I was raised catholic or whatever and did everything including having bible lessons in school, but I was never a believer. It's just a tradition of "be good, like when Jesus stood up for outcasts", but I do find the topic somewhat interesting. Like just the history of the bible as a book and how translations and different centuries influenced and changed it. But I put logic before belief, I'm kind because I want to be and all that. But I wish I believed in any kind of afterlife, the thought of non-existence is so bleak.
What's your religion?
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.: Meri :.
the grass is always green but it's not easy
I'm not very religious personally, though I have some spiritual beliefs, so probably agnostic or something along those lines. I'm relatively skeptic of a lot of supernatural occurrences, and I do believe that most things have a natural explanation, but uh, emphasis on the most part. I also try to live my life in such a way that I don't anger the Fair Folk, nor gain their interest, juuust to be safe.
Bluebellie
Senior Member
I don’t practice religion. I didn’t really grow up in a religious environment. My mom and dad do practice but it was never really enforced it on my brother and I. They have their own beliefs but they don’t really go to church or anything. I think they are Catholic? I know I was baptized twice, which I find funny since I don’t believe in any of that.
I do respect how religion is important to others though.
I guess if I had a religion, it be the belief to be your very best to others.
I do respect how religion is important to others though.
I guess if I had a religion, it be the belief to be your very best to others.
I'm a Christian (despite the currently demonic avatar). I was attending church every Sunday up until a couple of months ago, but I tend to spend half of every week in another city now so it's not always practical.
I’m a Christian. However, I don’t believe in pushing your beliefs onto others or making them uncomfortable about it. If someone is curious about my beliefs or has a question, I will answer it for them (I’ve already made a lengthy post about this topic in the past, so I’ll keep this one short).
Would be interesting to see where everyone on the forum falls with a poll…
Would be interesting to see where everyone on the forum falls with a poll…
Agnostic er something
Not saying there is a god or gods, but not necessarily saying there isn't. I think the concept of a pantheon of gods, especially flawed ones, is pretty cool actually.
Yeah so if there is some sort of deity I'd imagine them to be pretty chill mostly
Not saying there is a god or gods, but not necessarily saying there isn't. I think the concept of a pantheon of gods, especially flawed ones, is pretty cool actually.
Yeah so if there is some sort of deity I'd imagine them to be pretty chill mostly
I’d be interested to see the poll. I imagine it to be pretty diverse honestly. I can’t imagine there’d be any religious arguments or drama arising from this. Don’t know if it’d be feasible to make a duplicate religion thread just to add a poll to it, although it’d be interesting to see.
I'm Catholic, I went through RCIA to become Catholic a few years ago. I wasn't raised with any particular religion, my mom was Catholic but she wasn't really a practicing Catholic. So I decided to go through RCIA as an adult. That's the process of religious education class, converting, being baptized, and confirmed.
Heh, bit of a can of worms, but I'll try...
I think the best way I can describe myself is spiritual Christian? I'm not too fond of any sort of religious doctrine controlled by other humans, especially as there's been a lot of abuse of power stories emerging. My bf was horrendously abused at school by the priests or vicars (not sure of the titles) who ran the school (private school in the uk). This turned him off religion completely and I get that. My story is longer and different.
I was born into a largely atheist family and I mean VERY atheist. My dad hates religion, but I remember how uncomfortable I used to feel when he went off on one of his angry rants about it. I was afraid of my dad's violent temper, so would never dare say this. I wasn't Christened/Baptised, even as a baby and still haven't been. We never went to church as a family, unless my school choir was singing there maybe and even then my dad would be unlikely to show. For reasons I will never understand, my mum sent me to Catholic pre-school and then Church of England primary school. The pre-school was run by nuns and the primary school run by a headmaster who later left to become a Baptist minister, so he was very religious. But he was a truly lovely, kind and understanding man and I think I took a lot of my guidance from him in that respect.
When I was a troubled teen, an older man sort of took me and a bunch of other kids under his wing. We all lived in abusive homes, so we would've clung to any adult willing to provide us shelter (and cigs and alcohol) and "look out for us". Unfortunately he was also abusive, just not in the ways we had to deal with at home, at least not at first. He manipulated us all, often turning us against each other. He was sexually abusive, particularly to my best friend (14 at the time) and thought it was appropriate to hit us for "talking to boys in the park". I still have a scar on my chest where he burned me with a cigarette, though I am unsure if it was accidental to be fair. It hardly matters anyway, because a few years later he did the worst thing possible - savagely murdered my best friend and her toddler son (whom he fathered). I will never ever get over that. But in terms of religion, he would psychologically scare us with interpretations (particularly Revelations) about how we would all be going to hell. I did reach out to a vicar about it who wrote me a nice letter, giving a better explanation of things. I am grateful he did that. Just wish my friend had escaped too.
