Public Research: Religion - What Confession Do You Belong to?

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

I voted 'other' simply because I've no idea what my story would fall under. So, here it goes:

Both of my parents were raised in Rhode Island as strict Catholics (I don't anything about the divisions within the church, so sorry if I'm oversimplifying things or leaving parts out.) And then came the teenage years, (They've known each other forever and grew up right down the street) and they sort of disowned the church and goofed off and became hippies. Then after they had finished college, they met up again at a Grateful Dead concert in Wisconsin (both of them were driving crappy old VW cars, one a Rabbit and one a bus.) and fell in love. (awww...) After they got married and had me, we were living in the mountains of California with no electricity in a hippie commune. (I think we lived right down the road from the singer Neil Young.) I grew up on Peace, Love and Happiness. We used to go out in the woods late at night and eat dinner under the stars and climb the trees and sing songs. (I remember all of this very vaguely, but we have pictures complete with the tie-dyed cloth diapers, so it must be true!)

My parents were, and still are, very open about religion. They made it clear to us (my brother and I) that we could practice any religion we wanted to and they'd support us no matter what. And so I've grown up on a coalition of religions. I went to a Protestant church once or twice to see what it was like and I went to a Catholic church to see what the difference was. When I went to England, I attended mass in St. Paul's Cathedral, which is Anglican (I think) and when I travelled to Spain and Italy, I attended mass in a very different Catholic Cathedral than the one back home. Now, this would suggest a strong background in Christianity, but that's not it either. I've been to the temple with my Orthodox Jewish cousins and went to a Wiccan ______ (I'm unsure of the word) with my boyfriend's aunt. I also wanted to study Buddhism and then Hinduism for a short time, because of yoga.

Now, about how all this mumbo-jumbo effected my reading of Tolkien, well, I can honestly say that I've never once considered any sort of religious aspects while reading Tolkien for my leisure (reading it for class and for an essay was an entirely different matter.) I can clearly see where people could draw parallels between Tolkien and religion, but for me, it has never affected anything.

Sorry, for being so long-winded! Blame it on my boredom and procrastination.

[Holbytlass]

I, too, am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So, Lalaith, that drink will have to be nonalcoholic for me.

Tolkien’s work has more or less meaning for you because of your faith; has your faith grown in meaning to you because of Tolkien?
For me, none whatsoever. I like this story for its entertainment value, for the fantasy, for the adventure. I relate the most to hobbits so the inspiring part would be to enjoy the simpler things in life...family, food and making it count when it really had to.