> -----Original Message----- > From: Zaphod Beeblebrox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 9:04 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: mixed religion households > > thanks for letting me get that off my chest. :) > > feel free to chime in and tell me that this is the norm :)
Well... I think it's definitely more the norm now. Over 14% percent of Americans claim to be "non-religious" (atheist, agnostic, secular or non-religious). I have a similar situation, but shifted farther down the spectrum: I'm an "out" atheist and my wife is a non-religious agnostic (so we do generally get along). I'm not a jerk about things. I don't try to "convert" people or get in anybody's face... at least not first. At the same time I'm honest and open about it when asked and don't shy when asked (as we often are) "What church do you go to?" (Since we've moved from Boston to NE PA I think I've been asked that more in the past six months than in the previous 30 years.) My wife on the other hand is less open and more accommodating. Although we've never attended church she'll answer "well, we're new here" or (tough for her) "we're not very religious". She'll then get mad at me (in private) if I (good-naturedly) add "...because I'm an atheist and she doesn't believe in God". Although our kids (our son especially, he's older) get's asked the question she insists that we don't "tell him what to say". "Let him decide for himself" is all well and good but when he asks ME I answer honestly and that tends to tick her off. Of course she doesn't really have a better idea so I sorta, kinda win that one. We've having the "Christmas Talk" (again) this year. My kids don't believe in Santa (despite my mother's best effort) and my wife is slightly upset by that. Personally I have very mixed feeling about Christmas... although it's become incredibly secularized it's still fundamentally a religious holiday (and still the only religious holiday that's also a federal holiday). You can add all the crap that you like but in this country it's still a Christian holiday (stolen, as most Christian holidays, from the Pagans but Christian nonetheless). Part of me really wants to vocally denounce it. Another part of me wants to watch the kids when they open their presents. It's a dilemma for an advocate atheist: celebrate just the commercial Christmas? Denounce the commercialism and embrace the secular values present in the celebration (goodwill toward men, charity to those in need, etc)? Just boycott the whole thing on principle? She wants to decorate the house (it's our first Christmas in our first house so this is the first time this came up). I don't - or at least I don't want to decorate it with "Christmas decorations"... but even then I'd like to find some non-offensive way to make my true feelings known amongst all the manger scenes in the neighborhood. In the end we'll probably do whatever she wants on that score... no matter how strongly you feel on a topic, no matter how determined you are there's no escaping the plain simple facts about wives: they control access to the boobies. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:221774 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
