Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Religious Foundation Comment

Religious Foundation Comment




OVERVIEW: Religion is as old as humankind itself. Because of its incredible age religion has been in a constant state of alteration and adaptation. In addition to this we also have what theist refer to as the “individualist effect”. An individual’s exposure to religion can be as varied as the religions themselves.

PURPOSE: The goal of this activity is to give me a better understanding of your own individual exposure to various religions of the world. This activity, if done properly, should give me a fairly lucid understanding of the foundation of your religions knowledge to date.

DIRECTIONS: Create a two to three hundred word comment to this post that summarizes your own personal exposure to religion. Please be as specific and detailed as possible. To post your comment please go to the bottom of this post and click on "Comment".  Create your comment by either signing in to your SCHOOL google account or by creating a "Name/URL" comment.  Be sure to include ONLY your first name and last initial.  Never leave your last name on an assignment for this class.

MR. KLITZKE’S SAMPLE:


I was born and raised in the small town of Hortonville. This small town provided a unique setting for my childhood years. It provided the warmth, safety and familiarity that are often associated with “small towns” and yet its close proximity to Appleton allowed me to experience many of the beneficial factors of a large metropolitan area.


I was born in the summer of 1971 to Larry and Judy(Griesbach) Klitzke. My parents are a loving couple who are still deeply devoted to each other and their family, even after 40 years of marriage. I was the third out of what would eventually be four children. I have two older brothers (Scott & Todd) and my sister, Kari, is the baby of the family.


In many ways my life was fairly typical of many children growing up in rural Wisconsin. There was, however, one unique distinction; my mother was Catholic while my father was Lutheran. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “So what? It’s not like they’re that different”. I would agree with you. However, this was a different era. Today, we see the majority of Christian religions showing general tolerance towards other Christian religions. However, this was not always the case. There was a long period of animosity between Catholics and Lutherans. This was especially true in Hortonville.


I ended up starting my earliest years as some sort of freakish cross-bread between Catholicism and Lutheranism; I was a Catholeran (I just made that word up). My two older brothers were baptized Catholic while my sister and I were baptized Lutheran. I spent my earliest Sundays alternating between Catholic mass and Lutheran services. I distinctly remember how confusing this was. You see, the animosity that these two faiths had towards each other was not covert it was openly, and proudly, displayed.


I clearly remember listening to Father Daniel spouting hatred towards the “lost” believers of Lutheranism. He informed the congregation that there was only one true church and all others would either burn in eternal damnation or spend centuries in Purgatory (he even referred to Limbo for the protestant babies). The next Sunday I would be sitting in the pews of Bethlehem Lutheran listening to Pastor Fry (a real “fire and brimstone” preacher) warning us of the evils of the Catholic “idolaters”. I clearly retain the image of Pastor Fry’s face becoming a darker shade of red as his emotions flared while describing the misguided idolization of Mary by the Catholic Church.


As a young child I came to only one irrevocable truth; my whole family was doomed.


When I was 7-years-old my parents decided that it was important that their children received a religious education. My siblings and I were pulled out of public school and we were sent to Bethlehem Lutheran – Go Spartans! I stayed at Bethlehem for the next six years, becoming educated not only academically but also spiritually. Bethlehem is a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). It is one of the more conservative branches of the Lutheran church.


As I entered my teenage years I started to openly question some of the more rigid rules of my church. I especially had difficulty understanding what I viewed as a lack of tolerance and understanding of others. I met with my pastor numerous times to discuss my concerns. After a period of time I made the decision to leave my church and I started to look for a new source of religious guidance.


As I entered college and then obtained my first teaching job I found myself moving quite frequently. During these transient years my attendance at church dropped. In 1999 I became a father for the first time. With the birth of my children I found myself being drawn back to the church. However, this time I wasn’t looking for spiritual guidance for myself, but for my family. I wanted my children to be raised with a strong Christian belief of love, compassion and forgiveness. After several years of exploration I found myself feeling most comfortable in the “Non-denominational” setting of many new churches. My family and I are currently members of a large non-denominational church; however, we all love to explore new churches.

