To anyone who will take the time to answer.....?

Question

Do you follow the same religion that your parents or guardians do/did??

please explain your answers. it doesnt have to be long....
it would help if you said what religion you are...

if you dont have a religion, is it becasue your parents or guardians didnt, or because you rejected religion and/or God??

please express your opinions without being insulting. there is enough hatred on this site without anyone adding any more!

i am asking because i am curious....

great answer simplestar76

lots of interesting answers! thanks guys!

HEY EVERYONE

thanks sooooo much for all your great responses. please know that i am reading al of them.

gee......how will i choose best answer??!?!?!
i didnt think that i would get so many repsonses!!!!
thanks!!

mj456a that is absolutely incredible!
it truly touched my heart!!!

WOW people!!!

50 answers!!!! i never thought that so many people would take the time to answer my question!!

thanks so much (yeah i keep saying that!)

i am trying to pick best answer...
its soooo hard with 50!!

i'll try my best......

by the way...i've read them all!!!

Answer 1

I do follow the religion in which I was raised.

However, there was a period of a dozen years or more where I explored other spiritual paths. I believe that my time of "seeking" did help me gain a lot of things -- among the lessons I learned were tolerance and acceptance. I also met some very wise people., who inspired me...

Despite the value I found in the other faiths that I explored, I eventually made a considered decision to return to the church of my parents.

I think that my time "away" helped me become a truly adult member of my church since I actually CHOSE my religion and I determine my devotion to and level of participation in my church this time around. I am no longer blindly following the religion because it was what I was raised with and baptized into when I was an infant.

Alley

Answer 2

I am not sure if your questions include "denomination" but I will assume they do.

The answer is No I do not follow in the denominationl foot steps of any of my family.

I have always been the "Blacksheep" of the family...(even being the first to marry a non-white. Boy that really was a shock to them)

My family is from the Southern Baptist and Church of God back grounds.

Since I was 12, I was always questioning the beliefs, teachers and preachers.

No one could understand why I didn't just "accept" the family "tradition".

I didn't know either but I felt put down and out of place so I kept my mouth shut.

After serving in the Navy from 17 to 21 I got out and was determind to learn more about "Jesus".

I read, I studied, I was ordained in several denominations but sooner or later everytime I though I had found one I could work with, another question would pop up and The Holy Spirit would move me to where I could get the answer to that question.

I have always been "defiant" and with 30 years of some sort of ministry under my belt in 2002 I had a stroke and nearly died, there was no great light or voice or booming introductions, but all my thoughts and ideas that I could not piece together before, fit together like a hand in a glove and I knew what I had to do and what it meant.

I have been independent, non-denominational, and self supporting (with my SSA disability) ever since.

I answer only to God! no man, woman or denomination controls how, when or where I serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

I also learned not to compromise the "Word" of God

Answer 3

No...but give me a minute to compose the rest...
OK, I was raised Catholic. For many years, I completely believed. I went through years of CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine - a Catholic religious curriculum). But around the age of 12 I was literally getting sent to the director's office. I remember one of the first times was when we were learning about Genesis. I asked, OK, so there was Adam and Eve and they had sons. What happened after that? How did they continue to have more children? It was a serious question. Instead of answering my question I was just sent to the administration office instead. Another time was when I asked about the concept of Transubstantiation. I asked if this was a symbolic ritual. I was told that no, it is a literal change of substance. I just couldn't believe that others believed this so literally. Off to the office again.

I really had no choice while I lived in my parents home but to continue to go to church and follow a doctrine in appearance only (because intellectually, I just didn't believe any of it). I really felt no connection to the faith. Once I turned 18 and went into the military, I soon severed my ties with the church. For a while I still attended Mass, mostly out of habit or for a feeling of familiarity, but I still felt it was all pointless. Before I was 19 I was a self-declared Atheist and have remained so ever since. I also promised myself I would never have any religious affiliation again. This was a promise I could not keep. For a while I started attending meetings of Reformed Quakers (Friends). I was attracted to them because of their forward thinking and their work on social justice and civil rights. Still they had a certain level of mysticism that I just couldn't come to terms with. I really thought that was it, I'd never feel comfortable in any church.

A year later I was invited for the first time to a lesbian union ceremony at First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Columbus. It was such a wonderful service and was officiated by a woman who was not only a minister but was a follower of Wiccan traditions. I was hooked. I learned that not only was there a large diversity of beliefs at this church, I could, as a Humanist and an Atheist, still attend church , be welcomed and even join the church. I'm now in a different city but still a UU, still an Atheist and still a Humanist who attends church weekly. I'm attracted to the churches work on community building, care for the environment, social justice work and acceptance of people for who they are. They celebrate the diversity of the congregation rather than become divided by it.

