Do you practice religion?

Growing up I was forced to go to church and practice Christianity. I suppose on some level I did enjoy church, and Sunday school because I had friends there, and us kids did fun things. I didn’t really question things.

However, when I was a teenager, there were some interesting things that happened…..very long story…….One thing is that I found out that a section of my dad’s family was originally Jewish but fled Nazi Germany, and was so scared of saying they were Jewish, that the family continued to practice Christianity and never returned to Judaism. That was an interesting revelation for me. and upon doing the Ancestry DNA test, I found that it shows that I am 15% Jewish/Israeli.

When I was about 17, my dad decided to take a trip to Israel to explore his roots, so off to Israel my parents went where they spent 3 weeks exploring the family history. My dad came back from Israel and announced that he is switching to Judaism, and that he is giving back my conformation papers because we are not going to practice Christianity. I didn’t know what to think at this point, but I was frustrated because I never had had any choices about what I was allowed to do religiously, and I rebelled and stated that I am not going to practice any religion. There were many arguments about religion until finally my dad gave up because I was turning 18, and he could no longer tell me what to do.

I didn’t really give up religion, but there were so many things that happened, that I do not practice it the way that I used to. I did allow my son to explore religion and I exposed him to different things so he could choose. I explained to him why I did this, and he understood. So, I do not practice religion the way that I used to, but I am not against it either, and occasionally go to church.

Ironically my dad switched to Catholicism……….LOL.