How do you explain your faith?

[TooBusyByHalf]

If you believe in God how do you explain to non-believing friends and family why you believe? And from there, how you got to following your particular religion?

I am finding it very hard with new and fragile faith to articulate to my atheist DP why I'm even doing this. And I'm not getting very far with just saying it feels like something I need to do etc.

How would you explain your faith?

Some atheists can be so embarrassing.

It isn't atheists that have imaginary friends.

Endearing in a 3 year old but cringeworthy in an adult.

I try to lead by example. I don't preach or try and convert but instead try to live my life in what I hope is a good , kind and compassionate way. Hopefully people can then see that I am not some sort of deluded , judgemental fool but rather somebody who has a strong faith which helps them to show compassion and kindness to others even though I may fundamentally disagree with them on some things. All I ask is that my and my children's right to practice our faith is respected without the need for name calling. I have found great comfort in God since the death of my son and no kind, compassionate person of any faith or none should want to deny me or my girls that. I will also add that my daughters all chose for themselves to be baptised and make first holy communion and confirmation. If that annoys some people then that is their problem not mine. My middle daughter in particular has a very strong personality and anyone meeting her would soon realise that she absolutely knows her own mind and beliefs.

Well said buffy

buffy- strange that your DDs ended up as christians though- and not Seikhs or Druids.
That's quite a coincidence.
Christianity is not a personal faith, it is a proselytising religion.

Did you mean to be so rude?

Not rude- accurate.

That's a yes, then.

I can't see anything rude about what I have said.

Sorry to hear about your son buffy and glad your faith helped you through. My faith has helped me through many a sad time too.
I hope you are not upset by the comments of some of the atheists. These threads do tend to attract the nastier comments. Thankfully my atheist friends in RL do respect my beliefs, as I do theirs, and we have some very constructive debates on the subject.

Keep to with all due respect you know absolutely nothing about how my children have become Christian. They have learnt about all the major religions and chose for themselves to be baptised. I wish I could sit you down with my eleven year old in particular and she would more than match any arguement you could come up with. I wasn't actually posting initially in response to you but answering the op however seeing as you seem to think you somehow know how my children are Christian then I felt I had to respond. Yes they do go to a faith school, however the school take great care to ensure that all the major faiths are taught about and no pressure is applied to try and convert. In fact after my son died the priest was anxious to make sure that none of us felt under any pressure to convert and just wanted to help us. The parish have been genuinely fantastic in their support and we have seen the true actions of faith and Christianity. I don't expect you to believe this, no doubt you will be convinced they all had a sinister motive however I know and my kids know this is not the case and your personal opinion ultimately means nothing and THAT is the truth.

So just a simple coincidence then.

And if they had been brought up as Hindus going to a Hindu school I am sure they would still be christian. Nothing at all to do with you or the faith school.
All very clear.

Thank you sunny spot that is much appreciated. I try not to respond to the more hostile comments but I do object to people making assumptions about my children and giving them no credit for thinking for themselves.

Keep to I do not have to justify myself to you. My husband is an atheist and therefore would not allow me to force the children into anything and also provides the balance. Incidentally I notice you don't seem to care about the fact that their faith has helped my daughters cope with their brothers death. This is the last time I will engage personally with you as you appear to have little compassion or understanding of my situation. I truly hope you never have to go through what we have as a family as I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Have a good day.