What other religion(s) do you have in your family?

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My wife, children and I are Catholic and the only Catholics in the whole extended family.
  • Dad’s side is nominally Presbyterian, but mostly agnostic
  • Mom’s side is predominately ex-Lutheran (LCMS) and now non-denomiational and agnostic. One on my mom’s cousins was an LCMS pastor, but left because the LCMS wouldn’t “get with the times” on women’s issues (abortion, female pastors, etc)
  • In my immediate family
  • I have two sisters that are Christian-ish. By that I mean they believe in Christ, but don’t think worship is required and one accepts reincarnation and other new age philosophies (think almost Hindu that sees Christ as something like an incarnation of Krishna 🤷).
  • Third sister and her daughters are church of LGBT and abortion… those are the highest ideals in their mind. Their leader is his majesty, Emperor Obama.
  • My brother, sister in-law and their kids are staunch atheists.
  • My wife’s family is a mixed bag, but tend toward agnostic. Her maternal grandmother was ex-Catholic and left the Church because she couldn’t get an annulment from her first husband.
Opps… Forgot to say if it caused issues. For the most part no. Since most of my family is non-religious it doesn’t come up much. It’s only my sister that worships all things evil… errr… liberal that has problems with our religion. She has disowned us because we are so intolerant. Funny how we should tolerate her views, but she won’t tolerate ours.
 
I’m one of only two Catholics that I know of in my entire family. The rest of the family is some brand of protestant (Baptist, Methodist mostly, I think) and then my parents are kind of new age-ish with my Dad being partly Christian, but he’s also a Mason and he believes in reincarnation. My Mom - she’s a mish-mash of astrology, wicca, and reincarnation.

My mom stopped speaking to me last year. My conversion to Catholicism is a factor but only because my Mom thinks that her cousin (the only other Catholic in the family) converted me and my Mom is angry with her cousin for an unrelated reason so that makes Catholicism bad. Or something. It doesn’t make any sense, and I’ve explained to my dad twice that our cousin found out I became Catholic the way most people did- when I announced my baptism/confirmation on Facebook at Easter.

Oh, and 1 Jewish Uncle. Several agnostics or at least non-practicing Christians, and one atheist.
 
Wow lets see:

-I’m Episcopalian and my soon to be daughter will be as well
-My wife is Nothing in Particular
-I’ve got an Agnostic sister.
-I’ve got an Atheist brother, cousin, and wife’s cousin’s entire family.
-I’ve got a cousin whose entire family is Lutheran (and he converted from Armenian -Orthodox to his wife’s Lutheranism)
-I’ve got an aunt and uncle who are non-practicing Armenian Orthodox (she was a convert from Catholicism)
-I’ve got several cousins, cousins-in-law, and extended family who are Nothing in Particular (several of whom were baptized Catholics or Armenian Orthodox)
-I’ve got a bunch of Lapsed Catholics including my dad, and a couple of uncles and aunts (several of whom are divorced including my Godfather)
-My Godmother aunt is a non-practicing divorced Christian of some kind
-My mom and her mom (Grandma) are both Cafeteria Catholics
-My wife’s grandmother is non-practicing Methodist
-My wife cousin and her husband (soon to be daughter’s Godparents) are Non-Denominational Christians (and the only actively practicing Christians other than myself and my Lutheran cousin)
-Some Mormons (various levels of practicing) in the extended family

Never really stopped to think about it but we have quite the spread of Christian faith groups in my extended family. The only real common trait is that almost no one is practicing anymore. At best they show up on major holidays or for big family events that might be held in a church. It is never an issue however since most are non-practicing and it just never comes up.

The only friction I can recall in recent years was that my wife’s cousin (the one who is going to be my daughter’s godparents), wanted to be her sister’s kids godmother as well if she baptized her kids. But her sister’s husband is a pretty hard line atheist and forbade the kids from being baptized. And while the sister claims an amorphous “Christianity” she’s really more an atheist in practice due to her husband’s wishes. Everyone was a little put off by the hard line he took us knowing his wife isn’t entirely Atheist.

