Extended Families

Gift from the sis-in-law. Given the spelling (Zelot) and graphics, I think it refers to a video game character. Was never sure. I just wore it to please the giver.
 
Aupmanyav said:
Are they originally from Tamilnadu (because of the forehead saffron dot)? I too have a Tamil sis-in-law.
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Fiji Indians came from many different regions of India as indentured laborers under British rule in the 1800s. Over the years as one clan intermarried with another, many different traditions became woven into one. In that pic, we had just finished a Ramayana reading. Everyone got a turmeric deal on their forehead afterward! Live long and prosper as it were. :)
 
My significant other (I will call her "Wife") calls herself a Christian, though her belief is actually deist; she likes to believe that she has the same faith as her Christian pastor father. I do not argue. She is Christian then.

Her son is an atheist apatheist; that is, he does not believe and does not feel like the question of a god's existence is really important.

As for me, I am an atheist activist. I like to speak my mind online about how religion causes problems and that the best thing about God is his nonexistence.

Believe it or not, we get along great. Wife and I like to talk about how we feel about God and belief, in a respectful way. She tries not to worry for my soul and I try not to worry that she thinks lesser of me because I am an atheist. We do well together.

I keep my activism to myself so that Wife does not get too upset. I am learning to be kinder to believers in the meantime.
 
Cino said:
So, how does religion play into your extended famy life?
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My family resent God. I love God and am committed to serving God even though it can be hard at times. Spiritual value precedes and confirms the output of emotional and mental survival.
 
Prycejosh1987 said:
My family resent God. I love God and am committed to serving God even though it can be hard at times. Spiritual value precedes and confirms the output of emotional and mental survival.
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I can imagine it to complicate family reunions...
 
Cino said:
In my extended family there are deep rifts and some demilitarized zones. On one parent's side, the religious affiliation is impeccable many generations back. On the other side, there were marriages outside the ancestral faith, children born outside marriage, religious conversions, apostasy...

And on my SO's side, the situation is similar. And the bickering, and the gossip, and the terrible desolation left in the wake of any inheritance, siblings not talking, sides being taken, people falling out of favor...

Some relatives try to frame it all through their beliefs, others, through their appeals to loyalty, yet others are opportunistic.

The various creeds and faiths seem to play an important role in keeping it all together, though I can't say how it works. Maybe because the rituals evoke some respect in everyone, which prevents us from going at each other's throats.

So, how does religion play into your extended famy life?
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As long as I can remember I have always been someone who values honesty and who is always curious. My views on religion, politics, etc. are usually different from everyone else. If you ever watched the television show "Adam Ruins Everything", that's me in a nutshell. You can put me in a room with atheists and Christians and in a few minutes they'll all unite in throwing me out of the room. Same with Republicans and Democrats. Everyone expects everyone to choose sides. While everyone is heading to social media to express their opinions on a matter, I'm the one usually asking questions or presenting facts for both sides. I expect people to think and I am most happy around people who make me think.

So as one might expect, in my family I'm a bit of an enigma. From a religious standpoint I don't even know what to call myself. Most people see the world in black and white, so some of my family members are very irritated with me for not choosing black or white. Thankfully some parts of my family are composed of people of different ethnicities and religions so they at least have different perspectives. I didn't think family members had too much of an issue with me until one family member went off on a rant on social media about my religious beliefs. He was so rude and obnoxious that people who didn't even know me were asking me what I did to the guy. It started with politics and escalated to religion. It was then that I realized that this was a matter that had been on some of my family members' minds, but was being held in. So when I was recently married I only had three family members show up to the wedding from that side of the family. Their issue? I wouldn't choose a side. Other family members were upset that I didn't have a religious wedding. My wife and I actually wrote a script with a comedian and had him officiate our wedding. It was fun, hilarious, and beautiful. But it wasn't normal, and neither am I.

One might say that religion is what is dividing my family. But it's an issue that plagues many families. If you don't fit into that cookie cutter mold they want you to fit into, then you are discarded. So I don't believe religion or even politics has much to do with the divisions in my family. Too many people expect everyone else to fit into their opinionated criteria. I believe that closed minds are the biggest issue.
 
I resonate alot with what you say. I love the interfaith exploration and literally walk thru this field of religions picking the ideas that appeal to my sense of life, the ones that assist on this journey helping to propel me thru it without leaving to much of a wake for others. (I suppose others have other perspectives)

The republican dem, conservative liberal, left right debates I find ludicrous and feel 90% of what is spewed by MSNBC and FOX to be hogwash designed to incite the confirmation bias of their target audiences.

I am a mutt amongst a bunch of purebreads
 
My mom came to a saving faith in Christ during the Jesus movement in the 70's. So I grew up a believer with my fair share of back sliding in my teens and 20's. My mom led my dad and my grandfather to the Lord and it just sort of grew to the rest of the family. You could argue and say that it was family culture but there have been absolute manifestations of God's presence in our lives.. that cannot be explained away as coincidences. He is my everything.

