What religion/label do you consider yourself and why?

Question

How old were you when you became whatever religion (or lack of religion) you are? Have you tried other religions? Why is your current one the one for you?

I'm Jewish by heritage, was raised Christian, converted to Judaism, then to Nordic Paganism, then to Agnosticism, and I might be going back to Christianity soon- liberal, messianic judaism (Like Jews for Jesus, basically.) So, what's your story?

Answer 1

I am anti-religion and agnostic.

I believe that religions -- Abrahamic religions especially -- have been bad for humanity. In this day and age of knowledge and discovery, it's about time that mankind discards his delusional superstitions. Religion has sabotaged man's potential and splintered his peace for far too long.

Lately, I've been waxing religious. There are a myriad of arguments for or against God. However, there's no direct evidence either way. To me, it's necessary to define what you mean by "God" to begin with. For most of us, that means a God defined by a religion.

And that's where the problems start . . . at least for the major Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). For the remainder of this reply, any mention of "religion" means "Abrahamic religion" for short.

Religion tries to lay claim to God. This insistence on exclusivity sets up religions for contention unless or until they convert the entire world – thereby eliminating the competition. This is why, I believe, these religions await the end-time when God will finally do the eliminating.

It's a forgone conclusion that no single religion (much less, denomination!) will win the world on its own. After all, they've had between 1,400 and 3,500 years (Islam and Judaism, respectively) to do so and haven't made any real progress. Christianity, with over 2 billion adherents, leads the pack but Islam, at 1.3 billion, is coming on strong (again). Despite being many centuries older than Christianity or Islam, Judaism has only 14 million adherents. If ANY religion truly is THE right one, I don't believe the competition would have survived this long.

Given all this . . . how are we supposed to decide which religion, if any, is right? The first one? The biggest one? The most sophisticated one? The most realistic one? The competition reduces our choice to a roll of the dice. With no way to know, why would we go to hell for choosing the wrong one? It's ridiculous. Can God really be so sadistic? And if so, why would you worship him?

No . . .

NO religion can be valid if God exists AND is good. Any entity who could create the universe, would not be so petty as to set up his "intelligent" beings for condemnation. Why would the Creator give us free choice, only to confuse the choice of Creator? I say that if God exists, ALL religions are heretical. If God is good, we wouldn't be killing each other in His name. In the paraphrased words of Stephen Roberts:

"I contend that we are both anti-religion. I just believe in one fewer religion than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible religions, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Oh yes . . . and forget about "Original Sin" . . . I am no more responsible for Adam than I am for you.

I believe God could, or might, exist; but I'm certain that NO religion is valid.

Answer 2

Well, was raised in a family that is somewhere between non-practising RC and agnostic, but I quickly became an atheist (by age 10). Over the next 8 years, as i saw more of the world and learnt more philosophy rather than just science, my stance softened, first to agnosticism, until i started to explore paganism. I am now eclectic (but try to be responsibly so). Think of me as half norse, half roman, but with the advantages of modern philosophy and science, and some gnostic leanings. As a result of being eclectic, my beliefs are in a constant state of development, and whenever i encounter new philosophies, i examine how the relate to my current paradigm, leading to some amalgamation of other ideas over time, and i also try to think freely, in the hope of having some kind of original thought some day.

Answer 3

Grew un in a Lutheran home - church was something we liked - went to a Lutheran college. Worked for churches, became more pentecostal in my searching that led me to a nondemonimational church.

9/11 really made me open my eyes to some new truths. The world is at war over religion. For all the good all the people of faith do, there are two people doing something evil in the name of their God.

Six years later, I see that the call on my life is more Wiccan in nature than anything else. What I believe - the Rede - says do what you will but harm none. I try to live by that and to share my view honestly and respectfully. I don't know where the path will do to next, but am excited about the prospects.