22 comments:

  1. I was born in the city of St-Hyacinthe in 1994 but unlike my siblings, i was in fact raised in St-Pie. At the time ,St-Pie was just a town when i was a kid, but after a couple of years, there were enough civilians in order to call it a city.

    I was baptise in the church in St-Pie as Romain Catholic. Even though my family was batise, we only went to church soemtimes, and then almost never. In fact,m the only time i go, i would not listen and only wait for the little breads. My grand-parents of my father's side are religious and oftenly go to the church. Otherwise, my family never really practice the religion.

    When i went to school, if i remember, every year, we would get some sort of notebook that would about our religion. It contained activites for children and school work as well. Also, we would get a red bible which we would also read sometimes.

    The thing is that i wasn't the least bit interested in any of those things, and still isn't. I would draw on the cover of that notebook and I would not follow along or simply not be reading the bible when asked.

    After my sixth grade, i had to move here to the united states due that the kimberly clark factory where my father worked at closed down.
    Ever since i had to practice my english in order to understand others better. Even now i am still in the united states.

    After we moved, my family does not go to the church at all, unless if it's a wedding which is very rare. I don't even know if my family practices in secrets.

    Over time, i actualy started to dislike any religions out there for a few years after we moved. Today, it still is kind of the same, i don't like being in a religion group, but unlike before, i think it's fine that others are, as long as they don't ask me either why i actualy completely stoped practicing or even say i am no longer catholic or to become part of a religion, this only bothers me alot and makes me very defendent or some other feelings. But when someone talks about their beliefs and what they think about their religion without asking why i am not religious or if i would like to join a religion, i actualy got to say that i quite enjoy listening to them.

    Overall, i'm not religious and dislike being in a religion, but misteriously i enjoy seeing what others live when practicing them, which can be very enteresting as well! It's just very different, that's why i like that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My father's family was lutheran and my mother's family was catholic. Neither of them were very into religion until they moved to South Carolina and joined the a church part of the International Churches of Christ. They were very religious for some time, and because of this I went to church almost every sunday and wednesday from 1992, when I was born, until 2004. They taught us the same stories every year, and as we got older they just got more in depth about each story. I remember learning about Adam and Eve using Barbie Dolls. So suffice to say, by the time we left the church I was pretty sick of all the stupid stories and hearing "We are the only church that is going to make it to heaven. Everyone else is going to hell. Bring as many people as possible in the effort to save them." as they frequently told us.

    Then, in 2004, a letter was written by one of the main leaders of the group of churches, telling the members about all the curruption that was involved in the church. The leaders were stealing the money from contribution for their own personal use, requiring a certain amount for contribution, and many other things that they had lied about. During this time, the church also did not allow me to be baptised, because I was only 11. My family left the church because in the end we were given an ultimatum to either follow all the rules set by the church or leave and not be considered members, and we were fed up with dealing with the over-controling church.

    After that we started attending North Town Church, where we made many friends and tried to learn what a normal church is like. However, we only stayed at that church for a couple of years until my parents found something wrong with that church as well.

    We stopped going to church after that, because my parents couldn't find a church that we all liked. Still, this didn't bother me. I had lost my interest in Christianity before we had left our original church, so not having to go to church just meant I got to finally sleep in two days a week instead of one.

    Still, I've always felt like I need to find something to follow. I had my own theory on life at one point, but it never really held firm. I'm in this class to find out if any popular religions could fit my style and values.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1993. Both of my parents, who also spent almost all of their childhoods in the Fox Cities, grew up in deeply religious families. My father, was raised a Lutheran and both of his parents were very involved in the church they attended every sunday. On the other hand my mother belonged to a strict non-denominational religion which did not meet in a church, but rather met in members' houses. As my parents grew older, they began to shift away from the strict religious schedules they followed as children and did not attend church regularly.

