Did your parents label you with their religion as a child?

ShooterSF

I mistakenly made a claim without evidence and was rightly called up on it here. I am now looking to address my ignorance through this survey.

For me I was definitely considered catholic as a child and my parents put that down on school forms and on the census. Am I in a minority here? Has my view of the world distorted reality?

Also I put the option other in as often in this forum people feel the options dont match them so can you please state if you selected other what your situation was and hopefully we can resolve this issue.

(More edit) Yeah for the purpose of this test if your parents consider themselves religious at the time they were. No other effort required.

(Edit - apology for the spelling mistake)

bad2dabone

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

yep, and I imagine the vast, vast majority of parents label their kids as their religion too.

Joey the lips

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

yes...and i seen there wisdom as an adult and carried it on.....


Is this the answer you expected here.....

Some questions generate obvious answers when you post them in certain areas...

bad2dabone

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

oh and btw I don't consider what they did as "child abuse", I think that they were doing for me what they thought was best.

axer

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Anyone that was baptised as a child was labeled as being part of the religion they were baptised into.

liamw

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

I'll be surprised if there's anyone in the 2nd or 3rd category tbh

onlyrocknroll

My parents are confirmed Catholics, though not practicing. I was baptised and confirmed so 'yes' would be my answer, although I was never really encouraged to be religious.

Just read your link to that post of out context of the whole thread, but I'd imagine that you're right in saying that most people bring their children up within their own faith, and educate them as such. It seems anecdotally true and almost a truism, I don't think that it really needs to be established via statistics.

decisions

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

liamw wrote: »

I'll be surprised if there's anyone in the 2nd or 3rd category tbh

I am

AudreyHepburn

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Yes and it's never been a problem for me, if that's what you're really asking.

And I don't consider my parents abusive or indoctrinating for raising me Catholic either btw.

liamw

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

decisions wrote: »

I am

Your parents were atheist and put you down under a religion?

ShooterSF

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Joey the lips wrote: »

yes...and i seen there wisdom as an adult and carried it on.....


Is this the answer you expected here.....

Some questions generate obvious answers when you post them in certain areas...

Absolutely I expected it. As I said I assumed it was commonly accepted and was surprised to be called up on it. Also I doubt it would make much difference this being asked in the christianity forum as an adults religious choices later in life hardly affect their parents actions earlier, right?

onlyrocknroll

BTW, I don't think that a poll on the Atheism and Agnosticism forum is statistically meaningful in any way.

bad2dabone

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

liamw wrote: »

I'll be surprised if there's anyone in the 2nd or 3rd category tbh

well my folks were "catholics" but we never went to mass. Sure there was iconography around the house but I wouldn't describe my folks as religious, that's why I answered in that category.

liamw

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

bad2dabone wrote: »

well my folks were "catholics" but we never went to mass. Sure there was iconography around the house but I wouldn't describe my folks as religious, that's why I answered in that category.

Right but they're still a-la-carte catholics. They would probably still tick the Catholic box.

ShooterSF, you should clarify. Some people deem 'religious' as practicing. I'm asssuming you simply mean a-la-carte or more.

time42play

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Father was a non-practicing Catholic so I don't think he was bothered about it as long as he didn't have to attend anything, but Mother insisted on submitting all of us to the full tortures of the Roman Catholic church. Don't they have a rule that you are supposed to make your children be "good Catholics" or something? I guess she failed with all of us in the end.

ShooterSF

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

Yes and it's never been a problem for me, if that's what you're really asking.

And I don't consider my parents abusive or indoctrinating for raising me Catholic either btw.

All I said was it was the actions of most parents to put their beliefs on their child and specifically religious ones it the topic on hand. You contested that. I never called it abuse. Actually it was you that was put out by an atheist putting their beliefs on a child.

As far as not considering it indoctrination I would be surprised if a religious person felt different about their past.

ShooterSF

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

liamw wrote: »

ShooterSF, you should clarify. Some people deem 'religious' as practicing. I'm asssuming you simply mean a-la-carte or more.

