Reply to I'm Jewish, DH is not. Would going to Church with MIL send the wrong message?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Actually, our lifestyle is not confusing to DS at all. MIL is not an immediate member of this family, so that's irrelevant. DH is very supportive of DS going to Hebrew school and celebrating the holidays as a family, with friends etc. He just doesn't pray and does not identify as Jewish.

[b]Judaism isn't only a religion, it's my history & culture.[/b] It's about carrying on the tradition out of respect for my holcaust surviving grandparents.

Christians like to recrute and MIL is no different. We have a good relationship but will never agree on this, since she will always think her way of worshipping is right, as that's what she has been trained to believe.

I dont have a problem exposing DS to different cultures and religions, it's about MIL deciding since we came once, she can get DS to go regularly and that it would be ok for him to identify as Christian.

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OP, I'm one of the PP's in an interfaith Jewish/Christian marriage.  You seem not to understand that for your MIL, being a Southern Baptist is also a cultural identification and one that you can respect/appreciate as a part of your family's identity (and it is a part of your kid's identity if not a part of his religion because he father is/was from this background. This is the deal when you intermarry.)  I would never deny my MIL the experience of taking our kids with her to her synagogue so that they can see what it is like, meet her friends, learn about the religion in which their father was raised.  I do not want them to be Jewish, but I want them to respect Judaism.  You should want your child to understand/respect both his grandmother and his father's religious and cultural background even if you do not want him to be a Southern Baptist and your husband doesn't want to be a member of this community anymore. It was part of the experience that formed who he is whether or not he wants to continue to believe. People have a strong need to understand where they come from and your kid will need to learn to integrate his entire background into his identity as he grows up.

I love my Jewish IL's, but one thing that I have found frustrating about the Jewish community in general since I became a part of it through intermarriage is that sometimes Jews do not understand that Christians see themselves are part of a wonderful, rich, and interesting cultural tradition that is meaningful to them in its family/community traditions in a way that is not always linked to religious practice.  Jews don't have a monopoly on family traditions or cultural celebrations and it is not a threat for a Jewish person to be a witness/non-believing participant to those traditions anymore than it is for a Christian to be a witness/non-believing participant in Jewish traditions.  [/quote]

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PP. what you do not understand is that there are far fewer Jewish ppl in this world and we must protect our way of life.  So, I as a Jewish person would not EVER go into a church on a regular basis or expose my children to it, b/c they are being brought up Jewish.  They can learn about it another way.

FWIW, you are not Jewish so your children are not Jewish anyway (b/c their father is Jewish does not make them Jewish--it's passed by the mother).  So, it doesn't matter if your children go to church, b/c like I said, they are not Jewish in the first place.[/quote]

There are far fewer grandmas of OP's DC, so I doubt that is a meaningful argument.[/quote]

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