Religious History Poll

[WillowLavenders]

I mostly just want to see how many people stay in a religion their entire life, which is honestly really impressive. 

[Kittens Are Jerks]

33 minutes ago, WillowLavenders said:

I mostly just want to see how many people stay in a religion their entire life, which is honestly really impressive. 

Frankly I think it more impressive to have stayed out of religion during one's lifetime.

[XenoFish]

The day you realize that God doesn't care, you've got no reason to bow before it. Prayers filled with tears or spoke in faint whispers, God doesn't care. 

[TigerBright19]

Parents are Catholic and Protestant and my stepmother is Jewish.  I live in a Protestant community, but I only partly agree with their religion.  I have faith, but I don't really agree with organized religion.  There are so many denominations.  Grew up Methodist, then we switched to Presbyterian, then Baptist, and finally Anglican.  Although the last time I actually went to church was 24 years ago.

 

[Piney]

53 minutes ago, WillowLavenders said:

I mostly just want to see how many people stay in a religion their entire life, which is honestly really impressive. 

I believed the same basic concepts my entire life but slowly peeled off the superstition and "add ons" and took it to it's basic philosophical core . 

[Scholar4Truth]

I was an Agnostic for awhile.

[spartan max2]

Christian to spiritual to agnostic to atheist, who some times floats back into agnostic. 

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

1 hour ago, Kittens Are Jerks said:

Frankly I think it more impressive to have stayed out of religion during one's lifetime.

I have never been religious and that is quite normal where I come from, but I see how it could be a big deal elsewhere.

[SecretSanta]

Born and raised catholic.

I guess I’m agnostic but leaning towards atheist. 

[Hankenhunter]

3 hours ago, Kittens Are Jerks said:

Frankly I think it more impressive to have stayed out of religion during one's lifetime.

Yea, but not all of us had critical thinking parents when it come to religion. I bailed early when the word got out about Catholic pedophile priests. My mother bailed when I questioned why the church was covering it up instead of rectifying it. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Hankenhunter

[spartan max2]

Would anyone who picked other or complicated care to elaborate?

[Aquila King]

Woo boy, is this a complicated one for me...  

I selected "Other or Complicated" since I've basically experienced one variation or another of every type of belief system (or lack thereof).

I was born and raised a fundamentalist Christian. Started out in the Southern Baptist Church, then converted over to the Assembly of God Pentecostal Church (briefly), and then finally considered myself a more independent Christian with no denominational affiliation before eventually leaving the faith altogether.

I then became a staunch militant atheist, read every prominent atheist book imaginable, and even sought to deconvert believers to abandon religion entirely. However after realizing that I had essentially just traded one extreme form of fundamentalism for another, I started looking outside the typical purview of the mainstream scientific community and started researching all things relating to the spiritualist movement and the paranormal. 

I became rather convinced for a time that there was indeed more to the science than what the mainstream scientific establishment currently accepted, and strongly believed that there was something more spiritual to the nature of the universe. I eventually began researching things relating to the occult and witchcraft, although I preferred to focus more on the positive side of things generally speaking, so that quickly turned into more new age transcendental beliefs (things like astrology, eastern mysticism, etc).

However given all my searching and researching of all things spiritual, I've yet to this day to have experienced anything truly spiritual or paranormal etc for myself. Nothing at least that I can definitively say for certain was indeed spiritual in nature, and that couldn't potentially be explained by something else. I started to see and hear rather compelling arguments in opposition to some of the new more spiritual beliefs that I had adopted, and I had completely failed in having any of these spiritual pursuits actually benefit me or add anything special or of value to my life.

After this long and difficult spiritual journey of various ups and downs, I've finally come to a conclusion that I think I can settle on: I don't know, and I don't care. I consider myself an Agnostic Apatheist. Nothing from religion, atheism, spiritualism / the paranormal, etc. has ever given me a satisfactory answer to the mystery of life and the universe, and seeking out the answers to life's fundamental mysteries have added absolutely nothing of value to my life at all. It's all just been one incredibly colossal waste of time.

Now all I try to do is focus my attention primarily on the things that matter, and things that personally bring me enjoyment. Such as friends, loved ones, entertainment, and focus on societal issues that would improve the general health and well being of all life on earth. I hope this all answers the question for you. 

[Hankenhunter]

1 hour ago, SecretSanta said:

Born and raised catholic.

I guess I’m agnostic but leaning towards atheist. 

Me too, but I'm better now. Even now after fifty years smart, I still get haunted by the propaganda that was forced on me when I was impressionable. Usually when I least expect it. Great thread Subby.

[Aquila King]

1 minute ago, spartan max2 said:

Would anyone who picked other or complicated care to elaborate?

I laughed cause I just noticed you ask that immediately after my above post. 

[spartan max2]

2 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

I laughed cause I just noticed you ask that immediately after my above post. 

Yeah I saw we posted at basically the same time, and was like well that's ironic lol. 

[Hankenhunter]

2 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

Woo boy, is this a complicated one for me...  

I selected "Other or Complicated" since I've basically experienced one variation or another of every type of belief system (or lack thereof).

