Do you retain the beliefs/religion you were born into?

A kind of liberal version of it, haha~

I'm a Christian, but even as a kid I was pretty liberal about it~ I'll always remember one speaker at my school saying that God loved all of his creation and wanted to be with them in Heaven~ he said that everyone sees God in their own ways, like people in isolated tribes that had never heard the word of God would feel in their hearts that there was a god, but wouldn't know His name~ but those people would still go to Heaven because they didn't have the opportunity to be "officially" saved~ This kind of thinking makes a lot of sense to me, and I think that God is loving. He didn't create us just to hope that He lost us to Hell...

 

By the time I was 12 years old I was thinking outside of the Judeo-Christian sphere I'd been brought up in. Around when I was 16 or so, I felt really disillusioned with the Jewish community I was raised up in because of how they expected everyone to pick the side of "defending their homeland." Well, it wasn't my homeland. I felt no ties to Israel, and I wasn't moved by tales of IDF experience. I figured it was suffering no matter what side you picked. So I removed myself from the community. Not just for those reasons—the other kids my age weren't interested in learning anything in the scriptures. They were teasing, bullying assholes, the sort of typical pubescent vermin you'd expect. The whole thing was toxic to me and for a while I wanted nothing to do with it.

My basic attitude toward religion was pretty much cemented from around age 13 to 14, though. I saw it as stuff you could learn from, but shouldn't be following word for word. At least not me, I shouldn't do it. My thought was "why do I have to accept what I'm told as the truth?" I became suspicious of anyone who was sure about the meaning of life, and things like post-mortem consciousness they could not experience firsthand and relay to me. Conflicting stories and different narratives even between temple and church that I saw provided enough dissonance for me to frame my perspective outside of those communities.

EDIT: Actually, I think I can pinpoint the earliest moment in my life when I figured that there was something amiss with the way people in the religions I was brought up in (Judeo-Christian) behaved. There was a girl in my class when I was about 7 years old who was saying to everyone, 'do you believe in Jesus Christ?' And I asked her what she meant by that. She wouldn't answer and just said the same question again and again, frantically. And so I figured she was asking if I believed he historically existed, to which I said yes. And she said "then you are a Christian." Basically, I figured out later, she was trying to make sure all her classmates were "saved." And I thought it was stupid, treating the whole thing like a competition. Up until then I had a very pristine view of religion as absolute truth, but that moment made me think—"how have followers been misreading/distorting what they have been given?" Of course I didn't think of it in such sophisticated terms as that. But it's the best way I can describe what I started to feel.

 

Like others have said, I grew up Christian and I still am. However, some of my beliefs regarding homosexuality, the rapture, female pastors etc have certainly changed since I was a young child.

When I went to a Christian college, our professors didn't tell us what to think but asked us to think why we believe what we believe. Research the Hebrew and the Greek. Stay within the context of the text. What was the audience that each book was addressing? What caused each book to be written?

Look at it as a whole rather than soundbites plucked to be conformed to our dogmas. Respect differences. Don't get bogged down by petty theological differences.

Though I certainly find some agreement with certain evangelicals(not fundamentalists and there is a huge difference), I am proud to be an ecumenical Christian.

How I interpret this......
I've heard this example before. You'd be surprised by how many people within Christianity agree with this example. I do. And this doesn't necessarily mean universalism. It simply infers a basic belief that a tribe can embrace the spirit of Christ without having access to the Bible in their tongue.

 

I'll try to keep it short. I was baptized Lutheran, never really went to that church. I went to Catholic school for a few years as a kid and I actually kinda liked it until I stopped going. I went to a free church for a few years after that but again I just kinda stopped going. I'd call myself agnostic now. Well I guess you could say I'm spiritual but not religious. I don't believe in the "traditional" version of god. You know, all seeing, all knowing, big white beard? But I do think there's something out there. Just don't know what.

My beliefs I guess are a combination of a bunch of different religions I guess. Jesus said some good things so I can't totally deny Christianity. But I don't go to church or anything. I like the idea of karma so I threw that in there too. I've also done some research on wicca and paganism and there's a few things I find interesting there. So basically my general philosophy is 'if you're good, good things will happen. And vice versa' Well I'm rambling so I should end my religion rant. Thanks for reading this far.

