An American First

@noisette47 my paternal grand-parents were Plymouth Brethren so didn't approve of my dad marrying an ex RC or their going to nurse lepers in east Africa as Mary Slessor was their heroine. Visits to them were infrequent but always miserable except if it was fine weather. Granddad was a keen gardener and outside was the only time he ever talked. He'd been gassed and wounded in WW1 and I never remember him saying anything indoors except grace if there was food. He died when I was about 13 and my gran sold up and moved to Canada to be with her youngest daughter who'd married a Baptist missionary she met in west Africa.

 

It's actually quite interesting to read these posts about the various religious backgrounds and how it has affected families over the last couple of generations. I suppose my grandparents and parents classed themselves as Church of England but apart from going to Sunday Scool as a young child, I don't recall religion ever being being pushed at either myself or my sisters. My grandfather was gassed in the WW1 trenches but to be honest, he never spoke of it - he was a keen violinist and that was about the only thing he was keen to pass on to us. My father was a Flight Engineer on one of the Lancaster Bombers. Likewise, he would never talk about his experiences and he wasn't a regular church goer. My mother certainly went to church on a fairly regular basis - even more so after my father died at the age of 60 leaving her to live alone for another 35 years. She did find support from her local church community but she never preached to us as we got older.
It's up to each individual to decide what they choose to believe in or simply discard the whole idea IMO

 

With reference to various religious backgrounds, I worked with a guy who wouldn't eat anything in front of other people. I later discovered from a work colleague that he wouldn't eat in front of anybody who didn't belong to the same religious sect. No idea what sect that was.
I have very strong opinions about what this 'God' thing must be but never expand, or expound, on them unless somebody tries pushing their views on me.