  I also have family that are Mormon….but I think most are non practicing.

I see Amish in the store they own that I frequent. One of my best friends was raised in the same farm community as Amish and her neighbor since childhood is Amish.  But I don’t personally know any. 
 

I know no Muslims.  No Jews.

I know a few JW. 😉

[MEmama]

Ummmm, none that I currently know of. Oh, we do have neighbors who are Jewish (I only know because the information was volunteered).

I have in my life known one Muslim (they moved away due to lack of community), a few Mormon families when I lived in California (including a high school best friend; she left the faith), one JW (we weren't friends for long), one Catholic, and one of my classmates growing up was Jewish (they had one of the best Christmas light displays in the neighborhood, lol). My bestie here is Christian but idk what flavor.
 

Honestly, I've never lived anywhere where religion is talked about much, or at least amongst people I know. I'm not religious though, so it might just be the people I most connect with.

[Wheres Toto]

7 hours 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). 

People I know who practice Hinduism will refer to themselves as Hindus.  

[Wheres Toto]

4 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

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. 

 

Dh and I met when we both worked for an Indian owned generic pharmaceutical company.  They used to do the same thing - no set holidays, everyone could take off the holidays they celebrated.  

[TechWife]

Over my years, at various points I have known people who are Jewish, Buddhist & Muslim as well as people from many different Christian denominations. I meet people through family, work, school, neighborhoods & kids activities, pretty much like most people, I’d imagine. I grew up split between a big city and a rural county in the same state (13 years in each), then I moved to a mid size city in a different state where I’ve remained. All in the southern US. The mid size city is by far the most diverse and the rural county was the least diverse. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by TechWife

[rebcoola]

We have a lot of Mormons probably 1/2 of the people I know.  Our next door neighbors are hindi.  DH works with a couple of Muslims.      We see hutterites in town sometimes seems they do a semi regular trips to do shopping from outlying areas but haven't actually known one.  When we lived in Wisconsin we knew lots of Mennonite friends and knew a couple of Amish families.  

Growing up  we had Buddhist and shinto neighbors and in school.

Edited January 16, 2023 by rebcoola

[QueenCat]

16 hours ago, MEmama said:

Honestly, I've never lived anywhere where religion is talked about much, or at least amongst people I know. I'm not religious though, so it might just be the people I most connect with.

The only place I've lived where it was talked about often is Tennessee. Where we lived, it's one of the first things someone wants to know about you. And if you've just moved in or don't go to the flavor of church they approve of, they are hounding you to come to their church. Not just one invite, but constant. 

[freesia]

On 1/15/2023 at 7:02 AM, Amira said:

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.

 

Yes, I’ve known/taught/gone to school with/had neighbors/been friends with many people who were all of the above plus Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and probably more I’m not thinking of. I grew up in Washington, D.C., have lived in Vancouver, BC and currently live in the suburb of a mid-Atlantic city. Many of my friends growing up were Jewish. My best friend growing up was Mormon. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by freesia

[wintermom]

I've either gone to school/university with or worked/associated with people from a wide variety of religions (e.g., Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, Mennonite, JW, Mormon, Seventh Day Avent, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, and Indigenous) growing up in a city in Alberta, and living now in a city in Ontario, Canada.

While living for 4 years in Norway in a rural community in the 1990s, pretty much everyone was Lutheran (practicing or not). There were very few immigrants, and thus few other religions, or POC in rural Norway at that time. I met a few immigrants from Chile and Scottland in that rural community. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by wintermom

[Jenny in Florida]

Yes to all four of the groups mentioned in your post. I grew up in southern California in the 1970s and early 1980s and had a close friend in elementary school who took me along to Primary classes and occasional services at her LDS temple. 

I lived in the midwest and northeast for a decade or so each in my adulthood before landing in central Florida in the late 1990s. I've known and been friendly with a good number of Muslims and a few JWs during that time. 

I've known, worked with and been friends with many Jews pretty much everywhere I've lived. 

Thinking aloud . . . I've also known and hung out with Buddhists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Hindus, Baháʼí . . .

