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For those of you who have changed the worldview you were raised with

Fidelia

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This is a topic that comes up frequently on the forum, and I also notice its influence in the attitudes and reactions that many have to different issues. I myself have noticed several people around me that have changed the faith they grew up in, but don't seem to completely be able to go on happily. I am trying to sort out why this is. Certainly, your world view floods through every aspect of life from moral decisions, to career choices, familial relationship, beliefs and attitudes about your origins, the way you live from day to day and the attitudes you have towards other people and yourself.

Rather than derailing by getting into the details of the problems you had with your specific former faith, these are the things I am curious to know:

1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

5. Has anything replaced your old faith?

If this is too broad, you are free to only answer one or two points.
 

statuesquechica

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Hmm, this looks very interesting...thanks fidelia for putting this up.

1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

I was raised in the Catholic Church and went through all the steps of indoctrination, including communion, confession, and ultimately teaching catechism to elementary age children when I was 17 myself. I had no reason to question the organization because they did projects throughout the community and the world; I found their "mission" something I could support.

Following graduation from college, I was a volunteer in the Peace Corps in South America and it had a significant impact on my life, in all respects. I saw firsthand a society that was deeply ingrained in the Catholic faith and how dangerous and unsympathetic many of its values were. It appeared hypocritical and irrational in light of how people were living in such abject poverty yet the faith espoused policies that were so detrimental. However, there were radical factions in the Catholic church which talked about redistribution of wealth, so I was supportive of that part, but not the policy against birth control. It changes a person beliefs when they see the suffering and cruelty (malnutrition) imposed on its followers. I was 21 at the time and the stark difference between reality and the church couldn't be ignored.

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

I found our church that we went to a very liberal church, probably considered a "hippie church" by all accounts. The faith was focused on doing good for those less fortunate, not an ornate church, very simple and comforting. The saint that our church was named for was a black man who made toys for children, so not your typical in-your-face Catholic church. At times, I did find going to church a comfort when I was a teenager.

I believe the doctrines of the faith didn't remain with me because of what I witnessed firsthand. Also, my own investigation into the particular tenets of the faith did not ring true. The history of the Catholic church is filled with violence and maintaining a perverse heirarchy.

3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?

I have no regrets about being raised Catholic because it exposed me to beliefs that I had an opportunity to practice for a time, and I must confess it was a bit comforting when my mom died and I had those memories of going to church with her, just her and I.

I think it is important to thoroughly question one's beliefs and look at it from all aspects, including active participation, in order to come to a decision about the role it will play in one's life. I have never been a person to just blindly follow; it is in my nature to question. My only regret was not knowing the full history of Catholicism and its corrupt power.

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

I am already seen as the black sheep of the family in that I constantly surprise them with my actions. Some of my family are still religious, others are not. I don't feel ostracized for by beliefs, or my change of them.

5. Has anything replaced your old faith?

Nothing formal, I am very interested in researching the validity of the Bible and the life of Jesus, but I have no replacement. My search for some "truth" is probably more important to me than a named religion, in addition to treating people with kindness.
 
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Polaris

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I was raised by a thoroughly Christian family. I gave that belief system up at about the age of 14 because it didn't resonate with me on any level. It was neither believable (though I can't say why), nor did I agree with the Christian lifestyle. It was a few years before any of my family members learned that I no longer held their beliefs. When they found out, it resulted in a few days of stress and prayer on their part and a long-lasting grudge from my grandfather. Other than that, nothing has really changed between us. Right now, I don't practice any religion--no prayer, ritual, etc.--but I do have a spiritual worldview that brings me understanding and direction. Looking back, I have no regrets; I've found my own answers, and that's best thing anyone can do, regardless of where they end up.
 

Scott N Denver

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This is a topic that comes up frequently on the forum, and I also notice its influence in the attitudes and reactions that many have to different issues. I myself have noticed several people around me that have changed the faith they grew up in, but don't seem to completely be able to go on happily. I am trying to sort out why this is. Certainly, your world view floods through every aspect of life from moral decisions, to career choices, familial relationship, beliefs and attitudes about your origins, the way you live from day to day and the attitudes you have towards other people and yourself.

Rather than derailing by getting into the details of the problems you had with your specific former faith, these are the things I am curious to know:

1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

5. Has anything replaced your old faith?

If this is too broad, you are free to only answer one or two points.

I could probably go on for a VERY long time but for now I will keep it short.