    I was baptized into a Lutheran church, but my earliest religious memories come from my dad's mother, who died when I was just 3 years old. She always worked religion into everyday life, not just Sundays or holidays. I remember her singing hymns to me and telling me religious stories. As I grew up, I saw my mom's parents begin to give me brief messages of how important it is to have a sense of faith.

    Due to my parents religious upbringing, they insisted that I complete religion classes and be confirmed in the Lutheran church. After that, I was allowed to make my own decisions. Since being confirmed a little over 3 years ago, I have not attended a Lutheran church service.

    I believe that a person does not need to go to a church to have a strong faith and believe in the teachings of the Bible. I realized over the years that the most lasting impressions I had of religion did not take place in a Church service, but rather in conversations with my grandparents. These religious messages proved to be the most valuable to me.

    I will be the first to admit I am not a traditionally religious person, but I do believe in God and have faith. In the end, I think that is the most important thing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was born in Appleton in 1993 to my parents Ben and Lori Dietzen. I am the youngest of five children. I have three brothers (Bob, David, and Jon) and one sister, Amanda. I grew up on a small family owned and operated farm in Darboy. Yes, I know what you are thinking; I fit into most of the Wisconsin stereotypes.

    My parents both grew up in religious families. They were practicing Catholics when they met each other and still are today. Because they both believed in the same things, they never questioned about baptizing their children into the Catholic Church. My family goes to church together almost every week.

    I attended Holy Spirit from preschool through eighth grade. On Wednesdays during the school year, the students would all go to church in the morning. Going to school here got me very involved in the church. A lot of the kids in my class would serve in church and others would usher. Every week they would pick a class to read the readings and the petitions in church to get the students more involved with the mass. We had religion class every day. My twenty six classmates and I would have service days, which was when we would have a day to go and volunteer, and either before or after we got the work done we would attend church.

    When I started high school I still went to religion classes on Wednesday nights. Even though I don’t go to a Catholic school I thought it was still important to keep going to class. This year I will be getting confirmed into the Catholic Church. I think it is important for everyone to have faith.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was born in Milwaukee in 1993 where i was baptised as a Luteran in the ELCA synod. Shortly there after my parents got divored and we moved to Waukesha. My mom switched over to the WELS Synod and we joined a curch where i went to church and sunday school. I got confirmed in 8th grade. Two years later i moved up to appleton with my mom and joined a Lutheran-WELS church up here. I personally dont really understand the differences between the synods and find them very confusing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Religion has been something I have struggled with for the vast majority of my life. My mother was baptized in the Catholic Church and my father in the Methodist Church. Being that neither of them were strong followers of their religion, my mother had no problem converting to the Methodist Church in South Milwaukee where they currently lived. That same Church was where my siblings and I were baptized and continued to attend for the next few years.

    During those years I did in fact attend a bible study prior to the Church service; however I vaguely remember doing so. Knowing that, it’s easy to conclude that I didn’t attain much information from this class. I do however remember kneeling by my bedside every night praying to whom I believed was God. Not only that, but my father would read to us kids passages out a children’s Bible. Year’s pasts and this routine remained the same, at least up until we moved here to Kimberly. Being new to the area, we didn’t have a church to go to. Nevertheless, my dad was quick to find one and so the Bible study classes started up again as well as our Sunday morning routines. Two changes remained the same however, no longer did he read to us and my nightly prayers had stopped. Being the big seven year old that I was, I thought I was mature enough to make my own decisions and I thought praying was silly, that there was no way God could hear me. My siblings and I became more active in sports as well, so we slowly drifted into a new routine yet again. That being, attending Church roughly twice a month and we no longer had to take Bible study classes.