Yeah for the purpose of this test if your parents consider themselves religious at the time they were. No other effort required. (putting this in the first post)

AudreyHepburn

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

ShooterSF wrote: »

Absolutely I expected it. As I said I assumed it was commonly accepted and was surprised to be called up on it. Also I doubt it would make much difference this being asked in the christianity forum as an adults religious choices later in life hardly affect their parents actions earlier, right?

It was me that called you on it I think and I did it because you made a statement as if it were fact but didn't give proof to back it up.

If you had (a) said I believe etc etc (so that it was your opinion rather a proven fact) or (b) given stats or evidence to back it up I wouldn't have said anything.

It's just that in my opinion many atheists make the mistake of thinking they know what those of us with faith believe when they really don't and it gets on my wick a bit when they try to present their opinions/ideas/beliefs as fact.

Just a little OT but I wanted to clarify what my issue was.

iguana

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

liamw wrote: »

I'll be surprised if there's anyone in the 2nd or 3rd category tbh

Why? As far as my peer group is concerned the 3rd option is the norm among current "active" parents. The parents are non-religious but still go through the motions of Catholicism with their children for the sake of schools/not to rock the boat with the parents/because it's the done thing, etc, etc. It's pretty much what my parents did and it was the worst aspect of my childhood by quite a wide margin. Though they have more of an excuse as things were different in the 70s.

ShooterSF

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

BTW, I don't think that a poll on the Atheism and Agnosticism forum is statistically meaningful in any way.

Can you explain why not? Im not being smart with that question. My POV is that my decision later in life to become an atheist (or had I stayed Catholic) can have no impact on my parent's decision 2 and a half decades ago! I can't see how our current beliefs have an affect (btw is it effect or affect?) here.

ShooterSF

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

It was me that called you on it I think and I did it because you made a statement as if it were fact but didn't give proof to back it up.

If you had (a) said I believe etc etc (so that it was your opinion rather a proven fact) or (b) given stats or evidence to back it up I wouldn't have said anything.

It's just that in my opinion many atheists make the mistake of thinking they know what those of us with faith believe when they really don't and it gets on my wick a bit when they try to present their opinions/ideas/beliefs as fact.

Just a little OT but I wanted to clarify what my issue was.

I understand. To be honest I had taken it a given not out of thinking I know what those of faith believe but rather what happened to me and others I knew. When you asked had I evidence it hit me that maybe my situation was not the norm and I had genuinely made an assumption without evidence so I decided to correct my lack of knowledge on the subject.

liamw

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

BTW, I don't think that a poll on the Atheism and Agnosticism forum is statistically meaningful in any way.

What a ridiculous statement

decisions

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

liamw wrote: »

Your parents were atheist and put you down under a religion?

Yep

AudreyHepburn

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

ShooterSF wrote: »

I understand. To be honest I had taken it a given not out of thinking I know what those of faith believe but rather what happened to me and others I knew. When you asked had I evidence it hit me that maybe my situation was not the norm and I had genuinely made an assumption without evidence so I decided to correct my lack of knowledge on the subject.

Fair enough. My apologies if I came across in any way preachy or anything to you.

In my own experience I and those I know would have been given the lable of Catholic but none of us would have been forced to keep it. Some of friends have no religion now, others (myself included) do.

But I in no way assume that the same goes for every person and so I wouldn't presented it as fact or as something that happens to everyone.

For all I know my friends and family and I are unusual.

onlyrocknroll

liamw wrote: »

Originally Posted by onlyrocknroll
BTW, I don't think that a poll on the Atheism and Agnosticism forum is statistically meaningful in any way.

What a ridiculous statement

Really?
The OP is looking for statistics to back him/her up in a argument in another thread. You think that the posters here are representative of a broad cross section of the general population?

1-It's an elective poll so there's no way of checking demographic details of the respondents and weighing them according the the demographics of the general population.

2-It's on the internet so most of the respondents will be young, middle class, educated etc.

3-It's on a specific forum for atheists and agnostics, people who may not have similar religious backgrounds as the population in general.

darjeeling

Voted 'other'.

My parents were not religious (as far as I could tell) but thought we ought to decide for ourselves.

Dades

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

The OP is looking for statistics to back him/her up in a argument in another thread. You think that the posters here are representative of a broad cross section of the general population?

I'm not sure that makes a difference to the point ShooterSF is making.

