I believe that the way my parents raised me has brought both good and bad things to my life. Positively it has taught me to have an open mind and to accept all shapes and forms of religion, allowing me to have my own form of god or faith morph in my head as I saw fit. Negatively, there is nothing to be attached to. I identify as agnostic because that's the label that fits me most nearly. I have nothing to grab onto, no community to touch base with, nothing to firmly believe in. This makes me self-relient in finding my own values.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
My Personal Confusion
In Nightfather Carl Friedman has some trouble dealing with the issue of religion. When Nellie takes her to the church she doesn't really know what to think. From what I've gathered in the story, Carl's family has not raised them to have a fix religious opinion. In this manner, our families are very much alike. There was a slight overtone of atheism from my father, I joined a choir who sang christian songs and my grandparents were very light christians, but besides that my two sisters and I were totally left in the dark concerning the topic of religion. In point of fact, my sister was so confused at one point that she (when polled in class) said that she was jewish (we had recently gone over to a friend's house for one night in the celebration of Hanukah.) When I was polled in a similar fashion years before and I could only shrug. They asked me if I celebrated christmas, and I said that I did. They concluded that I was a christian. I now see that my family does not celebrate christmas in the sense that it is christ's birth, only in the spirit of giving and good will. In all I share this small piece of my life with Carl. On the other hand, one could say that she grows up with the "Camp" religion.
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How do you suppose Carl has been affected by this sort of floating denomination?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this I feel like I can identify with you on some level. Although it seems like my family is religious; at least my parents, aunts, and grandparents are. My generation, including my brother and my cousins, are not exactly Buddhist. That's what I believe my parents believe in; I'm not sure. I always ask my mom if she is religious, and the only reply I would get was a mhm, yes I'm a Buddhist. However, I have never seen her do anything like a religious ceremony. Naturally I didn't get it. Then this summer I was able to participate in a Buddhist chanting session of sorts. Only then did I realize how religious my family is. Like you said, I have nothing concrete to believe in. Just yesterday I found out my mother wanted to become a nun once, which I found shocking. The only thing I know is that I don't really think of myself as religious. I'm probably agnostic like you. Even with a religious family, I still don't know exactly what I believe in; it's all very confusing.
ReplyDeleteI feel that since Carl has not really been tied to any one religion, she's like a lost puppy looking for a home. She isn't nearly as faithful as her father, who would rather "have a God he doesn't understand than no God at all." (83) But she does understand what does and doesn't fit her, and I think she's okay not belonging to the same group as other people. When Nellie tells Carl she'll never get to heaven because she wasn't christened, Carl is "scornful" and thinks to herself, "I shall not want." (72) She doesn't, in Nellie's words, "need anything." (72)
ReplyDeleteWe also don't know how religious Ephraim was before the war. He could've been a Hasidic Jew but suffered a crisis of faith due to all the horrors he endured (and as we've seen, many prisoners blamed those atrocities on God). On the other hand, he could've been barely Jewish at the start of the Holocaust but then needed some form of solace, which he could've found in faith. I'm curious to see whether/how Friedman gives us more background information on Ephraim's religious past.
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