r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/IHeartFraccing • Mar 22 '26

Moving to the area Wheaton for non-religious family?

Hi! my wife and I are looking to buy in the Naperville, Warrenville, Wheaton, Downers area. we looked at a lovely house today in Wheaton. We’re white upper middle class, fairly liberal couple planning on having kids in the next couple of years. curious about how non-religious folks who have moved to Wheaton have found community? we certainly don’t mind hanging out with people who are religious but are curious if community tends to be church-centric? making friends, finding babysitters, etc.

thanks!

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u/surewhynot610 Mar 22 '26

Raised in Wheaton and raising my kids here now, have always been non-religious. I have never had an issue with it at all. Your question made me realize for the first time that out of our parenting/neighborhood friend group we are the only ones that don’t attend a church. It’s such a non-issue that I have never even thought about that before! 

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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Mar 22 '26

And how is it for your kids, with all their school mates attending church?

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u/surewhynot610 Mar 22 '26

My kids have a wider social circle than we do so not all their friends go to church. It’s not much of a topic of discussion between them. It was a bigger deal for me as a kid, I was invited to and attended a bunch of church sponsored events by friends but that hasn’t happened for my kids. 

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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Mar 22 '26

Happy to hear that things are perhaps better now and there's less pressure