I was then kinda loosely Christian? When I had left home I began attending church on Sunday. It became harder after I moved elsewhere and so much bad stuff happened that I think my faith waivered. But I did still believe and would go to church occasionally.
Then I met a man who later became my husband. He was Muslim. At first it seemed this was fine as Muslim men are allowed to marry Christian women. But just before marriage, his family began putting pressure on me to convert to Islam. It felt so wrong and hurt me deeply that they wouldn't understand or respect my wishes to not do this, because it felt wrong to me. I was accused of being racist (they were Pakistani), disrespecting their culture and told the wedding would have to be called off unless I converted. I wasn't disrespectful at all, ever. I made sure to dress how they preferred around them and stood up for them against actual hate from groups like the EDL, who were a big problem here at that time. I had zero intention of ever pushing my own faith on my husband and was fully respectful of his faith. I ended up relenting and converting though, which I did in front of an Imam, in a language I don't understand with tears running down my face. I never really got over it. The marriage didn't last, cos why would it? But I felt horrible for so long and still do kinda, though we've been separated for a couple of years and officially divorced now and my life is a lot better than it was. This is not to say every Muslim community behaves like they did. A good friend of mine is also a Muslim, but far more liberal and wouldn't push it on anyone else. I wouldn't ever be disrespectful to Islam, it's just not my personal belief.
I feel now I am back to openly leaning towards my heart which leans towards Christianity, but on a more spiritual level atm. I am yet to find any sort of church I would feel completely ok in (and it hasn't been possible with covid anyway), but then someone once said to me that he'd rather be on his motorbike thinking about God than in church thinking about his bike. I think that makes sense to me.
Jesus was a great guy right? I mean we could ALL learn from him. Kindness towards others, even those who you may disapprove of is HARD at times, but he showed it was possible time and time again, so when people say how "all religion is horrible" I don't think that's fair or true. Some people take things the wrong way and misinterpret things, but they're to be ignored.
I have toyed with the idea of God being more of a force than a person and maybe that force is LOVE. We all seek love. We all seek salvation through love. Maybe God is love and it's bigger than we can imagine? I hope that makes sense. I used to be afraid of never feeling that, but I realised there was someone who absolutely loved me unconditionally - my son. Now imagine that love is an element of God; that's how I feel.
I hope this all makes sense. Thanks for reading it if you did, I hope I didn't upset or offend anyone x
I think the best way I can describe myself is spiritual Christian? I'm not too fond of any sort of religious doctrine controlled by other humans, especially as there's been a lot of abuse of power stories emerging. My bf was horrendously abused at school by the priests or vicars (not sure of the titles) who ran the school (private school in the uk). This turned him off religion completely and I get that. My story is longer and different.
I was born into a largely atheist family and I mean VERY atheist. My dad hates religion, but I remember how uncomfortable I used to feel when he went off on one of his angry rants about it. I was afraid of my dad's violent temper, so would never dare say this. I wasn't Christened/Baptised, even as a baby and still haven't been. We never went to church as a family, unless my school choir was singing there maybe and even then my dad would be unlikely to show. For reasons I will never understand, my mum sent me to Catholic pre-school and then Church of England primary school. The pre-school was run by nuns and the primary school run by a headmaster who later left to become a Baptist minister, so he was very religious. But he was a truly lovely, kind and understanding man and I think I took a lot of my guidance from him in that respect.
When I was a troubled teen, an older man sort of took me and a bunch of other kids under his wing. We all lived in abusive homes, so we would've clung to any adult willing to provide us shelter (and cigs and alcohol) and "look out for us". Unfortunately he was also abusive, just not in the ways we had to deal with at home, at least not at first. He manipulated us all, often turning us against each other. He was sexually abusive, particularly to my best friend (14 at the time) and thought it was appropriate to hit us for "talking to boys in the park". I still have a scar on my chest where he burned me with a cigarette, though I am unsure if it was accidental to be fair. It hardly matters anyway, because a few years later he did the worst thing possible - savagely murdered my best friend and her toddler son (whom he fathered). I will never ever get over that. But in terms of religion, he would psychologically scare us with interpretations (particularly Revelations) about how we would all be going to hell. I did reach out to a vicar about it who wrote me a nice letter, giving a better explanation of things. I am grateful he did that. Just wish my friend had escaped too.
