Should I tell my parents I dont believe in God

[Steve Logic]

Hello, My names Steve, as you can obviously tell. I was raised catholic, and was put through ccd, and confirmation etc... It want until high school that I started questioning my beliefs. I was raised being told to believe and God and basically didn't have my own mind. I started to believe that science disproves God and the existence of any higher being. I'm not here to bash anyones beliefs or anything. I accept other peoples religions, considering the majority in my school is Christian.

 

My parents don't know Iv chosen this thinking. My dad is Cuban and I don't really know what his beliefs are. My mother on the other hand is a die hard catholic, and goes to church every Sunday.

 

I dont know whether or not I should tell me parents or not. When I grow up and have a family of my own, I will allow them to attend ccd and make confirmation because I don't want them to be outcasted.

 

I don't know whether to call myself atheist or not, technically I am. But some are pretty insane and I'm not like that. But, I guess theres insane people in every religion that don't have an open mind.

 

Any suggestions on how I should come about this to my parents or should I keep it to myself

[BabyPhoenix]

I dont know whether or not I should tell me parents or not.

 

What would you gain by telling them? Why have you thought about telling them?

 

When I grow up and have a family of my own, I will allow them to attend ccd and make confirmation because I don't want them to be outcasted.

 

Hopefully, when you are older, you will have the spine to stand up to social pressures like this, and serve as example to your children of someone who is able to stand up to unthinking social conformity.

[pricillia]

You don't need to believe in God to be a kind, caring, giving person.

 

My Father who has passed did not believe in God but he was loved by everyone. He was a good man. His second marriage was to a catholic, she went to church everyweek and she did not. They loved eachother and that is all that mattered.

 

If you say that this is a touchy subject for your parents, just tell them when the time is right and choose your words carefully.

[burning 4 revenge]

My dad is Cuban and I don't really know what his beliefs are.

If he's like the Cuban males I know chances are he doesn't give a sh*t.

 

The only things that will make him mad is if you turn out gay, or marry a Puerto Rican

 

Okay, that was bad I admit

[Steve Logic]

What would you gain by telling them? Why have you thought about telling them?

 

I wouldn't gain anything.. But don't you think me going to church and accepting communion is kind of awkward.

 

If he's like the Cuban males I know chances are he doesn't give a sh*t.

 

I think your right, lol

[IpAncA]

Would your parents think any less of you if you didn't believe what they did?

[Steve Logic]

I dont know what they would think... I don't think my dad would care, but my mom on the other hand might be somewhat upset I guess, and wouldn't understand

[BabyPhoenix]

I wouldn't gain anything.. But don't you think me going to church and accepting communion is kind of awkward.

 

Yes, I can see how that would be awkward for you.

 

I suppose the crux of the issue is this:

 

1. who do you want to please? (your mom my preserving her little world, or you by starting to build your own at the expense of hers), and

 

2. what is more important to you (preserving her fiction and maintaining the status quo, or revealing truths which might create fissures through your family)

[bluetuesday]

i was raised catholic and left the church.

 

i told my parents and they weren't thrilled about it at first but they got used to it pretty quickly. i was still the same person, they could see that.

 

never hide who you are. if people don't accept you, it's their problem. you only allow it to become your problem when you allow what other people think to affect you.

 

incidentally, science doesn't disprove god. if this is your thinking, it's flawed. albert einstein believed in a higher power. through science he discovered a universe so perfect and intricate he believed a higher power had brought it into existence. he believed that science was the discovery of the expression of this higher power. yet he also abandoned the religion in which he had been raised. organised religion is a worldly convention. not a godly one. so abandon away. the label doesn't matter.

 

but remember that atheism is also a belief system built on something you can never prove - in this case the non-existence of god. it's faith, by any other name.

 

and science is just one, incomplete, way of looking at the world. religion is another. equally incomplete. equally flawed. so science doesn't claim that god doesn't exist. science claims that the existence of god cannot currently be proven in the way current thinking attempts to prove things.

 

if you're clinging to science as an infallible world view, what the difference in clinging to the way you were brought up as an infallible world view? both ways of looking at the world are utlimately incorrect - in that they contain elements of truth but not complete truth.

 

there is a third way. you just haven't though of it yet.

[Steve Logic]

Well it just doesn't make sense to me. I Think that humans want to be comforted at thinking that there is a higher being, and that they can go to heaven, so there would be a purpose in life. I think God was just created in minds because people are afraid of death. Theres more to it then just that, its not something I just woke up and said "Oh, I dont believe in God." I thought about it for a very long time. The bible also seems to contradict itself it many ways.

 

and science is just one, incomplete, way of looking at the world. religion is another. equally incomplete. equally flawed. so science doesn't claim that god doesn't exist. science claims that the existence of god cannot currently be proven in the way current thinking attempts to prove things.

 

Well isn't the bible a book of stories? The bible isnt a primary source. Who knows how many times its been changed. Therefore, I dont believe they are equally flawed. The laws of science are actually proven, and have sense to it, they aren't just stories.

[Enema]

Perhaps a more accurate way to say it is, "I don't believe in the Catholic Religion"

 

I was raised christian and started to question what they took as fact when I was around 10-11. My mother was disappointed to know I wasn't going to follow the same line of thinking as her but it didn't really change our relationship at all.

 

It's not something you "need" to tell them, but if you do I don't imagine it will have any great impact.

[quankanne]

priscilla is right to suggest that you carefully chose how to share this information with your parents when the proper time presents itself. Don't go blurting out this kind of thing because you'll not only shock, but hurt, those you're trying very hard not to hurt or shock. By announcing this in a calm, rational manner, with what you've said about accepting other's beliefs, I think would be less upsetting because you're showing a certain maturity that would be hard to ignore, even as someone may disagree with your stance.

 

But don't you think me going to church and accepting communion is kind of awkward.

 

simple – not everyone receives communion when they go to Mass, and for differing reasons. I don't, because I'm technically married to a man who is still considered by the Church to be married to his first wife. No one asks why, they just accept that I don't receive communion. Same goes for those who feel they are not in a state of grace because they haven't received the sacrament of reconciliation in a month, a year, etc, they just don't go up for communion and no one says anything. If your parents ask why not, that's the time to let them know in that calm, rational way that you are not a believer, but because you respect the faith of the Catholics around you at Mass, you chose not to go for communion ...