We are a mixed marriage, so our kids were raised with a little less Judaism than I was raised with.
I'm agnostic because I went through the usual process of parents insisting you go to church, and yet they didn't. So there's me, sitting in the chairs, thinking, 'Jeez, why am I here? I'd rather be playing tennis, seriously.'
I'm a Catholic by background. I was raised in Goa, a part of India that was visited by Portuguese missionaries a few hundred years ago, which explains my last name.
My first memories of religion were being taken to Episcopal church. My father was Catholic, but my mother, I believe, was Episcopal. So I sort of veered off into the watered-down version of Catholicism.
I was brought up Roman Catholic. I'm not even baptized.
I remember being forced to go to Sunday school for a number of years, even though my parents were not religious. No one was really religious; it was just the framework. There was no passion for it. No passion for anything. Just a quiet, kind of floaty, kind of semi-oppressive, blank palette that youre living in.
We were brought up Protestant, and I went to church three times a day on a Sunday. My parents weren't Bible-bashers, but we all have a strong belief in God and a strong faith. We had a huge garden; our house was a bit like a scene from 'The Good Life.' I think Mam and Dad had it really hard, bringing up a big family on very little.
I was born and raised Catholic, so it's in my blood. I don't go to church... I was born and raised Catholic, which is about the extent of my religion. My parents made one request: that I have my first Holy Communion.
My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible.
Both my parents are Catholic and staunch believers. I'm not a Catholic now, but I still carry part of it with me.
My family, frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn't raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.
I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school for 12 years.
My mother told me once that she and my father agreed that I would not be brought up Jewish in Chicago. She had me going to a Methodist church.
I grew up in an Irish Catholic family, and I think they force you to watch every James Cagney movie.
The funny thing about being Catholic, and I was raised Catholic, is that you identify with the Church, just as part of your character. Nevermind what you believe, it's just who you are.
I didn't have a rigidly enforced religious parental pressure, but I did have a few years in my mid-teens of turning to religion, and it was very meaningful to me.
I abandoned my religious teachings after I read the Bible twice - cover to cover. It took me a couple of years.
I'm very proud of all my children. They all have Christian families; they read the Bible; they pray; the kids go to Sunday school; they know the Ten Commandments by heart. That's my greatest honor, and I couldn't do anything to glorify God that could surpass that. That's very meaningful.
I myself am not religious, but yes, I certainly grew up in a very Catholic environment.
My dad was a Buddhist when I was young, so when I was begging to become a Catholic, he was saying no and imparting Buddhist precepts.
I think you got to keep in mind that Obama was raised among Muslims, and I think he really does not want to use the word war on terror because he was raised in that community.
For me, it's about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me, is something deeply personal. It's where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that's very important to me.
If someone dies as a child, they go to heaven. But, as an adult, he made a choice of accepting Christianity, so, that's not apostacy. If he was a Muslim as an adult, then changed, that would be apostacy.
I still follow the lifestyle of the Mormon church. I try to go to church every Sunday even when I'm on tour. It's not only my upbringing, but it helps me stay sane. It helps me remember my purpose and the overall picture of what is important to me and what makes me happy.
What it depends on is someone's upbringing and the traditions and that is how you decide if you are Jewish or not.