I was then kinda loosely Christian? When I had left home I began attending church on Sunday. It became harder after I moved elsewhere and so much bad stuff happened that I think my faith waivered. But I did still believe and would go to church occasionally.
Then I met a man who later became my husband. He was Muslim. At first it seemed this was fine as Muslim men are allowed to marry Christian women. But just before marriage, his family began putting pressure on me to convert to Islam. It felt so wrong and hurt me deeply that they wouldn't understand or respect my wishes to not do this, because it felt wrong to me. I was accused of being racist (they were Pakistani), disrespecting their culture and told the wedding would have to be called off unless I converted. I wasn't disrespectful at all, ever. I made sure to dress how they preferred around them and stood up for them against actual hate from groups like the EDL, who were a big problem here at that time. I had zero intention of ever pushing my own faith on my husband and was fully respectful of his faith. I ended up relenting and converting though, which I did in front of an Imam, in a language I don't understand with tears running down my face. I never really got over it. The marriage didn't last, cos why would it? But I felt horrible for so long and still do kinda, though we've been separated for a couple of years and officially divorced now and my life is a lot better than it was. This is not to say every Muslim community behaves like they did. A good friend of mine is also a Muslim, but far more liberal and wouldn't push it on anyone else. I wouldn't ever be disrespectful to Islam, it's just not my personal belief.
I feel now I am back to openly leaning towards my heart which leans towards Christianity, but on a more spiritual level atm. I am yet to find any sort of church I would feel completely ok in (and it hasn't been possible with covid anyway), but then someone once said to me that he'd rather be on his motorbike thinking about God than in church thinking about his bike. I think that makes sense to me.
Jesus was a great guy right? I mean we could ALL learn from him. Kindness towards others, even those who you may disapprove of is HARD at times, but he showed it was possible time and time again, so when people say how "all religion is horrible" I don't think that's fair or true. Some people take things the wrong way and misinterpret things, but they're to be ignored.
I have toyed with the idea of God being more of a force than a person and maybe that force is LOVE. We all seek love. We all seek salvation through love. Maybe God is love and it's bigger than we can imagine? I hope that makes sense. I used to be afraid of never feeling that, but I realised there was someone who absolutely loved me unconditionally - my son. Now imagine that love is an element of God; that's how I feel.
I hope this all makes sense. Thanks for reading it if you did, I hope I didn't upset or offend anyone x
I am Christian but I don't follow an organized religion. I fall under the Nondenominational Sect of Protestantism.
Basically just read your religious texts and do your best in life, be kind to others, and build your relationship between you and God.
Basically just read your religious texts and do your best in life, be kind to others, and build your relationship between you and God.
_Donut_
Don’t eat me. I have a wife and kids. Eat them.
I was raised as a Christian and did all the things that came with it. However, I've never really cared for religions in particular, as kids we just went to church and did the things because we lived in a mostly Christian country and that's just what people did... . My parents (mostly my dad) are still "religious" but don't go to church anymore. Now that I'm older, they don't really care that much anymore what I choose to believe or do, which I like.
In general, I respect every single religion and believes people have (as long as you don't hurt other people) BUT I myself don't believe in any of it anymore. I also don't like being called an "atheist" because I say I don't believe in a god. Like...why should I be grouped in anything? A baby that comes into this world doesn't know any of these religions or words, it's taught to them by their parents/region/upbringing so it's not natural to be classified into a particular "religious group", it's man-made. I know religion for many people is something to "make sense of our world, to have meaning" (even lots of scientists are religious in a sense), but I find science, the universe, etc. very comforting and interesting already, I'm very much okay with knowing I get a limited amount on this planet and will stop to live at some point, that's what gives my life meaning, it's amazing and extremely lucky how I was born as a human on this planet and giving the chance to live life, love, explore, etc. So I'm just going through life making the best of it and living the way I want to.
So again, I respect each and every believe but It's just not something I'm personally interested in or want to persue.
In general, I respect every single religion and believes people have (as long as you don't hurt other people) BUT I myself don't believe in any of it anymore. I also don't like being called an "atheist" because I say I don't believe in a god. Like...why should I be grouped in anything? A baby that comes into this world doesn't know any of these religions or words, it's taught to them by their parents/region/upbringing so it's not natural to be classified into a particular "religious group", it's man-made. I know religion for many people is something to "make sense of our world, to have meaning" (even lots of scientists are religious in a sense), but I find science, the universe, etc. very comforting and interesting already, I'm very much okay with knowing I get a limited amount on this planet and will stop to live at some point, that's what gives my life meaning, it's amazing and extremely lucky how I was born as a human on this planet and giving the chance to live life, love, explore, etc. So I'm just going through life making the best of it and living the way I want to.
