I think it's necessary to establish, at least for myself, my personal history to give my current perspectives context, or at least be mindful that my past experiences will of course skew any notion of objectivity I have. But, at least I hope I can be aware of my biases; if I can't see real color through dark sunglasses then at least I'm mindful that I'm not seeing the real picture accurately.
My mom and her side of the family are staunch fundamentalist conservative Christians. Her father was a pastor and then later a professor at Biola college, her mother a school secretary for a Christian high school, her sister married a pastor, one of her 2 brothers is the organist for a mega church, and 3 out of 5 of her aunts and uncles (my great aunts and uncles on my mom's side) were, or, are missionaries. There is no dissenting religious view in my mom's family. My mom still holds onto her Christian beliefs and conservative political perspectives, but is not as vocal about her beliefs as the rest of her family is.
My dad's side of the family is catholic in name only, but for all intensive purposes are atheist and very politically liberal. My father is as staunch an atheist as my mother is a Christian. His grandfather was a German general who defected to the US before World War 1, and like any typical German army officer, that man was a strict authoritarian in all aspects of life. This authoritarian attitude was passed down to his son, my grandfather John who then subsequently passed on his anger and abuse onto my dad and his siblings.
It might seem unlikely that my mom coming from background of piety and religiosity would ever consider marrying someone who would express so much disdain for her primary core belief, but that's before you get to know my dad. He preyed upon her and conned her. While dating he seemed interested in going to church and Christianity and even switched his political parties to make it seem like he was conservative. According to my mom his personality changed drastically immediately after they were married and he let down the empathetic facade in place for his families authoritative demeanor. With in 6 or 7 years of marrying my mom he began to express his more sincere ideological perspectives by switching back to his former political party and becoming extremely vocal in his disdain for church, God, Christianity, et al.
Those circumstances set the stage for a very colorful family dynamic.
My mom and her side of the family are staunch fundamentalist conservative Christians. Her father was a pastor and then later a professor at Biola college, her mother a school secretary for a Christian high school, her sister married a pastor, one of her 2 brothers is the organist for a mega church, and 3 out of 5 of her aunts and uncles (my great aunts and uncles on my mom's side) were, or, are missionaries. There is no dissenting religious view in my mom's family. My mom still holds onto her Christian beliefs and conservative political perspectives, but is not as vocal about her beliefs as the rest of her family is.
My dad's side of the family is catholic in name only, but for all intensive purposes are atheist and very politically liberal. My father is as staunch an atheist as my mother is a Christian. His grandfather was a German general who defected to the US before World War 1, and like any typical German army officer, that man was a strict authoritarian in all aspects of life. This authoritarian attitude was passed down to his son, my grandfather John who then subsequently passed on his anger and abuse onto my dad and his siblings.
It might seem unlikely that my mom coming from background of piety and religiosity would ever consider marrying someone who would express so much disdain for her primary core belief, but that's before you get to know my dad. He preyed upon her and conned her. While dating he seemed interested in going to church and Christianity and even switched his political parties to make it seem like he was conservative. According to my mom his personality changed drastically immediately after they were married and he let down the empathetic facade in place for his families authoritative demeanor. With in 6 or 7 years of marrying my mom he began to express his more sincere ideological perspectives by switching back to his former political party and becoming extremely vocal in his disdain for church, God, Christianity, et al.
Those circumstances set the stage for a very colorful family dynamic.
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