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Old 08-16-2004, 07:22 AM
spaypets spaypets is offline
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I'm of the opinion that you can't raise children in two faiths. You can expose them to both faiths and celebrate two sets of holidays, but in order to _have_ faith, parents have to make a choice. The difference between Catholicism and Judiaism are huge when you are discussing something more in depth than whether you celebrate Christmas or not. You simply can't raise them in both because the belief systems are contradictory in hundreds of ways. For example, funeral rites are completely contradictory. Laws that are set forth in the Torah are canceled out according Catholic teaching. The use of iconography and saints and the supremacy of the Pope are idolotry in the eyes of Jewish law.

I never would have married DH if being Catholic was important to him. I couldn't have given equal time to a faith that I disagreed with at its very foundation. Even when we thought we didn't want children, I made very sure that if we did, he would agree to raise them Jewish. And despite that agreement, it turned out we had different ideas of what "raising them Jewish" meant--we had to do a lot of negotiating in the beginning.

Perhaps you and your husband could compromise--lots of mixed marriage families choose to become Unitarians.
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