    Since I am Methodist, I was confirmed at the age of fourteen. In order to do so, I had to meet with my Pastor every Wednesday for a few months. While there, all we did was talk about God and his disciples. Since I have never been a strong follower, the conversation was generally above my head so to speak. I kept finding myself thinking how silly this all was. Is it even real? Or did somebody make it all up to give examples of the morals people should live by? If that were the case, does God even exist? I continued to go back and forth for the next year or so racking my brain over this internal debate. It wasn’t until recently that I realized I never really believed in God, I just thought I did because of how I was raised. I was raised to think there was a God. Not as intensely as others, but that thought was still imbedded in my mind. However, I still find myself thinking about heaven and hell and what really does happen to one after he/she passes away? And if I am wrong, and there actually is a God, then why do so many tragedies occur in our world? Needless to say, if I’m so confused by what is to be my own religion, it’s easy to assume I don’t have much experience or knowledge on other types of religion.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was born in 1993 to a family that was not particularly devout Christians. Neither of my parents came from a strict religious background, but my father was a member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Appleton. Even though my parents were not strict about religion, I was baptized in November of 1993 at St. James United Methodist Church. As far as I can remember, my family always worshiped at Prince of Peace, an ELCA Lutheran Church.

    During a majority of my young childhood, my
    family was something called Creasters. That means we only went to church on Christmas Eve and Easter. This was the way we worshiped until my siblings and I joined bell choir and the children’s church choir. I enjoyed these groups, and I now realize that it made my family attend church more than twice a year, since we performed during services every so often.

    Eventually, it was time that I started confirmation. At Prince of Peace, confirmation classes start in 7th grade. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, for I began to learn more about Christ, as well as my religion. During that year, my family went through a hard time, which brought my parents closer to God, and they began to attend service regularly, as well as take a New Members class which made both members of the church. I continued to attend confirmation, learn the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles Creed, as well as learn more about my relationship with God.

    In April of my freshman year, I was confirmed into the Lutheran church, and officially became a member. I try to stay involved in my church, helping whenever I can, as well as sharing my talents with the congregation during Sunday services. There have been many controversies in the ELCA church, which have tested my love for all people, but I feel that God does whatever is right by Him.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was born in 1994 to a very religious family. My mother was raised in a Lutheran church for majority of her childhood, and my father was raised as a southern Baptist and being the son of a preacher.

    My mother wasn’t too keen on the denomination of the Baptist, so for the first two years of my life we attended a non-denominational church in Georgia. After two years in Georgia, my family moved to Upper Michigan and attended the Lutheran church my mother had attended as a child. I was baptized in this church at the age of two. Three years later, we moved to Wisconsin. We attended multiple churches; Lutheran churches, and Non-Denominational seemed to be the most comfortable ones for our family lifestyle.

    After about a year we started to attend a Non-Denominational church in Appleton called Integrity Christian Center, which a few years later, changed its name to Pathways Church. In 2004 I was baptized in this church, and my faith grew very strong from this day forward. I seemed to be more interested in the bible, and attended every Sunday service.

    In August of 2007, my father was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer, even though he never smoked a cigarette in his life. This shook my faith as a teenager, and I started to question God. But after months of my dad’s treatments of radiation and chemotherapy, his faith seemed to grow stronger and stronger everyday, which set an example for me. He lost his battle with cancer in September of 2008, which was my freshman year in High School.

    As of today, I still attend Pathways Church in Appleton. My knowledge on Christianity, to me, doesn’t seem like much, even though I was raised a Christian my whole life.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was neither born nor baptized there, but the first nine years of my memory are from Fremont, Michigan, so I will always think of it as my home town.

    My first church (that I remember) was the First Congregational United Church of Christ. I have many and varied memories of the place, most of which center around center around sunday school and the fact that I was forced to participate in the youth choir (the women who ran it always nagged at us to pronounce god "gawd" because it sounded...prettier). Eventually the aging pastor retired and was replaced by a man who aparently didn't like children, as he began making rule after rule to discourage attendance by such. In the fall of 2002, we left First Congregational.