So again, I respect each and every believe but It's just not something I'm personally interested in or want to persue.
Millysaurusrexjr
hello everynyan
Somewhat raised Catholic (very rarely was made to go to church and I went to a public school) and now I am an agnostic atheist!
tomatospooks666
Senior Member
except for a few practices, like nighttime prayers and the like, i wasn't really raised with the expectation that i'd follow christianity or any other religion. i was never really a devout believer or anything, but i pretty much fell out of any sort of faith in the church aspect when i'd seen and heard some of the stuff that the church has said and done, specifically to lgbt+ people and any non-believing groups.
like, i clearly remember a conversation with an ex friend wherein they found out i was never baptized and insisted i needed to be baptized or else i wouldn't get into heaven. and in my mind, i could only think "why would a kind and just god cast good people into eternal damnation just for not being baptized? or not believing? would a firefighter who saves lives daily be cast into hell anyway because they don't believe? while bad people get off scot-free because they're devout? how is that fair?" and combined with some existentialism ended up turning me away from the religion.
currently agnostic, and while i want to avoid getting into any church groups i'm still open to the idea of some sort of power(s) being just beyond what our eyes can perceive. more occult stuff, like wiccanism and satanism, are topics i'm somewhat curious about learning about.
like, i clearly remember a conversation with an ex friend wherein they found out i was never baptized and insisted i needed to be baptized or else i wouldn't get into heaven. and in my mind, i could only think "why would a kind and just god cast good people into eternal damnation just for not being baptized? or not believing? would a firefighter who saves lives daily be cast into hell anyway because they don't believe? while bad people get off scot-free because they're devout? how is that fair?" and combined with some existentialism ended up turning me away from the religion.
currently agnostic, and while i want to avoid getting into any church groups i'm still open to the idea of some sort of power(s) being just beyond what our eyes can perceive. more occult stuff, like wiccanism and satanism, are topics i'm somewhat curious about learning about.
MadisonBristol
Specific Something or Other
Agnostic, though I usually say I'm Jewish. Raised Jewish and Protestant.
I’m a born-again Christian! But I like thinking of my Christianity as more of a personal relationship with God rather than a set of rules I have to follow (or a set of rules I expect other people to follow!) I think I just strive to live like Jesus and try my best to be a good person. ^___^
But I like thinking of my Christianity as more of a personal relationship with God rather than a set of rules I have to follow (or a set of rules I expect other people to follow!) I think I just strive to live like Jesus and try my best to be a good person. ^___^
idiotdoomspiral
=__=
4 years later this doesnt really describe it. I was raised non-religiously but i did go to a CoE school and sunday school at one point but even then i wasnt super convinced. I am a spiritual person and also interested in occultism but only as like a spectator. As much as i would like to believe there is a god(s) or magic in the world or an afterlife out there it's never been in me to truly think they exist. I am open to the idea though
I’m not religious. My dad was the son of a Mennonite pastor and at age 12 when you choose to be baptized he was the only one of 12 children to reject the religion and choose not to be baptized into his father’s church. I’m so thankful to have been raised by him.
In terms of belief in god I’m agnostic, but I’m atheist when it comes to the god of the bible. I don’t believe in a god who killed every first born child in Egypt unless there was lamb blood smeared on the door, or a god that commanded Moses to lead the Israelites to murder the Midianites and keep their virgin women as sex slaves. But I don’t entirely reject the idea of god in general.
In terms of belief in god I’m agnostic, but I’m atheist when it comes to the god of the bible. I don’t believe in a god who killed every first born child in Egypt unless there was lamb blood smeared on the door, or a god that commanded Moses to lead the Israelites to murder the Midianites and keep their virgin women as sex slaves. But I don’t entirely reject the idea of god in general.
This thread is rather old and the OP no longer comes online. If anyone wishes to make a new thread with a poll I can close this one.
JulianSG16
Lonely Wallflower
I lost my faith when I was 8 years old. Checked all the usual places I might have left it, in the couch cushions and the like. Never did find it.
Looked around in my teen years at Buddhism, but it never really worked out.
Religion and Spiritualism can be neat, but they're just not a part of my life.
Looked around in my teen years at Buddhism, but it never really worked out.
Religion and Spiritualism can be neat, but they're just not a part of my life.
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