Are you vocal about your religious beliefs?

Question

do you make it a point to let others know your religious beliefs, or do you prefer to keep it a private matter? why or why not?

Answer 1

If asked, I answer with strong conviction.

If not asked, I tend to leave the subject alone.

Answer 2

Yes, I am. I believe that among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. I believe only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing.

MY TASKS AS A CATHOLIC
My tasks as a Catholic are three:

Know my Catholic faith.
You cannot live your faith if you do not know it, and you cannot share with others what you do not first make your own (CCC 429). Learning your Catholic faith takes some effort, but it is effort well spent because the study is, quite literally, infinitely rewarding.

Live my Catholic faith.
Your Catholic faith is a public thing. It is not meant to be left behind when you leave home (CCC 2472). But be forewarned: Being a public Catholic involves risk and loss. You will find some doors closed to you. You will lose some friends. You will be considered an outsider. But, as a consolation, remember our Lord’s words to the persecuted: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matt. 5:12).

Spread my Catholic faith.
Jesus Christ wants us to bring the whole world into captivity to the truth, and the truth is Jesus himself, who is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Spreading the faith is a task not only for bishops, priests, and religious—it is a task for all Catholics (CCC 905).

Just before his Ascension, our Lord told his apostles, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19–20). If I want to observe all that Jesus commanded, if I want to believe all he taught, I must follow him through his Church. This is my great challenge—and my great privilege.

Answer 3

Why would anyone have a chosen religion just to keep it a private matter? Whatever you have chosen sing to the crowds let everyone know this is what I believe. I am a christian and glad to meet people that would like to learn more about it, we are here to help new brothers/sisters in these times and act as a light for others.

Answer 4

Nope, I pretty much keep it to myself. For several reasons:

1) First and foremost, it's a religion that has a negative stereotype and some urban legends surrounding it, which some people still naively believe. I take absolutely no shame in what I am, however I'm not stupid. I know the reality and advertising my religion at times could be counter-productive.

2) This isn't a problem in my religion, since it's not the type that glorifies martyrdom. I view my religion as a personal tool, not a public cause. So I'm not being "less devout" by being secretive.

3) Even so, I still don't want to be a source of people's entertainment. And I also have no desire to push my religion on other people. If anything, the wanna-be converts annoy me just as much as the haters. And like politics, I believe religion has no part in the office.

4) I'm "open" about it when I'm doing one of my projects that's in the name of the religion and largely has a target audience of like-minded people. And if I see somebody here bring up a question here that explicitly mentions my religion, then I will answer.

Answer 5

Yes and Yes. I am a Christian, one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I believe there is a time and a place for speaking of one's beliefs. I try to let my beliefs become known to those I will be around, if for no other reason than, it gives them a better idea of what to expect from me, and what I expect from them, example, people know I am not interested in hearing dirty jokes, etc.

On the other end, if I am discussing how to take care of parakeets, it might not come up that I am a Christian, or at the least, it won't be paramount in the conversation, as we are talking about birds.

I sell video games and video games accesories. When I am talking about the Bible it is rare that this hobby will be mentioned as it doesn't often come up when discussing selling things.

I hope this helps.

Answer 6

If the subject is religion, I let others know my beliefs; being Jewish, however, I don't necessarily bring it up, and I most certainly don't try to convert people to my way of thinking. If the subject is something else, I don't have any particular reason to start talking about what I believe, any more than if the subject isn't food, I don't have any particular reason to start talking about my favorite food.

Answer 7

I've always been open about my religious beliefs. If somebody asks me a question about what I believe, I'll try to answer it. However, I don't believe in jamming my faith down anybody's throat. I'll gladly talk about religion if asked, but if someone's not interested, I show some basic manners and don't bother them about it.

Answer 8

Most everyone that I work with or associate with know that I am LDS. I am very happy about my membership. They usually will ask me questions and I always answer them truthfully. They love hearing about my conversion. It is a lot of fun! :) You should see the change in my nephew since he was baptized 2 years ago! People that knew him before...they are floored. It is awesome to hear my family and friends say, "Wow! You Mormons got something going. Look at that kid!"

Answer 9

I'm pretty up-front about my agnosticism/atheism.

I used to consider myself a witch, and was quiet about it because my High Priest wanted me to be. But he committed suicide nearly two years ago, and I've had to re-assess everything he taught me. I concluded that he probably did it as a sacrifice, because he believed he was a great burden on me. But I cannot justify that. In any case, I believe that he painted himself into a corner with his ceremonial magick. He was not getting any results, but he was afraid it would be even worse if he stopped doing rituals. So every Sabbat (8 times a year), we took the time to do the whole set-up and ritual. He even did some quasi-public rituals that I did not go to. But it didn't do him any good. And in the end, I believe it did him a great deal of harm.

Answer 10

Maybe religious intolerance continues to dominate hearts, minds, and wills of enough people to cause those who venture to disagree to take pause, make a rigorous examination of reasons for disagreeing, and assess possible risks and costs of doing so before allowing self to become visible to potentially intolerant communities of faithful believers. Throughout recorded history, I find negative examples of fate and destiny for those individuals who ventured to disagree with powerful communities of faithful believers. Deviants were condemned as a dangerous threat to the future of society. Deviants were crucified, burned at stake, hung, beheaded, drowned, banished, exiled, excommunicated, persecuted, tortured, intimidated, interrogated, assaulted, abused, injured, mutilated and or alienated, deprived of property and or status, and or put to death as evil ones, infidels, blasphemers, heretics, and or witches.

Answer 11

If it comes up, I'm honest about it. I'm not ashamed of my beliefs and I have no reason not to be honest about it. But I don't make it a point to bring it up unless I feel it's necessary.