Hmmmm. I don't say that I have a "faith" in fact I really detest the word. I say that "I practice things/___" or that "___ resonates with me". Fwiw, I practice 3 major world religions, or subsets of them. There is an idea called the "perennial philosophy" which I tend to generally agree. I see "religions" as particular vehicles/paths/practice methods. To a vast extent, that has nothing to do with "faith" and vice versa. I think of spiritual/contemplative/meditative traditions as systems that have practices that expand one's level of awareness/consciousness. Others may call that "religion". Also, I take reincarnation VERY seriously, and feel that that does, or at least can trump, where your born and various things that you are born into.

5) Well, like I said, I practice 3 major world religions/meditative traditions, or some subset of them. Taoism, Buddhism [Mahayana, zen/chan], and Hinduism [nondual vedanta, yoga]. I've practiced other things as well. I understand in the langauge of any of those three, I can speak in the language of any of those three, and if needed I could potentially teach any of those three. To me, any of those three, and more feel very "at home". The religion/denominations of my childhood never provided any of that kind of feel, ever. Fwiw, I've been told that I was a monk in Asia in numerous of my past lives, and others I just live din Asia.

4) Like my mom says "I know nothing about Buddhism." I don't know how my family feels about it. We generally let each other do their thing without too many questions or nagging. I think if you go up to my grandparents it would be even harder for them to understand. I think one of my Aunt's is semi-similar in her beliefs to my own. I moved from HS to college, and then from there to Colorado, plus several other moving before and during those times. I was a military brat as well. In short, I've moved quite a bit, but not nearly as much as some other military brats. Many of my friends actually find what I do VERY interesting. I've almost never had bad experiences sharing it with people, but I've also taken my time and been selective in who I've talked too. Other people have been much more nosy about asking, but I think even there they've been forced to respect my convictions and the depth that i hold for them.

1) I'm not sure I've ever had "faith." Hmmm, I was always very serious about things and very contemplative. Religion meant things to me when I was younger, I just don't think "faith" is a good word for that. I was around a lot of SJ's who took religion very seriously. I don't like knocking on what is important to other people. "Religion" never did much for me, but I kept wanting it to, and kept thinking that maybe around the next corner is when someone will part some big curtain and show/explain it all to me and I'd have my "aha" moment. Like when you turn 16 or 18 or whatever they come sit you down and share all the "secrets" or something. When we lived on AF bases and attended military churches, there was always a very strong sense of community and purpose, I respected that. I'd then go to whatever civilian churches, including one's my parents grew up in, and it always just paled and I wanted to tell these people "have community like our military churches do! and quit babbling about your personal takes on whatever, you know stuff is standardized and you have a non-standard answer right?" My parents made me take confirmation when I was about 16. You had to stand in front of the church and say "I believe" as part of that. I kept feeling like there was something more people just weren't telling me, that curtain hiding all the secrets I mentioned earlier, but they never opened the curtain and I just couldnt go through with it. I was the only one in the group who didn't. Telling our pastor and my parents "No I can't do this" was the hardest thing I had ever done up until then in my life! I was pissed at them for not opening the curtain and showing all the secrets, I think they thought I had no faith and was hiding it. Actually, they thought I "believed" but wasn't willing to get in front of a crowd and say so. I remember my parents buying us bibles when I was like in 3rd grade. I was all pumped to finally have one and get to read it as much as I wanted and "soak up the wisdom" and "see the essence of this faith." In my eagerness I read the first 30 pages or more, and kept waiting for the page that just said all the important stuff instead of all this "storytelling" and blah blah blah. I was very disappointed! I think most people around me took it all [the passages] very literally. Too me it seemed short and incredibly lacking in detail. Very much like a kids storybook actually!

I started studying martial arts around high school. Some schools emphasize the connection to Buddhism or eastern philosophy, though IME most don't. Some of my instructors were military people who were religious fundamentalists. I remember them handing out like 10 page booklets of the bible "refuting" buddhism and hinduism and taoism. That impacted me TREMENDOUSLY, and to this day I have never fully gotten over it. At the same time, I'd hear or read eastern philosophy or "kung fu wisdom" and it made total sense to me. Buddhism was introduced to me as "trying to be a better person." That made total sense to me and I couldn't falt it in any way. People told me you can be Christian and Buddhist, the Buddhism is fine with that, the Christianity may not be.

In college, my exposure to eastern philosophy went into high gear. My college was Catholic, my parents are both Protestant. I never "looked down" on religion, or thought of it as childish or "for controlling the masses" until being around those Catholics. Note: I grew up around some LDS, there were often hushed discussions about that, is it a cult? are they Christian? etc. Anyways, my exposure to eastern philosophy skyrocketed in college. Throw in some personal experiences and whatever else, and well I'm EXTREMELY eastern in my "orientation" towards "religion". It was meant to be, or as I'd say "karmically propelled".

