For people of all religious beliefs (or lack of): How did you come to your beliefs?

Question

I'm not looking for anyone to tell me about their beliefs, but I'm curious to know how you came to your beliefs. Did you simply adopt the same beliefs you grew up with, did you engage in some kind of self discovery, or something else.

I grew up around religion in the sense that I had religious babysitters and my mom use to send us off on Sunday mornings to whatever church sent a bus around the apartments. But I can't ever really believing in God or religion. I can remember having conversations as far back as 6th or 7th grade about not believing the Bible.

In my teens and early 20's I never really gave much thought to religion or my beliefs, I just didn't have any. I got married when I was about 22 to a Christian woman and tried to go to church with her with an open mind, but that's about the time I really started to realize I didn't believe in God.

I think I started articulating my lack of belief in part because of the court challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance.

In the last 4-5 years my atheism has really come into focus and I truly know what I believe. And that belief seems to get stronger with each passing year.

One thing I should add: I am very comfortable with my beliefs and I am no longer trying to figure it out.

Answer 1

I am the High Ideologue of the House of Ideology. I build with ideas in my mind a model of self and world. This model of self and world that I build with ideas in my mind I use to orient myself towards existence and explain existence to myself. This reality that I fashion within my mind I call my house of ideology. Many of the life forms in our body consuming biosphere naturally build a model of self and world and use this in the process of orienting self towards existence and explaining existence to self. Out of an awareness of this fact and a desire to pursue happiness and good health came to me the idea of founding the House of Ideology, a non profit religious association and the High Ideologue, A Corporation Sole, a non profit religious corporation. Through these organizations I challenge us to have the highest esteem of self and world that we can possibly imagine; and converge upon a standard of conduct that best produces happiness and good health. I welcome the active participation of anyone who wishes to join me in this effort.

Answer 2

I was brought up as a Jehovahs Witness, but from a very early age it just didn't 'feel' right.

I think my belief system comes from inside me. I look around me and I observe things, and I make a decision as to whether those things are right or wrong based partly on logic, and partly on intuition.

I think quite a lot of my beliefs are mirrored in Christianity and other religions, but they are MY beliefs I haven't adopted them just because I read them somewhere or because they were passed on by someone else. When someone shares a belief with me I evaluate and consider before I adopt (or reject) anything into my belief system.

With regard to God/Gods or otherwise. I'm not sure. I don't know. There may be a god(s), there may not. It's one of them. Who can prove it one way or the other. No-one. So it's a waste of time even thinking about it. One thing is for sure I feel no pressing need to go out and worship anyone/anything.

Answer 3

I grew up in a home that was "Christian." We didn't go to church, though, and a fairly regular amount of lying and cursing went on. I never gave much thought to religion. When I was in fourth grade, I started going to church with a friend. I became a Christian, though I didn't really know what it meant. I suppose it just sounded good. I slacked off and didn't give much thought to religion until high school. Sometime around my freshman or sophomore year, I got serious about my Christian faith, and re-dedicated my heart to God--for real.

Good question, though. I'm curious to see the answers of others. =]

Answer 4

when i was a teen(preteen maybe) i realized that i didn't really believe or feel anything that my church had taught me about god. i decided that lip-service was worse on my own moral standards then not going to church and that i wanted to know more about religions before commiting to one. however, the more i learned about religions (and especially the documented parts of their histories), the more i analyzed them, and that led me to an agnostic stage. labeling myself that may have been an insecure attempt at compromising my own thoughts with the culture i was exposed to, but, again, i was a teen. eventually that gave way to un-abashed atheism. i do, however, still reguard myself as an agnostic-atheist because it describes the reasoning behind my beliefs. from that position ive come to really understand the value and wisdom contained in many religious texts the whole world wide in a way that is similar to when scholars consider the qualities of a great work of fiction (think shakespeare) or law(u.s. constitution). considerate of its pros and cons, but curious only to its value, and effects on the world around me.
ive also wondered about this subject, on a larger scale, and tried recently to search a sociology database for stats reguarding the spread of religion via regions, populations, ect and was unfortunatly unable to produce any results. if i find anything though i'll add it.

Answer 5

I was raised Christian and at one point I was 'born again'. A couple of years ago I noticed that I couldn't pray and that Christian friends seemed to be talking nonsense. I worked my way through it and realised that it made no sense at all. In fact according to the bible, I was a nicer person than God! My searchings brought me to Paganism and witchcraft and the path I now walk is beautiful and peaceful and full of wisdom. I see God/dess so much more clearly now through the circle of life and the wheel of the year. My eyes have been opened.

Answer 6

Well I have always been in search of knowledge and true magic.Which brought me to an occult site I visited,studied and left.I later came back to it and checked out its links and was drawn to the joyofsatan.org link and clicked it.I read every last word on that site and cross referenced it and it was true all of it.I never had a connection to any other religion,when I first went to a christian church I was younger than I am now,I am 14,and I didn't know any other religion but when I heared what they where teaching and saying it made me want to puke.But this religion made sense and I felt connected to it.So that's how I became a SPIRITUAL satanist.

Answer 7

It was quite a process for me, I was raised mostly Christian, but exposed to other religions, then I began to read and try out different faiths, but nothing ever felt quite right, I finally decided that I enjoy believing in God but I don't like religion because I don't think that anyone can really know God or know what he wants from us so I settled on Agnostic Theist and it suits me perfectly.

Answer 8

My parents put me into a Catholic all girls Convent when I was 4 years old...This was in England, I don't live there now..

I hated that place so much that once I got out, I turned away from religion very quickly..

Good education, but the fear imposed by the supposed wrath of God was just too far fetched for me.

Happy atheist now..

Answer 9

I grew up Catholic but had an overwhelming curiosity toward science. My growing understanding of science eventually made it impossible for me to reconcile it with my faith. It scared the hell out of me. Then I sat down and spent about a year studying the Bible and read it form cover to cover. Soon after, I was an atheist.

Answer 10

I did not adopt the beliefs I grew up around. I grew up in the LDS church. I am now a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God church. I converted because when I participated in their services, I felt the power of the Holy Spirit moving in the church. That was one of the most powerful things I've ever felt in my life! As for where your at, I would just ask God to to reveal himself to you. All you've got to do to talk to him is say, "God, please reveal yourself to me." Start simple, just keep praying. Christians close their prayers in like this "in Jesus' name, Amen." (Amen just means that you agree with what was said. Hope this helps and may God bless your spiritual journey.

Answer 11

I'm only 17, but I am very much so agnostic. I have no idea. My father was raised Jewish, but he was very rebellious. My mother was raised catholic, but studied religion in school and went through a Buddhism phase. She's religious (she doesn't go to church or anything tho), but my parents let me choose my own religion. I've just had no interest in religious. Ergo, agnostic.