I was born and raised a fundamentalist Christian. Started out in the Southern Baptist Church, then converted over to the Assembly of God Pentecostal Church (briefly), and then finally considered myself a more independent Christian with no denominational affiliation before eventually leaving the faith altogether.

I then became a staunch militant atheist, read every prominent atheist book imaginable, and even sought to deconvert believers to abandon religion entirely. However after realizing that I had essentially just traded one extreme form of fundamentalism for another, I started looking outside the typical purview of the mainstream scientific community and started researching all things relating to the spiritualist movement and the paranormal. 

I became rather convinced for a time that there was indeed more to the science than what the mainstream scientific establishment currently accepted, and strongly believed that there was something more spiritual to the nature of the universe. I eventually began researching things relating to the occult and witchcraft, although I preferred to focus more on the positive side of things generally speaking, so that quickly turned into more new age transcendental beliefs (things like astrology, eastern mysticism, etc).

However given all my searching and researching of all things spiritual, I've yet to this day to have experienced anything truly spiritual or paranormal etc for myself. Nothing at least that I can definitively say for certain was indeed spiritual in nature, and that couldn't potentially be explained by something else. I started to see and hear rather compelling arguments in opposition to some of the new more spiritual beliefs that I had adopted, and I had completely failed in having any of these spiritual pursuits actually benefit me or add anything special or of value to my life.

After this long and difficult spiritual journey of various ups and downs, I've finally come to a conclusion that I think I can settle on: I don't know, and I don't care. I consider myself an Agnostic Apatheist. Nothing from religion, atheism, spiritualism / the paranormal, etc. has ever given me a satisfactory answer to the mystery of life and the universe, and seeking out the answers to life's fundamental mysteries have added absolutely nothing of value to my life at all. It's all just been one incredibly colossal waste of time.

Now all I try to do is focus my attention primarily on the things that matter, and things that personally bring me enjoyment. Such as friends, loved ones, entertainment, and focus on societal issues that would improve the general health and well being of all life on earth. I hope this all answers the question for you. 

Yeah, it did. You've had a long and difficult journey, and you've finally made peace with yourself. I admire you. I and a bazillion others wish we could say the same. 

[Aquila King]

11 minutes ago, Hankenhunter said:

Yeah, it did. You've had a long and difficult journey, and you've finally made peace with yourself. I admire you. I and a bazillion others wish we could say the same. 

Thanks man.  I appreciate the kind words.

I wouldn't say I'm perfectly at peace with everything in my life though, but at least I can say I've found peace in this area of my life.  You'll find your own peace as well eventually my dude.

[Hankenhunter]

Just now, Aquila King said:

Thanks man.  I appreciate the kind words.

I wouldn't say I'm perfectly at peace with everything in my life though, but at least I can say I've found peace in this area of my life.  You'll find your own peace as well eventually my dude.

Well, I have one thing going for me. I still have my baptismal free pass into heaven. 

[Farmer77]

I was raised a hardcore right wing fundamentalist Christian and actually tried to carry that on, or more accurately pick it back up, in my young adulthood. The conflicting stories, the science and the hatred within the church really are what made me walk away.

 

[freetoroam]

4 hours ago, XenoFish said:

The day you realize that God doesn't care, you've got no reason to bow before it. Prayers filled with tears or spoke in faint whispers, God doesn't care. 

If there were a god,  he might care. 

I am going with there is no god to start with. There is belief,  but you can not put your trust in a belief.

Caring begins with humans and so does trust.

[freetoroam]

Was not raised in a religious household,  although my forefathers were catholics and pagans before that. I was told they had to convert to Catholicism or die. Guess that got me questioning religion. 

After looking into the backgrounds of religions,  i came to understand why people seeked comfort when they lost a love one and if the comfort was not physicality around them,  well - they just made one up,  hence god,  heaven,  angels. 

Then we get to the power side of religion,  the leaders of the churches. They could not be kings of the land,  so what better way to control others,  tell them you know god. 

[Habitat]

I really think any forced indoctrination of children with the likes of hell-fire propaganda, is a child abuse issue. My commisserations to all affected.

[Rlyeh]

Wasn't really religious but my mum made us go to church because she had to when she was a child.  It was me who decided to accept more fundamentalist beliefs, and it was my decision to abandon them.

[Robotic Jew]

I was raised a strong southern baptist. When I was in high school I was attending church 3 - 4 times a week and had a prominent role in my church's youth group. I started to question everything really at my first service after the Columbine massacre. The images were still seared into my mind and remember being just appalled at the ministers suggestion that both the killers AND the victims were deserving of what happened because it was gods way of announcing his displeasure with our lives and choices. That was the last service I attended. I tried to carry on observing my own "version of faith" for a while but it also lead me to begin researching the origins of christianity and religion as a whole. The more I read the harder it became to believe in anything I had been bombarded with my whole life. I began to see it for what it was....brainwashing. Now I'm an atheist and I feel like I'm a better person now than I was when I was christian. Now I have true empathy and caring for others instead of having to be told I had to in order to not go to hell.

 

[MissJatti]

I am a Sikh but I am not a Amritdhari Sikh (Baptised)