What is your religion?

[ednbarby]

Just curious as to what our demographics are here as far as religious beliefs.  For the record, I am an atheist.  I was baptised in a Methodist church at 14, mostly to placate my mother and paternal grandmother to whom baptism was very important.  But I was always an agnostic.  I've become an atheist in very recent years only because I can't understand what kind of a God would allow things like the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina, along with various and sundry genocides and hate crimes throughout history, to happen.  Really, I'm a humanist - I believe that we are more than the sum of our parts - that we are tied to one another through our very humanity, and that that common thread is in itself a higher power.

[hermitdave]

 I was raised in the Pentecostal church, just like Jack. There was a lot of fire and brimstone preaching. Guilt and inner turmoil were a constant for me growing up. Since BBM I have begun to revisit my past, and hopefully deal with feelings I have kept pushed down for many years. I believe in God, but have a bg problem with organized religion. Groups of people who believe they have a God given right to control  other peoples lives are scary and dangerous. The bible says "Judge not, lest ye be judged". So many "Christians" choose to ignore that verse-in order to spread hatred, discrimination, bigotry, etc., all in the name of God. I believe God lives in the hearts of those who seek him- but couldnt be farther away from those who use his name to further their own hateful agendas. 

[Toast]

I think my United Churdh of Canada background gave me a great lesson in respecting other people.  We have few rituals, and few mindless recitations of belief. which is good.
But I call myself a Christer.  (rhymes with meister)
I always ask "what would Jesus say about that?"
I never ask what his disciples or followers would say/do
I NEVER wonder what the Pope would tell me to do.
I would rather listen to someone at the bar about respect than to learn from a church group.
Organized religion is so scary.
I loved reading the DaVinci Code, but hoped for some useful ending to it.
it just died with a whimper, much to my disappointment.

If I had children, I would take them to church, but treat it as another learning experience, and not make them think that God/god approved of all that happened there, anymore than anywhere else.

Beliefs are important, even if you don't have them.

[Shuggy]

I was always an agnostic.  I've become an atheist in very recent years only because I can't understand what kind of a God would allow things like the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina, along with various and sundry genocides and hate crimes throughout history, to happen.

That's an interesting reason. One answer would be, "an imperfect one". Believers have various answers to the Problem of Evil, but omnibenevolent and omnipotent are really incompatible with the world as we know it.
There are also two kinds of atheist:

• strong: "(I believe) there are no gods
• weak: "I have no belief that there are any gods"

but even a strong atheist may say "- but I could be wrong". Absolute faith is the preserve of those with no evidence.

  Really, I'm a humanist - I believe that we are more than the sum of our parts - that we are tied to one another through our very humanity, and that that common thread is in itself a higher power.

I like that very much. And the essence of our humanity is our ability to love each other, no?

But I still like Tom Paine's "My country is the world, and my religion is doing good."

[David]

Born and raised Protestant Luthern.    But to be honest, I checked off "Agnostic".

I really question whether there is a god who lets people suffer so much.   

Don't get me wrong.   I am respectful of ALL religions.     But I think most religions were started as a reason for people to pull together in times of need.     But today, it seems that most religions are causing groups of people to separate from the rest of the world.   

Muslims hate.. well, anyone non-Muslim.

The Jews are in perpetual battle with the Palistinians and vice versa.

The Catholics don't want you to marry a Protestant.

Reverend Fred Phelps wants you to hate Fags.

You know, the more I think about it,  there is more hate in the name of religion nowadays than Love. 

[Lynne]

Agnostic for many years...  There's a bumper sticker I like:  'I don't know and neither do you!' 

I've had exposure to the wide variety of religions in the Western hemisphere...grandparents were fundamentalists of the snake-handling and speaking-in-tongues variety.  This messed up both of my parents spiritually-speaking - a lot of internal conflict there.  They sent me to Catholic elementary school because of the academics.  I convinced them to go to a Methodist church when I was in Jr/Sr high school, which was more moderate.  My university was Episcopalian, as was my husband and his family, so about 10 years were spent there.

I most closely identify these days with the liberal Friends (Quakers) and attend a meeting once in awhile because it's a long drive for me.  I like them because they focus on the individual's relationship with spirit, there is no dogma, very little hierarchy, and they are tolerant and accepting of people in all their infinite varieties.  They also have a very strong record of promoting social justice, which is extremely important to me.

Here's some info to illustrate...Quakers have a testimony called the Truth testimony.  This is where we get the 'I swear or affirm...' when taking an oath.  Quakers maintain that because they are always called upon to tell the truth, there should not be a special version of truth for official occasions like testifying in court.  During the slavery period, Quakers were very active in the Underground Railroad.  When slave-hunters would come searching, a Quaker would state, 'There are no slaves here,'  which is truth to the Quaker, because in their belief system, no man could be enslaved.  From the earliest days of the Quaker movement, women have held roles equal in the church as men.  And many Quakers were instrumental in working for women's suffrage in the U.S.  Last but not least, most liberal Quaker congregations welcome gays and lesbians and will perform union ceremonies.

Sorry to prattle on and on...
-Lynne

[Ellemeno]

Thanks L:ynne, 3 of my favorite people are Quakers.  They are different one from another, but have in common that they are respectful listeners - good friends to talk things over with, openminded, good meeting facilitators, and happy.