2) Not really. Its funny, I might have felt more "connected" if I'd been around more NF's, or if I hadnt felt like our NF pastor's were pretty different from me. For other questions see discussion in 1).

3) I feel like "I've come home." If I went to India I'd very likely never come back. I own a book full of stories of Westerners who did exactly that. Many of them were Canadians btw. Regrets, hmmm. I feel like finally someone opened the curtain and told me all the "secrets". I'm home. I return to what I have done many many many times before. In college I wanted to put all religions "on trial" and ask each person to look into their hearts and see if what stood before them had value. I left things that I thought had meaning but no one was ever able to show it to me, I now stand in what I value.

I was at a talk/book singing this last weekend. The author mentioned how when he was like 19 he "found" the Tao te ching [Taoist book], zen books, etc. Those pointed him to entirely new vast possibilities of human potential and existence. As he said "When I was reading that I wasn't happy about what I found, no, I was PISSED!!!!!!! no one had ever told me those things before!" I can 100% relate to that. The idea that "religion"/meditative traditions are vehicles that assert higher existence and then show you how YOU can get there yourself, that is a RADICAL departure from how many in the West see religion. I think William James is the one who said "I don't need faith, I have experience."

Did I answer your questions? I don't want to say helpful, but were my responses informative? Guess I gave a longer answer than I had originally planned, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask. I'm pretty open about answering these sorts of things and others.
 

Fidelia

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Excellent, thank you! I usually use the term world view, as many people equate the term "faith" with a formal religion. However, I would also argue that while the word "faith" has that connotation for most, anything we subscribe to involves faith on our part to believe it and live accordingly. If there were a definitive way of proving truth once and for all, our belief would require no faith. Even one without a distinct "faith" has faith that there is nothing out there, or that there are pieces of other beliefs that together make up the collection of ideas which guide their actions and outlook.

I also like the term "worldview" because it truly does affect every area of our lives and of how we see the world around us.
 

Scott N Denver

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To perhaps address the intent of this thread let me say
1) I find the idea of "you don't believe in my religion, therefore I can't talk to you " DESPICABLE. Fwiw, I don't believe that there is anyone in my life who has persuasions/affiliations like mine. Almost no one that I have ever met does, though many find those subjects "fascinating" and wish they knew a lot more about them. Buddhism in particular, yoga/hinduism to an extent. I've met several people who moved to Asia to practice martial arts and/or religion. I've given that very serious thought myself.

2) I think of religion as a personal matter. If someone asks I'll talk, and if they seem open and I'm curious I'll ask them. But still, its a personal matter so I generally leave it at that, unless we get into ongoing discussions or something. In short, it helps me understand others and where they are coming from, but I don't define or judge someone based upon it.

3) My attitudes towards "faith" and "religion" have really been kicked in the teeth ever since college. I'd look around at others and what they did and how they kept "professing" their faith, and it all just seemed to hollow and lacking and shallow to me. Like they made up their own little thing and acted like it was a decree on high given to them and more or less no one else, and now it was their job to share it with everyone. I have ~0 respect for proselytizing. Like I read somewhere, "if you were meant to this, you'd find it on your own, and that would happen because you've done it before in previous lifetimes and have karmic affinity. Those lacking such affinity would never find it, or at best quickly lose interest. With that said, all are welcome to come here and try it, and we don't know who does or doesn't have karmic affinity."

4) Looking at various saints, sages, zen masters, and others, I was struck by their openness and clarity and warmth and compassion. I felt that "these people had something", and I wanted in on it! Similarly with reading major "religious works" from Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc. To this day I have NEVER felt probably any of those things from anyone in the religions of my family or culture. In fairness, I have heard of them, but whenever I look I don't see them. I told a boss once who was a hard core religious christian conservative, "I look around at what I see in [particular faith's], and I see little of value, or at least nothing that can't be found in a ton of other places, and I think to myself, 'I'd rather spent the rest of eternity in hell that associate/propagate this stuff'". I'm pretty sure that dumbfounded him.

Being a military brat we moved a lot. Constantly meeting new people. Have to work withthem, no choice. You don't get the luxury of getting to hate them for their beliefs. It gets kept quiet and put on the side. "Don't rock the boat, don't fight in public" or whatnot. Then I join the civilian world, good gosh do I not like what I see there. People meeting there neighbors for the first time and interrogating them about their religious beliefs, and then decreeing that your kids can never play to together because "they believe the wrong things"
 

Scott N Denver

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Excellent, thank you! I usually use the term world view, as many people equate the term "faith" with a formal religion. However, I would also argue that while the word "faith" has that connotation for most, anything we subscribe to involves faith on our part to believe it and live accordingly. If there were a definitive way of proving truth once and for all, our belief would require no faith. Even one without a distinct "faith" has faith that there is nothing out there, or that there are pieces of other beliefs that together make up the collection of ideas which guide their actions and outlook.