Edited January 16, 2023 by Jenny in Florida

[Kalmia]

Throughout my life: friends who are Jewish, Mormon, Wiccan, Quaker (not sure that counts) & Sikh. When I lived for a short time in Australia, two aboriginal Australians who were friends with my boyfriend there. When I lived in India (though they are not a minority there), Hindu and Muslim and we met some Jain and learned about their religion on a tour of their temple. At grad school, Christian Science and Pantheist. And plenty of the biggest (non-religious) minority, Atheist.

Oh, I forgot, my husband's relatives who have become Buddhist, but probably the most narcissistic Buddhists in existence, so not sure I have learned anything about their religion from exposure to them!

Edited January 16, 2023 by Kalmia

[Lawyer&Mom]

As a kid growing up in an affluent coastal CA suburb I knew lots of Jewish and Catholic kids.  A handful of main line Protestants.  Two elementary school teachers were Zen Buddhists, and we had a few white hippy Hindu families.  What we didn’t have, or at least what I wasn’t aware of, was any Evangelical Protestants.  I didn’t meet any until college, and it remains a group I haven’t had much interaction with in real life.  Whenever I hear that people haven’t met Jews, which is totally foreign to me, I remember that I grew up in my own bubble…  I’m really grateful to this forum for giving me a chance to interact with Evangelical Protestants.  I’ve learned so much.  

[gardenmom5]

I'm in a very religiously diverse area.
I know people from a number of different minority religions, and I belong to a minority religion. 

[Pam in CT]

Small-ish (17K) town in outer ring of metropolitan NYC.   We've lived here for 20+ years; my husband is quite active politically and I've been pretty active in formal & informal interfaith initiatives, so that may skew things a bit.  Largest church in town is Catholic; the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran churches are all quite vibrant; there is also a small Church of Christ. The Baptist church recently folded. 

I know tons of Jews (obvi); we are close friends with one Muslim and another LDS couple and know many others in town (there is an existing LDS ward church in the adjacent town over and they're currently building another in our town) and also know several Hindu families through both interfaith and ESL/ citizenship classes (there's a Hindu temple in town as well).  [ETA2: there's also a Quaker Meeting in town and Quakers are ALL ABOUT social action/ justice issues, so they are proportionately over-represented in town and regional interfaith social action projects.]  I sporadically attend a meditation center in adjacent town with a bunch of folks who identify as Buddhist and/or Bu-Jew (this is an actual thing that I didn't make up lol) and know a couple others through interfaith groups but wouldn't say I'm truly close with any of them.

I knew a couple of JW in various schools but don't know any currently (they do come around to the door on occasion).  Once worked with two Seventh Day Adventists 20+ years ago when I lived in NJ but have lost touch with both and I don't know any here. 

 

Who I DON'T know IRL is anyone who identifies as "evangelical" Christian, or Calvinist.  I truly appreciate the window of insight into those worldviews I get on these boards.   [ETA or Mennonite, or Amish.]

Edited January 17, 2023 by Pam in CT

[mom2scouts]

I meet people from all of the above faiths and I also live near large populations of Mennonites and Amish. I didn't know any Jews until college, but my son married a Jewish girl and now I know many.

[pitterpatter]

I worked with a Friend (Quaker) in college. I also had a fabulous Quaker tour guide in Salem, Massachusetts, which I thought was interesting. Both men were incredibly nice. And, it was obvious that the tour guide was very well liked throughout the city.

If you ever find yourself in need. Lol.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60954-d8646747-Reviews-Salem_Walking_Tours-Salem_Massachusetts.html

Don't know any Quakers in my small rural town, though. I know one Jewish family who lives here. Many pentecostals. Several JW. No one practicing Middle Eastern or Asian religions that I know of. Although, I also worked with a Muslim in college. I knew people from many Christian denominations in college. They are mostly represented in my small town. Went to a Wiccan seasonal meeting in college too. Super interesting. I've been to a UU meeting. I don't think I've ever met a Scientologist or Christian Scientist, though. Oddly enough, we do have a reading room in town. It's fairly new.

[Clarita]

I live near several major cities. I have met people with all different religions. I don't know all the distinctions between all the sects/groups within the sort of major religions (I barely know all the different protestant Christian groups so I don't know all the different types of Jewish beliefs or Buddhists or Muslim, etc.)

I can't even tell how old people are by first glance, so I'm not even going to attempt that for someone's beliefs. 

