Family is upset that I'm not a Muslim

[Husseinisdoingfine]

I last week went to dinner with my extended family, who are from Lebanon. 

Everything went well, I was talking to them about career, a new girlfriend from Europe and all that, and I overall had a nice time.

But I created quite a bit of drama when I casually mentioned that I was going to Buddhist meditation retreats. I've posted about this on the forum, but back in May I did a 5-day meditation retreat with two monks from Taiwan, and I loved it. As part of my spiritual growth, I go back to the meditation center every Sunday, I read authentic translations of the Buddha's discourses, and I have a new retreat for eight days planned in late December. 

So I mentioned this stuff just casually, and my Aunty raised her voice and said, No! No! You can't do that!

There were two elder women sitting to the right and left of my Aunty, and they started telling me, ' Hussein, you are Muslim! '

I tried going to my younger woman cousin to talk about what happened, and she didn't take my side at all, and instead was trying to tell me that Islam was peace and to not go back to that place anymore. 

My Aunt wants me to cancel my meditation retreat, and to delete the pictures I have of the retreat from my phone, because one of the pictures includes a photo I did with a Monk, we were standing, smiling with our arms over each other shoulders while someone else took the picture.

A day later I called my Aunt to thank her for inviting me for thanksgiving. I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to mention religion. We talked a bit and she said how much my elder cousin loved having me. But then during the end of the conversation she said that I was to promise her that I wasn't going to go back to that place [the Buddhist meditation center and temple]. She then said that her and my elder cousin were going to "set me right" [on the right path].

My Dad called me and apparently my Uncle called him to complain, 'why is your son not a Muslim'. 

My elder cousin is married and has kids, but I think during his youth he went to a special college or school where they taught him deen and fiqh (both concepts from Islam). My Aunt and elder cousin both have my phone number and they're going to try to coordinate with each other to bring me to the Mosque. Before I drove home, they gave me a prayer mat (for salah).

Should I go? Just to be polite. Because they loved having me.

[Nemra]

If I were you, I wouldn't go unless I was too dependent on my parents and couldn't reason with them, especially if they subscribe to a religion.

You should be careful revealing such things if you aren't financially independent from them and want to be more open with them.

Edited 19 minutes ago by Nemra

[Judy2]

would you like to go?