[INFP] Are INFPs Non-Religious?

[nanook]

i did not grow up in a big town. there was some nature and my parents took me around a lot. i saw plenty castles and churches in europe, but also many woods that have little signs of medieval spirit, crosses, stones, really old wood houses. i dived into the past of humanity and was practically a nature mystic. i imagined life in the past, that is to say living, fearing, loving, longing, starving and dying in the past. dying as a knight or monk or king, knowing that they will put your body in one of those sarkophages (stone coffins) in a cold church on a lonely mountain. i never made a connection between my irrational perceptions and whatever grown ups have to say about anything, let alone the bible. how can a human being not be spiritual? well, put him in front of a TV. that's how.

 

[Bubbles]

Do you have a faith and attend a place of worship?
Yes.

Do you have a faith and used to attend a place of worship, but now feel like there are "too many sharks in the pool" for it to be a good place?
No.

Last question with, do you believe all churches are that way?
No, but I think many are.

Do you have a faith, but don't believe in organized religion (so you don't attend a place of worship)?
No, I don't lump all organized religion together.

Oh hey, OrangleAppled answered for me. Convenient.

 

[Glycerine]

Faith is unrelated to type. I know INFPs who are religious, non religious, and somewhere in between.

For real. My INFP is really religious while me as the ENFJ is not very religious (ENFJs are supposed to be one of the top types to be attracted to religion).

 

[Drezoryx]

here are some generalised relations between TYPE and spirituality

Prayer and Temperament | Christian Peacemaker Teams

 

[One Day]

I'm not particularly religious. Maybe there's a higher being or maybe there isn't. I don't really care. I guess that makes me agnostic?

I don't have much of a problem with religious/non-religious people either. As long as they're not extremists forcing their viewpoint on everyone.

 

[The Outsider]

Not religious.

 

[valentine]

Not religious, nothing ever 'clicked' with me.

 

[chris09]

Atheist here!

The only supernatural things I believe in are the results of human experiments... ie. Einsteinium is a supernatural element

 

[TopherRed]

Yes, but what is it good for?

 

[underradar]

I'm sure if all infp come to live in third world country, they won't believe in god anymore.

 

[phthalocyanine]

^ that depends on their concept of god...many christians believe god comes to humanity in their darkest hour of need.

 

[TopherRed]

Only if they sit and observe their surroundings, Under. I'm sorry, but as an NFJ, I am prone to helping. If they had any Js at all among them, I'm 100% sure they'd follow and help improve things too.

Here's the kicker to those who believe God is cruel:
God does not do miraculously, what men can do naturally. He wants us to love one another, and we've been given the opportunity; specifically, he's called us to love our neighbors. We might not be able to help the starving children in Africa, but we can definitely help the poor and hungry in our own neighborhood. If a natural disaster ever happened in Sacramento, I would be held responsible to show love, by giving of myself whatever I could to help those affected by it.

Look carefully at a world where nobody helps anyone else, and you have found a place where people blame God for not doing anything; the whole time, God is staring down at them, saddened by the fact that they choose to do nothing, despite the fact that the power to do so is in their grasp.

 

[phthalocyanine]

good point. people who conceptualize god as some distant, passive figure and fail to see this god in themselves or others seem to miss out on a lot. personally, i don't get the point of this "passive faith"... it seems selfish and incomplete. most religions explicitly state that acts charity are faithful acts, and encourage their followers to engage in them. it's sad when the effective points of a religion are ignored in favor of the more questionable ones.

-if there's no practical application of faith, why have it? that's like having strong political opinions and never voicing them or acting on them... they're as good as non-existent as far as the world at large is concerned; its not helping anybody. and in that case it seems more like a crutch for an individual rather than an instrument for a collective.

maybe that was underradar's point...in that case i beg to differ. not all INFP's, or faithful people, or faithful INFP's are possessed of such a short sense of vision or activity.

We might not be able to help the starving children in Africa, but we can definitely help the poor and hungry in our own neighborhood.

i agree that charity begins at home, but i disagree that we can't help others, too. yes, problems like world hunger seem like such big mountains to cross, and they are, but limiting our sense of ability to combat these problems are a self-fulfilling prophesy. it is foolish to think that baby steps wouldn't be worth it.

 

[compulsiverambler]

I'm deeply drawn to religion. The urge to join one comes and goes in waves. I'd even like to try living in a religious commune. Sadly I've concluded it would probably be a bad idea to pretend to believe in Jesus or Krishna Consciousness so I could do that.

I'd definitely join an organisation or commune that didn't mind if you were just role playing in the rituals and didn't really believe in any of it, just as battle re-enactment clubs don't expect you to. Maybe I'll set one up one day.

