LEAST religious burbs of DC?

[Anonymous]

Agree with the above poster. Young children are incredibly susceptible. If you teach them to hate, they'll hate. DS won't be exposed to those ideas in my family.

[Anonymous]

I live in Arlington. I would say about half my son's public school classmates attend Sunday School on a regular or semi-regular basis. (I figured this out when we were on of the last ones to get the class "what I did this weekend with the class mascot" journal, and I noticed about half the kids had an entry about going to church). Many of my neighbors attend church, and most of the Jewish families I know to to services at least on the high holidays. I know a couple of evangelical families who attend our school.

Having said that, it is very very secular in NoVa. Even the faithful seem to treat their faith as a private matter.

I attended Fairfax Co. public schools in the 70's and 80's and there were more evangelical types than there are in Arlington, but again, it is not something I regularly heard about. My sister got invited a couple of times to a youth group, but they seemed pretty moderate.

[Anonymous]

OP - The DC metro area is far from the bible belt as pp have said. But I don't think that means there is a serious void of religion, I think it speaks more to the diversity of the area and people's general awareness of that diversity, so they don't push religion on you. There are many Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, etc... There's even a Washington Ethical Society. No matter where you live here, religion is not a main topic of conversation. As for particular areas, most of the areas you mentioned have a large Jewish and Unitarian population, although most probably don't attend services regularly. We live in Silver Spring and with the exception of the orthodox Jews in the neighborhood, I don't know who in our neighborhood attends services of any kind and we have a Methodist Church in the middle of our neighborhood.

I agree with pp who say you should focus more on commutes, housing, schools, etc... If you express your concerns to a realtor they will be able to help you navigate any neighborhoods that might have a potential religious leaning, although I can't really think of any in Montgomery County outside of traditionally orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

All that said, you'd have a much harder time being a Republican in this area and avoiding people pushing their politics on you than you would if you have certain or no religious beliefs.

[Anonymous]

I was just about to say that. I lean towards the libertarian side of things, and I can tell you that you will see a lot more indoctrination or "pushy" behavior in this area if you are a political conservative and/or highly religious person than the other way around. My friends and neighbors somewhat tolerate my libertarianism , but man, if if I were to ever say anything that would indicate social conservatism, I think the reaction would be rather negative...

[Anonymous]

I live in NW DC. The only religion I have noticed is consumerism. Grab your Tory Burch shoes and Lululemon pants, all hail the shopping experience! Not sure if crazy Christians or vapid consumers are worse.

Side note: I lived in NC where a co-worker asked if her 3rd grader could take my Jewish boyfriend at the time to Show-n-Tell! They also wanted him to "evolve" into a Christian. Ya know, he was close because of the Old Testiment...just hadn't made that final step. Gotta love the Southerners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here again... I'm sure many people on this thread ARE tolerant of different beliefs, but in my particular household, certain things are unacceptable, and they include:

-- Racism
-- Sexism
-- Homophobia
-- Condemning others to "hell"

i.e. all the things my mother's fundamentalist church preaches

My kids can disagree with me all they want on taxes, abortion, war, gun control, etc., but I will NOT raise sexist, racist or homophobic children, period.

Agreed

I have no problem if someone wants to expose my child to their religion, but the above 4 things you listed are unacceptable to me.

FWIW, my kid is 5 and knows VERY little about religion or church. She has gone with my in-laws in another state, but no one here has ever pushed their beliefs on her that I am aware of. My husband, however, just had a bizarre encounter with a guy he was buying golf clubs via craigslist. He found out that the seller was a pastor, and mentioned that his uncle is a minister, just being friendly. He launched into a 20 minute interrogation about why we haven't baptized our kid and how her soul is our responsibility. Basically, he said we were horrible parents condemning her to hell by not raising her with religion. Bye, bye crazy kook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're relocating from the Bible Belt this September. DD was approached by many classmates at her public school looking to "save" her (she's only 6 and was very confused by this, since we hadn't planned on explaining things like religion/philosophy that early). We're looking for a more secular environment... Any suggestions?

Welcome to Civilization! I hope you'll be very happy here.