Answer 4

I consider myself a Pagan - solitary eclectic, to be more specific. There are many seperate forms of paganism, many paths (Asatru, Romuva, Wicca, etc...) and I haven't found mine yet. But I'm looking.... study, study, study :)
I attended a Baptist Sunday school for a while when I was a kid, but I was basically raised Protestant. At about 14 or 15 years old, I realized that I just didn't agree with the Christian view of God - that there's only one, male, diety. The more pagan view that there is both a Goddess and a God made much more sense to me, and felt much more comfortable. And so here I am now... a solitary eclectic Pagan.

Answer 5

Not as diverse as yours.

At an earlier age, I adopted monotheism which is my source of strength even if there is no God. Some label me a Unitarian while I consider myself a Christian.

I am an ordained minister (priest) with emphasis in biblical studies. I have studied other religions: Judaism, Zen Buddhism, and Tao (Dao); I take what is useful and discard the rest.

I find this question interesting since my beliefs will not help.

Answer 6

I consider myself to be a wiccan spiritualist, practicing Kairosean Kithin philosophy, and life style. This incorporates the belief system that human kind is evolving and the earth itself is a living entity and is evolving. Taking responsibility for those evolutions on many different levels, and accepting all belief systems as a part of the whole. It means celebrating the moon and the sun, male and female, cycles and circles, the four quarters, the shakti and shiva, the chakra systems, Bodhisattva's and meditations of bliss, the prophet Mohamed and Rumi, Christ and Mary Magdalene, The ancestors and power animals. It means studying much and learning to keep what is truly meaningful to you. I love life and find much joy, both in my spirituality and in my life.
My journey continues, but extend a hand in friendship and I will circle with you. Blissings!

Answer 7

While it may be viewed as somewhat paradoxical or an oxymmoron, I consider myself (and those who embrace similar ideas) as being what might be termed as "A New Age Christian"

Here's one person's description of this:

http://www.thenewagesite.com/new_age_christianity.php

I basically agree with the words and ideas of what the above person wrote.

Essentially we embrace ANYTHING that might be considered "inspired"--or as containing truth. That NO ONE or NO THING owns or has cornered the market on truth.

Truth can come from ANY source--even the Devil himself!!!

What!?!?!?!?

Whether people know it or not a VAST majority of Christians and New Agers (along with many others) are being consistently deceived.

The problem is, is this. How does one ensure that what they are seeing, hearing and reading IS 'the truth'?

One must learn to discern it.

How?

Via your soul--your "inner voice"--your ultimate authority--versus allowing an unearned, unjust outer authority tell you "what is" or "what isn't".

To begin you must FIRST learn to speak the language of personal responsibility.

Regards,

Answer 8

*:) i like this emoticon - never mind . . .
I was born a Lutheran, raised a Catholic, then raised myself away from home as a vampire or a witch and discovered new belief systems. i believe i am non-denominational because i really don't have a belief system to live by. I am very intrigued with wiccans and vampires, and have joined a couple of vampire groups at YahooGroups, then removed myself and am still curious about the wiccan/pagan group or belief system. The world has One God and many beliefs, everyone deserves their own belief and learning systems. We all learn til the day we die . . .and Thats All Folks.

Answer 9

I call myself a half and half. Half athiest half christain. Why? B/c even though I know he is not real for me there is still a part of me that refuses to think God doesn't exist.
I've been told I'm Agonistic which doesn't sound right.
I've been called non comformist which sounds okay.
Athiests and Christains both give me crap that I can't be a half and half. So despite what they say I say I am. So there!
Na, na, na, na, boo, boo!
I've never really been a deep Christain sunday school for me was just another place to fool around. At the confermation I never read the Bible like the Paster told me too. He told stuff I've heard before so I didn't really care.

Answer 10

Raised by Baptists, became a Christian myself and decided I do not care for organized religion. I would describe myself as non-denominational. I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died for my sins. I take the Bible literally and I am waiting for the return of Jesus.