<p>I guess I was just wondering if there were any other interfaith teenagers out there.</p>
<p>If you don't know, the parents of the family have different religious backgrounds, and depending on the family, different parts of each religion transfer to the child.
For example, I have a Jewish father and Catholic mother. I have grown up celebrating the major holidays of both religions, but never had a bat mitzvah or conformation. I personally tend to feel uncomfortable in both synagogues and churches, though I love the idea of the connection of the religion and resent when people tell me I can't be both.</p>
<p>Yes - my father is Sunni Muslim and my mother is Catholic. I too celebrate major Christian and Muslim holidays - I identify with parts of Catholicism as well as a lot of the teachings of Islam. I do feel like I have a genuine, authentic relationship with God and I’m offended at accusations that I cannot identify with both parts of Christianity and Islam. </p>
<p>This posts screams Life of Pi to me. If you are a member of an interfaith family, I highly recommend reading this. For everyone else, just a strong rec :P</p>
<p>I guess I am interfaith, but between Atheist and Christian. I myself am an Agnostic. Believe it or not, atheists and christians can actually be very similar, and judaism or islam can be. Believe what you want, don’t worry about what others think. Faith, in my opinion, is not a single religion but a philosophy and for some a big part of their lives. Don’t restrict it if it is for you.</p>
<p>@preamble1776 I’m so glad someone else feels like that, too. Just out of curiosity, do you go to church, mosque, both, or none? Personally, I don’t go to either a church or a temple, mostly because I don’t feel like I need anyone to tell me how my relationship with God should work.</p>
<p>@louie412 - I don’t go to either; I used to attend church when I was younger but as I got older, I decided it would be best if I stopped just because the way I practice my faith can’t really coincide with the rigid structure of the Catholic church - and like you said, going to either the church or mosque would only mean constantly having to explain my faith and my relationship with God. </p>
<p>@preamble1776 I am so, so, glad I’m not alone in the way I feel. It might seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but it makes me feel so much better. This is something that has always been stressful for me. People tell me all the time why I can’t believe the way I do.</p>
<p>I too have a mother who was raised Catholic and a father who was raised Jewish and is now an atheist. Strangely, my mother’s father has converted to Judaism so I have 3 Jewish grandparents and a Catholic one. Because of this mix and how often people in my family switch religions, I have never felt any connection to organized religion and when forced to identify what I am I usually say agnostic. I don’t go to church or synagogue, but we celebrate Jewish and Christian holidays in a secular fashion. I feel coming from q religiously diverse background has made me more accepting and understanding of everything. My mother remains very spiritual in that she has an unshakeable belief in God yet she and my father who has no belief in God still love each other and make compromises. They both understood when I told them I was questioning God and unsure of religion. Being interfaith is part of who I am.</p>
<p>My dad was raised Catholic, but is now an agnostic. My mom was raised Catholic and still is today. My mom’s extended family is conservative Baptist. I grew up Catholic, but my parents didn’t raise me with the rigid beliefs of Catholicism. They were more liberal and easy-going. They let me form my own beliefs about religion as I grew older, and they don’t question how I identity with God. As a result, I don’t go to church or practice religion regularly. My parents are fine with that. I agree with Pengs that faith is whatever you want it to be. </p>
<p>AHH! Fellow Muslims!!! I really love learning about theology and all different cultures! This is so gosh darned cool. Gotta love the CC community. </p>
<p>My mom is catholic and my dad is atheist, but apparently they made an effort to raise me catholic. I wasn’t aware my dad was an atheist until I became an atheist about 3 years ago.</p>
<p>In a way, I was interfaith between “science” and “religion” before I became an atheist. I must have been like 8 years old when I came up with the brilliant idea of apologizing the Bible by interpreting it to make sense scientifically. So I never took Catholicism seriously enough. As a kid, I liked astronomy and I think I watched Sagan’s Cosmos series thrice for the pretty graphics before ever opening a Bible. </p>
<p>Oh, and CCD really, really bored me. I swear I almost came up with my own programming language on the back of the textbook.</p>
I really love learning about theology and all different cultures! This is so gosh darned cool. Gotta love the CC community. </p>