The only other friction was between my grandmother and her sister (who started the branch of the family who are Mormon by converting for her second husband to Mormonism). The two of them rarely spoke for the rest of the latter’s life after she converted to Mormonism mainly because she kept trying to convert everyone else in to the LDS Church.
 
3 Catholics (myself included, all converts).

4 Anglicans (one aunt, 2 cousins and another cousin’s wife).

At least 1 (possibly more) cousin who is Evangelical.

All the rest are either Dutch Reformed, Lapsed Dutch Reformed or Former Dutch Reformed turned non-denominational Christians.
 
Both myself and my daughter are practicing Catholics. My son, the philosopher, doesn’t believe in anything, including things you can see and touch. My husband is a pagan, according to my parish priest, since he has never been Baptized. or ever affiliated with any faith tradition. He does believe in God and sees the wisdom and beauty of the Catholic church. M in Law is a “holy roller” i.e. church of God and Prophesy, sis and br. in law, non Practicing Catholics, Husbands’ sister Baptist who rarely attends services (not really necessary) They all attend Midnight Mass with me on Christmas, as they now view it as part of our Christmas tradition!! Not sure why, exactly, but I love it! Lively Q & A afterwards. We all get along very well, praise God.🙂
 
  • Me = practicing, orthodox Catholic
  • Wife = secular Reform Jew (possible agnostic… she won’t discuss her beliefs with me)
  • Kids = wife is keeping them in limbo (we married before I reverted to the faith. Wife doesn’t want them to be Catholic. Please pray for us)
  • Mother = Conservative Cafeteria Catholic, but hasn’t been to mass in a while and hasn’t been to confession in years.
  • Father = Former Catholic, now mostly Baptist / Non-denominational Protestant. Was re-baptized. Not in good standings with the Church
  • Sister = non-practicing Catholic - married to non-practicing Methodists, kids are not baptized. Not in good standings with the Church
  • Sister = Former Catholic (and one of first Altar Girls allowed) - married to former Baptist, she was re-baptized. Now they are Evangelical Presbyterians. Not in good standings with the Church
  • Brother = non-practicing Catholic - married to non-practicing Methodist, child is not baptized. Not in good standings with the Church
  • Brother = confirmed Catholic, but not sure what he considers himself. Married to woman who attends UCC Church, and Brother goes with her when they go to church. Not in good standings with the Church
  • Grandparents = 3 are still alive (grandmothers in 80s, grandfather in 90s) and they are devout Catholics.
  • Aunts & Uncles (parents siblings, not including great uncles) = none are practicing Catholics and none are currently in good standings with the Church.
  • First Cousins = of all my first cousins on both sides of my family, I’m the only practicing Catholic. One of my cousins does attend Mass occasionally with his kids (they are in CCD), but since his wife is a heretical Catholic (pro abortion, pro SSM, pro birth control, etc – she even called Comcast to cancel FoxNews from their TV!) they are not devout. All other cousins are not in good standing with the Church and rarely attend Church (if not officially agnostic)
  • Father-in-Law - atheist or agnostic Reform Jew
  • Mother-in-Law - secular Reform Jew
  • Sister-in-Law - secular (perhaps agnostic) Reform Jew
My family situation causes me lots of concern, especially for my own children. I work on my family as much as possible, but sometimes it’s like talking to a wall.
 
Nearly all of my family is Catholic, either practicing or lapsed. Two are apostates and some more disconnected family are Protestants that used to be Catholic. The two apostates can cause a lot of trouble sometimes, while the lapsed Catholics don’t cause any problems.
 
Moses613 said:
This sounds very unusual!
Click to expand...
Not really. Many Catholic families have a tradition of grooming one son for the clergy and one daughter to be a nun especially when Catholic families had many children. In my culture (not anglo-Australian) it is a “norm” rather than the exception. Prior to Vatican II having a priest-son or a daughter-nun was seen as being “blessed by God” and conferred status on the parents.

They are not forced into the vocations. My first cousin has 9 children, one son has applied to seminary school and one daughter is a nun. They answered their “calling” of their own volition.
 
In my immediate family I’m the only Catholic. In my extended family I have a handful, small handful, of cousins who are Catholic. Most of my family is some flavor of protestant.
 
