POLAND . The Unofficial Guide	Unanswered \| Archives
POLAND . The Unofficial Guide	Poland Tips and Ideas	Witamy, Guest \| PF Members \| Gold Members

Polish Forums / Polonia - USA, Canada /

Polish Americans and religion

posts: 28

♂

Dec 10, 10, 02:11 #1

dzień dobry everyone! (Well, its the morning in Poland =P)

Anyway, I'm new to the forums, but I also have a question.
Being 100% polish and a second generation immigrant family, I am proud of my polish heritage. The problem I have though is that I am not as religious as most Polish-Americans are (or at least thats what I see). Is really abnormal when it comes to being a Polish-American to not be very religious?

elektrykThreads: - Posts: 4 Joined: Dec 6, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 02:17 #2
Filip: Is really abnormal when it comes to being a Polish-American to not be very religious? There's nothing abnormal about it. Filip: Well, its the morning in Poland =P) Well, it's 2 a.m. here...

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 10, 10, 02:20 #3
Filip: Being 100% polish and a second generation immigrant family, I am proud of my polish heritage. So why don't you speak fluent Polish? Every proud Polish person I know is very proud to speak the language.

FilipThreads: 1 Posts: 6 Joined: Dec 10, 10 ♂	Edited by: Filip Dec 10, 10, 02:23 #4
elektryk: Well, it's 2 a.m. here... Early, early morning But, when I see and talk to other polish people, it seems that many are, in fact really religious. delphiandomine: So why don't you speak fluent Polish? Every proud Polish person I know is very proud to speak the language Other than at home, I was really never shown the language. Plus we speak both English and Polish at my home

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 10, 10, 02:27 #5
Filip: But, when I see and talk to other polish people, it seems that many are, in fact really religious. No, when you talk to other Polish-American people. They're not Polish. Please, learn to differentiate between the two.

pgtxThreads: 49 Posts: 6,327 Joined: Feb 14, 09 MEMBER ♀	Dec 10, 10, 02:28 #6
Filip: But, when I see and talk to other polish people, it seems that many are, in fact really religious. well, not really.... and please! use a capital letter: Polish.... aggrrrh!

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 02:32 #7
pgtx: and please! use a capital letter: Polish.... Agree, my pet-peeve too. (unless he was talking about cleaning products ;) Ps. I'm Polish American and I am religious so I'm balancing you out. :)

FilipThreads: 1 Posts: 6 Joined: Dec 10, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 02:34 #8
I apologize to you both, but you are seeming a bit harsh towards me

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 10, 10, 02:35 #9
Filip: I apologize to you both, but you are seeming a bit harsh towards me It's basic manners to use correct punctuation, grammar, etc on an internet forum. Makes it easier to read for the rest of us :)

pgtxThreads: 49 Posts: 6,327 Joined: Feb 14, 09 MEMBER ♀	Dec 10, 10, 02:35 #10
skysoulmate: Ps. I'm Polish American and I am religious so I'm balancing you out. :) balance is in nature.... in fact, almost everybody i know here, refer to God on every day basis, but they never go to church.... hmm... weird...

FilipThreads: 1 Posts: 6 Joined: Dec 10, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 02:42 #11
pgtx: in fact, almost everybody i know here, refer to God on every day basis, but they never go to church.... hmm... weird... I don't want to start a heated discussion here. Anyway, I dont want to be rude or immature, but to the people I talk to who are Polish, they seem to not be able to take a joke towards religion, and are immediately offended.

shewolfThreads: 5 Posts: 1,835 Joined: Dec 23, 06 ♀	Dec 10, 10, 02:58 #12
Filip: I don't want to start a heated discussion here. She's speaking the truth, though.

ShawnHThreads: 9 Posts: 3,056 Joined: Jul 2, 09 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 03:03 #13
Filip: I don't want to start a heated discussion here. Why not, we all do that here from time to time.

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Edited by: skysoulmate Dec 10, 10, 03:11 #14
Filip: I apologize to you both, but you are seeming a bit harsh towards me No apology needed, it was mostly a joke (at least on my part). You'll quickly learn that most of us like to poke fun at each other, we have some heated discussions and often we agree to disagree. That's PF in a nutshell

ShawnHThreads: 9 Posts: 3,056 Joined: Jul 2, 09 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 03:11 #15
skysoulmate: That's PF in a nutshell And quite often, you will find nuts in a nut-shell.

FilipThreads: 1 Posts: 6 Joined: Dec 10, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 03:12 #16
I would have never guessed

pgtxThreads: 49 Posts: 6,327 Joined: Feb 14, 09 MEMBER ♀	Dec 10, 10, 03:29 #17
skysoulmate: most of us like to poke fun at each other yes.... let's just relax kids.... :)

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	Dec 10, 10, 03:34 #18
Filip: Anyway, I dont want to be rude or immature, but to the people I talk to who are Polish, they seem to not be able to take a joke towards religion, and are immediately offended. That's because they're not Polish, probably.

shewolfThreads: 5 Posts: 1,835 Joined: Dec 23, 06 ♀	Dec 10, 10, 05:14 #19
Filip: I would have never guessed You should also know that Mr. D is passionate about proving who is and who isn't really Polish. If you don't speak fluent Polish, your Polish ancestors and even your Polish DNA disintegrate and cease to exist.

trener zolwiaThreads: 5 Posts: 2,786 Joined: Jun 8, 10 ♂	Dec 10, 10, 05:24 #20
Man, tough crowd of snippy Polish purists. No wonder you guys chase off newbies. Give the kid a break, and answer his questions.

beckskiThreads: 19 Posts: 2,148 Joined: May 15, 07 MEMBER ♀	Dec 10, 10, 05:29 #21
Filip: But, when I see and talk to other polish people, it seems that many are, in fact really religious I see this trend mainly with the older Polish generation. A sincere thanks PF, for putting up with me FIVE terrific years, muah!

