What's your religion?

I’m Christian but I don‘t call it a religion because Christianity isn’t a religion for me, it is a relationship.

I grew up in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Did all I needed to as an adolescent like awkward confirmation classes where you were pretty much separated into your own small group every Wednesday. It was basically middle school for the evening, only the focus was God and stuff.

Anyway fast forward 6-7 years…

My friend and I sang praise team in the more modern, contemporary late morning service. We were both just into music and would play guitar and sing together my senior year of high school in 2008.

The pastor told my friend that it should be reconsidered that she be in front of the congregation singing when she got engaged to be married to her longtime girlfriend.

Our families left the church and I haven’t been back to church except for family stuff like Christmas or deaths. I spend my Sundays sleeping, doing my newsletter for work, and being with my kitten. God understands.

I'm a Christian. I've been one my whole life, but I accepted the Holy Spirit at my first revival when I was thirteen. My family and I used to go to church, but many of the churches in our area have kinda gone the wrong direction.

God and Christ have given me purpose in areas of my life where I would've been totally lost.

I'm not religious at all. Never have been, never will be. I don't care too much about whether or not somebody is religious, since it is important to respect other people's religious beliefs even if we don't believe in the same thing. That said, there are two things when it comes to religion that I don't want people to do: I don't want people to try and force their religion on me, and I don't want somebody to use religion as an excuse for unacceptable behaviour.

I was raised Catholic but I don't go to church or follow a religion anymore.

~Kilza~ said:

I'm not religious at all. Never have been, never will be. I don't care too much about whether or not somebody is religious, since it is important to respect other people's religious beliefs even if we don't believe in the same thing. That said, there are two things when it comes to religion that I don't want people to do: I don't want people to try and force their religion on me, and I don't want somebody to use religion as an excuse for unacceptable behaviour.

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I agree with this. To me, the separation of church and state is really important. I don't want to live in a theocracy.

I dont follow a religion, but I am Agnostic.

Christian

I'm agnostic. I don't know if there's a higher power, but I do think there are scientific truths that haven't been found yet.

As a child I was raised unitarian universalist. I believed in heaven and hell for awhile, but that slowly faded away. I attended church and Sunday School weekly until I was about 12. After that I lost interest and quit. I went once when I was 18, but I felt no real connection. In fact, the only connection I still have are the moral guidelines. We weren't told to follow any specific religious stories, but we were told a set of beliefs on how to treat other people. I still practice those to this day.

I have a few religious friends. I completely respect their beliefs and I can see the beauty in them.

Grew up Catholic, so I have Catholic beliefs.

atheist. my entire family was catholic as heck growing up and i've never subscribed to the notion of religion. i do support my religious friends though :3

I believe I am a Humanist. I don’t know about any god or afterlife, but I do FIRMLY believe that prayer is useless, relying on a “book” or a “spiritual being” to just be a decent human is mental, following the rules of text that’s been rewritten tons of time is not for me.

I grew up in two churches. My grandfather worked for a Methodist church and I spent many of my younger years at that church. All the time. Hung out with friends there, did camp there, went to youth group there, had sleep overs there. I had my own key to the place. Some of my best memories are at that church. However, i never attended service.

Every sunday we were made to go to the Catholic church for mass. I remember being so freaked out and detested the whole experience. I also one time, stole the whole plate of communion crackers and ate them before service. When I attended my first communion ceremony I remember saying “eww” when they offered me to drink that nasty wine after all the people before me.

After service on Sunday the priest would come and eat dinner with my grandparents… Every sunday…. I remember questioning every single thing they taught me at vacation bible school camp, sunday school classes, everything. I never believed it.

That being said the padre was amazing! He was a sweet man who my family was close to. He gifted us some amazing relics and some amazing beautiful rosaries hand blessed by the Pope. That priest was seriously awesome. He never tried to push me into the beliefs and was very open to discussion and different opinions.

Eventually I was old enough to make the choice in my teen years to not go to church and of course I skipped, because I didn’t believe in any of it. I would occasionally go with friends to their churches and it always freaked me out.

Evangelical people truly terrify me. I’ve worked with one in my adult life recently and it was an awful experience. I don’t mind people who are religious and I really don’t care… However evangelical people tend to give their opinions and push their beliefs and that terrifies me.

If religion is your thing that’s cool just don’t push it on me. I don’t care and it’s none of my business so don’t make it my business.

I'm agnostic bordering on atheism. I believe there is still so much that humans have yet to learn. I don't think we're anywhere close to knowing everything, so I can't say with any certainty one way or another whether there may be 'higher powers' somewhere out in this vast universe.

Do I believe that humans are the most advanced life forms in all existence? I think it's unlikely. Do I believe there is a single being who created us and everything else in the universe, who listens to our prayers and cares about our humble little lives? Again, I think it's very unlikely.

