Do you still follow the religion you were raised with?

[TGTheodore]

I left the church around age 14 when I realized that RUNNING the church was more important to the people than practicing its spirituality.

Watching people campaigning to be the next deacon, or debating who got to host the next "Circle" meeting, etc. And it was at a number of churches. Practicing the faith was blunted by human machinations.

Also, I realized I didn't believe in the Christian bible as history, but as a book of lessons (some good, some bad). Also, many followers actually wouldn't believe that the bible was EDITED by men. Some actually believed it was a divine book which just "happened" to appear in two books like the clay tablets on Mount Sinai.

And I railed at how people twisted Christianity to explain war, bigotry, and the censure of others.

I believe in a lot of the positive religious philosophies, but all the man-made dogma really gummed up the spiritual works.

--Ted

 

[Daneel]

I was raised Catholic, am now athiest.


I don' want to offend anyone so I wont say why.

Aw, no need to be shy... I'm sure you can voice your issues in a diplomatic way. I did... so did Ted and archeryguy1701, amongst others. We listed our criticisms of certain aspects of religion without having to resort to name-calling and insulting true believers -- I'm sure you can too if you're up for it.

Oh, and welcome to the board!

 

[FPAlpha]

No

I was raised a catholic by my parents which basically meant i went through all the "stages" (christening, first communion etc) and in hindsight my parents "forced" me too because it was expected of them socially and they didn't want to be talked about.

My mother believes but never delved deeper into her faith because she was raised that way. Where she came from it was understood that you went to church on Sundays, from time to time confess your sins etc.

My father is not very religious and me too.. when i got older i naturally read up on religion and history and the more i read the more i was pushed away from the catholic church.

The dealbreaker for me was a news report during the Balkan Civil War when i saw a priest blessing croatian tanks!! I couldn"t believe my eyes.. there was a priest blessing instruments of war and destruction.. what about love thy enemy?

It was at this moment that i finally noticed the hypocrisy of organized religion and i personally withdrew from organized religion, i.e. i enter churches and cathedrals only as a tourist and for historical value and not as a devout follower of said religion.

I still believe there"s a higher being who started it all.. i refuse to believe that everything we know just came to existence by pure chance but i absolutely reject organized religion because they are led by humans who are fallible yet claim they're not just because they put on special clothing.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I was sent to a Church of England school and was subjected to daily teachings of the bible, regular mass and constant hymn singing and I believed it ALL! as soon as I left for secondary school and the daily brainwashing ceased I started to think for myself and now have absolutely no religion at all.

 

[Pingfah]

^ That's a very common situation I think, my parents were not religious, but I believed in God when I was younger because of our schooling system. And also because my parents sent me to a youth group to get rid of me on Sundays and they indoctrinated me.

WHY my scientist, atheist father thought this would be a good idea I do not know, but I take every opportunity to make him feel guilty about it now. I just grew out of it as I got older though, there was no harm done, in fact in the long run it's probably cemented my Atheism.

 

[Rii]

I was raised half-heartedly as a Lutheran, half-heartedly because the influence was an indirect one only, through my grandparents and the education system rather than my parents themselves. These days I'd identify myself as agnostic.

 

[auntiehill]

I was raised an Atheist and I'm still an Atheist.

We had a Bible in the house, and I went to a Catholic High School and a Quaker-affiliated College. But I'm still an atheist.

 

[think]

I was not raised I was herded <> in open fields like cattle and sheep.

But

If I was raised (any higher then where I am now( above God ))
I would then have to do self > herdation and create a > congrassation of

what?

dead maggots and evil jelly beans that eat those maggots as they die

but life is easy
so I do not
ask for up
or down but
make my mind
level on the plain
of existences' experiences
that are left for the red cherry
pops then pooped out of their holes
into what?

what?

what ever there is that was not mentioned here or there.

:::disclamer:::
​

I just came from
​

a poetry reading

where I read at????
​

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^^^ I'll have what he's having.

I was raised Catholic but am now Atheist.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was raised in a Catholic family, but I can't say I was ever Catholic or religious. I was about eight or nine when I realized that religion is just the current version of what I was reading in my Mythology books (needless to say, what I thought was a great discovery did not go over well with my family ). In any case, the idea of a Supreme Being is just too far-fetched to give serious consideration to.

As for religion being in decline, that is true; in Western Civilization, religion has been in decline since the Renaissance. In another four hundred years or so, it will be gone altogether.

 

[Deckerd]

^ That's a very common situation I think, my parents were not religious, but I believed in God when I was younger because of our schooling system. And also because my parents sent me to a youth group to get rid of me on Sundays and they indoctrinated me.

WHY my scientist, atheist father thought this would be a good idea I do not know, but I take every opportunity to make him feel guilty about it now. I just grew out of it as I got older though, there was no harm done, in fact in the long run it's probably cemented my Atheism.