    After a bit of searching, we began to attend the Wesleyan Church. If my parents were bothered at all by their apparently literal interpretation of the bible, they didn't show it. My strongest (positive) memory of the Wesleyan was something they called fifth quarter. At night, after home football of basketball games, they would allow kids to come into the church to use the gym and several game systems and to simply socialize. The idea behind it was actually quite basic: keep teens off the streets after sporting events. Of course, a problem arose with this church as well. In September of 2003, at some sort of youth gathering (I don't even remember what it was), the final blow in a battle I had not even been aware of was struck: my parents were given a clear sign to leave. At this time I was the most antisocial that I'd ever been. Accordingly, I was sitting in the back, well back from anyone else, actually. The youth leader at this particular church thought that I should move up, and told me so. In my almost reflexive stubborness, I declined. And so, he ordered one of his helpers to move me up. I was physically dragged to the front of the room and forced onto a chair, with the youth leader's designated minion standing just off to the side should I try to leave. At this point, my brother promptly left to find my parents. We didn't go to church again until we moved over here.

    Now in Wisconsin, I once again found myself sitting the the UCC on sundays, and even worse, being forced to attend the religion classes on wednesdays, despite all protests. During this time, what faith I had left steadily declined. As a last ditch effort to find some sort of understanding of my own religion, I started reading the Bible. Anyone who has done so can likely guess the kinds of stories that showed me.

    When I was a freshman, my parents told (not asked) me to go through with Confirmation. When I made my refusal clear, I was literally bribed to do it. Afterwords, every sunday, I was now forced to go to youth group with my brother. My parents didn't seem to take my protests against it seriously at the time, although they seem to now.

    There was no single incident that spelled the end of my tenure at the UCC, but rather, a series of altercations that built upon each other. I made it abundantly clear that I did not believe the Christian god could possibly be perfect, time after time. I told a pastor to go to hell (such wonderful irony). This was also the time when I absolutely could not stand being touched. Thusly, when a pastor (not the one I wanted damned) came up from behind me and with no warning put a hand on my shoulder, I shoved him away as quickly as possible. I made the youth group aware that my brother once feared onion rings (shhh). Not the final, for it was not nearly the most significant, but the last problem that cropped up was so laughably stupid that I still hold it against the UCC. Sitting unwillingly in yet another stupid group activity, the girl to my right took offense at a random sarcastic comment I made and started repeatedly slapping my leg. I hit her back. ONCE. This was when all of the adults suddenly took notice. I learned a couple of months after we left that the church leadership had decided I was no longer welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was born in Appleton in September of 1993, Baptized as Roman Catholic. My mother was born into a traditional catholic family. They went to church every Sunday, and religion classes every weekend. My dad on the other hand grew up as a Jehovah Witness. Which to me are two wildly different religions? From the little that I know about that religion, they don’t celebrate Christmas, Halloween, Easter or birthdays. They have different reasons for why they don’t celebrate each. When my father became an adult he didn’t want to stay with that religion. My father didn’t celebrate his first birthday until he was in his twenties.
    When my mom and dad got married there was no question in which religion my family was going to be and that was catholic. As of the present time, I have gone to religion since I was in pre-school. In elementary school, I went to religion classes before school started like 6:30- 7:30. Then middle school on Wednesday nights. Right now I have religion for 1 and half on Sundays then mass follows. As a family we don’t go to church a lot, so I believe that’s why my mother insists me and my sister go to religion. I will have my conformation next year, and then I am finished with religion classes.
    Being a catholic is all that I have ever known, so I am interested to find out stuff about other religions. Being catholic, going to mass after religion its sooo repetitive and to be honest it’s hard to understand everything, and it can be boring. I’m excited to learn more… even about the Catholic faith because I for sure don’t know everything there is too know about it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maddie S.