Not a very short answer but I think my story is an unusual one and may be of interest to those who have had similar experiences with the faith of their childhood.

Answer 4

Do you follow the same religion that your parents or guardians do/did??

My mother is a Christian but my Dad was an atheist for the majority of my life. After many arguments and debates, he finally saw the light.

As far as not having a faith if my parents didn't: My dad didn't, so does that mean I only had half faith? I know alot of kids who came from atheistic or agnostic homes that choose Christianity without their parent's involvement. I also know alot of Christian parents whos kids are anything but.

Answer 5

My dad is an atheist but never talked about it until I got into my teens and became interested and my mom was a Christian for a few years so I was forced to go to church from about age 7 until age 9. Other than that I have always been allowed to learn about religion and science freely and choose my own religion (or lack of).

After doing my own searching and figuring out what made sense and what didn't I chose atheism.

Answer 6

I do not follow the same religion as my family. My family is german lutheran, my mother 7day adventast, My real father Jewish. And i am Pagan.

I hope around the dffernt christan faiths till i was 13 i was never confrotable in my family's faith and it didnt make sense to me no matter how much i tired. Believe me i contuied to go to church till i was 18 while studing paganism. Nothing made a didfernce why did this happen i am not so but it didnt feel right so i moved on.

Answer 7

yes at this point in time..because i believe in what i was taught and am still being taught ..to a certain extent i question some of there beliefs..but for the most part believe in it...and when ever i doubt what i have been taught i kind of talk myself out of it...i think a lot of people follow the same religions because of there parents or guardians that's how most of my friends are...but some people i know also stray a way from there religions for various reasons....such as ..
{x}the way they choose to live is criticized in the religion (ex.homosexuality)
{x}or the path they traveled in life has been rough and have them believing in no god... or brings them closer to god..or has them looking for a god...
{x} although that have attended a catholic school for years and have learned about god..but just throw that out and choose not to believe in it...or just want actual proof
I KNOW A GUY WERE THIS IS THE CASE HE'S 18 AND ATTEND A CATHOLIC SCHOOL UNTIL 7TH GRADE YEAR ...BUT AT THIS POINT IN TIME HE HAS NO CLAIMED RELIGION...HE BELIEVES THAT THERE IS A HIGHER POWER OUT THERE SOMEWHERE..AND WHEN I TRY TO TELL HIM THINGS ABOUT MY RELIGION AND BELIEFS HE QUESTIONS THEM AND WANTS PROOF ALTHOUGH VARIOUS PEOPLE TELL HIM THE SAME THINGS...
OH AND I AM A NONDENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN ALTHOUGH I ATTEND A BAPTIST CHURCH.. I PLAN TO SWITCH WHEN I AM OLDER(I'M 16)

Answer 8

I did up until about a year and a half ago, at which time my faith in God departed like a bottle rocket. My parents were and are Roman Catholic, and i remained true to my religious brai...er, upbringing most of my life. Currently, i have no religion, although i'm still trying to come to terms with the change.

I first began to wonder about RCism when i went off to college, but it was pretty much open and shut, because i merely compared other religions to it. Human psychology tends to make perfect sense of one's own religion while seeing most others as absurd. (In time, i noticed that my own religion looked silly on TV, but i chalked that up to religion not being a spectator sport.)

But about 2 years ago, while i was composing a rebuttal to intelligent design (which in my opinion was blasphemy), i suddenly found myself mentally playing devil's advocate on behalf of those icy *atheists*! Horrors! Around the same time, i was beginning to wonder what role God played in the universe; as a hypothesis, God came up empty. A few months later, i found myself incapable of believing that such a being exists.

Answer 9

I'm Catholic, and I follow the same religion that my family once did. I say "once did" because most of them, including my parents, fell away from the faith. For a time, I did too, but I came back to it. I went full circle - read and studied many religions and philosophies, but eventually came back to where I started. Not a path I would recommend for anyone, better to stay in the Church - but that's how it worked out for me........

Answer 10

I grew up Roman Catholic, but I am currently not practicing any religion, mainly because I haven't found one that I feel totally comfortable with. I honestly believe that religion is underrated..too much effort is spent on the negative aspects of it, and not on the positive. However, one thing I've figured out for certain...there needs to be a separation between church and state for any society to become progressive. Good question!