Are you a religious person?

Mixolydian

Lifer
Nov 7, 2011
14,570
91
86
gilramirez.net
This is not the place for debate; no attacking people or their beliefs.

Whether or not you are religious, when did you decide? Were you raised in a religious or non-religious household, or did you decide your beliefs as an adult?
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
69,556
27,859
136
I'm an object of worship in some parts and veneration in others so, yes, I am a religious person.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
19
81
I'm not. I decided around the age of 12-13. I was raised in a christian household, but not strictly so.

We did go to church though. I remember listening to sermons and reading the bible and thinking the whole time "I don't think any of this really happened. I just don't". It was entertaining as story material, but the gravity with which everyone treated it seem absurd to me. I kept wanting to ask them why they took this utterly fantastic material so seriously and not say, saturday morning cartoons.

I remember being about 13 and finally realizing that what I thought meant that there was probably no afterlife either. That was terrifying and it made me cry sometimes as I tried to go to sleep. It didn't matter how much I wanted it though. If I thought all the religious stuff surrounding and leading to the afterlife was BS, I couldn't stop there and keep my comforting belief in heaven. That's basically where I'm still at. It would be so sweet to really believe in all of it, but I can't.
 
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Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,685
1,606
126
I was raised up generally as a Christian (Southern Baptist and Assemblies of God backgrounds). I would say I also finalized by beliefs as an adult. I am currently a Methodist. I have a spectrum of friends and family ranging from fundamentalists to atheists. I appreciate them all for the positive influences they have had in my life.
 

swanysto

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
1,949
9
81
I am not religious. I believe in the possibility of an afterlife-type scenario, but I do not believe in religion.
 

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
Raised in a non-religious household, and unsurprisingly I am not religious myself and don't believe in god.

Those two things are not always linked... my wife is non-religious but believes in God (although she doesn't claim to have any idea what kind of form he would take) and also considers herself a Catholic, but only because that's how she was raised. The Catholic church really fucks you up; everyone I know who was raised Catholic has all these weird lingering issues with church and shame.
 
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Vdubchaos

Lifer
Nov 11, 2009
10,411
10
0
Was forced to be, in a country that had most churches per capita at the time.

Upon using my brain and getting to know the history of this world I'm no longer religious, but I do hope and tend to believe that there is some kind of afterlife....
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,403
8,199
126
Recovering Catholic. Raised in a Catholic household. Stopped attending once I went to college and was no longer forced to go.

Not religious in the least bit, however I still respect others who are.
 

njdevilsfan87

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2007
2,331
251
126
I'm not religious. I want to say I believe in something, but once I going over the "possible" scenarios including parallel universes, super symmetry, infinity, etc, and it always turns into a mind fuck where I end up back at square of one - I DON'T KNOW.

I absolutely believe in some kind of after or next life. Why? Because I'm here right now. Whether or not my life now, and the next one will be somehow linked is my personal debate. And what that next life would be like, just is another I don't know scenario.

Our universe spawned from... nothing? So my consciousness too came from that nothing. So to me there's no doubt that "I" will experience something, again. The whole unknown aspect of it that makes it terrifying. To me that is why I fear death. Because I expect and almost feel like I "know" something will come afterward. But I have no idea what that something could be. It could be awesome, or it could be downright awful. And they could be linked, or it could be like a permanent case of complete amnesia. But either way, my life now is just part of series of an infinite number that "I" will experience.
 
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Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,770
347
126
I'm not. I decided around the age of 12-13. I was raised in a christian household, but not strictly so.

We did go to church though. I remember listening to sermons and reading the bible and thinking the whole time "I don't think any of this really happened. I just don't". It was entertaining as story material, but the gravity with which everyone treated it seem absurd to me. I kept wanting to ask them why they took this utterly fantastic material so seriously and not say, saturday morning cartoons.

I remember being about 13 and finally realizing that what I thought meant that there was probably no afterlife either. That was terrifying and it made me cry sometimes as I tried to go to sleep. It didn't matter how much I wanted it though. If I thought all the religious stuff surrounding and leading to the afterlife was BS, I couldn't stop there and keep my comforting belief in heaven. That's basically where I'm still at. It would be so sweet to really believe in all of it, but I can't.

I think that's rather fair; of you don't mind: What did you think of the teachings/stories of Jesus?
 

brandonb

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2006
3,731
2
0
This is not the place for debate; no attacking people or their beliefs.

Whether or not you are religious, when did you decide? Were you raised in a religious or non-religious household, or did you decide your beliefs as an adult?

I was raised as a Christian Lutheran by my parents, but decided when I was 12 or so that I did not believe in God.

When I was 14 or so, my brother joined a church and talked it up all the time, so I decided to start going to his church to see what all the fuss was about. During my time there I decided it was more cult like than anything, and really turned me off even more. I became very atheist (like I was a missionary) and used to argue against religious people all the time during my high school days. Just ragging on bible thumpers, etc. I was very vocal about it.