I also like the term "worldview" because it truly does affect every area of our lives and of how we see the world around us.

I'm not sure anything that I talked about dealt with my "worldview", which in my mind may have little or nothing to do with whatever religious persuasion or lack there of one my hold. I consider worldview as "how you look at the world" which may or may not connect to one's religious persuasion or lack thereof. So I ignored the word "worldview" and talked about "faith" and "religion". Particularly because that causes more family/interpersonal strife than do "worldviews", and family/friend strife is what you described as your motivation for starting this thread.
 

Scott N Denver

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I had some born into Catholicism, left it for New Age/whatever stuff friends in college that would probably have some MUCH more interesting and informative responses. That crowd is like chock-full of "recovering Catholics" from my understanding.
 

Kyrielle

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1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

14. Was having problems with depression and identity, and my previous religion was not helping me or giving me the answers I needed. I began to examine my religion, other religions, and my perceptions of the world. My perceptions and religion started to conflict with each other. I was faced with constant cognitive dissonance.

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

Perhaps, but I can't say for sure. My family stopped going to church regularly when I was about 15. And we only went once a month or on holidays when I was 11.

I never fit in at church. I hated Sunday school because I didn't like memorizing scripture or talking about current events through a Jesus-filter. I didn't like sermons because I felt the preacher was often being too general and was just telling people to blindly follow whatever example he gave that day. I felt like I was just too weird to fit in at school and WAY too weird to fit in at church. That said, I enjoyed some of the stories told just as stories.

The community always treated me kindly, so how I was treated on a personal and general level wasn't a problem.

Maybe if I had felt more comfortable at church at a younger age I would have stayed, but I really don't know.

3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?

I feel more at peace with myself and that I have gained a greater understanding of the world and the complexities of it. I have no regrets.

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

My father was a little incredulous when he found out. My brother doesn't really care and doesn't really bring up religion since it is a very subjective subject and he deals better with objective facts and theories that can be factually backed up. My mother still believes it's a phase I'll grow out of. Aside from that, nothing bad happened. Their reactions didn't change how they felt about me or treated me. I'm still just as close with my family as ever. My friends were never very religious or cared what religion any of I was if they were.

5. Has anything replaced your old faith?

Nothing structured. I still maintain many of the commandments from the Bible, as they are common sense ideals to abide by in regards to treating other people well and not getting in trouble. I try to maintain a scientific view of the world: skeptical but open-minded. I'm more likely to say "It's possible" and not feel uncomfortable about it. I'm still very spiritual because I cannot deny that there is something bigger than everything; I just have no idea what it is and try to accept that I could never know what it is.
 

Fidelia

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Interesting that so far, it is all INFs that have responded! I think that they in particular need to know the whys before they will be satisfied to follow a way of thinking and that is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you now?
 

Kyrielle

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Interesting that so far, it is all INFs that have responded! I think that they in particular need to know the whys before they will be satisfied to follow a way of thinking and that is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you now?

22.

And yes, Why? is a big question with me.
 

Scott N Denver

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Interesting that so far, it is all INFs that have responded! I think that they in particular need to know the whys before they will be satisfied to follow a way of thinking and that is a perfectly reasonable expectation.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you now?

I'd expect "belief" issues from INT's, and well T's in general. With that said the two atheists I know are both E_F_'s. My two former Catholic to New Age friends are INFJ's as best as I could tell. I'd expect "appropriateness" or "is this the right moral system and how do we know?" issues from INF's, not factual validity issues.
 

Fidelia

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What criteria do you think INF would use to determine that?
 

Mole

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I think it depends on how wide your worldview is. If you start off with a small worldview, naturally you will change it as your view expands.

But it seems to me that there are only three places from which to start expanding your worldview. And these three places correspond to the three civilizations extant today.

And the three civilizations extant today are the Chinese civilization centred on Beijing, the Indian civilization centred in New Delhi and the Western civilization centred perhaps in Chicago.

And our worldview grows as our education grows. In primary and secondary education we are learning what our culture is. And then in tertiary education we learn to transcend our very own culture.

So first we learn our culture, then we transcend our culture, and then we can see our culture anew and we can refresh and recreate it.

So it is a normal part of a good education to change your worldview as you grow and develop and become educated.

And then you can contribute to the growth and development of your own culture.
 