The appeal is in regularly getting lost and immersed in a mystical, awe-inspiring fantasy of the divine and the sacred and the symbolic or of living in romanticised times and places like pre-Christian Northern and Western Europe. Asatru looks like loads of fun but even some of them seem to take it too seriously.

 

[nanook]

lol, try a laughing club

 

[phthalocyanine]

The appeal is in regularly getting lost and immersed in a mystical, awe-inspiring fantasy of the divine and the sacred and the symbolic or of living in romanticised times and places like pre-Christian Northern and Western Europe.

druids, lol.

 

[compulsiverambler]

lol, try a laughing club

Well, I guess they're not taking it too seriously, and there are no arbitrary rules to take home and inflict on the world.

Looks like fun, though rather lacking in robes and chants and morbid story telling for my taste. They should spice things up with a mock sacrifice or two.

 

[underradar]

I come to clarify my point, so I hope everyone will understand it better. :hi:

When I say 'god', I mean in term of god as in Creation's belief, like god who create the world, live above the sky and giving us blessing. So when I say there's no god, I meant we're all alone in our world which is chaotic, random, no high power up there who will punish bad people, or look after the good one.

My point is, the only thing I have faith in is potential of humanity, that's the power is actually in our hands to change things for the better. Because of that fact make me interested in Buddhism's belief as well because it support the idea of human's growth; praticing meditation to gain more consciousness and wisdom, also overall Buddhism's philosophy that i find interesting. Having said that, I'm never praticing or anything.('why not?' is a long story.)

PS. Sorry for my poor English. I hope you get it though.

 

[underradar]

Only if they sit and observe their surroundings, Under. I'm sorry, but as an NFJ, I am prone to helping. If they had any Js at all among them, I'm 100% sure they'd follow and help improve things too.

I think it's not about J or P function that determine people when they
decide to help or not help something. Most of the time, I believe it's due to
lack of inspiration which pronounce it more strongly in this world today.

 

[neptunesnet]

I personally find it hard to believe that any Fi dominant could hold strong fundamentalist beliefs, which would mean to accept the eternal damnation, but feel free to correct me.

Well, this is my correcting you.
I hold strong fundamentalist beliefs while still being able to have the capacity to be empathetic to others at an extreme extent. Aren't INFPs always revered for their strong moral system? Did you miss that in the INFP description?

Would it be feasible to say that INFP's would be more fond of religion as a personal and unique relationship with a loving and supportive God rather than a large scale, conformist, by-the-book worship of a God that is possessive and strict?

Well...yeeah.

I hate it when people dis on religions or those who are religious with stupid sweeping generalizations like, "The Catholic Church is evil" or "Mormons are psycho", etc. It almost makes me want to go to church again just so I can rub it in their faces or something.

I couldn't agree more. Before I started going to Quaker services, I was always hesitant to learn more about it because of other people's suspicion of the denomination. But now it feels normal. I couldn't even imagine what someone could see wrong with it.

I liked my religious upbringing but no longer felt the need for it around the age of eighteen. I walk in and it doesn't seem relevant to me anymore; it's like writing a sixth grade diary entry while wearing clothes five sizes too small.

Even though I'm fairly religious, I can also relate. My grandparents are Southern Baptists and, let me tell you, black Southern Baptists churches were FOUNDED on extraverts. I always felt out of place. If I didn't scream and shout out to my Lord (in the middle of service like everyone else, mind you!), then I wasn't truly experiencing him :rolli:. There isn't just one way to praise Him. My way is simply different from theirs. Done.

I'm sure if all infp come to live in third world country, they won't believe in god anymore.

^ that depends on their concept of god...many christians believe god comes to humanity in their darkest hour of need.

+1 for phthalocyanine

Here's the kicker to those who believe God is cruel: God does not do miraculously, what men can do naturally. He wants us to love one another, and we've been given the opportunity; specifically, he's called us to love our neighbors. We might not be able to help the starving children in Africa, but we can definitely help the poor and hungry in our own neighborhood. If a natural disaster ever happened in Sacramento, I would be held responsible to show love, by giving of myself whatever I could to help those affected by it.

Look carefully at a world where nobody helps anyone else, and you have found a place where people blame God for not doing anything; the whole time, God is staring down at them, saddened by the fact that they choose to do nothing, despite the fact that the power to do so is in their grasp.

The urge to join one comes and goes in waves. I'd even like to try living in a religious commune.

I'm seriously thinking of joining a religious commune after I graduate or while I'm in graduate school. The idea is just too attractive to me.