Religion (Essay Number Two) - Sara

Okay, there were some really cool religion essays out there, and I already wrote my essay, but religion is really a big part of my life (sort of) and I had a lot of thoughts on the subject, so I wrote this. Enjoy.

In the world we live in today, many people grow up under the same roof (for at least part of their lives) with two different religions, or one religion and one anti-religion. The person will usually pick one faith (or lack thereof) and the other parent will get used to it.
Religion equalizes itself. It’s not easy, but we learn to cope and we live our lives. Many people in our class have written incredibly thoughtful essays on that process.

My process was a little bit different.

My parents have been separated for as long as I can remember. I cannot recall ever living under the same roof with both my mother and father together.

My mother is Catholic, while my father is steadfastly anti-organized religion. As they never lived together with me, the comfortable equilibrium most households reach never occurred. Certainly, my Jewish stepmother practices her religion, but a stepmother doesn’t have any hold on your beliefs. And besides, she is hardly devout and only celebrates the most major holidays. So on one side, you have Catholicism, and on the other, Agnosticism. There is no in-between.
As most people do, I eventually picked one. I ended up going with being agnostic. But my mother’s household is still undiluted Catholic. Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore my mother. I see my dad on weekends, but it isn’t the same. My mom is the more central parent. But I do not believe that there is an old man in the sky giving us blessings when we pray. However, my mom still takes her Catholic (maybe all Christians, I don’t know) responsibility to raise her children as Catholics. My siblings are believers. I argue with my mom a lot about religion, more that anything else. She still believes I need a “spiritual life”, even it isn’t a Catholic one. We’ll see. With my dad, it never comes up unless we’re talking about my mother. Instead of two indistinct worlds that are really one, I have two, distinct worlds that will never meet.

Sometimes I accidentally overhear my mom discussing my religion on the phone with her friends. She says that when she asks me about my religion, I start spouting my dad’s words. I don’t think this is true, but it will never be resolved either way.

My parents will never reach a compromise, quite simply because they very rarely have the chance for a conversation. They’re polar opposites, really, that won’t meet in the middle. Jumping from two different religious worlds is hard, but I wonder if it might be harder to have to live with one in the same house while choosing the other. I’ll never know.