[ednbarby]

I like that very much. And the essence of our humanity is our ability to love each other, no?

But I still like Tom Paine's "My country is the world, and my religion is doing good."

Yes.  And our knowledge of our own mortality.  I think other animals have the ability to love each other.  I've seen it in my dog Layla, who mourned the passing of my other dog Beauty so severely we thought she was going to die of a broken heart.  But only we seem to have foreknowledge that we will not live forever.

I like that Tom Paine quote and this one, from Abraham Lincoln:  "When I do good, I feel good.  When I do bad, I feel bad.  And that is my religion."

I went for a long time believing that there is no way we can know one way or the other whether there is a God.  But now I just think that with all that goes on in the world that's so hateful and ugly and tragic, if there is a God, he is not only imperfect but at best indifferent and at worst wrathful.  I think it's just that I don't want to live in a world made by an indifferent or wrathful God so much that I'd rather believe there isn't one.  That it really is all random.  But I find peace in that - because when something extraordinarily beautiful comes out of randomness, that is the miracle.  I don't need a God to make that happen.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I generally don't do polls, but I couldn't resist this one because the topic fascinates me endlessly.

I was born, baptized, raised, and confirmed Lutheran (the old LCA, now the ELCA). No fire and brimstone in my upbringing. The congregation was mainly young families; the pastor's son was my age and president of my class in high school. Much "practical Christianity," with common Lutheran emphases on justification by faith and the sacredness of all vocations. I was interested in the ministry as a possible occupation--until I served a term on church council while I was in college. 

I have never had any kind of "conversion experience." Faith and belief have just always been a part of the structure of my life. One of the most important lessons I ever learned came not in church but from one of my religion professors in college. It was a definition of "faith" not as a belief system but as a living one's life trusting in God. (I took a lot of religion and philosophy electives--interesting subject matter, interesting readings, and no term papers. ...)

As a young adult I did the typical falling away from regular worship. In addition, I had moved to a city that is not strongly Lutheran, and I was loyal to denomination of my upbringing. In the mid 1990s I began to feel a personal need to return to formal worship in my life. A friend invited me to our neighborhood Episcopal parish. I found the liturgy itself and the style of worship not too different from what I had grown up with, so I continued attending. In 1998 I was received into membership--for the very practical reason that I was supporting the parish financially but until I became a member, I couldn't vote for the vestry (the church leadership).

The parish has been a good spiritual home for me. I'm comfortable with the form and style of worship, and the parish has a large gay presence from the leadership levels down, yet it doesn't exist to be a "gay church." So it's a place where I can be who I am at worship without my sexual orientation being an "issue." (I'm speaking about my parish level here, not the larger issues in the Episcopal Church.) Another reason I'm comfortable is Anglicanism's historic acceptance of a wide variety of private personal beliefs. My own personal belief system is almost certainly not orthodox in a Nicene Creed kind of way, but the practice of an historic, mainline Protestant denomination "works" for me because it's how I was raised and part of who I am.

The funny thing is, formal requirements for congregational membership--keeping your name "on the books"--are so minimal these days, that I technically still a member of my home Lutheran church as well. Plus the ELCA and the ECUSA are in full communion with each other, anyway.

Very early on in my Brokeback experience, I noticed something I found very interesting. Despite the tragedy of the film, I would leave the theater with the same peaceful, spiritually uplifted feeling I have when I leave church after receiving Holy Communion.

Lynne--if you read this--I think the Quakers were granted and give the rest of us a valuable insight in the concept of the Inner Light.

[delalluvia]

Quakers sound fascinating.

Neo-pagan reconstructionist here, leaning toward moral relativity.

Was born and baptized in the Methodist Church.  Never had much of personal connection to Christianity.  When they taught us bible stories, I was always more interested in the Egyptian/Greek/Roman cultures.  And I was a feminist from day one.  As a child, I never understood why god would put women here just to have us cover our heads and be obedient to our menfolk just because of original sin and stay 2nd class citizens even though supposedly Christ died to take away that sin.  There was a lot of contradictions going on that I didn't understand.

Then later in life, I met a devout Catholic (well, not too devout considering what we were doing together) and had a brief affair and somewhere in our conversations, he asked if I had faith because *I* believed it or because that was what I was taught or what my family believed.

I didn't take his words to heart, but I did remember them.

Years later, I decided to investigate my Christianity.  To decide for myself if I believed because *I* did.  To research my faith.

No drama, no horrific personal crisis that drove my faith into question, nothing so 'movie of the week'. 

My life was fine as it always had been.

I have degees in the biological and chemical sciences, so I know how to research something with as much objectivity as possible and my love for the truth and facts had me brace myself for whatever I would find.

And what I found was that Christianity's strength - the idea that Christianity differs from all other religions because it was really true, based on real events and facts - wasn't correct.

It was no more 'based in fact' than any modern movie or TV series and was in fact, yet another religion based on faith.

So there was no 'right or true' path, one could be just as good as another, and being a spiritual person and still believing in the spiritual world, I could pursue and worship whomever I felt a connection.

So I returned to my childhood interests, which had always and to this day still fascinate me and have followed that path for nearly 10 years now and have never been happier nor more at peace.