If anything you would expect the results to go against the argument he is trying to back up by posting the poll in A&A.

onlyrocknroll

ShooterSF wrote: »

Can you explain why not? Im not being smart with that question. My POV is that my decision later in life to become an atheist (or had I stayed Catholic) can have no impact on my parent's decision 2 and a half decades ago! I can't see how our current beliefs have an affect (btw is it effect or affect?) here.

Sorry missed that post, read my post above.

I think that your completely right in supposing that people bring their children up in their own religion, (or lack there off). But I think that internet polls (especially ones that are on forums for people of a specific belief/persuasion or whatever) aren't really reliable.

I'd imagine that if you did a google search, you'd find some sociological research on religious beliefs that would confirm what you're saying.

onlyrocknroll

Dades wrote: »

I'm not sure that makes a difference to the point ShooterSF is making.

Not sure about the point that he/she was making in that other poll because I haven't read through it.

But in terms of the question being asked here I would make the point that the result of this pole wouldn't be statistically meaningful.

Dades wrote: »

If anything you would expect the results to go against the argument he is trying to back up by posting the poll in A&A.

I wouldn't be too confident about predicting how people here would answer differently from the general population TBH, only that I would expect some differences.

Perhaps I'm being a bit too pedantic though. I'm a political science graduate, and a history teacher to boot.

Dades

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

I agree polls on Boards are of limited use, my only point was that a poll in A&A, in this instance, is of no less use than anywhere else.

mikhail

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

ShooterSF wrote: »

...I can't see how our current beliefs have an affect (btw is it effect or affect?) here.

Effect. Effect is nearly always a noun, except in the legalistic "to effect a change". Affect is a verb. So A affects B, or A has an effect on B.

Back on topic: my folks are pretty religious, and even now, if I were still living at home I'd not be surprised if I'd go down on the census as Catholic.

Ickle Magoo

Other

My mum is more of a deist than anything else and my dad agnostic atheist so they didn't have a religion to label me with...

Shenshen

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

They baptised me Catholic, because it's "what you do", mostly.

I wouldn't call it abusive, seeing as they themselves couldn't really be bothered with religion, it was more of a "well, it's what the neighbours expect" kind of thing.

That said, their stupid decision has cost me several thousand euros so far.... :rolleyes:

Busi_Girl08

My Dad's an atheist, my Mum's a non-practising Catholic.

When my brother was born, my Dad didn't want him (and subsequently, me) to be baptised. He wanted us to have a choice and not to be labelled.

My Mum, on the other hand, wanted us to be baptised, she claims, so we could get into a good school. Fair enough, I suppose.

Mum won out in the end.

A while back, when I lapsed into the dark, yawning chasm of atheism, I had a discussion with Mum about baptism, etc.
I asked her how she'd feel if I didn't have any of my future children baptised. She answered with the ultimate weapon parents use...

"I'd be disappointed"

mohawk

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

"I'd be disappointed"

Ouch that hurts.

Don't feel bad. I am abandoning my religion and not giving my son the best chance of life in my familys eyes all because I didn't baptise him.

robindch

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

mohawk wrote: »

I am abandoning my religion

You're abandoning their religion -- and so what?

You probably have different tastes in music, sports and films too.

Darlughda

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Yeah, well, at least my parents actually believed in the religion. Even though it was more tradition they believed in rather than examining theology. Piddles me off parents sending their darlings to catholic schools and then whinging because there is going to be a catholic ethos.

At least, work to change the system for all people, not just go along with the sheep because you don't want little Caoimhe to be left out of the holy communion hoo-ha.

More importantly it seems for these selfish parents, is to ensure their kids get to the 'best' schools. Regardless of the pesky religion business.

Pygmalion

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Darlughda wrote: »

Yeah, well, at least my parents actually believed in the religion. Even though it was more tradition they believed in rather than examining theology. Piddles me off parents sending their darlings to catholic schools and then whinging because there is going to be a catholic ethos.

At least, work to change the system for all people, not just go along with the sheep because you don't want little Caoimhe to be left out of the holy communion hoo-ha.

More importantly it seems for these selfish parents, is to ensure their kids get to the 'best' schools. Regardless of the pesky religion business.

So you're saying a parent should settle for a worse education for their child if they're not Catholic?

