Have you ever changed your religion?

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

New age is fluffy bullshit.

 

[RaptorWizard]

I was born into a Mormon family, but I now seek to become Darth Pymander, a Hermetic Sith Lord!

 

[garbage]

Christianity, then Buddhism, then a taste of the world of other religions, then plain ol' atheism. I can call it Naturalism or Spinozism if I want to sex it up a bit. Maybe some sort of Natural Baha'i if we really wanted to sex it up.

In practice, I didn't find my answers in any particular religion. I primarily found the opposite--that there are many misattributed causes to various effects. The most pressing of which is usually the question of why bad things happen to good people, and the most common attribution is that they have actually performed misdeeds, whether in this life or a past life. Some of those attributions are also oddly specific, such as abject poverty now from premarital sex decades ago, though they vary from church to church.

It was also odd to me that this happened in practice, seeing as how religious ideas such as, say, the serenity prayer, "giving it all to God," and cessation of dukkha preach that at least some stuff is outside of our control. Many religions have a point of commonality right there.

So, I found that many religions join paths and hit on some good, solid common themes that are probably "on to something." Or at least they're good ideas. I've ultimately chosen to pick out those commonalities, continually test them out in my daily life, and leave the mysticism aside.

 

[Mole]

Is there no reconciliation to be had between that which is felt and that which is seen?

Often what is felt is illusory, and indeed often what is seen is also illusory, so we learnt during the Enlightenment to measure what is seen and felt against reproducable evidence.

Institutional slavery was seen and felt to be part of the natural order ordained by God.

And the subordination of women was seen and felt to be part of the natural order ordained by God.

And the sexual abuse of children was seen and felt to be a harmless part of childhood and a perogative of adults.

Why, we could all see that the Sun went round the Earth, but reproducible evidence showed the opposite was the case.

 

[Kasper]

Grew up in a very religious environment so much so that I hardly knew life existed outside of a church. Am now a devout anti-religious atheist. Why? Logiks.

Plus I find it much more fulfilling, instead of reciting a book about a yesteryear that dictates how one should live their life in accordance with an antiquated can and cannot do list with a focus on tradition and moralistic expectations, I choose to focus what scientific discoveries may be found about origins of life and the never ending questions each new answer will raise. Discovery is exciting and I consider it muted or inauthentic to have a requirement for answers to fit within a certain dogma, it's limiting.

This to me vv is way more exciting than trying to work out how Jonah kept food sources and waste products separate while camping out inside a whale.

And unlike the devout religious, this does not give me something to fight, kill or die for, I have no fantasies of life after death, no promised end of days that justify malicious acts. Just now.

 

[Haven]

Grew up some kinda christian, my dad was Catholic, my mom methodist, then my step dad Jewish, but I went atheist at about 12. Now I wouldn't say I'm totally Buddhist, but I enjoy their teachings.

 

[Qre:us]

What religion did you switch to? No religion, straight to atheism
What did you switch from? I was brought up Hindu, my parents still pratice, and my mom is very tied to the religion.

And what was the reason for the change?

Questioning, self-reflection, rationality. In my early 20s. It wasn't an overnight shift, as I fought hard with myself against giving up the known, fearing the ostracization (if it will break my mother's heart), as there are a lot of cultural aspects tied to religion, and feeling of tribalism. I still go to temple, but I do not participate in the religious rituals or prayers (I actively refuse), but for the cultural/social outlet. And to volunteer. In Hindu temples, like some other religions (Sikhism), there are daily offerings of food/meal (vegetarian), to anyone who come in and want it. You don't have to be Hindu. I like this aspect of it, and there are many families and non-Hindus who come, who we know are struggling, just to get that free meal. It takes volunteers to run this, to donate $ for the food. I offer my voluntary services to my community's temple in this regard.

 

[Qlip]

Fundamentalist Christian Cult -> Pagan -> Fundamentalist Christian -> Atheist -> Nihilist -> Buddhist -> Myself

 

[chickpea]

I was raised Jewish, but it was not a religious upbringing. Never went to any religious services apart from 6 years at a Jewish summer camp. My parents got divorced when I was 8 and my mom had only converted to Judaism when she married my dad so she pretty much gave up on that.

Now I'm mostly agnostic but I still somewhat identify with bein Jewish, at least culturally. I'm not sure if/when I have kids how much Judaism I'll have in their lives. Still want to go on my free trip to Israel before I'm too old lol!