George8600Threads: 20 Posts: 1,114 Joined: Feb 19, 09 ♂	Apr 4, 11, 04:52 #22
Welp, out of the hundreds of Polish-American I've met, maybe one or two considered themselves atheistic/agnostic.... not trying to imply anything, but that's my unbiased view.

Lodz_The_BoatThreads: 58 Posts: 2,314 Joined: Sep 7, 08 ♂	Apr 4, 11, 13:42 #23
Filip: religious It depends how you see being "religious". I don't believe that Poles are really religious, infact its just a fashion ... nothing else. The deeply moral attributes of a religious life is missing, it is just about tradition and community activity, nothing else.

George8600Threads: 20 Posts: 1,114 Joined: Feb 19, 09 ♂	Apr 4, 11, 15:45 #24
Lodz_The_Boat: moral attributes I think a lot of morals come with that tradition Lodz, and that the Catholic Church in Poland hold a higher moral standard that in other places throughout the world

♀ [Suspended]

Apr 5, 11, 03:16 #25

Lodz_The_Boat:

I don't believe that Poles are really religious, infact its just a fashion ... nothing else.

Nah, for fashion we go to other churches, like Dolce@Gabbana or Blahnik and such, not RCC.

Lodz_The_Boat:

The deeply moral attributes of a religious life is missing, it is just about tradition and community activity, nothing else.

And if it's just that, what's wrong with it? Who made you a judge?

SeaEf

Apr 5, 11, 04:55 #26

Well, to give the opinion of a casual observer...

<quote>They seem to not be able to take a joke towards religion, and are immediately offended.</quote>

You've gotta realize, that even if they're not a first generation Polish immigrant, that you're in a situation of mixed cultures. What's funny in the U.S. isn't always funny in Poland, and what's funny in Poland isn't always funny in the U.S. Different cultures are trained from birth to perceive things in different ways - you yourself might be perceiving someone as "taking offense" when really their reaction is simply...Polish. ;)

Then again, I've never been to Poland and I've only got a couple of books on foreign exchanges to back me up, but it seems pretty logical.

♂

Apr 14, 11, 06:51 #27

I'm living in Canada and it seems as if a lot of Polish-Canadians consider themselves to be religious but do not attend church nor do they do anything that would suggest they are religious. It seems to be more because that's how they were raised, although my grandparents in Poland do not go to church either (my grandpa despises the Catholic church) but consider themselves to be religious.

I myself am an atheist but I still follow a lot of the traditions and plan to do so for the rest of my life because of tradition and not religion, and that seems to be the case for a lot of Polish-Canadians I know, although very few would ever say they were atheists.

♂

Edited by: AdamKadmon May 13, 11, 09:44 #28

Filip:

Is really abnormal when it comes to being a Polish-American to not be very religious?

About religion in America: For the neoconservatives, religion is an instrument of promoting morality. Religion becomes what Plato called a “noble lie.” It is a myth which is told to the majority of the society by the philosophical elite in order to ensure social order.

In being a kind of secretive elitist approach, Straussianism does resemble Marxism. These ex-Marxists, or in some cases ex-liberal Straussians, could see themselves as a kind of Leninist group, you know, who have this covert vision which they want to use to effect change in history, while concealing parts of it from people incapable of understanding it.

About religion in Poland: Czy ludzie w naszym kraju są rzeczywiście wierzący, czy to nie jest bardzo zewnętrzne?

Czesław Miłosz: ... Pewien amerykański profesor określił Polskę jako kraj ludzi niewierzących ale praktykujących. Ja bym sformułował to inaczej, że Polska jest krajem ludzi praktykujących ale nie zastanawiających się dużo nad tym w co wierzą. To jest religia, która może okazać się mało odporna wobec nowoczesnego świata technologii, taka religia bez przemyśleń może okazać się dość bezbronna.

Translation: An American professor defined Poland as a country of non-believing but practicing people. I would formulate it in different words. Poland is the country of practicing people but not giving much thought to what they believe. This is a religion, which may turn out to be moderately resistant to modern technology, such religion lacking reflections can prove to be defenseless.

How do you fit to that picture?

Home / Polonia - USA, Canada /

Unanswered [this forum] | Similar

Similar discussions:

American...Polish Resident...Returning to the land of milk and honey

A stretch - Polish restaurants in Oklahoma?

Random: Krakow area house for sale 15mins from center

Only registered and logged-in users may post here. Please log in or register.

44 [Guests - 32 / Members - 12] users on live forums now

Home \| Unanswered \| Archives \| Random \| Statistics	Time in Poland: 01:04 / May 27
About Us \| Contact Us \| Rules, Privacy \| Poland Advertising	© 2005-12 PolishForums.com