Questions for the religous

M

Mrs.Lucysnow

Valued Senior Member
How many of you out there actually chose your religion? Many defend their belief system but few have made a conscious decision about what they believe. Most if not many were born into a tradition and would face consequences from their family or society for leaving or coming out as atheist or switching religions. How many would have CONSCIOUSLY chosen their religion if they were given options while growing up? By options I mean the ability to study a variety of traditions and choose what they believe or simply to deny religion altogether. Is it possible to be objective about something that has been ingrained from birth?

Most atheists for example have come out of some religious belief and so have made a decision about what they were raised with. Some people leave one religion for another which is also a conscious choice.
 
I chose my belief system - I was raised a Xian and am now atheist. While atheism isn't a religion per say, it's something that made sense to me. While this is an extreme example I'd say every single person chooses their own personal belief system based on their personality, DNA and life experences - no two people of any particular religion can agree 100% with one another.
 
I was raised religious although after really looking at the world and thinking it through, it was too difficult to really believe in all of it

I now maintain a position of "agnostic"
 
Lucysnow said:
How many of you out there actually chose your religion? Many defend their belief system but few have made a conscious decision about what they believe. Most if not many were born into a tradition and would face consequences from their family or society for leaving or coming out as atheist or switching religions. How many would have CONSCIOUSLY chosen their religion if they were given options while growing up? By options I mean the ability to study a variety of traditions and choose what they believe or simply to deny religion altogether. Is it possible to be objective about something that has been ingrained from birth?

Most atheists for example have come out of some religious belief and so have made a decision about what they were raised with. Some people leave one religion for another which is also a conscious choice.
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I grew up in a family that only attended church for funerals and weddings. I was an atheist until the final years of my higher education when I started reading into eastern philosophy, which eventually saw me find my niche as a theist.

(NB - I'm not sure if you're equating atheism with objectivity or aren't also including the cultural elements of atheism that could indoctrinate a person from birth)
 
born into catholic (circumsized/baptised/confirmed)

but married in nevada (because my utter half's license was expiring)

became a rebel as soon as i saw what the church was doing to my mother for divorcing my father; she gave everything and they were idiots to her!

then to study: ouch, the inconsistancies rang out (note what jesus' last words, when on the cross, not one story was consistant; i could not comprehend how the last words were not written exact)

that is when i knew, there was an issue

then to be a science freak, i found they were all screwed up too (not even einstein observed the electron as an isolated particle)

when i read, that edison surpressed the flourescent light for business and what happened to testa, i realized knowledge was a product

so all in all; the religions are a mess, the sciences are based on production and to ever learn how reality works

you best get off your ass because no one really gives a shit about any of us!
 
My apologies - but here is my personal story.

My parents came from a very low-income background and had very little education, both having left the education system around age 14. Neither of them had been involved in religious activities and both were neutral/ignorant of religious issues. They provided me no guidance for or against and didn't influence my future choices. They were simply incapable.

I was raised in England where it was the tradition in schools to have a daily act of Christian worship. The overwhelming majority simply saw these activities as a chore, and of no more significance than daily teeth cleaning. We also received religious instruction classes, usually taught by a practicing Christian.

I really didn't pay any focused attention to Christianity until I met a girlfriend at 16. We eventually married at 22 having gone through college together. But she was a devout Christian and of course, well, I was gonna have to become one as well. So this began several years of regular Church attendenace, weekly bible study, weekend conferences, Christian youth clubs, and of course she taught Sunday school.

I learnt a lot about the Christain movement in those few intense years and I even tried to convert non-believers, but there was some unfathomable discomfort throughout the whole episode. None of it ever quite sat well with me. My background was in the sciences, I was even Chairman of my high-school science club. But the questions I put to the church leaders and instructors never received convincing replies. I was simply never truly convinced of the Christian claims, despite concerted attempts.

By the time we married neither of us were involved in Christian activities. Her perceived conviction was due mainly to earlier school-friend peer pressure. Without their influence and our intense Christian studies and debates we simply both rejected the Christian perspective. Our marriage lasted 18 years and we have been divorced for 18 years. We remain very close friends and she is now just as totally non-religious as I am.
 
Whether we like it or not we all choose what we believe, eventually. In your heart of hearts you know. I think best when under tremendous pressure-our true beliefs come out. Luckily belief was not forced upon me, rather the ability to believe was given to me. Maybe your 'religion' finds you. In what is belief, is it just not your current state of understanding?

Maybe some would pretend and have religion for societies sake, if that is what you mean. But as Cris elaborated, you cannot pretend to yourself, right?
 
I was raised a Chrsitian. My dad is an athiest, but my mom insisted on bringing me up in "the Church".

I now declare myself Pagan, though I've known I wasn't Christian my whole life. I've always known I was Pagan, but I only started claiming it as my "religion" in the last few years. Even so, I don't like to think of it as a religion, but a way of life.

I had religion forced down my throat from a very young age, but I ended up following my own path in the end. I never caved. I was never a follower. Oh well. My mom thinks I'm going to hell, I don't believe in hell, and my dad couldn't care less.

It's never boring at my house.
 
I was raised in a Christian environment, my mother believed, my father was confirmed in Jerusalem while posted overseas, and I attended a Christian school, although we never went to church. (but we sang hymns ever morning during assembly, that was enough).

But I never believed any of it. I went to school with a couple of twins, Jeremy and Samantha, who went to Church and Sunday School, and they would often relate what they had been in taught in Sunday school to me. It all sounded like complete horse shit to me even then, as an eight year old.

From age 11, at secondary school, I had the confidence to not sing along during assembly, not bow my head and pretend to pray, and openly reject and question what I was being taught. In fact, I quite pissed off my Religious Education teachers, who were all Christians. One year, I got a crappy end of year test score, and effectively got bawled out by my teacher, who knew I wasn't trying. I replied saying why would I want to regurgitate fantasy? Why waste my time learning stuff I think it all BS? Next year, I placed 3rd in my year for R.E. and my teacher was very happy, and encouraged me to study further. I told her no, I still thought it was all bullshit, and a waste of time, but learning about people's madness and how they all disagree with each other had been interesting.

So I chose from an early age to be a skeptic, and still am. Zen philosophy appeals to me, but it's not a religion, it's just wisdom, and humour.
 
I chose Discordianism.
It makes sense.
And I like hot dogs.
 
Bishadi said:
am i an atheist?

what's an atheist?

are we all as good looking as i am?

"i'm smaught,

i want ressspect!"

(godfather)
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Are you really asking me what an atheist is? Look it up.

Anyway, you're right, you may not be an atheist. I have no idea what you are. You didn't even answer the question posed by the OP, you simply rattled off a timeline of events.
 
JDawg said:
I was under the impression that this topic was for the religious...?
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It would appear so. However, I doubt there are any theists who have actually chosen their religion. Even if they switched religions, they have still undergone an indoctrination at childhood.

It has nothing to do with the religion itself and everything to do with cult indoctrination, the forced acceptance of myth and superstition as fact.
 
(Q) said:
It would appear so. However, I doubt there are any theists who have actually chosen their religion.
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You don't have to be a theist to have religion. Once again you are locked in this cult indoctrinated anti-Abrahamic cycle of nonsense. It's ****ing tedious.
 
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