Did you attend religious services or observe religious traditions as a child?
How has religion shaped who you are today? When you were younger, did you attend religious services or participate in religious observations with your family? Did you belong to any kind of religious community? What about now, as a teenager? Has religion played an important role in your life? If so, in what ways? What role, if any, did religion play in your childhood? Do you consider religion and religious faith to be important parts of your life? Why or why not?
According to Dr. Horwitz’s research, religious belief and religious involvement help working-class teenage boys achieve academic success. Do you think religion has helped you succeed in the classroom? Why or why not? Dr. Horwitz discusses some of the social benefits — including a sense of community, a shared outlook on life and the presence of trusting relationships and adult role models — that religion can have for young people. Has religion provided any of these benefits to you? Has it provided other benefits?
Not every person sees religion as beneficial. Are you one of those people? If so, why?
The author explains the importance of “social capital” — the social ties that provide a web of support for families and young people. Do you feel that you are surrounded by a web of support? Does it include family, friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, religious leaders or others? In what ways do these people — or the communities in which they operate — support you and your family? Do you wish that you had more social capital or a larger web of support? Why or why not?
Dr. Horwitz has found that social class and gender can affect what religion offers teenagers. Do those findings surprise you? Is there anything else from her research that strikes you as unexpected? How so? What else do you think people should know about teenagers and religion that was not discussed in the essay? If you have religious friends/fam- how much would you let your children be exposed to their beliefs?
Thinking of having kids. Have friends/fam that are quite religious. I feel quite traumatized from a childhood of being told things like: my non Christian friends and family are going to hell, I will be going to hell unless I believe in Jesus and blabla.
I also just felt quite “othered” because Christianity made it quite clear that Christian’s were superior in terms of morals/lifestyles and this was rewarded by god.
Anyways, while I’m agnostic and do not want my children to be proselytized to in any sense, I know that at some point they will interact with religious people. I wouldn’t want to keep them from religious friends or family. But how do you teach them to think critically from a young age? Do you teach them what you believe as fact? Or let them know that it’s just one of many beliefs out there? Ideally I’d like them to develop their own believes and not prevent exposure to religion, but avoid them having the same trauma I did. A recent conversation I had elsewhere on foster-reddit made me curious about the experiences of foster kids and foster parents with regards to religion.
I’m under the impression that it’s not allowed to force a foster child to attend religious services if they don’t want to go, and that foster parents need to be willing to accommodate a foster-child and their family-of-origins beliefs, but I’ve been frustrated to find that most of my searching online has mostly yielded results for religious blogs or institutions that encourage indoctrination. What have your experiences been with religious beliefs and services in foster care? What are the rules and policies in your State, agency, foster parent’s home, group home, residential, etc? I’m looking for answers from everyone in foster care; current and former foster youth, foster parents, bio/step/adoptive-families, CASAs/GALs, caseworkers, congregate care staff, etc.
According to Dr. Horwitz’s research, religious belief and religious involvement help working-class teenage boys achieve academic success. Do you think religion has helped you succeed in the classroom? Why or why not? Dr. Horwitz discusses some of the social benefits — including a sense of community, a shared outlook on life and the presence of trusting relationships and adult role models — that religion can have for young people. Has religion provided any of these benefits to you? Has it provided other benefits?
Not every person sees religion as beneficial. Are you one of those people? If so, why?
The author explains the importance of “social capital” — the social ties that provide a web of support for families and young people. Do you feel that you are surrounded by a web of support? Does it include family, friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, religious leaders or others? In what ways do these people — or the communities in which they operate — support you and your family? Do you wish that you had more social capital or a larger web of support? Why or why not?
Dr. Horwitz has found that social class and gender can affect what religion offers teenagers. Do those findings surprise you? Is there anything else from her research that strikes you as unexpected? How so? What else do you think people should know about teenagers and religion that was not discussed in the essay? If you have religious friends/fam- how much would you let your children be exposed to their beliefs?
Thinking of having kids. Have friends/fam that are quite religious. I feel quite traumatized from a childhood of being told things like: my non Christian friends and family are going to hell, I will be going to hell unless I believe in Jesus and blabla.
I also just felt quite “othered” because Christianity made it quite clear that Christian’s were superior in terms of morals/lifestyles and this was rewarded by god.
Anyways, while I’m agnostic and do not want my children to be proselytized to in any sense, I know that at some point they will interact with religious people. I wouldn’t want to keep them from religious friends or family. But how do you teach them to think critically from a young age? Do you teach them what you believe as fact? Or let them know that it’s just one of many beliefs out there? Ideally I’d like them to develop their own believes and not prevent exposure to religion, but avoid them having the same trauma I did. A recent conversation I had elsewhere on foster-reddit made me curious about the experiences of foster kids and foster parents with regards to religion.
I’m under the impression that it’s not allowed to force a foster child to attend religious services if they don’t want to go, and that foster parents need to be willing to accommodate a foster-child and their family-of-origins beliefs, but I’ve been frustrated to find that most of my searching online has mostly yielded results for religious blogs or institutions that encourage indoctrination. What have your experiences been with religious beliefs and services in foster care? What are the rules and policies in your State, agency, foster parent’s home, group home, residential, etc? I’m looking for answers from everyone in foster care; current and former foster youth, foster parents, bio/step/adoptive-families, CASAs/GALs, caseworkers, congregate care staff, etc.