[pitterpatter]

We have Mennonite neighbors just up the road. They have a couple of businesses in town too. Wow. I've never really thought about how many Christian religions are represented here.

[Brittany1116]

My area has large populations of JW and Hare Krishnas. I went to school with Christians, Catholics, wiccans, Mormons, and JW. One uncle is SDA.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I forgot that I do know a couple of Quakers but they call themselves Friends. 

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Brittany1116 said:

My area has large populations of JW and Hare Krishnas. I went to school with Christians, Catholics, wiccans, Mormons, and JW. One uncle is SDA.

This reminds me of the time I was confused with Hare Krishnas.  Strange times. 

[YaelAldrich]

3 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

This reminds me of the time I was confused with Hare Krishnas.  Strange times. 

Y'all are a LITTLE different. 

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, YaelAldrich said:

Y'all are a LITTLE different. 

Lol yes.  To be fair.,,..a sales rep in FL was told I was JW and he said, ‘oh are those the bald people in long skirts at the airport?’ Or some such. ‘   He had no clue.  But it was a funny for us at the time.  

[Brittany1116]

7 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

This reminds me of the time I was confused with Hare Krishnas.  Strange times. 

Just the way I phrased it? Those are the main groups this area is known for. 

[Scarlett]

Just now, Brittany1116 said:

Just the way I phrased it? Those are the main groups this area is known for. 

..?  Nothing wrong with your phrasing.  It literally just reminded me of one  of the few times I have ever heard Hare Krishnas mentioned.  

[Brittany1116]

3 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

..?  Nothing wrong with your phrasing.  It literally just reminded me of one  of the few times I have ever heard Hare Krishnas mentioned.  

Gotcha. I thought you meant I was confusing them and it reminded you of the same. 

There was a big ruckus several years ago when 5-6 local churches were asked not to play music in the Christmas parade (no idea why) then at the end the HK came with drums and microphones chanting. 

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Brittany1116 said:

Gotcha. I thought you meant I was confusing them and it reminded you of the same. 

There was a big ruckus several years ago when 5-6 local churches were asked not to play music in the Christmas parade (no idea why) then at the end the HK came with drums and microphones chanting. 

Lol….funny.  Of course  JW would not have been in Christmas parade. 

[Matryoshka]

23 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Lol….funny.  Of course  JW would not have been in Christmas parade. 

But what were the HKs doing in a Christmas parade? They wouldn't celebrate it either??

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, Matryoshka said:

But what were the HKs doing in a Christmas parade? They wouldn't celebrate it either??

No idea. 

[Matryoshka]

6 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

No idea. 

Well, they're for sure not Christian.  Krishna is a Hindu god.

[Melissa in Australia]

On 1/16/2023 at 6:41 AM, lewelma said:

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). 

Similar here in Australia 

However, I have had several Muslims and Jewish people stay in my house when oldest was in university. Also had some vegans, Which as far as I can gather is pretty much a religion. Oldest ds  brought them home on the holidays. I was told their religion only for meal preparation reasons. 

[SKL]

46 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Well, they're for sure not Christian.  Krishna is a Hindu god.

Some people believe that Christ and Krishna are both avatars of the same god.

No idea if HKs (or some of them) believe that.

Also, the Hindus I know generally celebrate Christmas just for the fun of it.  In fact, my Hindu friends who are immigrants consider Christmas to be the best holiday we have here ... though they aren't into the Holy Family part of it, obviously.

[maize]

Christmas is also quite popular in Japan, not as a religious holiday but as a fun holiday. I think a lot of that is driven by commercial greed--stores push Christmas because it's good for their bottom line.

[Matryoshka]

24 minutes ago, SKL said:

Some people believe that Christ and Krishna are both avatars of the same god.

No idea if HKs (or some of them) believe that.

Also, the Hindus I know generally celebrate Christmas just for the fun of it.  In fact, my Hindu friends who are immigrants consider Christmas to be the best holiday we have here ... though they aren't into the Holy Family part of it, obviously.

Hare Krishnas, the kind that are in the US and run around drumming in airports, are to the kind of Hindus who celebrate Christmas for fun as Gothardites are to Methodists.  While based in the ancient Hindu religion, the group we know here was founded in 1966 in the US and has lots of strict rules and beliefs quite different than 'regular' Hinduism.

Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu, one of the three main Hindu gods. All earthly avatars of god are of Vishnu. All Hindu gods are aspects of Brahman, so some say Hinduism is monotheistic. Yes, there are some that say since all gods are one, that Jesus and the Buddha are just additional avatars of Vishnu, but I don't think that has anything to do with fun Christmas by non-Christians, which is about Santa, presents, and tree, not Jesus.  

A formal group participation by a group whose thing is repetitive chanting to a non-Christian god seems an... odd choice for a Christmas parade.

[SKL]

19 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

A formal group participation by a group whose thing is repetitive chanting to a non-Christian god seems an... odd choice for a Christmas parade.

Well a lot of places require the holiday parades to be "inclusive," so maybe it's that.

Maybe they weren't chanting to a god.  They might have been chanting something like "peace, peace."  Of course I wasn't there.  😛

I guess they figured they'd do their thing, knowing it would be quite unlikely for the cops to arrest them in the middle of a Christmas parade.  😛

[Clemsondana]

I've lived in 9 states in the south and southwest for anywhere from 3 months to 10+ years.  The populations are very different.  Our current area is predominantly Christian, but despite stereotypes about religion in Appalachia we know many Catholic families in addition to people from various Protestant denominations ranging from Baptist to Methodist, Presbyterian, and Anglican.  We've played sports with Pentacostal families where the girls don't cut their hair and the boys don't own shorts.  There were several Jewish kids that I went to elementary and junior high with in north Florida before moving, and we've had a couple of families at co-op that I know are Jewish (and one that was Messianic Jewish).  Our co-op is open to anybody but I don't necessarily know the faith traditions represented.

My lab in grad school had a couple of people from India and one each from Pakistan and Turkey.  None were particularly religions, although they did observe certain festivals and cultural practices.  I'm still in sporadic contact - Facebook messenger, etc - with several of them.  In my experience, most delighted in sharing their culture and playing around with how to Americanize it.  They dressed me up in their clothes for celebrations, borrowed Christmas lights to decorate for Diwali, and we had a blast talking about food  (falafel...kind of like a hush puppy!) and sampling each others cuisine.  I've only known a handful of LDS families when living in the south, but during our time in the southwest we knew several and were close with one.  It was likely a stage-of-life thing - I became friends with a Mormon mom in our neighborhood and we had same-age kids and occasionally attended fun stuff (music or craft activities) at each other's churches.  We were both interested in learning so it was fun, although mostly we just talked about the kids and books and other mom stuff.  

The interesting thing is that there I never experienced conflict between religions groups, but I was involved in multiple conversations about how challenging it was to follow any religious tradition, even casually, while working in some parts of academia because comments mocking religion were so common.  I've been out of it for a long time so I have no idea what it's like now, but it was interesting and unexpected.  

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Well a lot of places require the holiday parades to be "inclusive," so maybe it's that.

Maybe they weren't chanting to a god.  They might have been chanting something like "peace, peace."  Of course I wasn't there.  😛

I guess they figured they'd do their thing, knowing it would be quite unlikely for the cops to arrest them in the middle of a Christmas parade.  😛

If it were a 'holiday' parade rather than a 'Christmas' parade, that makes more sense, though I don't know that Hare Krishnas have any holiday at that time of year, but what do I know.  From what the PP said, it doesn't sound like they crashed the parade, but were part of it, but again, what do I know.

As for what they were chanting, the entire basis for the sect is one very specific chant, to Krishna, though Rama (another Vishnu avatar) is also invoked.  Quoting here: 

"Its name comes from its chant — Hare Krishna — which devotees repeat over and over.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare"

[Brittany1116]

RE: parade

The city managed it and opened it to anyone who wished to join. They just had to register in advance and follow some rules about throwing candy etc. The route went down Main Street where a few HK had a small business at the time. I am under the impression that might have had something to do with it, but I never asked anyone. 

[knitgrl]

I live in a rural area. In high school, we had 2 Baha'i families in town. And we've had a small Islamic community in the area for several decades. Growing up UU (which might be considered a religious minority?), a woman attended our church who practiced Wicca. Otherwise, we have most of the mainstream denominations covered.