what is your religion and why?

Question

Don't worry you don't have to prove yourself to me, there will be no tests and i'm not in the job of telling anyone what they should believe because i have no idea. I was just wondering what it was that made people choose a particular religion? was it just the religion you were born into? or was there an event in your life that turned you to your religion? Also if you are not religious why not? what has turned you away from religion?

Will people stop giving each other thumbs down for no reason, i have asked a question and they have given their answer truthfully so there is no need to give a negative rating. There are no right or wrong answers

Answer 1

Growing up I could not understand some things that I was being taught in Sunday school.

My Mother is a Christian and my Dad is an Atheist. My mother would just tell me the same thing that the Sunday school teacher was saying. My Dad would tell me that I needed to find my own answers and told my Mom that if she was not going to help me by giving me an answer that I could understand instead of telling me the same thing without her to questioning the answer then I was not to go back to Sunday school. He told me that I needed to do my own research and find the truth on my own. This was when I was 10.

At this time I would spend my summers with my grandparents. My Grand father was a Deacon and my Grand Mother was a Sunday school teacher. They would try to guide me but when I would question they too could not give me the answers.

Then when I was 16 I was in a world religion class in high school. There I began to learn about Islam and I could finally have my answers. I was so excited when I went home. But my mother was totally against it. And I was told that none of the garbage was to come into her home. At this time Dad was out of town and did not hear what she was telling me. So I would study in secret.

Less than a year after I graduated from high school I was told that I was to get married or get out of my parents home (by my Mother). I married and my husband was anti anything that was not Christian. So again I studied in secret.

After 5 years of an abusive relationship (with him cheating, hitting and being mentally abusive) I got out. I started college and began to openly study Islam. My Mother tried to set me down and tell me how wrong I am but my Dad has been there beside me still telling me that I needed to find my own way.

My Mother tells my Dad she does not know where her daughter went, telling him that we use to be so close. But in reality we have never been close.

When I married my husband she told me that he would not be welcome in her home and did not even come to the wedding, although my Dad did. Finally when I stood up to her and told her that if my entire family was not welcome in her home then none of us would come over any more (including my children from my first marriage) after a month my Dad called and said that she would allow for all of us to come over. I was not asking for them to love my husband (although my Dad already did) but to respect him as a person. It has been 2 years now and things are much better.

But she still does not respect my choosing Islam. Going so far as to telling my youngest son if he became a Muslim he did not love her any more. He came home to me in tears and I again had to put my foot down and tell her that if she spoke of religion with him again he would not be back. She has kept her word so far and my Dad keeps her in check.

I reverted 2 years ago and have never been happier. I learn something new everyday. I am now married to a wonderful Muslim man that treats me with love and respect. I have some of the same friends that I had before I reverted and found new friends Muslim. There are not many reverts in my area so we all get together at least 2 times a month. My husband jokes and tells me that we have the Ya Ya Muslim Sisterhood

But I think that each person should take their own journey, even if they believe that their belief is the right one. In the least they will be able to see the world through some else's eyes

Answer 2

I have no religion. In the first religions people worshiped things like fire, the sun, lightning, the sea, spring, etc as gods. These were the first attempts to explain these things. Through scientifically observing evidence we have learnt that these are naturally occuring phenomena and forces and realised there is no point in worshipping them. For example, that massive ball of nuclear fusion that used to be called Ra and is now called the sun doesn't give me much reason to worship it, although I'm glad it's there.

The monotheistic religions more commonly practiced today are merely collections of older religions but with the polytheistic gods drawn together into a single monotheistic god.

I see no need or point in worshipping the creation of man as evolution has been going on long before us and will continue for long after us. I do not worship the rebirth of life at easter/spring equinox as I understand that many species of life hibernate/migrate and I see no need or point to worship them. I also find it easy to survive the winter and do not need to celebrate the fact. I make my own moral decisions based on what seems ethical and feel that I can do this in a more enlightened fashion than any code of morals from more than 2000 years ago. I accept that death is the end of my life in the same way that it did not start until 30 years ago. I do not need any more and chose to use my time in an enjoyable and fulfilling manner.

Religions seem pointless, restrictive and not based in fact, so I have none.