I used to identify as a republican but not so much anymore.. I don't know what I am.. I vote on one issue only and it always seems to be the republicans that have the stance I vote on. I do NOT agree on the immigration policy and the very reason I do not is because of my faith. I get rather heated about it as I have very close friends who illegally came from Mexico and I don't know what my life would be like without them. We took Texas from them and it's celebrated?!? We flaunt our wealth and way of life.. why wouldn't someone want to come here if the are living in war torn and impoverished countries. It's just sad to me how they are treated once they get here. I hate how indigenous people are treated in this country from the very beginning till now. I hate how people of color are treated.. all you have to do is watch some police auditing videos or research how the projects came to be and the rules they had to follow in order to qualify.. the father's couldn't live in the home and gangs were born to replace a broken family. It's systemic genocide perpetuated by our government.

I feel like the USAs time is up and history shows the length of time is about overdue.

My family doesn't discuss politics with me because they don't have a leg to stand on and my points are valid. I'm a dog with a bone and won't back down. Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of mine you do unto me. Period.

I have one brother who won't talk about God with me. Not that he is an unbeliever but he thinks I get preachy! Go figure 😂🤣😂
 
Faithfulservant said:
My mom came to a saving faith in Christ during the Jesus movement in the 70's. So I grew up a believer with my fair share of back sliding in my teens and 20's. My mom led my dad and my grandfather to the Lord and it just sort of grew to the rest of the family. You could argue and say that it was family culture but there have been absolute manifestations of God's presence in our lives.. that cannot be explained away as coincidences. He is my everything.

I used to identify as a republican but not so much anymore.. I don't know what I am.. I vote on one issue only and it always seems to be the republicans that have the stance I vote on. I do NOT agree on the immigration policy and the very reason I do not is because of my faith. I get rather heated about it as I have very close friends who illegally came from Mexico and I don't know what my life would be like without them. We took Texas from them and it's celebrated?!? We flaunt our wealth and way of life.. why wouldn't someone want to come here if the are living in war torn and impoverished countries. It's just sad to me how they are treated once they get here. I hate how indigenous people are treated in this country from the very beginning till now. I hate how people of color are treated.. all you have to do is watch some police auditing videos or research how the projects came to be and the rules they had to follow in order to qualify.. the father's couldn't live in the home and gangs were born to replace a broken family. It's systemic genocide perpetuated by our government.

I feel like the USAs time is up and history shows the length of time is about overdue.

My family doesn't discuss politics with me because they don't have a leg to stand on and my points are valid. I'm a dog with a bone and won't back down. Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of mine you do unto me. Period.

I have one brother who won't talk about God with me. Not that he is an unbeliever but he thinks I get preachy! Go figure 😂🤣😂
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Thanks for sharing. However, I have to add something. We took California from them. Texas? It's actually a story of irony. The area of Texas was basically empty. Mexico allowed settlers to become citizens as long as they agreed to become Catholic and agreed not to have slaves. This is how Texas became populated. There are probably more Mexicans living in Texas today than there ever was in the past. For quite awhile I lived amongst Mexican immigrants. Many would tell me the irony of Texas. It was part of Mexico. Then a huge influx of gringos happened. Then the land was overtaken by the gringos and became part of the U.S. I hate how both parties handle our border as well. That's a loaded subject on its own. But I've heard the horror stories of our border from friends who crossed that border. While I was in college I used to spend time helping illegal immigrants become citizens. By the way, not a single white person passed the sample citizenship exam I presented to them at work. Just saying.
 
moralorel said:
By the way, not a single white person passed the sample citizenship exam I presented to them at work
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Oh, we have those here in Germany as well. Same observation regarding those who get citizenship from birth to German parents.
 
I know I would do worse than anyone who had just studied for the citizen test! Whatever I learned was over half a century ago! But it reminded me...

Years ago (decades?) I got our church to do a quiz at an outreach booth at a fair. We had folks taking the quiz at one time thruout the day and while there were some outliers our results were not dissimilar to the poll results. Oh, except our church members did better than the atheists

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0105/Are-you-smarter-than-an-atheist-A-religious-quiz/Indonesia
 
moralorel said:
Thanks for sharing. However, I have to add something. We took California from them. Texas? It's actually a story of irony. The area of Texas was basically empty. Mexico allowed settlers to become citizens as long as they agreed to become Catholic and agreed not to have slaves. This is how Texas became populated. There are probably more Mexicans living in Texas today than there ever was in the past. For quite awhile I lived amongst Mexican immigrants. Many would tell me the irony of Texas. It was part of Mexico. Then a huge influx of gringos happened. Then the land was overtaken by the gringos and became part of the U.S. I hate how both parties handle our border as well. That's a loaded subject on its own. But I've heard the horror stories of our border from friends who crossed that border. While I was in college I used to spend time helping illegal immigrants become citizens. By the way, not a single white person passed the sample citizenship exam I presented to them at work.
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There was a lot of empty land in the west that we moved into. It's one of the tragedies of our US history.
 
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