Poll: Was your religion influenced?

[Monkey Ninja]

I was raised Roman Catholic, went to a Catholic Primary school that took you to church every Wednesday. My mum took me to church again on Sunday. I found the whole experience very boring, like any child would and started to question it.

Of course when you question the faithful, but not very well educated you're met with a wall of anger.

This just drove me further away from the church and the religion. I suppose you could say its the fault of the people that actually wanted to keep me there.

I'm generally sceptical and I won't accept an idea that doesn't have a rational explanation. It actually suprises me religion has managed to hang on so well in this age of science.

 

[jad4400]

Kinda, I was bapitized Catholic, but my family has only gone to church a handful of time, mostly to watch other relatives get baptized. So far I have kept up the semi tradition of not really going to church. However I do wish to go to church, its just that I get so distracted on Sundays, so I celebrate my religion in cuncks, like following my lent commitment (No popcorn), trying to honor the Ten Commandments and Sorta listen and do what the pope says to do as long as it does not invole bashing gays, telling women what to do with their bodies, saying no to contraceptives and saying humbug to other religions, (I miss John Paul II, he was awsome).

 

[ThePine]

Much of my family is religious in various ways, but most of my friends are atheist. I'm an atheist as well, but I chose to be atheist before all of them, so I suppose you could say that I chose my own religion regardless of those around me.

 

[Papopapo456]

My mom, dad, sister and I were "christians" (almost agnostics) until I was 7, then someone invited us to go to church (an Anglican church) and after 1 - 1,5 years we converted to christianism.

So I think I wasn't heavily influenced by my parents, but still influenced a bit.

 

[forever saturday]

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.

Same here, except the part about saying the pledge of allegience. I just dont think I should have to swear undying servitude to a government I dont trust (Guess what? Im moving to another country as soon as I am old enough!). On topic, I never really understood the whole thing about what the big deal was, and like I said above, I dont put 100% loyalty in anything big like that. I have also often been pushed to believe in both Catholicism and Protestantism, but the Irony is that the only religion that made any sense to me (and the one I know most about) was Judaism, so I almost got pushed in a different direction as far as religion goes.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

I live in a christian family, with christian friends, in a city with no less than 3 churches within a mile or two of each other. I chose to be Agnostic. It's just my thing. I'm bugged every day in one way or another by some kind of christian recruiting center or by a random self-righteous fanatic, but honestly you couldn't pay me to join. Go ahead, waste hours trying to convert me. Threaten me with damnation. Even if every one of my blood relatives bugged me about it every moment of every day for the rest of my life I wouldn't convert.

I chose for myself. The most basic right of a human being. I'd fight to the death for my right to remain indifferent.
Anyways, I'll keep it brief:
I should hope most people allow themselves to choose freely. I would hate to know people choose religion against their will, although I have seen it happen. It's a weak and cowardly person who cannot so much as define themselves on their own.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

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.

Same here, except the part about saying the pledge of allegience. I just dont think I should have to swear undying servitude to a government I dont trust (Guess what? Im moving to another country as soon as I am old enough!). On topic, I never really understood the whole thing about what the big deal was, and like I said above, I dont put 100% loyalty in anything big like that. I have also often been pushed to believe in both Catholicism and Protestantism, but the Irony is that the only religion that made any sense to me (and the one I know most about) was Judaism, so I almost got pushed in a different direction as far as religion goes.

Oh man, you think so too? I thought I was the only one who caught on! We all stand up at attention and recite a pledge EVERY DAY. But it's not even just that. We, without thinking, SWEAR allegiance to our country EVERY DAY. At the SAME TIME. TO A FLAG. It's creepy the more you think about it. I find it funny that a communist rally or a cult meeting is creepy, yet we stand up and SWEAR alliegence to the country EVERY DAY AT THE SAME TIME, IN UNISON. Like the country doesn't trust us, and we have to remind our leaders that we support them EVERY DAY because they're insecure or something...

 

[Flap Jack452]

I grew up in a Christian environment, my family went to church almost every sunday. I feel that the biggest influence in my faith was the Christian private school I attended. God was openly discussed without fear of legal action, prayers were said etc. But the thing that got me most were the retreats and trips the school took. These were totally optional and most people went to hang with their friends but I had a genuine religious experience on them.

Now I realize that this is my faith, no one else's. I also realize that most people who seem to post on this forum are either Agnostic or Atheist. That does not bother me at all. I believe that you should be able to make your own religious choices, as I have made mine. I totally have thought "What if I'm buying into the biggest prank ever pulled?" but that frankly doesn't change my choices. And if when I die nothing happens, you guys can all laugh at me and say "I told you so!" in a really obnoxious voice.

 

[awmperry]

And of course the classic argument comes up. With great power comes great responsibility, with ultimate power comes ultimate responsibility, someone who is truly omnipotent has a duty to do what they can to right whatever wrongs they see, and someone who is truly omniscient will see them all.

Now look at the world.

If God exists, he's either not all-powerful, or he doesn't deserve to be worshipped.

You had me all except here. If read Gulivers Travels, or watch the Futurama episode "Godfellas", it explains this quite adequately. All evil in the world comes from human activity, but so does everything good too. What happens in nature is neutral. Whether you are atheist or theist you have to acknowledge that it is the responsibility of each human to do what they can to minimize their own negative impact on the world while trying to do right by everyone else. Leaving everything up to god is an excuse to give up.

