[venediene]

A good Buddhist is not the one who fights around against other people. Although you do not believe in something unlike your parents, it is not necessary to make them to agree with you or accept your thought. There is no need to fight or argue with your parents. And there is no need to be unhappy for who you are now. You just need to accept who you are and find a way to stay where you are in a practical and useful way.

If your mom asks you to pray for your dad, it is a good thing. If you do it, you do a good thing for your mom and dad. (Should a Buddhist do a good thing for his parents?) I know that you do not like to do it for a reason. But you already promise to your mom, so you should do it and there is no harm for you to do it.

Do you think that doing meditation in Buddhism has to sit quite, close eyes and breath-in. breath-out only? Can we do meditation by standing, and also opening eyes? If we pray to God for good of dad, can it make us feel peaceful and clam? If you want to feel metta or mercy, do you have to be a Buddhist only? I say this, not because I want you to change your belief in Buddhism. But because I want you to stay happily and usefully in your current surroundings.

There are many conventional merit activities which are among religious.
For example, 'giving' – Christian and Islam also teach giving and scarifying
‘precepts’ - Christian and Islam also teach not to kill, not to lie, not to have wrong affairs, not to steal etc.
‘meditation’ – Christian and Islam also have meditation. They pray to god and they feel peaceful, clam and happy. Buddhism meditation is also for peaceful, claim and happy. Does any Buddhist meditate to be non-peaceful, muddled, and unhappy?
So, even though you stay with those people in other religious, you can still do these three merit activities (in your way).

You may now have an important question. If all religious have conventional merit activities, does it matter to be or not to be a Buddhist? My answer is ‘yes’ - it does matter. Because Buddhism has other Dhamma which are not conventional and are unique only for Buddhism. It is the ‘Four Noble Truth’ which has very deep meaning and is not understandable by only thinking. We can understand the Four Noble Truth only by practicing ‘Vipassana’ in a right way.