JustaServant said:
Many families are very divided in terms of religion. What other religions do you have in your family and does it cause problems?
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For purposes of this question, is Christianity a religion? (I stress “For purposes of this question” because I don’t want to start another debate on that question. Especially since we have a whole thread for that.)

Many in my family are non-religious, just slightly religious, or more-spiritual-than-religious. But out of those of us who *are *religious, we’re all Christians.
 
Moses613 said:
This sounds very unusual!
Click to expand...
It might be for some families, but it’s not for my ultra-religious family. We have had Cardinals in our family - way back - and two of my great-uncles from way back were Archbishops of Strasbourg, France. I lived in a Carmelite cloister from age five to age eighteen. It’s par for the course for us.
 
JustaServant said:
Many families are very divided in terms of religion. What other religions do you have in your family and does it cause problems?
Click to expand...
We are all Christians - we just attend different churches. Lutheran, Methodist, Non-denominational, Baptist…
 
Catholic on my Mother’s side though I don’t know any of them who takes it seriously. My Dad is apparently Presbyterian but never talks about it or seems to care. I’m the only one who has taken religion at all seriously thats still alive. My great Aunt however was a Catholic Nun, I wish I could have met her.
 
JustaServant said:
Many families are very divided in terms of religion. What other religions do you have in your family and does it cause problems?
Click to expand...
Our family is mostly Baha’i… My in-laws are Baptists and we share in each others’ Holy Days… My in-laws approved of our Baha’i marriage and so there really hasn’t been many problems as to dividing the family.
 
None. I’m the only religious person in my family. It hurts because I’d do anything to have them converted. I’d do anything to make them see that Islam is true, particularly the esoteric branch called Sufism. It breaks my heart to know that they aren’t interested in a pure spiritual life. The thought of my family members suffering in Hell is hard to swallow.
 
My Mother-In-Law Cradle Catholic
She had seven children all raised in The Catholic Church
Two currently Catholic
One Quaker
One Presbyterian
One Baptist
Two do not go to church
Most Nephews and Nieces do not attend any church

My side of the family
Methodist
Presbyterian
Baptist
Mennonite
No Denomination (Community Churches)
A few who attend no church (includes one of my sons)
 
It’s good to see what backgrounds other folks come from. I was raised in the Presbyterian faith tradition by Presbyterian parents. My father was nominally Lutheran but converted to my mom’s faith tradition when they got married.

Mom and Dad + 5 siblings = Presbyterians.

One brother = Church of Christ (married a C of C lady). Seems to be happy there.

One brother = Pentecostal non-denominational after joining “Jesus Movement” back in 1970’s. Attends a small church where everyone knows each other and pastor has a full-time job outside the church.

One older sister was a Jehovah’s Witness for awhile after they claimed they could help save her troubled marriage. Now she is pretty much non-religious since her divorce.

Me = Assembly of God for several years. Have recently started attending a conservative Methodist church because I missed the more traditional and sacramental aspects of the Christian faith, like the creeds and singing hymns instead of just Rock 'n Roll praise songs.

**Did it cause any family issues? **
It hurt my mother’s feelings when I left the Presbyterian church when I was younger because she took it personally as a slight against her faith, which it wasn’t.

Between siblings, we don’t “talk religion” as a general rule at family gatherings. We all respect one another’s faith traditions.

When I became interested in Catholicism about a year or so ago, my wife (Assembly of God) about blew a gasket and threatened to leave me if I ever became Catholic. She said she could never become Catholic and said if we didn’t attend the same church, we shouldn’t be married.

We compromised and are now attending a Methodist church in our city, which is more traditional than she prefers but has more of the aspects in a church that I was longing for, but isn’t Catholic.
 
Me-the only Catholic in my immediate family

1 sis and 1 brother: non denominational

1 sis: attends Mass on Saturday night and all black Baptist church on Sunday morning. Was pentecostal at one time This sister married a Muslim but none of her children are Muslim.

daughter: secular jew

son in law: Episcopalian

grandchildren: no religion

son: non denom

daughter in law: non denom

Forgot to add: no problems among family members about religion. We do have one Calvary Chapel part of the family and they are the only ones with issues concerning the other religious beliefs in the family.
 
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