Are you religious or not

[D_Tilly_De_Toilet]

Atheist here. I was born and raised (attended church regularly, Sunday school, confirmation, youth group, bla bla bla...) in a Lutheran household, but remember doubting the existence of a god by the time I was eight years of age.

 

[D_Jared Padalicki]

Far from religious, although I'm baptised and I'm Catholic, I just don't believe in it. I only been in churches when I visited them in Italy to see the architecture or so

 

[798686]

i wish there were a way to reconcile a belief in God AND evolution, because i do, but recognize there are some fundamental conflicts in that position.

Yeh, I also think they're unreconcileable.

I tend to swing between Christianity, agnosticism and atheism. I guess I'm still trying to work things out, and there are some things I agree with from both sides - and also views I hold that are the same regardless of which is true.

I think I'm trying to see things objectively (with limited success) to work out what is and isn't true. But that's only possible to a certain extent, I reckon.

 

[ubered]

Atheist here.

Organised religion/religious identity was killed off fairly early on for me by hearing the Northern Irish side of my family, who are Presbyterians, saying things like, "The only good Catholic's a dead Catholic". None of that was where I wanted to be, I remember thinking they were bonkers when I was 11.

Then came growing up in Spain and seeing how the Church has acted here (see my way too ranty post on the oddly named "Catholics Don't Hate Gays" thread).

This, coupled with being gay, pretty much made me lose interest in god. It's a gut feeling, I just don't think there's anyone out there. Got amazing - if totally mad - people around me, and my principles. That's enough for me.
However, I did learn from my family. They made me acutely aware of religious discrimination, and I will always try not to be like them in this respect. Amazing what having family from Ulster can do for you!

:biggrin1:

 

[Krusader]

Don't believe in either God or Religion

 

[DiscoBoy]

Raised Catholic, but currently an atheist.

 

[witch]

Wiccan

 

[D_CountdeGrandePinja]

In our part of the church - Ecumenical Catholic Communion - ALL are welcome to the table - our clergy is gay, straight, married, single, male, female - we are a GREAT GROUP OF PEOPLE who readily share God's love with ALL. Check it out! You will be glad you did.

Merry Christmas.

 

[B_Nick4444]

Christian with a Buddhist style .. . as a matter of fact, besides my Sanskrit texts, I'm beginning to delve into the Tibetan language, so I can read those texts in the original language ... have two malas, one crystal one Tibetan Dzi, and have a singing bowl on the way ...

 

[D_Andreas Sukov]

im agnostic. went to a CoE school, but was never baptised. after my grandads died about 7 weeks apart aged around 10 or 11, i got real scared and was desperate to be baptised, but never did. after goign to a secular secondary school and learning more about myself i decided that, their probably is a god in some shape or form, but if he was so good, surely he wouldnt need to be praised so much. seem abit egotistical in my opinion. if i just lead a good life and stuck to basic prinicples like love thy neighbour etc i should be fine.

i was once told by a very strict Christian that i had put my case very well by simply saying "it silly searching for god. im going to wait untill they want to reveal themselves to me and then ill accept it."

 

[Channelwood]

I'm a hypocritical atheist. While I subscribe to the following:

http://www.blacksunjournal.com/wp-content/images/all-religions-are-fairy-tales.jpg

I also often go to an Episcopalian church out of cultural inertia.

 

[Mickactual]

Wiccan

Yanno - Your screen name kind of hinted at that...

 

[Viking_UK]

I was raised a strict Calvinist, but I'm too liberal for that. I'm sort of spiritual, but not really religious as such. I've seen so much prejudice and violence in the name of religion that I'm pretty much anti organised religion because it just leads to division. Does that mean I'm Gnostic?

 

[avalonlovelove]

I am atheist I was a Christian for about 27 and a half years.But the more I saw hypocrisy hatred and bigotry within that religion it made it harder and harder for me to believe it.If there truly was an all loving being who cared about everyone in this world then how can we explain all the innocent children who starve or die everyday either from starvation poverty being abused and so on.Or animals being killed or innocent children being murdered in other countries in the name of THEIR God.Religion is quite scary and unsettling to me.


There are some good aspects like helping others and the positive compassionate and truly loving Christians.But there are also those who are determined to undermine and try to stop gay americans from living their lives freely without being persecuted.

There are many reasons I do not believe under any circumstances but I fully respect those who do I have just as many Christian friends as I do Atheist friends .

 

[798686]

I saw Luka sneaking into Our Lady of Smolensk...and coming out with the donation box. :redface::wink:

 

[D_Kissimmee Coldsore]

I'm a Pastafarian. And please, no jokes.

 

[B_bi_mmf]

There are many reasons I do not believe under any circumstances but I fully respect those who do I have just as many Christian friends as I do Atheist friends .

There are Christians I am very close to, but certainly I cannot "respect" the ridiculous made-up shit that they accept as reality.

 

[schwulboy1989]

I am buddhist, granted a VERY non-practicing one

I was Christian for years. I grew up Presbyterian. That lasted me until sometime in High School when I started to question the existence of ANY supreme being, and especially if that being could have a human son. I continued to go to church so as to not raise suspicion with my family. It's strange, but I came out to my family as a homo 6 years before I was comfortable enough to come out as a non-Christian to them.

I have 2 fundamental reasons for not being a Christian. The first flaw is with the religion itself. I don't believe in God (thought I do believe in a 'higher power'), and I certainly don't believe that Jesus Christ was the ACTUAL son of God. I won't argue that he did, in fact, walk the earth.

My second problem with Christianity is the Christians. I am so tired of people picking and choosing parts of the Bible that justify the things they do. I am tired of Christians thinking they're better than everyone, just because a guy martyred himself 2000 years ago. I'm sick of being told "We love everyone, except homos and women who have abortions." I'm sick of the typical Christian mindset that they are right and everyone else is wrong, and needs to be taught the TRUTH and conform. I often quote Gandhi, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I in NO way mean to insinuate that ALL Christians are like this. I understand that the examples that I have are of the bad ones, and that there are also shining examples of the good ones out there. It also doesn't help that I live in the Bible Belt.

 

[schwulboy1989]

Yeh, I also think they're unreconcileable.

I tend to swing between Christianity, agnosticism and atheism. I guess I'm still trying to work things out, and there are some things I agree with from both sides - and also views I hold that are the same regardless of which is true.

I think I'm trying to see things objectively (with limited success) to work out what is and isn't true. But that's only possible to a certain extent, I reckon.

The ongoing fight of Creation/Evolution lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of what the Theory of Evolution is.

The ToE in no way attempts to answer where life came from, but rather was formed to explain natural selection and genetic variation between generations within a species.

It's when people try to use the ToE to backtrack and find an origin that causes problems.

 

[schwulboy1989]

born and raised catholic, but now not a regular worshipper, i have more of an academic perspective of the church, and veiw the bible and church doctrine as more allegory than fact. any story that's been around that long and translated that many times is bound to have some substantial amount of embellishment built into it, for all kinds of subversive purposes. even theologians who devote their lives to study it can't agree on the basics. (some contend mary wasn't even a virgin) OMG

i wish there were a way to reconcile a belief in God AND evolution, because i do, but recognize there are some fundamental conflicts in that position. we do get a kickass holiday out of it and at any rate catholics know how to do christmas right. no offense pagans and presbyterians, but u just dont' use enough gold leaf on the inside of ur churches to make the candelight flicker

The Pagans might A) have churches/temples and B) be able to afford more gold leaf if 1) the Church hadn't hunted them down for centuries and 2) the US actually enforced our right to freedom from religious persecution.