Darlughda

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Pygmalion wrote: »

So you're saying a parent should settle for a worse education for their child if they're not Catholic?

Obviously not, Pygmalion.

What I am saying is if they wish the system to be reformed, then they should fight on behalf of all children, not just the ones they have a vested interest in.

Scarinae

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

My father's family are Quakers and my mother's family are Church of Ireland, but I would describe my parents as being agnostic/disinterested. My maternal grandmother thought that my siblings and I would be 'stolen by the Quakers', so we were baptised Church of Ireland to keep the peace (Quakers don't do baptism)

It turned out to be dead handy though because it was easier to get us into good schools. Friends of my parents didn't bother baptising their kids, and ended up with them all in different schools because they weren't a priority. If I have children in Ireland I will definitely baptise them, Protestant schools in general aren't as proselytising as Catholic schools and have good education standards. Some might see it as selfish but to be honest until the system changes that's the way you have to play it, and I wouldn't want my children going to a Catholic school if there was a way around it

Galvasean

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

I asked her how she'd feel if I didn't have any of my future children baptised. She answered with the ultimate weapon parents use...

"I'd be disappointed"

Quite frankly if one of my parents responded to me asking that question my response would be along the lines of:
"Go ###################################
######################################
and the horse you rode in on!"

liamw

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Galvasean wrote: »

Quite frankly if one of my parents responded to me asking that question my response would be along the lines of:
"Go ###################################
######################################
and the horse you rode in on!"

Exactly... lol. My mum once said to me "you need to stop saying you don't believe in god, your aunts and uncles are starting to think you're a bit weird".

Ye, I'm the weird one and they believe in talking snakes and noah's ark.

Improbable

Other

My parents were both atheist/agnostic before I was born and always encouraged me to make my own decisions with regards to religion, regardless of whether I decided to follow a religion or not.

taram

Father isn't religious and didn't want me baptised, grandmothers overruled that :rolleyes:, so my mother went along with it. Filled my own census the last two times when living at home, they considered my non religion a non-issue. I totally refuse to have my future children baptised, but my OH's parents are practicing Catholics, and I may not have much of a say in it! :eek:

eblistic

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Wouldn't the census give you an idea of how many religious infants are supposedly out there? It's safe to say that they're lables the parents gave them. Shouldn't really need to go looking for stats to back up claim that kids tend to inherit parents' religion though, surely?

onlyrocknroll

eblistic wrote: »

Wouldn't the census give you an idea of how many religious infants are supposedly out there? It's safe to say that they're lables the parents gave them. Shouldn't really need to go looking for stats to back up claim that kids tend to inherit parents' religion though, surely?

Good idea.

I can think of two problems though

a) It wouldn't account for children of mixed parents. i.e which faith are the children normally brought up in if the parents have different religions. Usually the mothers or fathers, maybe usually Catholicism if that is one them, etc

b) Parents who are religious on paper, but not practising (a lot of Irish people really), and raise their children in their 'religion'. i.e. my parents aren't religious but would both call themselves Catholic, I was baptised and confirmed, and attended mass with my grandparents (though I am an atheist now). The census would have my parents as Catholics and me as a Catholic, but in reality I would describe my parents as having no religion. I would imagine this is quite common because describing oneself as Catholic regardless of one's religious beliefs is a common Irish cultural practice.

Daftendirekt

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

I'm in the poll's majority group. Religious parents, labelled with a religion. Not surprised to see no one in the second group.

ColmDawson

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

I'm a bit surprised that there are ten people in category #3. Baptism in order to get into schools?

strobe

I chose 'other' because there isn't the option to pick multiple choices on the poll. I fit into all groups. Atheist mother, Catholic father. Was put down as Catholic on the first census, no-religion the one after that. Any census after that I was asked what I wanted put down. So yeah, all of the above.

PeterIanStaker

My parents were religious and put me down as NOT having the same religion

Went through all the usual bulls hit up to confirmation. Really just to please the grandparents, one set in particular were hardcore RCC.

Zombrex

y parents were NOT religious and put me down as NOT having a religion.

ColmDawson wrote: »

I'm a bit surprised that there are ten people in category #3. Baptism in order to get into schools?

pretty much.