What is the significance of religion? Is it true that children are influenced by their parents’ religious beliefs? My situation is quite an interesting one. I was brought up into a Christian based household. My parents split up when I was three years old but weren’t officially divorced until I was five. In her time of hopelessness my mother turned to the glory of God. She saw the light that most people saw and recognized long ago. An esteemed colleague of hers was an active and avid attendee of non-denominational Christian church. This church was founded in New Jersey and held its services in a high school auditorium. Ever since then my mother has become an avid attendee of that church herself. She is well known by the other members now that she has been a member for the last eleven years. My mother grew a strong Christian foundation. Her exposure to the Church, along with its messages, stories and catchy sing-along hymns, brought change within her morals, perspectives and philosophies. Even her advice began to change from its normal clichés. “Do the right thing” now became “What would Jesus do?” “Take your time to think about it” now became, “Pray about it!” Though her change was obvious and visual, it brought more of a positive vibe to the atmosphere. When I was in the midst of my childhood, she brought me along with her. She believes in trying to shape my values because she wanted me to become, “A man of God.” To her, if my values weren’t successfully shaped then I would go to hell, no exceptions, no questions asked.
The church’s goals were quite simple: Give people incite on God’s word, and steer people in the right direction so that they may become successful Christians. Being a successful Christian means living by the word and sharing the word with others so that they may be ‘saved’ and pass the word along as well. The church’s goals for children were a bit more debatable. There are two ideals set out on the spectrum of religious belief. One end is total belief in God and all his teachings and the other is complete atheism. The church devalues the freedom their children have as Americans. We are living in a country and time period that you aren’t prosecuted or executed due to your religion of choice. That’s exactly it; our beliefs are a choice, nothing less and nothing more. Hypothetically, in the future, if I am a Christian, my wife is a Muslim, my daughter is a Buddhist, and my son is an atheist, I should be fine with their choice. If they choice to go to Mosque rather than a Church, who am I to judge their choice? The beauty of life is derived from diversity. How bland would our world be if everyone was exactly the same? What makes our world unique are the differences between people, culture, style, philosophies and the choices that we make. Learning to understand and view different perspectives can make us better people. It shines light on the who we are as people and open our minds up to new ideas. There are so many things we can learn from other people and cultures. Taking advantage of that information is vital and it shouldn’t be shunned by the church because of a belief that isn’t yet proven. Analyzing other cultures will tend to make their beliefs about children farfetched. They believed in shaping the children into strongly Christian and Bible influenced individuals. On the surface there seems nothing wrong with that, right? Well, it is different to say something rather than experience it. The experience was a bit strange and I never was convinced otherwise. From day one, I’ve always felt like I was forced to believe in certain things, and forced to become this “model Christian Child” as they wanted. I was forced to believe in God, forced to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, believe in giving offering to the church, forced to believe that my pastor is a direct link in between me and God, forced to believe my sins could be washed away by repenting to God and forced to believe that attending church each and every Sunday morning was vital and necessary. Along with my non religious father and my situation concerning both parents, it became rather difficult to find refuge in the Christian faith.
As a youth, I had a tendency to follow everything my brother did until I reached the end of elementary school. At that time, I closely and intensely viewed my brother morph into many things. At one point in time my brother was pretty religious. He participated in a multitude of church activities during his adolescence. My brother even attended a missionary trip to Virginia with other Christians his age. I later took notice that his surroundings began to have an effect on him. I took notice that he began to change into a different person soon after. He became something different and something darker. The religious person who told me to believe in God no longer was present. His perspective of church and religion changed and he kept those thoughts to himself for the most part. I, on the other hand, was the only person he told about his notions and philosophies. His voiced hinted of doubt toward God’s existence. My brother never dared to tell my mother of his feelings. He knew that if he ever dared to tell her, she would be heartbroken and that she would write him off completely. Still to this day he has never summoned up the courage to tell her of his feelings. I soon heard him say things that I would never dream of hearing him say. Most of these things consisted of questions. “If God were real, why would he allow that to happen?” “If God were real, why hasn’t he exposed himself?” “If God were real, why do the events of the Bible never occur in everyday life now?”
These questions began to fester inside of me as well. I guess you could say that his notions and questions bothered me. I started to view change in myself as well. Opinions in my mind began to take form and I found myself full of doubt. Though, since day one, I have always questioned my mother’s faith of choice, his questioning gave me reassurance that it was ok to question and think. As I got older I realized the importance science had on our civilization. Technology, along with scientific fact we need everyday wouldn’t be around for us to use if religion and the Bible were never questioned for its farfetched stories and beliefs. I’m sure you could guess that my mother is not a big fan of science or Charles Darwin. She followed absolutely everything the church and pastors believed in. She never questioned a thing; she never showed signs of venturing off into other ideas. Every movie and book they protested, she was right there alongside them. When Harry Potter was released in the movie theatres, I was in third grade. All my friends and their parents went to go see the movie together. My mother didn’t allow me to see the first Harry Potter or read the book. According to my friends, Harry Potter was an amazing book to read. During my childhood I was deprived the chance to experience that of which my friends did experience. My friends loved the movies and books. The reason behind the church’s disapproval of Harry Potter was due to the content. The church didn’t want the Christian Children to be exposed to witchcraft and wizardry. This shows signs of manipulation through the words of the bible.
This plan of action from the church was disappointing for me to view. Not only was I disturbed by their want of complete control, but I was also filled with question. Education has gifted me with a view of perspective. This view has helped me reform my own opinions and rarely change them unless proven wrong. Through my studies at Dwight- Englewood I’ve read a lot of books. One of the books I’ve read was Fahrenheit 451. In that book the society banned the reading of books for all people. They had firemen dedicated for the burning of books. Montag was a fireman and they would come in and torch the person’s house to the ground. The society of this universe disallows books because the books bring in ideas that could contradict the society’s beliefs and foundations. Books promote outside knowledge that could change the mind of people. By changing people’s minds about things, you could spark the inspiration for a revolution. The society from Fahrenheit 451 wanted a certain set of rules to stick. They wanted no rebellion or revolution to form and by ridding their city of books, they kept a strong hold upon their society. This book reminded me of the church’s hold upon the kids. They deprived us of the experience to see Harry Potter. They felt we would be influenced on the sights of the movie and that it would have an effect on us as people.
I have experienced many religious conflicts with my family members. My mother and I have had several religious discussions regarding various topics. Though it seems like a bad thing to lock horns with your family, you learn a lot about other people’s perspectives. As recent as last year, I’ve come to terms with whom I am and where I come from. I am an individual who doesn’t function on the actions of other people. Regardless of my mother’s constant craving of religious prowess, I have been raised to lead my own life and not follow after other people. Coming to terms with my personality also makes me appreciate myself. Appreciating the roots of your personality goes hand in hand with appreciating your personality itself. The roots of all our characteristics reside in our parents and experiences as young adults. Though I disagree with my mother’s overwhelming amount of religious behavior, which is what makes her who she is. I’m thankful for her everyday and I am proud to call her my mother. Though I feel these emotions toward her I couldn’t dream of the day I reveal my true and honest feelings about religion to her. Until that day approaches me, I hope for the best and hope that she understands my perspective. Without my mother’s religious change I would never be the person I am today. She help me shape my personality into something I am proud to call my own. I am my own person in every way possible and that is something respectable and that is what life is all about. Though I oppose the tough and rigorous path of being a model Christian male, I will always be grateful for their influence on my life. Thanks to them, I have seen my light and I will continue on my journey to walk this earth in search of my own hope, faith and truth.