Answer 3

I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. By the time I had grown up and got my own family I was catholic "in name only" and would attend church maybe once or twice a year, usually Christmas and Good Friday.
A tragic event in my life made me stop and question. It took me 10 years from this event to discover meaning for my life. During that time, I tried many churches and religions. Now I am at peace with what I believe. If I'm asked the question, I Willl answer that I am a Christian. I have no "organised dogma" that I follow, and to people who are close to me I wil explain that my beliefs are a mixture of Christianity and Spiritualism. I find no conflict of interest between the belief of "the risen Son of God" and the "7 principles" of the SNU. I have found that Spiritualists tend to be more tolerant of Christians than Christians tend to be of Spiritualists. A lot of Christians have said to me that the Spiritualists are evil, without actually even having attended a service (and yes, it is a service not a mediumship show).
So yes, I believe in Jesus as the risen Son of God and yes I believe in the 7 principles of Spiritualism.

Answer 4

Brought up as a Catholic and then my Father got into the Jehovah Witnesses when I was about 8. Hated going to the Kingdom Hall, it scared us as it was all fire and brimstone, worse than the Catholic version strangely. I didnt get confirmed as I told my Mother and Priests that I thought transubstantiation was a load of balls basically.
I hate religion, it causes so much hatred and division.
Saying that I suppose I practice my own natural religion and treat others as I expect to be treated.
I havent been near a church or Kingdom Hall inyears. I was brought up in an extremely religiously controlled environment yet managed to not become brainwashed and gullible.
When I asked the elder at the Kingdom Hall how he could discount the fossil record he said that Satan had made fossils of a special material and put them there to confuse people like me.
Yeah, okay!!
Its a personal thing and I feel someone has looked after me at low times, yet I cant explain or dont know what this is.

Answer 5

Im atheist.
When i was small I had religous education at school but I was to young to believe it.
Then when I was older I got into reading and I found a series called Horrible Histories. They were very informative and I found my self starting to resent religion for all the pain it caused. All the wirches burned... all the suicide bombers.
It was all religions that were to blame although I admit I disliked Christianity the most.

I had a confronation with a friend who I had told I did not belive in God and it was in fron of another friend who, I didnt know, was a fanatic Christian and she decided to convert me.
She invivted me to all sorts of Church things. I knew what she was doing but I didnt say anything.
She tried several times to convert me but it didnt work. She was moving over seas and at her farewell party (at a Church)
she locked me in a room and tried to convert me.
I was flipping terrified.
Then she took another friend who was also atheist and she locked us in the same room togethor and tried to convert us.
That I think was the scariest thing Ive ever witnessed.
Shes a very quite person but it was scary to see how fanatic she really was.
And she played gospel music to me, while being a personal insult to anyone who wasnt Christian I hated the music.
So that and seeing all the fights that people have about religion has turned me away from it.
I am trying not to be so predajuced against anyone Christian but its prettu hard... becuse for a while there I was a perfect liitle Satan.
Not that I'm that much better now but I wont cause anyone trouble about their religion if they dont bother me first, or bother someone else, or act "Holier than thou".

Religion has helped alot of people but I can just not like or suport it.

Answer 6

I define myself as an agnostic, that is, know God exists but not committed to any religion. Interesting in that as a teenager I had a transcendent experience after visiting St David's cathedral in Wales and praying for guidance. In this incredible experience Love permeated the room as did my whole consciousness. Now, I wasn't brought up a Christian or church goer and after the experience really looked hard at what I thought about Christianity. After months of struggle, even though that experience did happen after going to a cathedral, I felt I did not have faith in what I saw as Christianity, not the story but the actual church of today. The preachers and their following left me feeling they don't know what they are into, it's more a social tradition. My experience was more akin to what the more middle Easten religions talk about than is mentioned in Christianity. My reason for the unique act of praying in a cathedral was because something very, very traumatic had happened to me some months before.

Answer 7

I'm a Seventh Day Adventist Christian and was born and brought up in it. When I was a Junior in the Academy I left the Church, but never officially denounced the Church. I think I never really stopped believing. I was re-baptized several years ago and now back into the Church. Family traumas and deaths have occurred which has given me the insight I've needed to feel the need for a good Church family. It's too bad that it took traumas and deaths to happen to reunite me with the Church, but the important thing is that I'm back and it feels good. It feels good to have God back into my life where it was needed all along.

Answer 8

I find this question interesting as so many people associate religion with particular faith doctrines, all of which have elements that I feel are actually anti true religion. They are all too anthropocentric and are full of controlling elements and emphasise worship and faith over personal growth and rigorous investigation. The most important thing in my life is my religion but it does not have a name. It is based on the fact that i sense order and intelligence in life and not mere accident. Formal doctrinaire religion and science are too sure of things that they cannot possibly know. In the light of this i can only follow my instincts and investigate everything

Answer 9

Agnostic

Reason why is because I believe in science not religion.

Answer 10

It's not a religion, but.....Humanism. We'd all do a lot better if we stopped all this silly religious nonsense and started working together to better the whole world.