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I never really had a religion, so, no. I had two apathetic parents from different religious backgrounds.

I like Spinoza, though. Interesting biography, too. I go in for some New-Agey crap, too. I find that meditation helps me get in touch with the outside world/my body, which are two things that seem to help me out a lot, as a 5. I think astrology is bunk, but I do wonder if it's possible for seasons/weather to have some kind of effect on personality. Still, the differences between me and other Libras are so vast, that I doubt we share anything at all. With INTPs/Enneagram 5s, I can point to things we have in common, even if I don't like the person.

 

[Infinite Bubble]

Born and baptised a christian, but that's as far as it ever went.

 

[Mole]

A religion is a context in which we live our lives.

So to change our religion is to change our context.

However there is another alternative. As we start to see our context and not just take it for granted, we can step outside our context.

Stepping outside our context is anxiety producing, so we immediately try to find another context. But there is no need to.

And indeed stepping outside the taken-for-granted context was called by the Ancient Greeks, ekstasis, that is, ecstasy.

So take you pick: context or ecstasy.

But the price of ecstasy is courage.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Raised Episcopalian
Became an atheist
Found God

 

[greenfairy]

I became Christian when I was about 6, then quit being Christian around 13. When I was about 12 I discovered Hinduism and that I could be Christian and Hindu at the same time, but later I decided Christianity just didn't make sense to me. That was the only time I've ever really subtracted anything. Everything else has been added and reined.

 

[EJCC]

Raised chill Episcopalian with a touch of Unitarianism and a big dollop of "I don't have to believe that if it doesn't make sense". Still pretty much that, but probably less chill, in the sense that I'd call myself both more spiritual and more religious than I used to be.

 

[Coriolis]

I was raised Catholic, and by my teens had started to reject and discard that religion layer by layer, peeling apart an onion. Reasons included lack of aesthetic substance, too much "going through the motions", church bureaucracy, regressive social policy, and the fact that, once everything else was stripped away, it just didn't make sense. I explored a few mainstream protestant denominations and found the core beliefs too similar.

By this point, I had discarded all my previous religious beliefs, save belief in the existence of god. This one belief was kept alive by, of all things, the writings of scientists of old - people like Newton and Galileo. Eventually, I got to know some Bahai's, and learned enough to become comfortable with the idea of following a faith other than Christianity, but also to know Bahai faith wasn't it for me. Still too close to "religions of the book", with rules, hierarchies, and established holy writings.

Finally, I stumbled across Paganism, mostly Wicca. My experience was different from [MENTION=5494]Amargith[/MENTION]'s in that the groups I worked with were not dogmatic; tailored ritual to the needs of the participants; and have always emphasized the immediacy and presence of the divine within our lives. We share a common practice, with each person's beliefs individual and unconstrained. I like that we take our cues from the creation (i.e. the Creator), and place the onus for spiritual development on the individual, not a hierarchy or minister or static writings.

So, I found that many religions join paths and hit on some good, solid common themes that are probably "on to something." Or at least they're good ideas. I've ultimately chosen to pick out those commonalities, continually test them out in my daily life, and leave the mysticism aside.

I agree with this, and always enjoy noticing these commonalities. Ironically I have much more respect for Christianity now that I no longer feel I have to fit myself within its boundaries.

 

[Cimarron]

Not changed, really, just re-discovered. Which looks like a fairly common thing to happen over the course of life.

 

[Evo]

I was drug up catholic. I had grown up thinking that everyone was just walking around knowing that they were all going to hell cause they were constantly comitting sins and they weren't going to confession. By the time I was 10 I was completely brain washed which perfectly complimented my self righteous beliefs.

Its taken me the past 16 years to undo all of that. I cannot define my "religion" with a universally known type of religion. The closest it comes to is Buddhism.

 

[Mole]

I was drug up catholic. I had grown up thinking that everyone was just walking around knowing that they were all going to hell cause they were constantly comitting sins and they weren't going to confession. By the time I was 10 I was completely brain washed which perfectly complimented my self righteous beliefs.

Its taken me the past 16 years to undo all of that. I cannot define my "religion" with a universally known type of religion. The closest it comes to is Buddhism.

A catholic education is an excellent innoculation against religion.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Raised Episcopalian
Became an atheist
Found God

What made you switch from Atheism? If you don't mind.