    My religious background is definitely not as vast as everyone else’s seems to be. I was born in Appleton on July 28th 1994, and I was baptized shortly after in a catholic church, because both of my parents were catholic. My mom actually went to a catholic school her entire life; she attended Xavier High School in Appleton. My dad on the other hand went to public school but did attend church most Sundays. My childhood was very different from there’s, at least in the religious sense. I only attended church one holidays such as Easter and Christmas. When I was about 4 my parents divorced and things changed a lot in our families, and on those holidays we had usually went to church, my sister and I were too busy going from house to house to go anymore. About 6 years later, I probably have not gone to church once at this point, but my dad got married, and he switched religions for his new wife, who was Lutheran. Then I attended a Lutheran church a few times, still being catholic, but I didn’t really know the difference considering I was young when I went to a catholic church. At this point in my life I haven’t been to an actual church mass in at least 5 years. So as you can see, I’m not the most religious person in the world and I definitely don’t know much about religion and that’s why I took this class, I want to learn more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Born in 1994 on May 6th, I am the second son of John and Amy Vanden Oever, And I have an older brother named Johnny. My Father attended schooling in the KASD, where as my Mother attended at Appleton. We now live in the town of Kimberly. I was baptised as a Catholic, which is the same as both of my parents. No one in our family has been very deep into religion, so I do not go every week like others. I do not think I have been to church more than about five times. I have asked my family about it, but they don't really have an answer, it just seems like it is not something our family has been into for generations. As for holidays our family still celebrates Christmas and Easter, but we do not go to church or anything of that sort. At this point in my life religion is not a big part of what I do, and I do not know if i will ever be apart of any religion when I am older. Not knowing much about religion makes me very curious about this topic, and thus the reason why I chose this class. I hope that this class allows me to learn more about different religions.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was born in May of 1994 and later that year baptized Catholic. At the time of my birth, both of my parents were devout Catholic although I do now know that my father was once United Methodist before he married my mom and switched to being Catholic.

    I attended a private Catholic school up until 2nd grade where I switched to public schooling due to behavior issues. Ever since then I have been taking a religion class every Wednesday learning about the bible. Recently when I was given the choice to drop out of my faith before being confirmed, I decided not to stay Catholic. Now I don't know what I truly believe except for the fact that I believe in God.

    I am taking Exploring World Religions not to find something else to believe in but to understand how other people worship.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Where to start, where to start... I was born in Ohio and baptized into the Catholic ways. When I was one I moved here to Wisconsin and went to a Catholic school until high school. Going to a Catholic school is... less than pleasant at times. Religion is NOT questioned, but I seemed to like to break this rule. Belief is not one of my stronger points, my life experiences have shown me that faith and belief are... I don't want to say unnecessary just the lower end of reliable. However, I am no fool. I do not know everything and I can't explain the beginning, so I guess you could say that I am at an impasse. Granted I'd never tell this to any of my family. My dad's side of the family is highly Catholic and my grandma on my mom's side is crazy religious (I have been called a devil worshiper by her and she thinks my very intelligent sister should drop out of college to learn cooking and such (she thinks Muslims are evil too just by default)). That being said I look forward to this class in the hopes that I won't become as ignorant as my grandma and, of course, I intend to have loads of fun and be the debater on the losing side to make things... interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I was born on September 1, 1993 in Neenah and was baptized as a catholic. I lived in darboy for about 5 years where i attended a catholic school now called Holy Spirit. Both of my parents were baptized as catholics as well. I used to attend church twice a week and on top of that during our schooling we would study religion everyday as one of our classes.
    After my 5th year at Holy Spirit i transfered to Jrg middle school where i became more social and gained alot more friends. I have a history of religion, sad to say that i don't go to church anymore or study my religion. If someone would ask me about my religion i probably wouldn't be able to give them all the answers for i have forgotten most of my religion. I took this class to try and find my beliefs in religion and to relearn the things i forgot.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I was born in Oshkosh, 1993. My parents were both born in Laos. Catholic missionaries converted the Hmong in Laos into becoming Cathoics. My grandma became a Catholic before my grandpa. He still, among many other hmong people, believed in Shamanism, which basically is the worshiping of spirits. My grandma couldn't convince him to convert until an event in his life made him believe in God and soon after he converted.

