R&S! What is your...?

Question

...ethnic background? Does it factor into your religious beliefs, or lack there of, at all?

Me, I'm half Korea and...I'm going to assume half Caucasian. (I'm adopted and don't know my family history at all because it was a closed adoption)
My ethnicity has NOTHING to do with my beliefs. I believe in God because of His love for me.

Okay, your turn!

It never seizes to amaze me how often people come up to me an immediately begin speaking Spanish. I just stepped outside to buy a soda from and this lady asked me how I was doing and if I could answer a couple of questions. Thankfully my three years of Spanish over middle and high school enable me to explain to her that I spoke English. Seriously folks, do I look Hispanic? This happens way too often.

*from a vending machine

Answer 1

I'm half black, half white...

Can't think how that would produce atheism.

[edit] Did I really just get a thumbs down for that?

[[edit]] Me too! About once a week someone will speak to me in Spanish. My seven years of German doesn't help much.

Answer 2

My ethnic background is Dutch. My great-grandparents actually came to the United States because the Dutch government had mandatory military service at the time, and as Anabaptists they were pacifists. So in a way, it's related to my religious beliefs, but it's not exactly a contributing factor to my own personal decision regarding what I believe.

That's my dad's side at least. For my mom's side, her mother's family was also Dutch (in West Michigan, a lot of people are!) and her father's side is Irish/British.

Answer 3

I'm Jewish (Reform, and a "Jew by choice," having converted to Judaism almost eleven years ago). I also have Jewish ancestry, as my great-great-grandfather was Jewish (as well as some other ancestors possibly, but I'm not sure about that). My GG grandfather's second wife was Christian, so his children were all raised as Christians, and thus, so was I. Racially speaking, I'm a mix of caucasian/northern European and Native American (Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw). I'm a person who also believes some of the things that are part of Native American and "earth" religions, and very little of the Christianity I was raised with. All in all, I'd say my ethnic background has very little to do with my beliefs.

Answer 4

I'm adopted too Kori... and no telling the ethnicity b/c mine was... well interesting circumstances, but needless to say if the FBI couldn't figure out who my paretns were, I'm pretty sure I can't either..so I'm afraid I can't offer a more meaningful answer.

I don't think it has to do with ethnicity though... free thinkers are free thinkers and we all search in some way until something just fits.

Answer 5

I'm a white southerner, background is primarily Germanic and British. White people in the south are mostly Christian, primarily Evangelical Protestants. So demographically I was likelyt o be raised as one. Then I became atheist and now I'm back in teh fold, as it were.

One thing I like about Christianity more than other religions is that it is far less cultural. Judaism and Hinduism in particular often involve a whole culture beyond belief and devoted practice. Incidentally, this was one argument fielded against non-Christian Greco-Roman authorities and academics as to why Christianity contained more universal truth than other, more tribal religions. Just a factual statement, whether you agree or not....

Answer 6

My people are African and Native American
My ethnicity was not a factor in my choosing to be a Pagan Witch, it is simply the path that puts me in the right place, as a part of nature, not apart from it.

Answer 7

Russian and an atheist. Yes, I guess my background had a lot to do with the fact that I have no beliefs, because for three generations before me, Russians weren't ALLOWED to believe in anything. So that is how I was raised.

Answer 8

Well, I'm an Aussie, but that of course means my ancestry is English(at least it is in my case, and for the majority of Australians, though not all) though it's not a connection any Aussie will easily admit to.

I am an Atheist, and this has nothing to do with my ethnicity.

Answer 9

I'm Sicilian, German, Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Rroma Gypsy [from Albania].

I'm Kemetic Pagan, which means I worship the Ancient Egyptian gods ["Netjeru"].

I mean, Sicily is not........terribly far from Egypt. And gypsies were once thought to come from Egypt, though, more researchers are leaning towards Northern India.

But no other link besides that. It's just the religion that calls to me :)

Answer 10

Irish, Scottish, Welsh.

atheist.