While for the whole world "GMT" stands for "Greenwich Mean Time" for us, people living in Georgia, it's "Georgian Maybe Time", because we have our own feeling for time!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

A son of two religions

Yep this post is about me

As you may already know Georgia is a Christian country, and most of the population (82%) practices Orthodox Christianity, Religious minorities of Georgia include Armenian Christians (3.9%), Muslims (9.9%), Roman Catholics (0.8%), as well as sizeable Jewish communities and various Protestant minorities. The feeling for Christianity is very strong here.

Talking about religion in Georgia I wanted to write how it feels to be a child of two religions, I’m child of a Christian (mom) and a Muslim (dad), but I’m Muslim. I’m Muslim not because when I was born somebody came up to me and asked which religion I wanted to practice, no! This was not a question that I was given an opportunity to decide on. I became a Muslim because my dad wanted me to be, even though he himself does not practice it as much, this was part of his family tradition and probably will be mine too. So this was the first and the last case of my parents misunderstanding in religious issue. Marrying each other nothing has changed neither for her nor for him. After the decision was made, everything has been flowing like a river. If you ask me which religion you like the most, it would be like asking a child who do you love more mom or dad? Hard to answer right?

In difference to other traditional Christian or Muslim families I did not have much pressure from parents to practice any religion. So I had a really good opportunity to see religion from a neutral position, seeing both religions from the side. And frankly I don’t see difference between them; they both teach us humanity, kindness, fairness, they both teach us to care about one another. For me practicing different religions is like talking about one thing on a different languages.

When people sometimes tell me, hey! You’re such a good guy; we should baptize you, they do not even understand that this could be hurting to hear! What? If I am not a Christian I can’t be a good guy or what? I can respond to that, but I better not! (It just would not be polite) I am what I am and I am not going to change just because somebody thinks I should I don’t really need somebody’s help in making choices in this question, I am Muslim so take it or leave it! I am not going to change because there is nothing to change! First of all I am a human being as all of us are, and if I was not being told all the time in my childhood that I am Christian or Muslim and not been pressured to practice any religion it doesn’t mean I’m bad or I can’t be good friend or boyfriend or husband or citizen or an employee. I just do not see it as a principle of my life. For me the most important thing is that a person is polite, well grown, kind, respective etc. If you don’t grow up your child well it wouldn’t matter for society whether he is Muslim or Christian. If you are criminal, being a representative of some religion will not make you a sweetheart.

I don’t really face many problems due to my religion in Georgia, but sometimes this fact causes a big surprise for some people. I mostly feel it when I start some relations with Georgian girl coming from a traditional family (and they have always been coming from such families), they never tell you directly but you can feel it, you can feel you are different, you can feel this is taken as a disadvantage of yours, you can be a cool guy, but still you will be different. And if she doesn’t care about it, her parents will and she will know about that and I will also get informed soon.

There are no other questions where my religion would be an issue, or an issue that I would care about in that question.

There is another advantage of being the son of two religions; our family celebrates twice as much religious holidays than any other! Isn’t that great? We have red eggs twice a year while others paint them only once!

Living in Georgia I feel myself different but, going to Azerbaijan I feel myself even more different. I’m some kind of an alien I’m different everywhere!

15 comments:

  1. Great post, mate, and very well thought out point of view on a very sensitive subject. But then again i guess the answer and the solution lies in your post itself, in the very last paragraph. I don't know what it is about our country, but no matter what color, confession or nationality you are, if you come from Georgia, you are a stranger everywhere and yes, i agree, ethnic minorities often feel like aliens here too.

    for instance, i have a friend, a russian guy who went to russia in the early 90's but couldn't stay there for a long time, cause they considered him Georgian and often reminded him of his home country (reminds me a theme song of the KKK "go back to africa").

    you know what? i think all of us feel like total strangers at home sometimes and i guess we all need to get ourselves together and push through. even sometimes speak up (even if it's not poliically correct) cause people offering to baptize you might not even understand what it feels like for you to hear those words and you know what? i think being silent you are doing more harm than u would do telling them to watch their f...in mouths. cause it might have been a little rude at first, but it would have tought them a good ass lesson.

    as for the religion itself, look... every person has the freedom of speech, expression and belief. There is only ONE God, whatever you call him/her. and you know i guess religious prejudice is not surprising in a country with vast majority of people practicing one religion. the same thing happens in a lot of Muslim countries too, israel etc... so that issue is a global one rather than local.

    anyways, i enjoyed reading that one and keep em up.

    and keep your head up.

    p.s. maybe it's not my f..in business but imho, if the girl dumps a guy because of his skintone/religion, then this girl ain't worth worrying about and the guy should have dumped her a long time ago. so keep your head up and there will be THE ONE that won't care about your nationality or what you call the GOD.

    and god bless you ;)

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  3. Thanks Comrade!

    Thanks for mentioning that there is only one God no matter what you call him/her, this is exactly what i wanted to say but lost it at some point (guess when talking about girls:)).
    Fortunately this issue is not a big unbearable problem for me, i'm pretty much ok. Thanks for blessing, same here! Happy for getting feedback.

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  4. Temo, thanks fo writing about this! I have the same problem: being an Orthodox Christian in a Muslim community.Somethimes it leads to many misundestandings and confusions...
    Great post! I enjoyed it a lot!

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  5. Yes Olga, it does indeed, your situation is also very interesting, as it is a bit different, because of different community and gender.

