Have you ever changed your religion?

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

No. I didn't know what religion was until I was 11. What a weird thing, I thought.

Lol.. Sweden of peace.

 

[Raven Eyed Pantomime]

No. I didn't know what religion was until I was 11. What a weird thing, I thought.

Same. Atheist and never changed it.

 

[Mole]

erm, the problem with the caste system was that everyone was, practically speaking, believed to be living in a divinely ordained afterlife here on earth, and upward mobility or even the alleviation of the poor's living conditions was viewed as a religious violation*. It has more to do with a religiously motivated version of apartheid than with focusing on living a life worthy of Heaven or Valhalla at the expense of earthly activism.

*Among many Hindus that's still the case, even if its no longer backed by force of law.

And we have the strange sight of many educated, wealthy Westerners, with values of freedom and equality, being taken in by Hindu gurus, such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, with not a mention of the caste system.

 

[Mole]

It's funny how bible stories still convey meaning to us, even though we're not in it. I ran into an ex-JW yesterday and she also name dropped some Biblical Characters. Because of our 'education', I get along great with the Jewish peeps. In some ways (in some much deeper ways), it's added value to my life.

It's impossible to understand English literature without understanding the Bible.

And it is impossible to understand European art and music without understanding the Bible.

And it is impossible to understand European history without understanding the Bible, for the history of Europe is the history of the Church.

 

[Dannik]

That depends on your definition of understanding.

It's impossible to understand English literature without understanding the Bible.

And it is impossible to understand European art and music without understanding the Bible.

And it is impossible to understand European history without understanding the Bible, for the history of Europe is the history of the Church.

 

[Mole]

That depends on your definition of understanding.

Understanding is knowing what a culture based on Ancient Greek philosophy, Judaism, Christianity and the Enlightenment is talking about.

To know what the West is talking about, whether we agree or disagree, it necessary to know the Bible.

 

[Hexis]

Have pretty much been an atheist my entire life, but a closet one on several occasions. Was raised Quaker but always doubted, even though I tried really hard to get with the program it was all non sense to me. By middle school I had fallen in with a group of friends who were Wiccan and thus tried to identify myself as such. After a couple of years this too seemed silly to me and I gave it up. By high school I had determined I was agnostic atheist but since have grown towards die hard atheist/anti-theist.

 

[Mole]

Of all the seven billion souls alive today almost all of us do not change our religion.

In fact most of the seven billion learn their religion as children and they imprint like ducks on their parents' religion.

And even more interesting is that on the global scale religion is defined by geography. Just imagine, the god or gods you believe in depend on where you live.

There is a small exception to this and that is, in the West, a small number of people do change their religion or leave it altogether. But this is highly unusual behaviour in world terms.

And the fact that we ask the question here about leaving our religion, shows how parochial we are.

 

[Lexicon]

My mother had me Baptized as a Protestant when I was an infant, though we didn't attend church terribly regularly.
I went to a Sunday school in one of the several towns in Georgia I lived in, for a time.

I mostly liked the free pecan cookies, and singing. I never fully accepted the existence of a divine being as the Ultimate Truth, though I enjoyed some biblical tales. My mother became very angry when I'd question the existence of God, & Sunday school was no different.
I was reprimanded repeatedly for asking too many questions & not dressing "appropriately" for church classes (stopped wearing dresses).
I asked where in the Bible it was written that I had to dress a particular way in order to attend church. They sent me to a time-out.

My father died when I was 9, and I was exposed to a lot of abuse afterward (my mom dated a psycho). Trying to cope/understand meaning behind all of it.. Asked a lot of tough questions.
I found only dead ends and empty answers in the religion fed to me, and decided God likely does not exist.

Between elementary school & jr high, I read the Bible cover-to-cover. It was slow going, & I found I had little use for it. Just picked it up & dropped it intermittently, to make sure I grasped what people were following, what I dismissed.

My overall stance hasn't changed. The older I get, the more sense it makes.
Eternal skeptic.

