As a little girl, I clocked in a ton of hours at the Church of the Nazarene. From Easter programs to Friday night youth choir, I participated in almost every activity the church offered, and even won a scholarship to help with my college costs.<\/p>\n
But my children aren\u2019t in Sunday school each week. They aren\u2019t familiar with the creation story or Daniel and the lion\u2019s den. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could just as easily be the names of the kids in their 1st grade class.<\/p>\n
According to their grandmother, my husband and I are raising heathens.<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m actually pretty okay with that. I remember getting dressed up every week, prepared to sit in a pew and giggle with my friends. I went to church to see and be seen, to sing along with the choir, and to hear about how I was going to hell if I didn\u2019t follow the rules.<\/p>\n Sure, I liked hanging out on retreats and \u201cfellowship\u201d with the friends I didn\u2019t get to see during the week, but I never really felt that connection you were supposed to feel at church. I felt like people were always watching, expecting me to behave a certain way because my grandmother was a reverend. I didn\u2019t understand why I needed to be baptized to start a new program or have a say in how things went, or why most of the fun stuff seemed to be some form of sin.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until I got older\u2013much older\u2013that I began to form a real relationship with God. Once I stopped attending church, things actually started to make sense. I developed new thoughts about religion, salvation, purpose, creation, and death. I became open to other ideas, traditions, and practices.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not alone. A number of young people and parents are considered \u201cnones,\u201d<\/span> <\/strong>people who have no religious affiliation.<\/p>\n In 2012, 21% of Gen Xers and 15% of Baby Boomers describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated. Currently, one third of Americans under 30 consider themselves atheist, agnostic, or unaffiliated with any religion. Seventy-four percent of us \u201cnones\u201d were actually raised with some sort of affiliation, but are finding other ways to connect with Mother\/Father God, \u201cthe Universe,\u201d or another higher power.<\/p>\nHere's Why I'm Raising Heathens. #spirituality <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n The Pew Research Center\u2019s Forum on Religion & Public Life found that <\/a>\u201c46 million unaffiliated adults are religious or spiritual in some way. Two-thirds of them say they believe in God (68%). More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58%), while more than a third classify themselves as \u201cspiritual\u201d but not \u201creligious\u201d (37%), and one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Evolutionary scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins likened teaching religion to kids with child abuse. \u2018What a child should be taught is that religion exists; that some people believe this and some people believe that,\u2019 he told guests at the UK\u2019s Chipping Norton Literary Festival. \u2018What a child should never be taught is that you are a Catholic or Muslim child, therefore that is what you believe. That\u2019s child abuse.<\/span><\/strong><\/em>\u2018<\/p>\n But a 2008 study found that children who are raised in religious households are \u201crated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents.\u201d<\/p>\n While our family doesn\u2019t attend services regularly, we have found a non-denominational church<\/a> that preaches New Thought and celebrates \u201cthe Magnificence of God in you and as you<\/span>.\u201d The weekly messages are offered on YouTube, the people greet us and the boys with \u201cHappy Sunday!\u201d and warm hugs, and the choir always brings down the house with songs asking the congregation to \u201cbe Jesus to somebody<\/a>,\u201d because \u201cyou may be the only Jesus they\u2019ll ever see\u201d (the song also asks you to be the Prophet Mohammed, Buddha, and\/or Krishna to somebody).<\/p>\n My personal spiritual practice these days is a blend of the Christian faith I was raised into and parts of other religions. I read Bible verses on my smartphone, pray five times a day like the Muslims, and repeat mantras like the Buddhists. I enjoy yoga, and carry crystals on days when I feel \u201coff.\u201d I give money to the homeless and try to be helpful to most of the people I come in contact with. I try to be more Christlike\u2013without shunning people who don\u2019t subscribe to the concept of God at all.<\/p>\n