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  6. I have by now dismissed as wrong the beliefs of a vast number of Christians. But please note: I have not said that these beliefs are unchristian. All too often, lacking the charity and wisdom of him whom we call the Christ, we have labeled as unchristian those who do not believe as we do. We call into question the faith of those who do not follow with us, those who do not echo our particular doctrinal line. But it is very evident in the lives of those around us that there is no necessary connection between believing correct doctrine and living a life of faith. You know as well as I do that the two cannot be equated. I always try to do two things: first, examine the difference between faith and doctrine; and second, show why saying a belief is a valid Christian belief is not the same as saying it is "right" for somebody who is not christian in the sense of being consistent with truth. The wrong beliefs do not necessarily make a person unchristian, and why believing all the right things does not necessarily make someone faithful. So excited again at the way of your thinking Son of two religions , totaly agreeing to your views.

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  7. ყველა რელიგია ერთი ღმერთისკენ მიმავალი სხვადასხვა გზაა. ყოჩაღ თემო! კარგი ბიჭი ხარ

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  8. Dear temo,
    It's not bad that you decided to share with the people your feelings regarding religion. When you wrote that you are a child of two religions, I can not agree with you in this statement. You are a child of two people, Christian Mom and Muslim Dad but it does not mean that you definitely must represent any of these religions. "I am Muslin not because when I was born somebody came up to me and asked which religion I wanted to practice..." I am sure that even if somebody had come to you the day you were born, it would have been vainly attempt from his/her side. And I am sure that only at adult age and after get familiar with the principles of different religions one has to decide what religion he/she wants to practice. " I becam Muslim because my Dad wanted me to be one" But it is your life, not youd dad's, it must be your decision! I am sure you will never marry a girl, because you Dad will want you to marry th certain girl. and also I tink the problem is not in practicing any of the religions, the problem is if the God is in you. "God is the Love" words from the Bible(the KOran may have the same words). So, if you are tolerant towards people, never intend to hurm them, if you can love, it means that you find your way to God no matter through Christain religion or Muslim religion!
    iI think you ar a little irritated when writing about some people who want to baptise you and you wrote:"I am what I am and I am not going to change just because somebody thinks I should I don’t really need somebody’s help in making choices in this question, I am Muslim so take it or leave it!" but from your words I understood that decision of being Muslim is not your decision at all but your parents', namely your Dad's decision.
    My advice will be to read the Karan and the Bible, to find what is similar in these books and what are differences and only after that to decide which way you prefer to reach the God, bacause the God is One the ways to Him is several.
    Best,
    your loving friend

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  9. Thank you for a great post, really enjoyed reading it and absolutely agree with you that as long as you are raised up learning about kindness respect and humanity it doesnt matter what religion you are practicing. Religions are just ways of believing in God, they're just like rivers flowing to one ocean. me personally, I believe in God, and i try to live my life not hurting anyone and doing as many good things as possible not because my religion asks me to do so, but just because i want to live this life happily and without a feeling of regret. I do celebrate all kinds of holidays connected to different religious, just because i think it's a great reason for getting your loved ones, your family together, not because if i don't celebrate it i'll go to hell or something. Why not to learn about all religions and just find your own way to God, not worrying about punishment you can get if you do smth (or dont), we're not robots to be following certain program and we do make mistakes, so learning on your mistakes (or there's a saying that people are learning from their mistakes; smart people are learning from others') and just be a better person for society, for the world, for yourself.

    Kind Regards,
    Nasya


    p.s. comment to "anonymous":
    Have you read Koran yourself(for your information: it is spelled Koran not Karan) and Bible and Tora from the beginning till the end, that you advise someone to choose their religion?

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  10. Dear Nasya,
    I was really impressed while reading your words about your attempts not to hurt anyone and doing as many good things as possible but your last comment dissapointed me because I understood that the above-mentioned statements about kindness and forgivness are only words and nothing more. If you had read my post more attentively you would have noticed that mistake in writing koran is a typo. For your infromation(do you think it is the way how the one who loves all religions and believes in God should address someone else?) it is not bad together with reading the Bible, Koran, Tora, which I am sure you definitaly read it is not bad to be well-mannered as well. The same advice from me as u adviced Temo: "learn from your mistakes and think about your behaviour from the beginning till the end before doing somethin. It makes your life much easier and your readinnes not to hurt people more realistic."

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  11. Ladies, as I know both of you in person, i understand both points of view. And i want to repeat something. As i have already mentioned, religion in my case plays more traditional role than truly religious, to make it more clear, i do respect those people who practices religion, any religion, but me myself I don't believe in religion, i believe in those basics that it teaches us, i do believe in God as general in a world creator. I don't need and i don't want to read those books, books are also written by somebody. I speak of my own experience, if i do something wrong it is my fault and will have to pay for it, no matter what religion i am. Let's say like this: there is a house at the bottom of the mountain, the house is divided into two, both parts of the house have there own paths through the forest towards the big beautiful tree on the top, but one never took the other ones path, while both paths lead to the same tree, but has different difficulties on the way. I was the one that had a possibility to walk on both paths because the house was united, the pathes are different but lead to one place. But there are more paths than just two. This is just my point of view, taking in consideration my own perspective. And others have different as they have grown up in different environment. But we are all human!!

    And friends be less critical to each other please!

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  12. Temurio,

    It is first time I am visiting you blog. It is great.

    All we are human before being christian, muslim etc..Belief should not go far from personal practice. If it does, we hurt each other and discriminate the people.

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  13. Thank you anonymous, glad to hear that you liked the blog! We are all human, grown in different environment, having our own little world, all different all equal!

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  14. Hi Temur! Happy to have met you yesterday and I have to say, I'm loving the blog ;)

    I especially love this sentence in this post: "If you are criminal, being a representative of some religion will not make you a sweetheart."

    and this: "We have red eggs twice a year while others paint them only once!" Keep the positive energy alive, my friend. It's contagious ;)

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  15. Dear Ardineh, it was nice to meet you as well, thank you very much for inspiring comment. Unfortunately I didn't really have time to check up you blog today but will do it during the weekend, thanks again ;)

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