The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Anyway, does anyone else have friends', family members', or even just your own slightly mismatched beliefs to talk about, in this vein?

I'm curious if you have any, or if you see them from other people. The specific kind I'm thinking of are ones where you generally don't believe in something, but something about it is ingrained hugely so you still believe it anyway, if that makes sense?

For example:
1) My dad is not religious. However, he was raised in a very Christian household, and despite not believing in Christianity anymore, still will refuse to do things forbidden by his upbringing, not by his parents but by their god, even if there's no logical reason for him to still do so and he knows it.

2) My mom is not religious either, and her family is barely. She thinks believing in magic and fairies is for kids, ghosts don't exist, and so on. Even if there's some grain of spirituality about higher purpose, she very much  does not believe in any sort of entities, deity or otherwise, or manifested energy, or whatever. So that's all pretty normal and basic, I think.

She is, however, terrified of ouija boards. I was forbidden to use one when I was younger, and when she started getting me books about witchy stuff, she asked specifically, several times, if I was contacting anything, or doing anything 'dark.'

3) My aunt too is the general not-christian-anymore-and-apathetic type, see^ all the stuff about her sister (my mom). She encouraged her daughter to believe in fairies, but she would be the one giving my cousin 'fairy gifts' to feed the belief.

It is a longer and interesting story, so I will maybe add it later, but the short of it is that despite the above, if you ask her at the right time/mood, she will tell you about how her friend was possessed by a demon, and another was pestered by a witch (this is the long part).

3a) The friend with the witch bothering her was apparently the most rational, mundane-explanation-finding person there is, but she is sure that the witch put a love spell on her husband.

Anyway, does anyone else have friends', family members', or even just your own slightly mismatched beliefs to talk about, in this vein?

I'm curious if you have any, or if you see them from other people. The specific kind I'm thinking of are ones where you generally don't believe in something, but something about it is ingrained hugely so you still believe it anyway, if that makes sense?

My dad raised me atheist, but would not brook any disbelief of fairies.

I think the most disturbing I've heard of was a friend raised fundie Christian who became an atheist. When Prop 8 (CA vote that defined marriage as between a man and a woman in the Californian constitution) was up for voting on she voted against it but despite not believing in God, she felt terrible guilt at some irrational level voting against Prop 8 "as if God was terribly disappointed in me." She was angry at herself for feeling that because she knows it's stupid, and even if she believed in that God she'd gladly defy Him on principle.

Think that's bad? I've heard atheists talk about still having nightmares about going to hell years after what they call deconverting.

The more conservative types of Christianity weild guilt like a set of shackles.

Even though I'm a Christopagan and I didn't exactly identify as a Christian in high school, I still have issues surrounding my sexuality and how to express it. Even my pagan sister (because of our upbringing) that taught me about paganism and LGBT tolerance, had issues with sexuality as well and passed them down to me. I grew up with contradictory ideologies. Such as wait until marriage (or at least age 18) and/or use a condom/contraception before marriage.

I was raised Roman Catholic. I am no longer Roman Catholic. However, I still get very defensive when people start dissing Catholicism. Part of me just knee-jerks and goes "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL, HERETIC!!!"

Still, another part of it is that it was part of my upbringing, and that when people insult the veneration of Mary and the Saints, or the ritual of the Mass, I feel like they're insulting my family.

My dad raised me atheist, but would not brook any disbelief of fairies.

Most people I've met who don't believe in type A of supernatural being, also don't believe in type B of supernatural being. I guess it's more surprising to me than contradictory per se, but it's in the same vein as the original post so I figured it counted.

Anyway, does anyone else have friends', family members', or even just your own slightly mismatched beliefs to talk about, in this vein?

I was thinking about posting your first one as well, so high five?

I totally understand the second. My close family couldn't care less about my religion (other than, apparently, that it doesn't involve demons or ouija boards), but my Oma does not have to know.