Religion Thread

I was raised in so many churches it wasn’t funny. Part of my family was Baptist, the other was church of Christ and when my stepmother came along she was some sort of Pentecostal/Assembly of God/Charismatic Non-Denominational mix. I don’t dislike any of these, however the church of Christ is my personal choice out of them, even though I stopped attending reguarly in December.

I was in a Christian school (church of Christ) for four years when I was younger as well, although I couldn’t say how that effected me since I am unsure where I stand on the belief in God scale at this time.

I also have a policy of respecting other people’s religions. When I hear of one I don’t know of, I look up information on it. I also don’t discuss my religion with others unless asked (I’d say this thread was asking). I don’t like people of my religion or any other that shove it down other’s throats. They just aren’t nice.

I was baptised, we have three (!) priests in our family, my whole family on my fathers side is quite conservative and tradtitional (also strict) concerning religion. As a child, I never knew my mother wasn’t, because she never commented on it. So I was raised in a more or less Christian family. However, in the end I turned completely against it (because of various reasons, none of them family related though).

My mom baptised me herself, she’s uh, not a priest, but she did a little ritual, “come forth into the world” rite, because she believes rites like that are important, even though she doesn’t believe in organized religion too much. My dad is pretty much anti-religious, but he’s really tolerant, which is cool. He just has this strong urge to believe the truth, which I’ve definitely inherited. He doesn’t delve much into spiritual things (though recently he has been, and been getting a certain amount of truth from them, I think my leaving home affected him deeply). When my parents divorced, the woman my dad married was a devout Catholic, and I think they probably had some arguments as to how I should be brought up, but in the end my dad won. My half-sister on that side, though, goes to CCD and church and was baptised by a priest, etc. This kind of made my dad’s household half religious and half not (my sister and stepmom went to church every sunday, my dad and I didn’t), while at my mom’s house, there was just more of a general, spiritual feeling. A belief in powers greater than ourselves, but that the relationship to them must be personal, not communal. This is pretty much how I feel in regards to religion right now. I never had organized religion forced on me, so my views toward it are sort of a mixture of my dad’s “let it be” attitude and my mom’s, “there are powers greater than us,” attitude, so there are aspects that I agree with, and aspects I don’t. Some parts of organized religion are blinding, they put walls between us and God; but other parts really do bring a person closer to spirituality.

Religion is just this really cool thing - mythologies, stories, faith in general…they have a lot to teach us, and I guess I feel like it would be a crime not to pay attention. If the idea of God (or gods) is a metaphor for some eternal part(s) of ourselves (rather than some sort of outward agency, far far away), which I’ve come to believe, then religion is just another way of knowing ourselves, which is something that we should really do a lot more of.

No, I don’t feel like I have a choice in wanting to believe these things. I say it’s because I’ve had so many experiences which prove to me that there are powers (whether self-sprung or other-driven) which are not readily observable or quantifiable, and forces which cannot be scientifically understood (yet!). It would just be turning my back on the truth. But it could be the result of my childhood - I’m not sure.

My dad is a staunchly fanatical atheist and my mom is an agnostic with Christian leanings.

I am an agnostic with paganistic leanings. shrugs

EDIT: Oh yeah, my dad thinks all religion is really, really stupid- and refused to drive my mom to Church (she has an eyesight problem- can’t drive herself).

My parents are free thinkers and agnostics with slight leanings to Unitarianism. They raised me and my sister so that we could make our own choices in what we wanted to believe. If I have children one day, I shall raise them in a similar way.

I’d say you definately have the choice to believe or to not believe. If you’ve been raised by hardcore religious parents, you’ll probably have a hard time not believing, since it’s been hammered into you since you were old enough to understand.
Or, it might make you hate religion altogether, I guess it depends on the kind of person you are.
Personally, I don’t follow a set religion. I do believe there is a God, simply because in my 21 years I’ve seen/experienced too many things to chalk it up to luck or coincodence. I follow the ten commandments, and in addition I try my best to adhere to a very old code of ethics that my family was bound to, generations ago. Sounds sorta fantastic and romantic, but at the end of the day, I know I’ve been honest and given everything my all, and I have a clear conscience.
All that aside, I do not attend church, and I rarely read my bible, though I occasionally wish I read it more often for some reason.
I guess what I’m saying is when it’s all said and done, we have to be able to decide, because no matter what’s been drilled into us, you have to accept or reject, just like with anything else.

I was (and technically am still being) raised in a Christian family. Both my parents are Christian, and we go to church every Sunday.

I think, at first, I was only Christian because my parents took me to church and all that… I remember that I only got baptized when I was seven because my brothers and sister had done it. But, when I got older (around the age of 11 or so… I’m not sure when this happened), I started to accept it as my own religion. I started to sit in on the sermons (and actually listen), and I’m into the habit of reading in my Bible every day.

Awhile ago, I was having doubts about Christianity… BIG doubts, too. But now, they’re pretty much gone. I think I’ve grown more in my faith now, and that makes me very happy.