Have you ever changed your religion?

[á´…eparted]

No, but I got rid of it once.

This.

Wasn't a pleasent process, but one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

 

[Ginkgo]

I was raised evangelical Christian. Now, after extensive training with [MENTION=15371]RaptorWizard[/MENTION] senpai, I am become a Jedi.

 

[wildflower]

I guess I was raised in a nominally christian home. Basically just the values. The church we sometimes were a part of was a complete snoozefest. If Jesus was there he was surely nodding off as well. I thought it was all rather pointless. Stopped going as soon as I was old enough to. Five years later a girl i met was going to be doing a dance there so I went back to see her dance. God showed up at the service powerfully, I had a supernatural experience, and I started following Him, but not at that church. Changed my life and my depression of 1 1/2 years immediately lifted. Good thing too because a few weeks later my quite normal high school friends started attempting suicide like crazy. I have little doubt I would have ended my life, as several of my friends did, if I hadn't started following Jesus. So, I left a nominal/liberal Protestant background and started following Jesus. I don't fit in liberal or conservative boxes. I am somewhat charismatic but don't really fit there either.

The best "church" I've been a part of meets in a parking lot at midnight that is an outreach to street people (prostitutes, homeless, addicts etc). While my background couldn't be more different from theirs I love it because it's real and where Jesus would hang if he were walking the earth. I've never seen my prayers get answered so fast as when I pray for my friends on the street. This small group of followers of Jesus has helped people get off the street, leave prostitution, get sober and get saved. It's a wild and fun ride.

 

[Rimarie]

Sadly, no. Many teach that God, or one's relationship with God, is the most important "treasure" in life. Some even put the lives of others over one's own.

I gave up Catholicism, too, and still can't understand how intelligent people can view it as anything more than an allegory with some seriously mixed messages.

Oh yeah, maybe it's not then
I know that feeling too, and I'm sort of guilty about it. But believing in something blindly is worse than not believing in something at all.. But I still have contradicting thoughts about it though, which I don't mind.
I knid of want to say I prefer philosophy over religion.

 

[Society]

as an exception to nearly everyone above me... not really....

and to be honest i sometime find myself jealous of the people who actually got to abandon a religion. sure, some of the more forceful behaviors sounds less then appealing (JW in particular), but it's a bit like they got to experience some cathartic disillusionment that i never had the chance too.

i suppose i do remember in kindergarden hearing other kids talking about praying to god, which sort of worked for me as one of many potential wishing wells (not as cool as shooting stars).
i've flirted with spiritual systems in my teens, but in retrospect it was very much mental masturbation to interesting possibilities for the sake of finding them interesting (this was just after conspiracy theories got boring).
i sometimes indulge in the community aspects of jewdaism, but the thing about being part of a jewish community is that an overwhelming number of the people you'll meet in temple will be some form of agnostic, plus a lot of jewish holidays are about sticking it to the man (the man = egyptions/greek/persian/romans).
... in the end of the day, none of the above seem to fit what religious people experience beyond a very shallow resemblance, at least from how i've heard people describe it.

..at the core of it, i don't think i really get faith:
"here are a few possible explanations, pick one"
based on what?
"no no no, just pick one!"
using what? and what do i do with it?
"pick a possibility and force yourself to consider only that"

i... i really don't get it. i've tried. there was a time when i really wanted too: there's a set of experiences that like 99% of the world's population gets to have and finds fundamental to their way of thinking, and i... just don't get it.

 

[Mole]

Giving Up the Civic Religion of the USA

I am in the process of giving up a religion. The religion I am giving up is the Civic Religion of the USA.

The Civic Religion of the USA has its sacred text, the Constitution. And I started to become dissillusioned when the Constitution mandated faith in guns in an Amendment.

And having become dissillusioned over guns, I am starting to ask questions about the whole Civic Religion of the USA.

This is an interesting place to question the Civic Religion of the USA as so many members are naive believers. And so many members come here looking for agreement.

I am told I make the believers angry. And believe me, I am glad they can't shoot me on Typology Central.

 

[Oaky]

I am in the process of giving up a religion. The religion I am giving up is the Civic Religion of the USA.

The Civic Religion of the USA has its sacred text, the Constitution. And I started to become dissillusioned when the Constitution mandated faith in guns in an Amendment.

 

[xisnotx]

Religion....the framework around which you deal with the notion of God...is a very fluid concept in my mind. I don't see it as a static entity in need of being changed by an external force. Religion changes. Your relationship with God should always be growing..

Anyway, I grew up Catholic, became an atheist at the age of 12/13, was agnostic at 18, and now I'm some sort of pantheist catholic...

I believe everyone and everything is "God". I'm still Catholic as religion and God are two different things in my mind. Where I am right now is about developing my spirituality...connecting with God on a one to one basis.

I empty my head of the noise and address God, I talk to him...and ask him questions..

I say "him" but to me that's a limitation of the English language. God isn't genderized and 'it' isn't quite right either. I was born in Africa...the language use around the concept of God, which I think is more appropriate, is non genderized.

Anectdotally, the whole language does away with the two genders. Instead it has like 14 classes or "genders". People make up one class, so unless you're talking about a man or woman specifically...you don't know which gender is being spoken about (because it doesn't matter). So when you're talking about God, or even people, you don't end up using genders. It's interesting.

 

[Mole]

Pantheism and Catholicism are mutually exclusive, so to be genuinely a Pantheistic Catholic provokes the emotional pain of cognitive dissonance. So if we don't feel the emotional pain of cognitive dissonance, we are probably not genuine.