    My family (both sides) is Catholic before they even came to the United States. And therefore I'm Catholic aswell. Though we go to a Catholic church among other Catholics we have a separet serman we attend on Sundays. We go to "Hmong Church" which really is just the sermans given by a priest but translated into hmong for the older folks who don't know english. I'm not really sure if "Hmong church" is the same as the other serman going on down the hall in my church on sundays. It's not that I can't attend both, it's just that our family and our hmong community go to "hmong church" because there's both the english and hmong language in the serman.

    I think this is where I get confused. In a way the church I go to is a little bit segregated, but by language preference. In a way we share the same church but it almost seems like two different worlds at each end of a hallway.

    I hate to admit it but I really don't even know my own religion. I have faith and I believe and I go to church but I don't know the ins and outs of my religion. I used to think that religion is just another way to limit and segregate groups of people from eachother but now I realize religion is so much more personal and isn't bitter like the way I viewed it before. I'm hoping Exploring World Religions will help me get a better understanding of how much religion can affect an individual's life and a group of people's lives. I'm hoping after this class i'll be able to figure out how my religion affects and takes part in molding who I am and how it does the same for others. I'm searching for enlightment and I'm searching for reasons. I'm digging into myself, finding my curiousity and giving into that "want" that drives me to continue to pursue how religion, culture, and people are all interconnected.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was born in applton 1995 and baptized as a cathlic. From 1st - 7th grade i attended holy spirit parish I stopted attending due to commplications with school work. My mom is cathlic and my dad is a methodist. My grand parents who take religon (the cathlic) sereisly wish I stayed taking religon classes and went to church more offten, but I usualy go to church with them when we go to our cabin in peshtigo. I have had no conflict between my mom and dads religon however i can't say that I have been free of conflict, in my eyes it is a never ending war between my mom and my grandparents on weather I shold go back to religon classes or not every year since 9th grade its the samething that I should go back to religon classes and every year I don't witch i am gradfull for. My belifs on the cathlic religon are not allways what the cathlices belive in, after all I belive in reincarnation and evolution which my mom tells me they do not belive in. One of my other views which i not shur on what religons due and don't belive in is that we are not the only planet in the milky way that has any life on it I mean really a whole system longer than the numbers on pie calculated baren of all life as we know it and that we are the only planet that has any life on it is just so unrealistic not to mention odd ... I am not saying that I belive in aliens but that i belive in other life somwere out there in the distance. (sorry i was traped in a thoght for a second)so any ways I'm cathlic and nothing else religon wise. (I think?)

    I appoligis for such bad spelling and volcabulary but thats my weak spot English.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Growing up, I never really had any close ties to my religion. My mother was brought up a Lutheran, and my father a catholic. Because they couldn’t decide on a solid religion, they settled on a protestant marriage. In 1992, I was baptized in a catholic, Latin speaking church church in Naples Florida. When my family and I moved to Wisconsin, we began attending Holy Spirit, a catholic church in the center of Kimberly. After a few years of catechism, I was able to receive communion with the church. In the fifth grade, I took part in my first confession to the priest. I’m not entirely sure what I told the priest that day.. what does an eleven year old have to confess? As someone who rarely attended mass, I decided that getting confirmed wasn’t at the top of my to-do list. Don’t get me wrong, I will always believe in a higher power that governs our world, but I never really felt that I needed someone to help me believe. Recently, I had the privilege of experiencing a different kind of church. A good friend of mine brought me to his ‘wednesday worship session’ at Mt. Calvary Church, where members listened to the pastor on couches. There were no pews, no organ, no books or long gowns. Young adults freely played music of their choice on instruments provided by the church, children colored pictures and there were adults sipping coffee. Never in my life have I seen something so different; a non-denominational church which welcomes anyone with open arms. There was no sense of propriety, which seemed to make everyone more comfortable and open to share their thoughts. The experiences I’ve had concerning religion may not be very vast, but they have certainly showed me the diversity our world has to offer.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I was born in Pennsylania in 1992 & moved to North Carolina in 1993 where i lived for 7 years, and went to a Christian School. When we moved to Arizona, I then attended another private school for my next 2 years of schooling. When i was younger my family attended church regularly every Sunday and we were, what I seemed to believe very involved in our church. My dad did not grow up with religion being important in his life, while my mother grew up Pentecostal; so when they got married my dad then started going to church with my mom. I was baptized in a non denominational church when i was in 2nd grade. Growing up I went to Wednesday night religion classes, or Sunday school, but thats has definately changed alot, as I no longer go to anything. Yet, as we have moved alot throughout the years becuase of my dads job and my sisters and I growin up our time of going to church every sunday has definately changed. We started out from going every sunday, to maybe once a month, to maybe only like Easter and Christmas. Now I honestly don't even remember that last time i attended a real church service.

