In relation to another poll currently being compiled, I am very interested in whether peoples choices in religion/spirituality change.
Has your choices been affected by family upbringing, or have you looked at others.
How and why do you settle on the current choice.
Please, no flaming here.

Awww you put in shamanism! Thank you! *smooches Turtle*

I can't believe that anyone thought of Judaism! Outstanding! The next bottle's on me!

yes. i was raised to find the answers for myself. while i studied ancient cultures and philosophy at a young age, i did not look at any 'religions' until a little older. So in building my own framework of understanding, i have constantly entertained new and different ideas (new both as in "new to me" and as in "novel"). I am a rationalist through and through, but have been influenced by my earliest 'spiritual' teachers.


yes. my only exposure to religions has been academic. i did look to others but never that deeply. even still, we are all a part of our environs and are affected by them.


i never settle.

Never got la.... ah.. *coughs* XD

HI HYPER! *inches out of the thread*

I was brought up Christian

Stayed Christian

I don't think I knew of "choices" so to speak. But I am sure I could have. But either you are a Christian or not a christian. The only Muslims I knew were those that were foreign. I knew of JW and I didn't understand why they couldn't get presents or stand up and say the pledge. But I did not know of other religions. I thought you just were a Christian or you didn't go to church. *shurgs*

Wow Hyper was a child prodigy. How cute.

Of course i am influenced by religion i have grown up in America, I was inadvertently allowed to come up with my own ideas, as a child, i am interested in all religous constructs ( which i have pursued on my own mainly through friendships with many religons, I work as a hairstylist so i have access to many people and they love to share their religions, I love to learn its alot more interesting than reading books IMO. I wouldn't hesitate to go to ones church or religous function in the pursuit of knowledge and remain that way to this day, I am always open to new ideas , I love to hear people share about there concepts of God. I feel not being affiliated to one particular beleif structure keeps me open and tolerant, I try to remain in a state of continual growth and openess Namaste Sheri

Just a small point ... the poll includes Wiccan .. but not all pagans are Wiccan. But for the purposes of this I ticked Wiccan anyway.

just thought I'd mention it.

Whoops!, I put the slash to add that but never did.
My appologies

Someone PM'd me with a very interesting thought
They wrote:
"What i find interesting is how the "nonspiritual" aspects of life change your perspective as much as anything, and then influence the "spiritual"
I find that excess of material wealth leads to a poverty of self...."

By the looks of the early results of the poll, many have changed their religious/spiritual choice since childhood.
This appears to be the first generation that has not faithfully ()integrated their parents choices into their own family dynamic.
I see much theory on raising consciousness in the individuals but not much discussion on the raising of the collective consciousness of humanity to which we are all a part.
I wonder whether this is a sign of this.
2000 years ago Jesus appeared as an evolutionary pioneer that spoke of individuality and the god within. (his true message)
Many of the alternate religions we see today can be attributed to Jesus message, IMO.
Look at today and with the advent of the computer, we are now a global community, and many religions that formed based on isolation are converging.
The common denominator of all religions is God/source.
If we were to look at collective consciousness today we begin again to notice a paradigm shift. A few free thinkers would say that the leading-edge stage today would be self that goes beyond ego and individuality. (many NDE accounts speak of this)
But maybe 2000 years from now, this will be the very thing that the evolutionary pioneers will be trying to overcome.
"Today's heaven is tomorrows hell----thats evolution.

Thoughts??
Comments??

You did not put a place for "nonbelievers"!

Then: Christian
Now: I had to go with Native American
Growing up: Parents choices (They meant well)

Athiest???

What was your religious/spiritual roots growing up . . .
~Christianity (Roman Catholic).
What is your current religious/spiritual choice . . .
~Christianity (Roman Catholic).
Growing up were you allowed to pick your own chosen form of religion/spirituality . . .
~No, I followed my parents choices.

Lord Umb.,

You owe me "the next bottle." 12 years of Hebrew School, Bar Mitzvah, Confirmation.

Mordechai Moishe Avrum.

I take it that was thanks to your parents.

The Rabbi that we had when I was younger told us that it was important to know what others believe otherwise for all you know you might a Christian and don't know it. How does one know that they are not a Christian if one does not know what a Christian believes. He had us study a little into a lot of faiths. I recall going to the church services of some of my friends from time to time and sevices felt a little too "contrived" to me.

I guess someone who knows more about the human mind than I do would say that it probably had a lot to do with my parents influence but, I don't feel that they ever forced or coerced me in any way. I'm sure that they would have supported any choice that I made in regards to religion. My family was not particularly observant when I was a child. We kept the "big three holidays but, not all of them. Our kitchen was not entirely kosher. For instance we did not have seperate pots and pans for meat and dairy.

As I got older the faith/heritage meant more to me. Perhaps Christmas means more to an 80 year old than it does to most 18 year olds! I do keep most of the holidays, including a lot of lesser ones. I keep a kosher kitchen and stay as close as possible to the dietary laws when eating out. I don't attend the Temple very much but, I don't know how important that really is anyway. It seems that as more of my older reletives that pass away, I cling more tightly to our heritage.

