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Do you share religious faith's with your spouse or partner? Is one Catholic and the other Baptist or Jewish and Muslim? How do you incorporate different holidays and share different sacrements and belief systems with the children? Does it divide, separate or alienate the family when one is not allowed to participate in certain seramonious activities in the church? How do you deal with it all? ”

Asked by caramelsugarberry38 on 20th May 2008 | 3 replies

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3 replies so far...

I grew up Catholic and my husband Mormon. We both dumped our religions in favor of Buddhism, which is more in line with our personal beliefs on spirituality and the treatment of others. My family was fine with it and his tolerates it. I find myself reminding his mother of her boundaries when she attempts to influence my children with her beliefs...on issues such as gay marriage or heaven or global warming. I don't stand for it. We are raising our children to be stewards of the environment and practitioners of the Golden Rule. One of these days they might choose a religion other than Buddhism and I will respect their wishes in much the same way as my family respects mine.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Javacat on 24th May 2008
My husband was raised Baptist, I think, but he's non-practicing. I'm a Zoroastrian, which is a tiny, ancient, monotheistic religion with roots in Persia that requires you be born into it (right now, conversion is not allowed. Actually, marrying outside of the religion isn't allowed by its most conservative members, either, but hey, you fall in love with the person you fall in love with). So, my faith doesn't affect our family, really. When my mother, who is also Zoroastrian, and my father, who is Roman Catholic, got married, they felt that as long as their basic ideals, morals, and values were the same, the fact of their different religions didn't really matter, and my husband and I (and my brothers and their spouses) have found that to be the case for us as well.

As for what we're raising the kids to believe... my hope is that we continue to raise them to be good people, with strong morals and values, and hope that it's good enough for God if it's not good enough for either of our religious communities!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Lylah M. Alphonse on 22nd May 2008
My husband is catholic and I am baptist. I was very concerned when we decided to raise the children catholic that this would create a huge debate on my side of the family. I was shocked that everyone was very understanding. My Grandmother was my biggest concern. She told me she did not care what religion they were raised as long as they attended church.

My family was pretty much lost when it came to baptism and oldest son's second communion. By the time the youngest goes through it all they will be pros.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jess on 21st May 2008