    ReplyDelete
  20. i was born in Appleton and i was little i went to a Lutheran church with my grandma every Christmas or around that time. i was baptized in a catholic church. it wasn't until i was in second grade i started going to religion classes. in second grade for religion i also had to do all the work for first grade. i have stayed with this church for a long time until my parents started to not go as much which i don't remember when that was. my parents are now divorced my mom still lives in the school district and my dad lives on the other side of the state in maiden rock WI. my mom now never goes to church and my dad takes me to church only sometimes. its down the street and its an Evangelical free church. the last time i was in a catholic church was for religion class, and i don't remember when i went to the Plum City Evangelical Free Church.

    i took this class just because i was curious about other religions and to learn more about Christianity.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I was born and raised in Little Chute WI until I was 7 years old and moved to Kimberly when my parents divorced. When my parents were together we attended the Catholic church of Holy Spirit in Kimberly. Both my parents and I attended the church until they got divorced, once my parents got divorced only my father and I went to the church with my grandmother. My father and I went to the church every Sunday until my grandma passed away and no longer could force us to go. I never really got into the whole church believe in an higher being growing up because when I did believe in a higher being I prayed and prayed for my parents go get back together so we could be a family again but of course that didn’t happen so I just stopped believing. It sounds like a dumb reason to stop I know but being hurt at such a young age it stuck to me.
    My father and mother both remarried and my mother married my stepdad who is a Lutheran and we actually went to his church a few Christmas’s ago and it was an awesome experience for me and would do it again. My father and his wife actually started attending Fox Valley Christian Fellowship and I went there a few times and I wasn’t a fan of the church at all. After my parents got divorced and my grandma died the whole church thing wasn’t a top priority in my life anymore.
    I took this class because even though I don’t go to church anymore and don’t believe much in it I still want to learn about all the other religions out there. It doesn’t hurt to learn about them even if you yourself don’t attend a certain church.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I was born in Chester PA, in March of 1993. My parents didn't feel comfortable having me bapitzed there so I wasn’t baptized until we moved to Chicago in 1995. They’re both from strict Roman Catholic backgrounds, as was everyone in the small rural town in Mexico where they grew up. That’s why they tried to get me to believe what they do. I don’t think they meant to harm me in any way, it’s just very hard to be accepted in our culture if you’re anything but Catholic. Now, this doesn’t mean we went to church every Sunday or prayed before meals or things of that nature, but when I began to question their religion at about 9, they sent me to religion class at a church that was located next to my elementary school. When I got to sixth grade, I did something that my parents were very upset about and the only they could tell me when we got home was that I was an ungratefull brat and I was going to burn in hell. I made it very clear to them that didn’t believe in god, but that only made them more angry. At that point, I decided that I was done. We’ve had more arguments about it since then, but they’ve calmed down a bit. They’ll never completely accept it, I can tell, but at least they aren’t threatening me with the afterlife anymore. Now they just tell me that “I’ll too young to know what I believe, and I will see the truth someday.” Of course. I cannot accept the thought of one being having created the whole universe, but I’m willing to accept people who think differently than me. I want to be someone who understands at least a little about other religions before establishing personal thoughts about them, that's why I took this class.

    ReplyDelete