16 people who were raised religious share the weirdest rules their parents enforced.

Growing up with incredibly strict parents can lead to some illuminating revelations later in life when you meet people who were allowed to do things that would've earned you a 6-month screen-free punishment...

Religion can be a controversial topic, but people who had to sit through religious classes on top of academic classes, Sunday morning sleepy songs, or the standard slog of forced ceremonies can have some shared grievances. So, when a Reddit user asked, 'People with very religious parents, what were their strange rules or restrictions they put on you?' people who had 'You're not allowed to read Harry Potter because it's Santanic' parents were ready to vent. Sorry kids, you can't listen to Lady Gaga's 'Judas.'

1.

Not me but my husband, there was a brief period of time when he was banned from using computers because his mom found out the little arrow on the screen was called a “cursor,” which she thought was a “curser” and therefore demonic in nature. - spookypartyatthezoo

2.

Not eating non veg on Tuesday. No cutting of nails on certain days. No washing of hair when someone from home is travelling. Don’t touch anything god-related on periods - Traditional-Spot8594

3.

They made me keep a large crucifix on my bedroom wall with Jesus looking down upon my mattress. Apparently, they thought it would prevent me from 'sinning.' - Back2Bach

4.

Whenever we would go to the zoo in the area, we had to rush past the section where they had horseshoe crabs. The zoo called them living fossils and had some statues of dinosaurs around, and the texts on the walls were talking about millions of years ago. This all did not align with their views.

The aquarium was my favorite part, and the horseshoe crabs were in the entrance hall to the aquarium, so we passed them quite often. We were not allowed to look at anything before we entered the aquarium. - Goathsome

5.

I grew up in foster care. I went to live with my grandma for a short time who is (was) a Jehovah's Witness. I was in middle school at the time and the school wanted to play a movie for the class. I can't remember what movie it was but I know it was a PG movie, since we were all like 12 they required a permission slip to watch it.

My grandma refused to sign it because she said anything over G rated is unacceptable. She said even some G rated movies are too much. It was embarrassing having to leave class while everyone else got to watch the movie. - Waitress-in-mn

6.

No Disney for various reasons (the little mermaid is disobedient, there is the word sex somewhere animated in the lion king, etc). Tops always had to have sleeves and high necked, no shorts allowed. They said if I chose to be a dancer as a career they would cut off any support (I did choose it in the end and they followed through with this).

Had to write summaries of the sermons at church and share what it meant to us spiritually (I guess not weird necessarily but we went to morning and evening service so it was a lot) - elletonjohn

7.

My sister ruined pajama day at her kids’ Christian middle school by complaining that it wasn’t appropriate for the opposite genders to see each other in bed clothes. She also said that kids shouldn’t feel comfortable in front of the opposite sex in clothes they wear to bed. - Strange-Job5669

8.

We eat meat/fish every other day. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday were meat/fish days - Memestatic02

9.

My aunt was always adamant that Jesus is her family's best friend. And since they're his besties, they have to call him by his 'real' name, 'Yeshua.' She makes it all sound like it's just some dude from work she had a phone call with. 'I had a chat with Yeshua and we think...' - itsjustmo_

10.

I swear everything was satanic. There was a cute stuffed toy dragon at the store that I wanted to buy with my own money. Nope! It's a Satan worshiping cute stuffed dragon and I was going to burn in Hell 100%. - JustGenericName

11.

I was not allowed to eat chocolate because it had caffeine in it and the religions extreme ban all forms of caffeine. My mother is an extreme Mormon so I had some crazy rules and some major issues being a girl in that church. - PumpkinPure5643

12.

No Disney, no yoga, no Santa, no Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, no swing-dancing, no government financial aid for school because I had spent $30 of my own money I had earned by working at McDonalds to buy a horse that I kept off their property and paid upkeep for entirely by myself. My mom quite literally thinks happiness is sinful. I am not being hyperbolic in any way. - AccomplishedNet4235

13.

For years as a kid I happily played with my cousins at the pool or beach. Then suddenly one year (I was probably 11-13, don't really remember) my Mum pulled me back and told me I couldn't play with my female cousins anymore when they were in bathing suits.

I asked why not, my Mum gave some vague answer about how they were now developing into 'young women' and it was no longer appropriate. I looked over at them playing on the beach and didn't see young women, I saw my friends having fun without me. - hippopotameaffame

14.

My step sister couldn't wear pants. Long skirts only. When I was there every other weekend she was allowed to walk to the stores with me, she was not allowed to go with her friends. We were 9 months apart and it was like I was a chaperone. Even then I thought it was weird. No Christmas tree. Left a church because they put one up. - nawmynameisclarence

15.

No radio, no movies over PG, no Halloween. It wasn’t the overt rules that were the hardest, it was the covert ones. We couldn’t make mistakes, question anything, hesitate to obey, or have an opinion. It was the overall knowledge of that NOTHING was ever ok. We could never live up to those standards. It was suffocating.

The end result was a very strained relationship with my parents and me being obsessed with Halloween. Of all the things, I mourn the normalcy of trick or treating being taken from me the most. It’s weird but it’s true. - biglipsmagoo

16.

For me, we weren't allowed to play or watch Pokemon, no Ren and Stimpy, no Dinosaurs (the 90's TV sitcom), no Harry Potter. It was all because they considered them too crass, or because 'it's demonic.' - gloatingfern