I was raised as a Christian and went to church regularly during my childhood. I 'believed' because I didn't know there was an option, but I always found myself questioning everything. The biblical stories didn't make sense to me and some of the things my pastors and Sunday School teachers said just flat out horrified me. As a teenager, I started exploring religion. I tried different churches, researched different beliefs from the ones I was raised with. But nothing fit. It never felt right.

Once I gave up my 'beliefs' that had never truly been mine to begin with, it felt very freeing for me. I find far more comfort in believing that when I die I will cease to exist than I ever did believing in Heaven. It's a nice concept and I understand why it's comforting for many, but it's not for me. I don't have a problem being good just for the sake of it. I don't need a reward or the threat of punishment to keep me in line.

I don't judge others for their beliefs. If their religion provides them with solace and makes them happy, then that's all that matters.

I just don't like any religion pushing their beliefs on others.

LadyDestani said:

I'm agnostic bordering on atheism. I believe there is still so much that humans have yet to learn. I don't think we're anywhere close to knowing everything, so I can't say with any certainty one way or another whether there may be 'higher powers' somewhere out in this vast universe.

Do I believe that humans are the most advanced life forms in all existence? I think it's unlikely. Do I believe there is a single being who created us and everything else in the universe, who listens to our prayers and cares about our humble little lives? Again, I think it's very unlikely.

I was raised as a Christian and went to church regularly during my childhood. I 'believed' because I didn't know there was an option, but I always found myself questioning everything. The biblical stories didn't make sense to me and some of the things my pastors and Sunday School teachers said just flat out horrified me. As a teenager, I started exploring religion. I tried different churches, researched different beliefs from the ones I was raised with. But nothing fit. It never felt right.

Once I gave up my 'beliefs' that had never truly been mine to begin with, it felt very freeing for me. I find far more comfort in believing that when I die I will cease to exist than I ever did believing in Heaven. It's a nice concept and I understand why it's comforting for many, but it's not for me. I don't have a problem being good just for the sake of it. I don't need a reward or the threat of punishment to keep me in line.

I don't judge others for their beliefs. If their religion provides them with solace and makes them happy, then that's all that matters.

I just don't like any religion pushing their beliefs on others.

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I had a very similar experience. I questioned everything and never let my elders, parents, or authoritative church figures influence me. To me, it’s not about doing good on earth so i can have a “good” afterlife. It’s being and doing good on earth because that is what is right and what is needed for the future generations. Like, for me I don’t believe the way to fix a massive issue is by praying about it or “giving it to god.” That will never fix the issues we face in todays world. Organized religion really muddies things and bogs it down. That’s why separation of church and state is so important. We’re like two steps away from a freaky handmaids tale situation in the US and it’s kinda scary.

I can believe and kinda see why when people say they have their own personal relationship with god or jesus or whoever. The thing I can’t wrap my mind around is organized religion, different sects, different denominations. It’s all too much and it really just splits people apart.

So many people have died to die to religion extremists and I think there needs to be a huge overhaul on the whole checks and balances system in every facet of government, due
to the excessive religious brought into our everyday lives without consent.

I’m glad I’m not alone on the forced to go to church but could never quite fall for the trap! It’s nice to see others trying to figure it out. It’s a hard line for me to juggle sometimes. In my experience and what I’ve learned and read about is that religion is a weapon of mass destruction. It’s used for war, profit, trafficking of kids, so much of it is rooted in racism and colonization. Also like how y’all not paying taxes??? I work in banking and the amount of churches who tried to get PPP loans when the covid lock downs were bad was baffling. Like, you want the tax money of citizens to pay for y’all? no pass the plate around and let the cards fall where they fall.

I have so many thoughts on religion specifically christianity because that’s what i grew up around. It’s hard to express them though because the judgement can be so overwhelming.

Also if jesus was a real dude, he was probably black or at least very dark just saying white jesus is not a thing.

I used to think I was a Christian, but back in 2015, I realized I was an atheist. I just believe religion is a man-made thing and causes things like war and whatnot.

I consider myself agnostic. My family is Christian, so I considered myself Christian as a child, but then I moved on to being agnostic when I was in middle or high school.

I am Pagan.

i have somewhat identified as an episcopal christian (mainly because of how welcoming that section of christianity is) for years but i would like to branch out and "try out" other religions to see if they fit what i believe better, if any of that even makes sense lol.

religion has always been complicated for me, i think i do believe in something after death, it's just hard to place what i actually believe tbh

a few years ago, i would have had a solid answer: christian (or catholic, i went to a catholic school and church but my family kinda just.. rejected the catholic church as soon as i left that school).
but now?? no clue.
i don't think "atheist" fits me, nor does "agnostic". i do believe in God, or at least other divine beings and such. i hold some christian beliefs but i also hold some beliefs from other different religions.


i guess i'll find something someday. until then..