Owl

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1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

I was 20ish. My own philosophical journey lead to philosophical, global skepticism ending in nihilism. However, I found nihilism impossible to maintain. In order to maintain integrity, I was forced to accept certain transcendental, foundational arguments for the authority of reason as a test for meaning, making knowledge possible, and ending in the necessity of the existence of God.

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

The religion I was raised in was secular humanism, and I'd argue that it, as a worldview, is inherently meaningless. It didn't "take" because it's rationally untenable. I stopped believing its doctrines long before I became a Christian.


3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?


I feel "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead, (Phil 3:7-11, NIV).

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

My mother seems to have re-discovered her faith. The rest of my family thinks I'm wrong. (The nice thing about secular humanism is its tolerance.) My best friend from high school has also converted, although I had little to do with that. All of my other friendships atrophied because I no longer share anything in common with my old buddies.


5. Has anything replaced your old faith?


Orthodox Presbyterianism.
 

BerberElla

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1. What prompted you to make such a drastic change and how old were you?

Discovering things that I previously did not know, and alot of anger about the things that I did. I was in my late twenties at the time I chose to leave the faith.

2. Do you think that if your faith had been presented in a different manner by your family or your church/synagogue/political system/science/etc it would have prevented you from choosing to leave? If you didn't buy it yourself, why do you think it didn't "take"? Was how you were treated a factor?

Yes, I mean I'm glad it was presented in the way it was presented to me, otherwise I might still be a slave to it all now, but I do believe that if it had been presented in a more modern light, and without all of the harshness attached to it, I might have been able to live a life long delusion trapped in that belief system.

Originally the way I was treated under it, was my main driving force when I left it, since it was experiencing first hand the effects of many of it's archaic rules regarding women, but once I gained some distance, I was able to strip it apart on it's contradictions and claims to science, so now it's a combination of both that keeps me away from it.


3. How do you feel about it now? Are there any regrets? What have you gained?

I still feel surprise sometimes, I thought I would be a muslim for life because it was so much a part of my identity from a very young age, so it's a pleasant surprise on those moments where it hits me "Oh yeah, I'm free now" and it makes me very happy. Gives me a sense of peace that I never had when I was a believer.

The regrets I have are that I had to lose so many people along the way because they see me as a traitor, people who should have cared about me the person, and not me the muslim. That's the thing that still gives me sadness occasionally. Also that I didn't wake up sooner, that one brings me great pain because I feel I lost so much trapped in ignorance.

I gained alot more though, originally my path ahead of me in life was one straight road, through a desolate wasteland, trying to make the best of a bad situation and limited choices. Since I left I feel like I am walking through a lively forest, there is no man made path, just me, a compass, a bag on my back and the luck of the irish in my pocket. :D

4. How did it affect your relationship to your family and also impact the social circle you had?

As I mentioned above, my relationship with my family is non existant now, when there is communication it is very strained.

I have also had to make new friends so my social circle is completely different now. Fortunately it consists of fellow ex muslims like myself, and non muslims who don't care about stuff like that to start off with.

I'm happier without the need to constantly seek my family and the wider communities approval anyway, so inspite of the sadness, I carry more happiness about it.

5. Has anything replaced your old faith?

No, I think once you see how hoodwinked you were under one system, it makes it alot harder to look at another belief system and see some kind of absolute truth in there.

I have my own faith, in my own self, and that's good enough for me. :)
 

Fidelia

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MBTI Type
INFJ
Do you feel that your religious community was inextricably intertwined with your ethnic/cultural community? Did you lose both, or just the religious community? Does this change affect your ethnic or cultural identity? What would you teach your kids regarding matters of "faith" (or the lack thereof)?
 

BerberElla

12 and a half weeks
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
2,725
MBTI Type
infp
Do you feel that your religious community was inextricably intertwined with your ethnic/cultural community? Did you lose both, or just the religious community?

Yes, the religion and the community are so intertwined that it's always a loss of both when you ditch one.

Does this change affect your ethnic or cultural identity?

No, not for me anyway. I can seperate what is islamic from what is just moroccan, and embrace the moroccan side of it.

What would you teach your kids regarding matters of "faith" (or the lack thereof)?

I teach my kids about all of the religions, and about atheism, I try very hard not to add my own bias to certain things, but I find myself failing because I really fear my children sacrificing their freedom to embrace that faith.

The pressure for them is going to be immense when a time comes to choose, for they will also be excluded from a large part of their family if they choose to follow in my footsteps.

Still it's going to be their choice, it is my hope that I give them enough information about every world view, and hope they make the same connections I did, or value the freedoms they have.
 
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