POLL: What Religion Do You Follow?

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Born atheist, remains atheist.

Though i am interested in Buddhism.

 

Born into the Uniting Church, now vacillating between nominal adherence and agnosticism.

I just don't see the point in sermons and hymns when I believe that my actions and what I do to help others in this world is so much more important than whether I sing, take communion and pray. As I'm fond of saying, I believe that the message and what you do with it is what matters most.

Mind you, my sister bought herself a Buddy Christ (from the movie "Dogma") a couple of weeks ago, so there may be a spiritual revival in the works...

@ Felinoid:

You'd love Christmas services with my brother and sister, then... always searching for double entendres within the hymns.

 

I don't buy the whole "religion-is-just-out-there-to-control-people" idea, but I will have to go with the cliche spiritual-but-not-religious thing, since that would best define my beliefs.

 

@NonSequitur:
That sounds so like me ten years ago. Don't worry, you'll get there.

Whoa whoa. It wasn't anything sexual. Something he said reminded me of baseball, and the rest of the sermon translated so directly it was hilarious! (I guess you had to be there.) The best part was that nobody even seemed to notice, including the priest.

 

Born Protestant, now athiest.

 

I just started posting, but I thought I'd add my thoughts. I'm not religious, and I do not see the logic in trying to define just what I believe. To say "this is how believe things are, and that is my final answer" is impossible for me. At times I think I'm an atheist, at times agnostic, and at times a true believer in various taboo paranormal phenomenon disliked by both materialists and dogmatic religions. So, I suppose I'd just say I am curious, and figuring life out as I go along - and I'm still there at 28. Maybe I'll settle down by the time I die, but I doubt it.

 

I have a question to those that have left their religion. Were you given the chance to decide for yourself as a child what you wanted to do or was it forcefed to you? Were the rules you were under strict? Or did you have the freedom to do what you wanted but have to answer for what you did?

 

@Gnarfflinger:
I was forced. I'm aware that it probably made me want to rebel against it, but that still doesn't change how I feel. My father was fortunately smart enough to see that I just wasn't into it, and let me stop going to sunday school when I asked him. I kept going to church because my step-mother insisted, but I never got anything out of it. A few years after she left, I stopped attending mass too.

The only religious experiences I've ever really had were the various conclusions I came to when I would stay up all night thinking about the nature of the universe. (I was always rather mature for my age.) I'd get this sort of revelation, and feel connected to something for a brief period. I think there's probably something out there, but I don't think we're exactly qualified to define it.

 

Gnarfflinger, I went to Sunday School as a kid but didn't like it because the teachers could never give me a straight answer to the questions I asked them. So I was definitely given the option of continuing to go to Sunday School or not, and I decided to stop going.

 

@ Gnarfflinger: A good question, that.

I only had a choice after I finished primary school (I was 11). My family is quite religious. I still went to church and Sunday school for a while but became disaffected after I started to ask the question "Why?" and decided it really wasn't for me. My final conclusion was that, since people are so wretched IMO, that we can't be all there is, and there has to be something greater than us.

 

Without that spiritual connection then it really won't help you to attend such services. But I do suspect that you investigate on your own, to pray and see if you get the answers that you seek...

They can only answer from what they've been taught. Perhaps you had the right questions, but there are some answers that God has not given us yet. We will get them some day (many likely during the Millenial period, when Jesus Christ will personally reign and Satan will be bound). I believe that some things are held back so that we will learn to live by faith.

 

Oh geez, here we go again. Gnarf, could you please start up a seperate thread so we don't clog up Aldeth's poll? Of course, for all I know, Aldeth started this poll to create such a discussion. *shrugs* Whatever.

 

If you don't know my position, you haven't been reading my posts.

I was forced to attend mass with the family, then did so voluntarily through college. CCD ended around ninth grade, when even my parents had to admit it wasn't of value. I gave up on Catholicism when I realized that it asked too much of me and gave...well, almost nothing whatsoever in return. I couldn't believe that God wanted me to mortgage my brain (and heart) for the sake of my soul.

There is no absolute religion, there can only be religions that are right or wrong FOR INDIVIDUALS. Everyone has a different path to reconciling themselves with the universe, and for those that believe in God there are plenty of organizations to chose from. One is likely to provide the connection that the seeker needs, s/he just has to look.

 

Protestant (well vaguely) to Atheist.

Random church attendance, though usually at Christingle - it was more something I did because my friends did than my parents. We were "forced" into listening to boring sermons and reciting prayers in school assembleys (Except the Plymouth Bretheren who were exempted)

Oh dear, bad spelling day.

 

@HB: They can't really give you a straight answer or it would be a matter of science more than spirituality... I think. Sometimes there are straight answers and things still don't look right -- perhaps because everything looks too straight, like a premeditated mischief maybe?

@ClarkNova: Yeah, I suppose beliefs shouldn't be set in stone in one's mind. They evolve over the whole life... Even if nothing takes a 180 degrees turn, there's always more and more experience on the way, changing perspective. It all is a process of searching, I think.

 

Born Hindu. Am Hindu.

There is really no reason to leave it since I do believe in a benign being (often refered to as God) and one is allowed to practice being a Hindu in which ever manner they may wish to. So some guys sing bhajans on the evening train on their way back home everyday, some go to the temple on a fixed day every week, others dont eat meat on Saturdays and I bow once every often to the Hanuman idol on my way out.

We dont have someone standing over our heads telling us to read all the Vedas and Upanishads, the Ramayana and Mahabharata in Sanskrit, sing the Gayatri mantra a 100 times a day or we wont get to heaven. We can take what lessons we are willing to learn, throw the others out of the window and still stand a chance of living a good life.

 

That settles it - I'm converting to Hindu.

 

I may be new here, but I still have an opinion... I think.
Anyway, I was raised very vaguely catholic, only occasionally attending church - I actually never asked what my parents are, they never seemed that interested. Around 5-10 (my memory sucks) I got bored of it.
I started thinking again a few years ago and figured that there is no point in me being part of any religion or philosophy since I lack the ability to actually believe in anything.

 

I have to say that I've allways been impressed at the felxibility of the far eastern religions. Also their political neutrality is something I would wish that we adopted to the middle east religions. The stiffness of Christianity is one of the main reason why I consider myself as an agnostic.

 

Born Protestant, now... well, I think the closest thing would be "Spiritual but not religious" since I am convinced that there is SOMETHING out there, but not necessarily God.

I was not broiufght up very strictly, since my mother really didn't bring me up at all. I always made my own decisdions in matters of faith. I was actually strongly Christian as a child, buit it probably tells something about me that I was an atherist by the age of 12.