Did any one of you choose your religion consciously ?

Question

If you are born in a Christian/Muslim/Jewish/Buddhist family or country, you will most probably become a member of the dominant religion there. How many of you can say that you still would have chosen your present religion, if you had been born in another land with another religion ?

Not asking to atheists

EG: Would you still become Christian if you were born in Saudi Arabia ?

Answer 1

I was baptized United at 4 years of age. I consciously choose to become Catholic when I turned 27.

Answer 2

I'm an American, born into a Protestant-Atheist household in the Great Plains. I grew up and a Christian church and my father thought the movie Logan's Run was a classic religious training film. I was a Christian for a while, but the older I grew the less it fit. I spent several years studying various religions, including Christianity, and trying to figure out not what they had to offer, but what their basic principles were and what their scriptures said about someone like me.

I'm a Buddhist now. I'm a little to "flaky" (according to me atheist brother) to be purely atheistic. I believe there's a spiritual portion to humanity, above and beyond the intellect. I'm not calling it a "soul" the way Christians or Hindu mean "soul", but there's something there.

I live in the midwest and other than my military service in California prior to my great hunt for religion, I've never met another Buddhist person face-to-face.

I can safely say that I would not choose my family's or my country's religion, providing I had the freedom to think and educate myself. If I didn't, I wouldn't know what I'd do. I can say with authority that I chose my religion with a great deal of thought and careful consideration as an adult.

Answer 3

My parents were Christian but I never practiced Christianity. They encouraged me to search for what I felt was right and to make my own decision. They meant for me to choose which Christian denomination I believed in but I chose paganism. I don't remember where I first learned the major tenets that I believe in, it seems that they were just "there". I am now in my forties and I cannot imagine practicing any other religion. This is the only way of life that I know.

I feel that if I had been born in an area where religion was a choice, I would probably still practice something similar to what I do now. If I had been born in an area without the freedom to choose my religious beliefs or without the resources to learn about various beliefs, then I would practice whatever was expected/required.

Answer 4

I was raised in a Christian home - but when I became of age, I consciously accepted what I believe. Now, I do believe somewhat differently than the denomination I was raised, but I did so on the best available information given.

There a scores of people who were never raised religiously at all that choose Christianity (or other religions) with full awareness. Do you really believe we were all brainwashed?

If I were born in another Country, raised, perhaps as Muslim, I would have still (at the proper age) seen the truth provided the truth was available to me. The only truth is salvation from sins through Jesus Christ.., the only way to the Father.

Answer 5

Sure, I was raised in a Christian church but I spent years away from it and I consciously made the decision to return. I do not know if I would have chosen another reilgion to be a member of but I can certainly understand why people choose different religions. But I can say I have far more respect for those members of other religions than those who scoff at and beat down members of religion.

Answer 6

Definitely, I did. One does not become the kind of Christian the Bible describes because his parents, or even grandparents, were. Every real Christian is a Christian because at some point he or she decided that Jesus was who He said He was and God really wants us to follow Him by following Jesus. I can be born of Christian parents, go to all the Christian schools and classes, read all the Christian books, do all the Christian things, but until I turn my life over to Jesus, it doesn't matter. The nice thing is that I don't have to be perfect, I don't even have to be smart, much less stupid, I just have to be me trying to learn how to live so that I won't be a stranger when someday He says, "Come home, I've a place ready for you."

Answer 7

I was born to a no religion family and I chose to be a Christian at 22 years old. I cannot say that given other circumstances I would have chose it when I did, but that is exactly why we are born in the time and places that we are.

Answer 8

I did not consciously become a Christian and I can't help that I am now because it was in God's plan that I would follow Him. If I was born in another country where Christianity was not dominant, I would still be Christian today because God has elected me to be.

Answer 9

yup I chose my "religion" I was raised baptist, baptized Presbyterian (all forms of Christianity) and my family is ALL Christian, I however am not (at least not anymore). I think that is a BIG problem with a LOT of people, they are brainwashed into their religions, it would be nice if we could like what we wanted to be when we grow up could be born and brought up the first few years of our lives without it, and then grow and change into our own beliefs, that way we would know our religion is truly our own, and not something that is pushed upon us by our family or place where we grew up.

Answer 10

I was born in the USA and grew up with the same values as any American. I didn't grow up in Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, OR Dubai, but I still chose Islam because it's common sense and makes sure women are protected and given their rights although screwed up cultures in all of those countries deny them.