I remained an atheist throughout the rest of my teenager years, and well into my 20's. At about age 27 or so. I started to question my atheism and science. I used to believe everything about science, and honestly, a lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense. Most of the theories are really far fetched. The more I learned, the more silly it seemed. I realized at some point, I had just as much faith in science, and it's theories, as religious people did regarding God or the FSM.

Then I realized I had to do some deep reflection on life in general. Take in the evidence of what I had, and make a decision based on what was in my mind and what was in my heart. So I decided to join a church program (at a friends request) which explains God in modern terms and using modern examples. I actually went there to gain ammo to use against the religious (and my friend) and to validate myself as an atheist.

I used to ponder many things as an atheist, such as: Why is society the way it is? (Violent and Self loathing) Why are selfish people more successful in life? (Business men) We all have questions, but when I started understanding spirituality, a lot of the things made sense, and a lot of the questions started being answered.

I think what did it was when the priest was talking about how we have our 5 senses, and our mind to comprehend what our senses give us. In the process we often ignore our spiritual side. Such as consciousness, love vs. selfishness, and etc. I learned what it was. Then I realized as an atheist, I did turn off my spiritual side in my mind. It was there, and always telling me things, but I choose to ignore it. Then I realized I was blinded by stupidity, and my hatred of the religious folks actually was the cause. Once I let go of my hatred and accepted my spiritual side, a side of me awoke to knowledge that wasn't there before. I then realized I had a soul.

Then I realized I was a follower of God, and didn't even realize it. That God is actually the backbone to life, and that everybody has God in them. Hindu's have just as good a chance for Heaven as Christians do. Same with Atheists. Christians have certain stories, and beliefs, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter. To accept God is to accept Love... Stop being selfish. That's all you need. It was like suddenly the puzzle pieces came together and my life made sense. It was actually a very humble and a moment in my life I will always remember. It's not often when you have an epiphany.

I have to this day (10 years after the fact) I can look at the world in a very clear light and still see it in such simple ways, and my faith has not wavered at all. Be loving, selfishness is the work of the devil. Look at everything in life as being loving or selfish, and the world will make sense. All of it.
 
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AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
Be loving, selfishness is the work of the devil. Look at everything I life as being loving or selfish, and the world will make sense. All of it.

That's beautiful and all but it really turns me off of religion when religious people (not you, you seem like a really great person) say things like "you can be a good person but that's not enough" and basically say you're going to hell if you don't believe in god, as if believing in god is more important than being a good person.

This is the central reason why I distrust all religion - nearly every religion, at least in part, embraces the concept of "special salvation," where only certain people in that religion get to be saved and everyone else is screwed. There's a Wikipedia article titled "Problem of Hell" that explores a lot of these concepts. I also heard about this former evangelical pastor who wrestled with the idea named Carlton Pearson, who eventually embraced the concept of universal reconciliation and was kicked out of the church because of it. It was on an episode of This American Life, pretty interesting.

One thing I have been doing, especially in recent years, is to separate my mistrust of religion from religious people. I try my absolute hardest not to judge people based solely on them being a member of a religion. Now obviously if someone is part of the Westboro Baptist Church or demonstrates somehow that they are a hateful jerk, I'm going to judge them for that, but just being religious is not enough to make a determination against someone. I see all these hateful internet atheists and it just makes me sick, because I don't want to be associated with them despite being atheist myself. I suppose you could say I believe in love and fairness and the basic framework of a universal moral code, just without a religion propping those up.
 
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SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,001
126
No, I am very anti religion. In truth I believe one day, if humanity makes it long enough, we'll will look back at the times when we used to believe in religion as sort of a dark part of history.

*edit - To answer your questions OP, I was born into a Catholic family. We went to church every Sunday, I went to a nightly learning thing they called CCD. I was lucky enough not to be molested. I feel the idea of a Christian God is more of a kid with a magnifying glass over an ant hill, not the loving God that churches portray (he created us to worship him or we burn in fire forever?). As I started to learn about the world I found that the bible no longer jived with reality and that I had to dismiss logic to still believe. Once I stopped being afraid of pissing off some supreme being and really critically look at it, really think about it, I stopped believing and have moved on.
 
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Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,770
347
126
That's beautiful and all but it really turns me off of religion when religious people (not you, you seem like a really great person) say things like "you can be a good person but that's not enough" and basically say you're going to hell if you don't believe in god, as if believing in god is more important than being a good person.
It's a misunderstanding of the biblical teaching that all have fallen short of perfection to say "you can be a good person but that's not enough", which implies exactly what you've said.

In my own research on the sociology and psychology of storytelling, it we see that the introduction of a new personal-narrative is highly valuable in changing one's behavior. Ascription of the Christ mythos to one's character is an example of such.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
69,556
27,859
136
No, I am very anti religion. In truth I believe one day, if humanity makes it long enough, we'll will look back at the times when we used to believe in religion as sort of a dark part of history.
Yeah but the music is good (except modern Christian pop/country and modern Iranian mullah wailing with a one string kleenex box).
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
From the K to the E to the I to the T, He's Keitholicious, so delicious.

You can't see it, but I'm churning butter AND doing the running man to that little ditty right now.

KT
 
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