Deaf people and Christianity

HelloNurse

HelloNurse

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I hope no one takes offense to this :shock:

but, why are so many Deaf people Christians? I know a lot of hearing people are too, but every single Deaf person I have met in real life is a Christian, while a majority of my hearing friends are not.. not that i have a bunch of atheist friends or anything, but most are agnostic or believe their own things.. i myself consider myself agnostic.. i think. ha but i have nothing against anyone of any certain faith. every once in a while ill even go to a church.. i still like to explore other religions' ideas from time to time. and i think churches smell good.. haha

anyway does anyone on here consider themselves not Christian? And does anyone have any insight of why so many Deaf people seem to be Christian? Let me know if I am being ignorant here.. Just something that has crossed my mind a few time.
 
From what I know here on AD, we have both practicing and non-practicing Christian and those who say they are not Christian. I will not label them. I myself am Christian, but due to communication issues and lack of options for me, I am not attending services as often as I wish I could. I was raised in one faith, married into another and most likely will be going back to the one I was brought up in due to familiarity of the service. It will be easier to follow since I can't hear. Mainly the only thing I will miss is the sermon and this minister has said that he will see if the church budget will allow something for me. I told him I would be fine with just a copy of his sermon notes, but he wants to do more. He is busy exploring his options based on availability and budget. He has said that the main Diocese office for this faith will help with the costs.

I cannot presume to answer for any others so let's hope someone else chimes in.
 
KristinaB said:
From what I know here on AD, we have both practicing and non-practicing Christian and those who say they are not Christian. I will not label them. I myself am Christian, but due to communication issues and lack of options for me, I am not attending services as often as I wish I could. I was raised in one faith, married into another and most likely will be going back to the one I was brought up in due to familiarity of the service. It will be easier to follow since I can't hear. Mainly the only thing I will miss is the sermon and this minister has said that he will see if the church budget will allow something for me. I told him I would be fine with just a copy of his sermon notes, but he wants to do more. He is busy exploring his options based on availability and budget. He has said that the main Diocese office for this faith will help with the costs.

I cannot presume to answer for any others so let's hope someone else chimes in.
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thats a shame there isnt a church with services for you.. there are at least 3 churches that i know of in my area that either have an entire Deaf congregation or at least someone signing the sermons for them.. I think two are Lutheran and i dont know what the other one is actually, but its some kind of Christian church.. i hope your church can afford to help you out.
 
HelloNurse said:
thats a shame there isnt a church with services for you.. there are at least 3 churches that i know of in my area that either have an entire Deaf congregation or at least someone signing the sermons for them.. I think two are Lutheran and i dont know what the other one is actually, but its some kind of Christian church.. i hope your church can afford to help you out.
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That's were part of my problem is - I don't know ASL yet. I am learning. Also, I have been searching and even asked at the deaf club. There are no services in the area with signed services anymore. Too little attendance.
 
I am Christian.

From what I have come to know is, at least in Australia, a lot of the missions and community services for the Deaf began in Catholic Schools for the Deaf. Quite a few Christian churches have services for the Deaf. I don't know about others.
 
KristinaB said:
That's were part of my problem is - I don't know ASL yet. I am learning. Also, I have been searching and even asked at the deaf club. There are no services in the area with signed services anymore. Too little attendance.
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:hmm: sorry to hear that. i suppose they could get monitors hooked up to some kind of keyboard and have someone transcribe captions to what he is saying, but now i am seeing why they cant afford it, that would probably be expensive. good luck!
 
I think more Deaf people are Christians because they are more in tuned with their spiritual sides. Maybe when they are spoken to by God, they are less distracted by music, TV, etc. Not sure there are higher percentages of Deaf Christians, but seems that way in my world. I also note it seems there are more autistic children in the Deaf world.

Just a thought.
 
Deaf churches are a traditional gathering place.
 
saywhatkid said:
I think more Deaf people are Christians because they are more in tuned with their spiritual sides. Maybe when they are spoken to by God, they are less distracted by music, TV, etc. Not sure there are higher percentages of Deaf Christians, but seems that way in my world. I also note it seems there are more autistic children in the Deaf world.

Just a thought.
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thats interesting.. i haven't come across that, i know ASL is used often to communicate with autistic children/people who have trouble communication orally. but i dont know that i have ever met a deaf autistic person.

but yeah i see what everyones saying about churches being a gathering place. i do see that around where i live. a lot of my deaf/hoh friends, especially if they didn't go to deaf school, know many of their deaf friends from church.
 
HelloNurse said:
thats interesting.. i haven't come across that, i know ASL is used often to communicate with autistic children/people who have trouble communication orally. but i dont know that i have ever met a deaf autistic person.

but yeah i see what everyones saying about churches being a gathering place. i do see that around where i live. a lot of my deaf/hoh friends, especially if they didn't go to deaf school, know many of their deaf friends from church.
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Not saying deaf autistic children; saying that there seems to be a higher percentage of autistic children of deaf parents. (CODA)

When I go to deaf church, they often have potluck meals. They also have an hour before the service as visiting time.
 
Christians are the largest religious group in the US. It seems logical that the majority of Deaf in America are also Christian.

I, however, am Jewish. And proud of it.
 
Not Christian here. I dont believe in religion for myself.
 
saywhatkid said:
I think more Deaf people are Christians because they are more in tuned with their spiritual sides. Maybe when they are spoken to by God, they are less distracted by music, TV, etc. Not sure there are higher percentages of Deaf Christians, but seems that way in my world. I also note it seems there are more autistic children in the Deaf world.

Just a thought.
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What a load of Crap! There is a lot of singing in churches ! And do you think Jewish people are not in touch with their spiritual sides!
 
Back at NTID in Rochester, NY, there was a Deaf Baptist preacher. So many deaf people joined his church that the church had a bus coming over to a certain dorm to pick them up for the service every Sunday. I have meet Deaf people with different religions. One of my old college roommate is a Quaker. I know several Jewish deaf people.

Maybe you happened to live in a city where there is no deaf club so they are using the church(es) as a place to meet other deaf people.

I am not surprised to hear that many of your hearing friends are agnostic or something like that. One tends to hang out with someone that has similiar views.

Growing up, there is no service for the deaf at the church my family used to attended so I get really bored. There was service for the deaf at St. Rita and also NTID. I haven't seen a deaf church in a long, long time.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
What a load of Crap! There is a lot of singing in churches ! And do you think Jewish people are not in touch with their spiritual sides!
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Where did you get that? All religious people are in touch with their spiritual sides. I don't go to their places of worship, except for Christian churches. I never singled out one group as superior. I just stated my experiences.

I believe you have done this to me before; made amazing assumptions on a post of mine that try to paint my comments in a negative fashion. I would hope this is not some personal thing.
 
I don't think it was intended to be a debate about what we as individuals believe in. Just a general observation and/or what faith we hold. Debates about differences in faiths are taboo on AD.
 
BecLak said:
I don't think it was intended to be a debate about what we as individuals believe in. Just a general observation and/or what faith you hold. Debates about differences in faiths are taboo on AD.
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Agreed. I was stating MY observations. I didn't realize I had to include all religions to avoid offending.
 
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