We may have to share that bottle, Marr Avrum!
Shaul Talmeed Ben Avraham V' Sarah

growing up my parents were radical christians. they werent your wishy washy sunday morning conservative hypocritical christains. my dad would witness to people where ever he went and even faced a gun to his face while sharing gods love. growing up seeing miracles has made it impossible for me to ignore god and all that hes done for me. i have waverd but always come back because of strong roots and expieriencing a love so strong and pure.

Growing up my parents were presbyterian, but not good at it, so I guess I grew up being free to choose as they had no preferences other than follow what they were taught.
My NDE brought profound change and now I don't follow ant particular religion, but do have a keen interest in Shamanism

Do you have a link or anything to the information about your NDE?

But I do not call/consider myself an Atheist.

Fuuuussy ;P

Grew up Baptist, because my parents wanted me to.

About when I was 11, I questioned why I was going to hell (hadn't been baptized), even though I did nothing wrong. I went to another church with a friend once, and the preacher asked anybody who hadn't confessed to god to come forward. I did, and with two other people we went into a room with the preacher. The other two kids confessed just about everything under the sun. When the preacher asked my to confess my sins, I came up with nothing. He keep pushing me to tell him something, but satisfied himself with the fact that I hadn't accepted Jesus as my savior. Then he told me to ask forgiveness for that and I did quickly, to satisfy him. However, he sensed that I wasn't sincere and began to yell at me and tell me that I was going to hell. Most kids would have broken down at that point, cried and asked for forgiveness, however, it simply made more angry than before. Eventually, I learned to ad libb and went through all the motions; which included bawling my eyes out, confessing for everything and appologizing to Jesus a lot. The preacher let us out of the room, and back to our seats and continued the sermon, after another had taken his place during the interval. I managed to remain awake for the rest of the time there, but I don't recall any of it because I was so angry at the whole mess.

From then until I was 13, I went total atheist because of the bad experience I had had.
Once I was 13, I began to study various religions and became interested in many of them.
I usually label myself as Wiccan because I feel closest to that, but I do admit I am still searching and will probably continue to do so for a while.

Although I disagree with many parts of the Christian religion (Hell and worshiping Jesus), I see it as no less valid than the rest.

My experience

Here is a link to my experience.

*May Allah's Peace be with you*
I am a Muslim Now
Was Grown up as a Muslim
and Will Remain a Muslim

Welcome to the forum

Turtle i am a Old Poster Well Thnx for Welcoming me Turtle!
Check out my Topic in Islam

Turtle i am a Old Poster Well Thnx for Welcoming me Turtle!
Check out my Topic in Islam Here's the Linkk!

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...showtopic=53984
Hoping u will be in my topic too
Zeeshan

Growing up- Muslim

Currently- I have my own beliefs and thoughts that i follow. I don't need anyone to tell me me what i can and i can't do. So no muslim for me now even thought it's in my background.

No one can force me to believe in something that i don't want to, simple as that.

But i also do keep open-mind and keep different things in mind.

I was an atheist who became a deist that became a christian .

Now I am a deist again .

I make my own choices .

Growing up, I didn't know that I had a choice. So, yes, my parents "forced" me to be Jewish.

However, I've got a story. Lord Um, "technically" I'm not Jewish. I didn't know this until 1995 when my maternal grandmother (who was born a Roman Catholic) told me that she never converted. She married my maternal grandfather and simply "adopted" Judaism without "officially" undergoing conversion. They both had just emigrated from Europe and it was to be their "secret." Well, it worked because no one knew, no one ever questioned.

Now, I define my beliefs as "All Things." I don't ascribe to any organized religion nor do I adhere to a particular group's tenets, although I still won't say or write [G-d]. I've studied religions and cultures for most of my academic life, and now I teach Literary and Cultural Studies.

Interesting that no one has yet to postulate that nature may be God.

Growing up: "other"

Now: "Christian"

Was I able to choose: "Yes"

MKLSGL:

No big deal, no one's is perfect! My ancestery is, (in decending percentage), Yiddish, German, Dutch and Seminole. But, I follow the Jewish faith. I think that most Americans/ New Worlders are for the most part a mix of something.

As far as lineage, I view it more as a traditional thing than a technical thing. You are who you feel closest to. For me that's Judaism. For you it's not. I don't think where you've been is as important as where you're trying to go.

I love the Yiddish language X)

My parents didn't take me to church on a regular basis, but taught me about God. They didn't pressure me and said they would let me decide what path I wanted to follow.

As I grew older I began to so some research and went to several different churches in my area. I studied with JW, went to mass on several occasions, even looked into Wicca. In the end, I came back to Christianity. I'm glad that I was able to choose and wasn't forced into any one thing.

Au Contraire... "All Things" certainly sees Nature as G-d. "All Things" is a Humanist belief that G-d is everything and nothing (as in the concept of 'nothingness'). No limits or boundaries. Instead of finding solace in prefabricated answers to the great questions of life, Humanists enjoy the open-endedness of a quest and the freedom of discovery that this entails. It's all about method... Think Socrates.

Lord Um: Growing up, my maternal gradmother's house on a Sunday afternoon was like an assembly of the UN. Puccini playing in the background, Uncle Yank and Uncle Julius swapping WWII stories, both speaking a combination of English, Yiddish, and Italian; Aunt Mary and Aunt Sarah in the kitchen making gravy on one table and latkes on another...

And I still have my Judaic leanings. They're so deeply instilled within me that I'll never be without them--not that I'd want to, either. I enjoy my Jewishness.