What was your religious life like growing up? Did it affect how you practice religion now?

Jeremy grew up in a very strict Christian environment, listening to his father preach against anyone who was different from them. Despite this, he maintains a relationship with God in the end of the book, albeit a different God than the one his father worships. What was your religious life like growing up? Did it affect how you practice religion now?

Growing up with a Methodist mother and a Catholic father who were not fully committed to their faith, it was a bit confusing for me. I was taught traditional Christian beliefs based on the Bible. Throughout my life I have been fully committed to my faith and sometimes it has wavered.
At first I was not pleased at all that the author was attacking the Christian faith but as I continued to read I understood that the author was referring to the fanatical zealots who are uncompromising in their religion and ideals. As in most religions, the zealots are the ones whom modern day peoples find to be unacceptable.

My family was not religious nor were they church goers. There were periods of time that I went to church. Through those times I began to understand what religion meant to me. As I aged I began to understand my own spirituality, and also that of my father, and have remained steadfast in those beliefs.

I was raised Catholic and still am. I am not very good at it. And the guilt is still there.??

My parents were very religious growing up, they met at a Christian college. We went to a small, intimate church every Sunday, were very involved in church functions. We were not allowed to watch tv commercials, play cards, dance, drink alcohol, all those things considered evil, I guess. After I left home I found out about the non Christian activities, such as infidelities committed by church members and disgusted by the hypocrisy, I’ve never gone back

My parents tried to make me a good Catholic. It didn’t work. From ages 20-65, I steered clear of any organized religions. I am now a Universalist Unitarian. I finally felt the need for a spiritual community.

I grew up going to church with my mom. My father was not a church goer. When he died, my mom planned to have his service at the mortuary in the small Minnesota town where they lived. The ministers at the Community Church and the Lutheran Church approached my mom and said they jointly wanted to do a memorial service in his honor. They both expressed respect for my dad and were also aware of all the good things my dad had done both for the community and for individuals who were in need. You don’t need to be a church goer to be a good person.

I have always been leery of “religious people” who know they are right. My personal faith is right for me.

It was pretty normal. My parents were not preachers, we went to church on Sundays, Christmas, Easter,etc. I went to Sunday school, was confirmed and belonged to church youth groups. My children were pretty much brought up the same way. We all still belong to a Church community. I think this is pretty normal.

I grew up Roman Catholic and went to parochial school, CCD, and taught religious education as well. We went to church every Sunday and holy day of obligation. For many reasons, I shed that mantle and prefer to go to an Episcopal church when I go now. I feel that my previous experience with religion gave me a good moral and ethical background. I never felt religion was "forced" on me but found that my own sensibilities have moved me away from practicing the religion I was brought up in.

I was forced to attend church, Sunday school and church youth group every week. As soon as I went away to college, I never returned. I do not attend church but feel I have a good spiritual connection.

I was raised Catholic. My family attended a very unconventional church, however. It met in the band room of a high school. It was very relaxed. We sat in folding chairs and wore jeans. We sang to guitar and flute music. One of the members baked the bread we took for communion. I loved this church and the people who attended. It was so much more about the community than the rituals. After my parents divorced, we only attended on weekends we were with our father. When he was transferred out of the country for his job, we stopped going altogether.

I tried attending other Catholic churches, but they just weren't as fulfilling for me. I have worked hard to develop a relationship with a Higher Power with whom I am comfortable. For me, there is a big difference between religion and spirituality, and I stay connected to a God of my understanding today mostly through nature.

I did make sure my son was exposed to the Catholic Church while he was growing up. He was baptized, received communion, and was confirmed. I took him to church, while not regularly, but often. My reasoning at the time, even though I was cerrtainly not the best Catholic role model, was that I at least wanted him to have a background-a place to start in the development of his own relationship with God.

I grew up in a multireligious family and I am very thankful that my parents didn't force me into any religion.

I was raised Roman Catholic. My mother was an occasional Episcopalian and my father was in Church every Sunday. I was exposed to many conversations about religion and in my later years changed to being an Episcopalian. Both of my children were given Catholic educations. My son seldom attends any Church services and my daughter is a cloistered nun. For me, religion has been a mixed bag.

I grew up in a traditional Presbyterian church and still belong to one of those, in which I also raised my own children. I'm a regular church goer still, but don't feel any particularly pressure to believe very specific things. My parents never pushed on that issue. I was expected to attend, but not required to espouse particular doctrines. I've tried to treat my own kids the same way.

I grew up in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist church in a rural part of a very conservative Southern state. No drinking, no dancing, no playing cards--and everyone not Southern Baptist was going to hell. They were (and still are) convinced that their beliefs are the only right ones, and they have no capacity to accept other religions or even other denominations (when I was in the youth group, they sent us to south Louisiana to convert the Catholics!). As a child, I didn't realize how warped that was, but when I left home for college and then graduate school and met other people different from those I grew up with, my eyes were opened and I broke with the church.

I was raised Southern Baptist in the 1960s-70s and left the church as soon as I went to college. Although I made many lifelong friends there, the narrow-mindedness of some of the more zealous church elders reeked of hypocrisy and was more than I could handle.

My religious background spans from Protestant occasional services to Orthodox Judaism lifestyle to the nth degree. Over the years my religious being has become more spiritual and less ritualistic.