Both: How religious is your family? What effect do you think they've had on your views?

submitted by worried19 from self.GCdebatesQT

Specifically regarding trans issues and the GC vs. QT debate, but you can also answer more broadly.

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[–]CatbugMods allow rape victim blaming in this sub :) 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Raised Lutheran by my grandparents, mother was a weird quasi pagan with all sorts of ideas about ghosts and indigo children and other nonsense.

Grandma was the type to say that god made gay/lesbian/gnc/transsexual people and it was up to him to judge them, and up to us and jesus to love them. Ma just hated any and everyone. Being transgender would just be a convenient excuse for her tbh.

Definitely prefer grandmas way of thinking, even if I don’t think god is real and I don’t love most people, but there’s no animosity or hatred either.

[–]worried19[S] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I grew up in a Christian household, but my parents weren't that religious. My grandparents were definitely, but to be honest my mom and dad didn't care too much. We had Christian influences like children's media and went to church and VBS and so forth, but that was at my grandmother's request. I don't think my family's religion had much effect on my views regarding trans people. I wasn't exposed to these issues at all. I was never taught about trans people, but I also never heard about either liberal or radical feminism. Things were pretty apolitical.

I suppose most of the adults at church were anti-gay, and so were the kids, but that wasn't a value reinforced at home. My mom had always said she would love us kids no matter what, and I never got what the big deal was about gay people. To the vague extent I was aware of trans people by middle school, I had the same feeling about them. I knew I wasn't "born in the wrong body" because I didn't hate my body, but I had no negative feelings about people who believed they were.

[–]DistantGlimmer 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

My mother is a Christian Catholic but not really religious and my father's family who I did not have much contact with growing up are Shiite Muslim but not fanatical about it (they were refugees from the theocratic religious revolution in Iran) . For a while an I got interested in paganism and identified as Wiccan for a while. I think that was connected to my interest in being GNC and feminism as it is a very Goddess-centered belief system so I found that kind of spoke to me. I grew uncomfortable with the parts of it that are frankly just superstition though and just went back to being agnostic which I am now.

I suppose I have always had a strong dislike for the kind of fanatical non-evidence-based religious-type thinking that we see so much in trans-activism. Certainly, people can be religious and not harm others with it but when you start trying to impose your beliefs on others and treating people who disagree with you as evil then I have a serious problem with that. I really think TRAs construct a secular belief system around gender idenity that mimics a lot of the worst aspects of religious doctrine.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I really think TRAs construct a secular belief system around gender idenity that mimics a lot of the worst aspects of religious doctrine.

So. Much. This. "Wokeness" in general, really, with TRA being a sect.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I grew up in a Christian household and my parents were pretty religious. Sadly, I learned as a child that being gay or trans was wrong and I felt guilt about those things that I’m probably still coping with. I feel like my parents have become more open minded about those things over time though partially due to having me as a child and having to balance what was good for me with those beliefs (also, my older brother who is gay, although he came out later in life).

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

My family went from strict catholic to joining a catholic cult. While my parents themselves were actually really liberal when I was young [that changed a lot later. Now they pretty much aren't but at least they don't bother me with It], the congregation I was in definitely wasn't. Thus I had enormous fear of God and hell, which basically kept me in the closet for the better part of my life. Took me years to actually overcome that fear once i accepted that I am trans even though I had been an atheist for almost 5 years by that point.

Besides that I never had any issues with trans/gay people. I never thought they would burn in hell. Don't ask me why I thought I would. I even debated a few of the cult priests during my time in that cult. Just because I couldn't understand how a God of love can call love a sin.

I don't think that my upbringing has affected my views. It has affected my personal relationship with theses issues a lot thou, so guess the jury is still out on this one.

[–]worried19[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

That must have been a difficult experience. I didn't even know there were Catholic cults. I guess there can be fundamentalists in any religion.

I never thought they would burn in hell.