My folks were Church of Scotland and we grew up in that. Then we all bar one abandoned religion for hedonism. My parents didn't like their new minister so they stopped going for a decade or so. Now they've started going back to the kirk. None of their kids are remotely religious save for the youngest sister. Go figure. My Dad is a scientist btw.

 

[JAG]

I was raised Catholic and still practice.

 

[Mark de Vries]

I was raised... nothing, really. Call it agnostic, although for most of my life I'd have assured you I was a staunch atheist. I wasn't really, though, but it always seemed to be the easiest answer.

These days I'm a practising Catholic, so I don't follow the religion I was raised with at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[Pingfah]

My folks were Church of Scotland and we grew up in that. Then we all bar one abandoned religion for hedonism. My parents didn't like their new minister so they stopped going for a decade or so. Now they've started going back to the kirk. None of their kids are remotely religious save for the youngest sister. Go figure. My Dad is a scientist btw.

My sister came out of it a devout Christian, she is to this day. Works for her though and she isn't preachy.

My Brother-in-Law is having a hell of a time trying to deprogram my nephew though, it's an ongoing battle of wills

 

[Deckerd]

My sis and her husband are holy willies. Their two daughters have tholed it throughout their childhood but are heading off to university, never to step in the kirk again, I have a very strong suspicion (except when they go home for hols, of course).

 

[Major Chord]

Howdy folks,

This is something I'm curious about. I myself was born into a Catholic family (although not a terribly strict or observant one), but almost a decade ago, when I was about halfway through high school, I decided that Catholicism was not for me. Why? Well, aside from the fact that I disagreed with the Church's stance on almost every single issue (i.e. homosexuality, birth control, the role of women and their reproductive rights, stem cell research, etc.), I came to the conclusion that I didn't believe in my heart that there was a God, or that "He" sent his son to earth in the form of a carpenter two thousand years ago. I'm not fundamentally opposed to the notion that there is some sort of creator/deity, but I just don't think there is enough evidence to prove whether such a being does or does not exist. I don't mind people taking a different view, by which I mean having faith that God does exist, but personally I find it more than a little presumptuous when someone claims to know exactly what God thinks about everything.

That's the same way I am. I was raised protestant, but maybe 3 years ago, I realized that in my mind, I couldn't justify the existence, or non-existence of a deity. I believe that religion can be a good thing-I know several people who have completely changed their lives, personalities and all, for the better, once converting to and actively following a religion. The existence of a God gives someone something to believe in, something to focus on when times are otherwise bleak, which can be beneficial. However, as great as I think the ability to let your mind accept the existence of something that can't be proven...it's just not for me. To me, there's no solid proof, and there are explanations for things that can be attributed to a deity that seem much more credible to me, like Evolution vs Creationism.

If I were to have concrete proof of a diety's existence...yeah, I might acknowledge that he/she/it is out there, but I wouldn't convert to a religion. I see no reason to worship a diety, for any reason.

-You created the human race...well, kudos to you. My parents created 3 children, but I certainly don't worship them .

 

[Jadzia]

My elders and infant school teachers told me all the christian stuff, and being young and innocent I accepted what I was told without giving it a second thought.

But when I was about 6 or 7 years old, for other reasons I began to question what my parents told me, because I discovered that sometimes they were very wrong about things. Soon after I was questioning religion, and I felt insulted to have been assured something so significant that they had no idea about themselves. I think it was in junior school, as I noticed how there are national trends to which is the popular religion, I began to see it is as something very arbitrary. I held my doubts for a year, and openly rejected religion when I was about 9 or 10 years old.

As time went on I became a more independent thinker, learning to form my own opinions about things rather than just swallowing and regurgitating other people's opinions. It has pretty much defined my approach to learning throughout upper school, and since. It serves me well.

 

[trekkiedane]

Back in 1536 the state confiscated everything owned by the catholic church and made a state church instead. Pretty smart king we had back then
This new reformed thing was the only legal religion in Denmark till 1849 -when we got our constitution.)

When baptised, which pretty much every child is, you automatically become a member. 82,1% of the population were members as of January 1'st 2008. 5% attend church regularly...

Dad is a somewhat loud mouthed anti religious person (he's the only one I've ever heard about arguing loudly and prolonged with Mormons and Jehova's witnesses -most other people just close the door on them.) and mum kinda believes -she's your typical 'hopefully there's more to life the universe and everything than this' personality.

The moment I could resign from the church (18'th birthday) without mum's consent I did. Never looked back. I like SciFi, not fantasy, science not magic, knowledge, not faith.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Raised Catholic. Currently Christian. And no bashing forthcoming from our side.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

My mam always identifies Church of England, Dad doesn't identify with anything as far as I'm aware. So I guess there was belief there but never any actual religion.
Never went to chuch as a kid, except school trips. As an adult I only ever go to church when there's an occasion that calls for it, wedding, funeral, Christening, and honestly I always feel weird whenever I'm in a chuch, hypocritical and somewhat weirded out by the any service.
So I guess I go with other.