 

[Zangetshumody]

I've always explored different beliefs until I discerned here was something wrong with them, and then tried to formulate something about what is lacking in that community of idea's while looking for something else that offers what was lacking... I finally found a religion for myself though, currently in the process of being taken up, will probably be sealed after a year of activity. (I found a gospel of Christianity that I can understand in the Old Apostolic Church).

correction: after looking at the definition of religion, I guess how I believe does not conform to that label...

I believe that I should live in the priest, I think I should live on the prophet, I believe I should learn and bread break about what the Evangelist tells me, I believe I should be handled by the Elders when requiring healing... I believe the members of my church community are the body of Jesus Christ, and I will bread break with them (eat the flesh) and pool my energy with them (drink the blood) and in so doing, receive eternal life.

btw: I was told that I was baptized methodist.

 

[Mole]

The problem is religion doesn't make sense. So in order to believe nonsense we put aside our critical mind and believe whatever we are told, just like children.

Matthew 18:2 and 18:3

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 

[kyli_ryan]

I was raised in a christian household (that wasn't very serious). I was more spiritual than my family and became involved in my Baptist Church. Being disgruntled with that atmosphere and the inconsistencies within the bible, I sought out an Islam class and actually converted last year. I'm still learning, but I do have a strong faith in God and want to continue to grow in faith everyday.

 

[Flâneuse]

When I was twelve I left Christianity, and at fourteen I stopped believing in god altogether. My degree of certainty in the nonexistence of god has fluctuated over the years, but at this point I consider myself agnostic instead of an atheist. I have a lot more respect for religion now than I used to; I've found a lot of deep moral wisdom at the core of some religions, but I don't look to religion for an explanation of nature/the universe like some do.

Right before adolescence I started questioning what I believed and realized that I didn't have strong faith like I did as a young child; I'd been willing myself to just believe in the religion that had been put in front of me. I didn't stop believing in god altogether yet, but I stopped viewing Christianity as the one path to The Truth and started viewing it as only one of many sets of ideas about life's origin and purpose. I stopped believing in god about a year and half later and became a philosophical materialist. I think a lot of that had to do with being exposed to different (more skeptical) ways of thinking that made a lot of sense to me, and I started weeding out my own beliefs that were faith-based rather than evidence-based. Now I still lean towards a materalist view and will likely never believe in a deity again, but I recognize that I understand very little of what there is to understand, and I'm more open to considering certain theories that can't be explained in terms of physical phenomena, such as the idea that there's one ultimate Consciousness/Mind that everyone shares.

In order to return to Christianity, I would either have to discover a reason why its beliefs are more likely to be true than the ones I currently hold, but even then I would be an agnostic Christian. I would completely have to change my epistemological approach in order to be a Christian who is certain their beliefs represent reality.

 

[Tiltyred]

I was raised a Protestant. At about age 35, I started realizing I couldn't keep going to church because I just didn't believe any of it. I cast about for some years, trying to find something else to believe in. Just recently realized, there's no reason for that. I came to the realization that I don't believe in anything.

 

[Nicodemus]

No, but I got rid of it once.

 

[Riva]

I still practice the religion I was born into which basically teaches:

Nothing is eternal/immortal (the basic teaching of it).
Therefore there couldn't be an eternal/immortal God.
God didn't create the universe or you.
God or Gods aren't the decider of your fate.
Your actions will have reactions in this life and the next.
Oh yeah there is an afterlife.
Believing in this religion wouldn't save your ass.
Believing in this religion wouldn't save your ass even in the afterlife.
Try to be a good boy.
You are doomed.

Welcome to Buddhism.

 

[LadyLazarus]

No, and I don't see myself doing so soon either.

It's actually one of the only things I agree with my parents on as well as one of the things that they have "given" me which I actually find some value within.

 

[Rimarie]

I was born and raised as a Catholic, but am now in a phase where I can't help but question it.. I just think that one's most important treasure is one's life. Isn't this what most religion teach?

 

[prplchknz]

I was baptized and raised antiochan orthodox. I practice nothing now.

 

[Coriolis]

I was born and raised as a Catholic, but am now in a phase where I can't help but question it.. I just think that one's most important treasure is one's life. Isn't this what most religion teach?

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.