Let me put it like this - birds will shove their young out of the nest when they are old enough.

Absolutely. And when they do, their young are pretty much on their own. They don't, for want of a better word, worship their parents. It's the idea that God won't intervene in the big things, but we can pray to him to get a new car that annoys me. If he won't fix the Arab-Israeli conflict, why should we expect him to fix my ingrowing toenail?

Basically, if someone is very rich but doesn't use their wealth to help anyone else, we'd censure them loudly and vehemently; they have the power to do good but refuse. And yet, the Abrahamic religions tout a god with absolute power, and make excuses for why they're not doing good. It's the ultimate double standard.

 

[stompy]

Uh, I suppose I went from Hinduism to Agnosticism, and now, I identify myself aqs a Diest. I think it is the most closely aligned with what I think.

 

[seidlet]

my mom is an atheist as well, but i was never really taught atheism - i didn't know what she believed until i was around 20, other than that she went to unitarian-universalist church. i considered myself a christian for awhile around age 10, mostly due to peer pressure, and then i was a practicing neo-pagan up until my late teens. i was completely and totally supported and encouraged in my exploration of different religions. i'm still very interested in neo-paganism as well as roman catholicism, which is the religion of my grandparents and pretty much everyone else in my family before my mother's generation.

 

[Frungy]

I was Roman Catholic, but then discovered that because I refuse to agree with the way that the church handles abortion and pedophiles I'm actually excommunicated (its a Canon law issue), so I reckoned wtf, and ambled off on my merry way. My parents are Irish Catholics, pretty much up there with Polish Catholics for blind obedience to the Pope. I'm pretty much a deist now too.

 

[electric discordian]

Well yeah but oddly I was walking down the street and found a man hoovering the pavement with his normal vaccuum cleaner. I asked him why he did it and he said if he didn't no one would and the leaves are a problem in this day and age.

The next day I bought both the Book of Subgenius and Principia Discordia understood the world was made of chaos and never looked back up until the point I joined a Viking re-enactment group and got the interest in the Norse tradition.

it seemed rude not to combine the two and become a Western tradition Loki-ist!

So I believe in disorganised religion, trying to explain this to anyone devout is a hard job

 

[Same River New Water]

One of the things I respect the most about how my parents chose to raise me was that they never mentioned religion (nor atheism). They'd explain the science of things, but never made a reference to whether or not there is a god. Well, they took me to church once on Christmas, not counting baptisms and weddings and such. In school I was getting a weekly class in religious education (i.e. Christianity), and my parents didn't question it or support it.

It only occurred to me to ask them about it when I was 19, and they told me it was a conscious decision. Which I think shows amazing wisdom and self-restraint.

So I've never been indoctrinated into either a religion or a secular philosophy, and it's always seemed crazy to me that anyone would believe in god, since we have much better explanations for how the world works.

 

[batterj2]

Assuming the religion in question is the major religion of the country you are brought up in, regardless of whether you practice it in future life your moral decisions in life are more than likely influenced by the teachings of that religion given by schools or other sources as it is the only religion (unless you make a concentrated effort) that you actually take into account. If we were all brought up to understand several religions at once we'd might end up with the most balanced morals possible.

For example as a British citizen I have been brought up as a Christian but neither I nor my family practice it to any degree (except for Christmas) - however, whether I like it nor not, my moral decisions are based on the lessons given in the bible, most notably the 10 commandments like "Thou shall not kill/steal/commit" etc.

So in answer to the poll, yes in a way I stuck to it but I certainly don't practice nor preach.

 

[Mr_spamamam]

what i was taught as a kid had a certain amount of influence, but my own personal experiences also helped to form my religious views

 

[c0rtha]

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

its the 21 silly the 23rd is the alternate date

and it will happen but its wont be any god's doing

=)

 

[latenightapplepie]

Secular pretty much from the get go - we haven't ever really engaged in religious conversations in my family so I can only assume none of them give a shit. I know I don't. It's strange.

EDIT: Even going to semi-religious private schools didn't really change our look at it, I think. Just made my mother like choral music.

 

[robinkom]

Too many religions just use scare tactics or only want your money which is something that has always irritated me.

I'm a Lebanese American who was raised Maronite Catholic. Ultimately I chose to be Agnostic though. I take a more spiritual approach to life though as I have a firm belief in the paranormal and alternate plains of existence (with scientific application, or course).

I don't think you can prove or disprove the existence of God, at least not in the form that is widely accepted of him/her/it.

In letting my mind wander on the matter though, I generally formed my own theories based on basic facts of both Science and Religion.

Evolution is obviously a fact of life, as far back as the Big Bang, but there was always a part of the concept that was lacking in logic to me. There's nothing and then there's something all of a sudden? It's the combination of gases, particles and the like that just 'suddenly' appeared to cause the Big Bang. Something had to be "created" for it to all begin the evolutionary cycle, things just don't appear out of nowhere. I could only conclude my idea with "Well, maybe there was at one time an omnipotent force to set everything in motion. It just wasn't how some of us think."

It starts to become a headache after a while and it's generally counter-productive to keep shuffling the same answer-less questions around forever.

Bottom-line, regardless of my beliefs, I try to go through life being a decent person and treating others with the same respect I would like in return. That's ultimately more important anyway.