Poll: Was your religion influenced?

[KeithA45]

Every once-in-a-while I hear things like "Under God" should be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" should be taken off the dollar because it influences people towards a religion, but I was raised Roman Catholic by almost my entire extended family and said the pledge nearly every day, and yet I choose to be Atheist/Agnostic of my own will. What I was taught and what I heard didn't seem to influence my eventual beliefs.

So I ask you: Was your religion influenced by your family/friend's/community, or did you choose your beliefs anyway?

EDIT: I understand that no one likes giving a "yes/no" answer, but think of them as general answers. Do you generally still believe what you were taught, or do you, for the most part, believe something other than what you were first taught? Decide for yourself which you're closer to.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

I'm gonna chalk this one up to free will, and not being a sheep. No I didn't cause I'm not a sheep and I have free will.

 

[FinalGamer]

Nope, even had the Lord's Prayer at primary school every day but nobody told me WHAT it was.
I'm agnostic but very superstitious, so if anything I could count myself as Greek Orthodox if I ever had to.

 

[Abedeus]

Unfortunately, it was. In a country where almost 90% of the population is Catholic, it's hard not to be one. In the last 3 classes I've been in my life, there was only one non-Christian person that didn't attend Religion lessons.

But since I'm highly sceptical, I'm not a religious person. The most logical religion I've met is Buddhism, and there are barely any of them here in Poland.

 

[Doug]

I guess, seeing as my family wasn't religious I kinda kept that up.

Same here. Although I suppose I moved from "vaguely athesis" to "somewhat agnostic".

 

[XOmanXO]

never really cared enough to change my religion. even though i see all religions as a club all doing different things but generaly wanting the same thing to go to heven or whatever the names of other afterlifes are

 

[Quel0]

Every once-in-a-while I hear things like "Under God" should be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance

small info-nugget... It wasn't in there to begin with, we added it during the cold war.
http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm

some people are more of a free thinker than others, so it may influence others that the us is a nation of "god." the religious entanglement in the us government is something that was not intended originally.

 

[TMAN10112]

A little bit I guess, I used to be a pretty strict roman catholic when I was younger, but my beliefs have since been influenced through learning about other religions. I would still consider myself roman cathlic, or at least christian, but I have my own beliefs from a range of sources.

 

[ssgt splatter]

I don't believe in god but I do believe in an afterlife.
I'll believe in god if December 23, 2012 is really the end of the world

 

[Ignignoct]

I don't believe in god but I do believe in an afterlife.
I'll believe in god if December 23, 2012 is really the end of the world

OMG no!

I get out of the military May 2012... That's only 1/2 a year to live my life!

But to the OP:

I did not stick to the religion I was raised in, Evangelical Baptist. The church services, scare tactics, and unanswered questions quickly drove me away from faith.

I think the catalyst that made me more serious and secure about it, actually, was listening to this song about a decade ago when my atheist uncle dropped by to visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23eZMdixAuk

Basically asks, "What have YOU done to deserve eternal damnation?" rhetorically.

 

[Randomologist]

I was baptised, I'm technically a member of my local parish.
I live in a country long associated with Christianity, and both primary and secondary schools crammed religion down my throat with prayers in assembly, etc.

Yet I stopped believing in God when I was 11, and thus I received the holy wrath of my (devoutly catholic) primary school teacher, who took some objection to this. And this was an ordinary public school :S

 

[Lord George]

My family don't care or bother with religion at all. though I was baptised still I went on to form my own Cult, the cult of Georgism that teaches that you too can become a god in your own perspective universe. Its a brilliant religion

 

[RavingPenguin]

I was raised by Catholics, had atheist and agnostic freinds, and had a few Baptist teachers.
Call me diverse, but I went for the Baptist veiw. It just made the most sense to me.

 

[Doug]

I guess, seeing as my family wasn't religious I kinda kept that up.

Same here. Although I suppose I moved from "vaguely athesis" to "somewhat agnostic".

Snap, I'm now an agnostic too. Are you sure we aren't the same person?

By possible-deity-or-deities-who-may-or-may-not-exist, its entirely possible! The one downside, I've found, is cursing is now way too long.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

No, because I was never taught a religion. Both my parents (and all my aunts and uncles) have been raised as Catholics but are not religious anymore. My grandparents still believe in God I think but haven't been to church for quite a long time.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I grew up on Christianity. That's what I've learned all my life and frankly, it makes a lot more sense than saying we're here on accident. I don't want to get into a huge debate but Christianity is the only religion that makes sense to me. And please, don't reply to this post or quote this because I really just want to keep it at this. I'm not changing religions due to some kid on a forum so don't even bother.

 

[PersianLlama]

I was raised as a Muslim, and lived in a mostly Christian area. I never liked the concept of organized religion and became an atheist when I was 10 or so, but I didn't call myself that, I didn't know what to call myself because I didn't know atheism existed till I was 12. I'm also constantly insulted/looked down upon for being atheist. Along with that, I met my first non-religious friend (He was agnostic) when I was 13, and I met my first atheist friend when I was 14.

 

[The_Prophet]

My religion is Christianity and it was influenced by me, and only me.

Sorry, forgot to mention: My friends were atheists, my parents didn't bother with religion and my grandmother taught me that religion is wrong.