Same here. I couldn't understand why a supposedly loving God would punish normal people. And I never believed in hell. I was taught it was real, but it always seemed bogus to me. I couldn't figure how God could send a perfectly nice person to hell just for being gay or Jewish or Catholic or some other religion.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If you wanna do more research on them: regnum christ for the laymen and legionaries of christ for the priests. There is also a youth organization called ECYD and NET where I was active most of the time.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My family was nominally Catholic, but I was pretty much allowed to run wild and figure it out for myself. I thought Mass was cool (I went a few times) but I didn't vibe with the whole orthodoxy or the idea of original sin or any of that. Occasionally I went to a Methodist service with a close friend, and a Presbyterian wedding service, but, same deal -- the rituals were nice, but I didn't vibe with the core beliefs. When I was a little older I read most of the KJV and the Catholic Catechism, trying to figure out if I'd missed something, but nope, couldn't get into it. So I had no indoctrinated sense of "humanity is fallen" or "those other people over there are evil" as a child. Plus there were at least one or two gay or lesbian cousins, aunts, or uncles in each generation of my family, and my mom treated that reality as utterly normal.

As I grew older I was exposed to other religions -- reformed Judaism, Sunni Islam, Buddhism. Again, the services were cool, but I just never clicked with any of the core beliefs. Until I started encountering the more esoteric Asian traditions -- Kashmir Shaivism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism. Those made sense to me in some unexpected ways. In the end, I guess I'm one of those "spiritual, not religious" people. I'm very rational, but I've had experiences all my life that I can't rationally explain, so I can't in good conscience say I'm an atheist or a materialist.

A whole lot of words to say I wasn't pre-programmed with the stresses of a too-tight-orthodoxy. I kiss the earth for that. I do feel that childhood religious trauma is responsible for a lot of dysfunction and corrupted self-regard among adults.

[–]theblackfleet 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My family wasn't religious but I'm Jewish and Italian. I'm a radfem and that's what informs my views on transgenderism and men. I became a radfem through life issues with male violence.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

My parents, hypocritical and cruel. They were pretend Christians in church.

They disowned me when I came out.

They hated lesbians/gays/trans equally.

I’m an atheist.

I believe that the trans movement is a cult.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They disowned me when I came out.

I know this doesn’t count for anything, but I’m so sorry you went through that. I feel like parents owe their children unconditional love and support.

[–]worried19[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Sorry to hear that. I'll never understand how people can do that to their kids.

[–]burninglikeabridge 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I grew up roman catholic. Never realized other religions were a thing until I moved to Canada even though half my family is Jewish. At 8 or 9 is when I realized there were other religions and what religion was, i thought it was just how everyone was. I was never a very religious person, my family believes in God and all that but the only one who regularly went to church and was more religious was my grandpa.

I had to clean the school on many weekends for questioning God and specifically I remember really being bothered by Jesus being reincarnated. I was not having it as a kid, it didn't make sense to me. I think my higher power is mother nature now.

[–]worried19[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I had to clean the school on many weekends for questioning God

Was it Catholic school? I can't think of a better way to turn a kid atheist than punishing them for questioning. Like you'd think they would know better.

[–]burninglikeabridge 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yup, it was a Roman catholic school. To be fair, I was an asshole kid but no child deserves to be treated like that for asking questions

[–]Mr_Dork 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

(Hi worried!)

My parents weren't very religious. I think we were technically Methodist or something. I never really went to church growing up.

I currently consider myself a "I don't care" when it comes to religion. (The made up word is apatheist)

Im not sure how it's affected my views except that im a little skeptical on taking things on 'faith', especially when they don't want you checking out any opposing views.

[–]worried19[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Hey Mr. Dork! That's a good point. I do slightly wonder if my non-acceptance of religion makes me less likely to believe what many activists want us to believe about gender. It feels like religious dogma, especially given the fact that so many of them insist it cannot be questioned.