Religion in an Individualistic Society

During my freshman year at SUNY Oneonta I took a class on world religions. I remember that my professor warned the class about entering a relationship without discussing religion. I thought at the time, "How can you discuss something so important and serious at the start of a relationship with another person?" It would be awkward, as if it was an interview for a future marital arrangement. It turns out that during the time I was taking the class, I started dating my boyfriend, Rudy. Rudy and I have very different beliefs about religion and now, two years later, it has brought up some very important issues. Would we raise our child with or without religion? Is it possible to raise a child without religion to become a moral adult? Can a child without religion want to practice religion when raised in such an individualistic culture as that in the U.S.? What circumstances lead to the development or the loss of beliefs? Although personal characteristics and situations have a great impact on individual lives, it is also necessary to look at the bigger picture. Using my sociological imagination I intend to analyze the place of religion and religious beliefs in my relationships in a broader social and cultural context. This is because our beliefs are often affected by the relationships we have with others--such as the relationships of mother to daughter or husband to wife--and with society at large. In her essay 'For the Love of Our Many Lives" (2002), Stephanie Roth stresses the same point when she explores how her relationships with her parents led her to make and then change important decisions about her choice of schools for higher education. This is also what I intend to explore in the context of my attitudes towards religion. What choices affect our lives and do we really make them ourselves or are we on a life course that nothing can change? Is religion relevant to our moral self and social identity? I was raised as a Lutheran Protestant. I still practice this religion, professing: I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen." (Apostle's Creed, Dr. Martin Luther: The Small Catechism). Lutherans are not very strict or formal in their practice. In my experience I have had every opportunity to develop my own beliefs, both by my church and my mother. To me being a Lutheran is an ascribed status. I was born into it and even though I do have the power to leave this group, I will not. Rudy was raised as a Catholic. As a child he went to a private Catholic school and believed in God, Jesus, the saints, the holy mother Mary and the pope's divine power. Rudy developed very different beliefs as he grew up. Today he does not believe in religion as a whole. He believes in spirituality, Karma, and the possibility of a higher being. Rudy's experience as a young Catholic was not as liberal as mine was as a Lutheran. The Catholic religion is very strict in its methods of practice and its beliefs. Rudy could also feel the fear and sadness from his mother if he decided not to believe in Catholicism but left it behind anyway. It is obvious that Rudy's new religion is an achieved status. If a child is raised in a household by parents who do not have the same beliefs the child may become confused about her or his own identity. In her essay, "Honor Thy Father and Mother" (2002), Nancy Chapin states, "Parents are transmitters of attitudes that the child adopts in forming a self-image . …