 

I was born into a Catholic family. I practiced it as a child (or rather, was forced to), I was baptized, I went to Sunday School, I'd go to church every Sunday, I even did the First Holy Communion - after that, I managed to convince everyone that I didn't need to do anything else.
Mine is a heavily Christian country - Portugal. We are very behind on some topics, mostly due to the dictatorship that only ended in 1974.


I am now a Buddhist. I chose this path for myself and I have practicing for nearly a year now... It has made a more tolerant, peaceful person.

 

Nope. I'm an irreligious chaote. I don't follow any religion. I don't know if god(s) exist. I think magic is real.

When I was baptized Christian, it was a bit like trying to teach a TM to an incompatible Pokémon. I thought god was an advanced alien that wanted to recruit more followers, and Earth was only one project. Or at least that's what I told folks because I never believed the bible was accurate.

I tried to follow god until my pride got in the way. Now I just do what I want.

 

I'm not religious in the slightest. I used to go to church as a kid, but stopped once I realized I had a choice. I have my own set of morals and ethics that I choose to live my life by, but no belief whatsoever in any Divine Entity.

 

It's funny to me, in turns of the religion part of this question, that I'm the opposite of many people here. I was born into non-belief, so to say. Pretty much everyone here where I live are secular, so the thought of actually being religious didn't really cross my mind. Later on, I chose my own kind of brand of humanistic free-thinking spritualism or whatever I'd call it, haha.

In terms of beliefs... Hmm... My philosophical beliefs were much more thought-centered as I remember them, rather than deterministic or materialistic. My values as I was raised did change at one point, and I lost a lot of my good values I'd been raised with. But I've reclaimed a lot of them and am continuously doing so.

 

I'm still a member of the religion/denomination I was born into and attend church regularly, but I don't always follow the line. The church has a place in my life, but I know that it's an imperfect institution that makes bad decisions and judgement calls. If/when that happens, I speak my mind and make a noise, whether it's appreciated or not. I've been in conflict with the heirarchy of the church plenty of times in the past and I'm sure I will be in the future.

 

I wasn't born into any religion. My family is secular - grandmother excepted (and even then she's non-practicing and hasn't been to church in about 5 years).

 

I was raised in a Christian household and my religious views waxed and waned to varying degrees over the years. As of now I feel I still believe in a higher power but I feel isolated from christianity, the first reason being my orientation is seen as sinful within biblical text.

Although I am aware that there are LGBT friendly churches I have difficulty getting past the idea of "anyone who doesn't believe what I believe goes to hell forever". I'm friends with a lot of people from different religious and spiritual backgrounds and I know that there are better people than me in the world regardless of religion. I feel like in order for me to believe in salvation through faith and faith alone I would have to simultaneously accept that anyone who doesn't believe, even those who have done more to make the world a better place than most, are doomed to hell simply for thinking differently.

I believe that if there is a god they would be more concerned about what we did for the sake of others than how much we prayed for the sake of ourselves.

 

Like many of these replies, I was born into a Christian family.

I was never really religious, but I officially broke off the religion three years ago and became an atheist. I told my mother about two months ago I was an atheist, and she's not exactly happy that I'm an atheist. She thinks I'm doing it to be 'different' or 'rebellious'. Surprised she doesn't think the same way about my gender identity.

It's funny, because yesterday afternoon I was talking to some of my classmates about religion. Both of them said they were atheists as well. All of my friends that I have met in the past two years are also atheists.

So yeah, I'm not alone.

 

Until 5th grade, my family went to a united Methodist church, where I was baptized as a baby. Starting in 6th grade, my family then went to a Lutheran church, where I was confirmed in 8th grade. Growing up, I didn't really have a choice- it was pretty much routine for me. Every sunday I would go to sunday school and a service. In 11th grade, around 16 or 17, I stopped going to church because I felt that the church had too many cliques and weren't really accepting of different people.
I'd say I'm agnostic, but think that some of the 10 commandments should be fallowed, like not murdering, stealing, adultery, or lying on your neighbor. I know I am picking and choosing and some may not like that, but they kind of go along with the golden rule- do unto others as you would want done to you.

 

I was 'born into' Christianity but am currently pagan (eclectic, Orphic Hellenismos).

I suppose my morals are still similar to my past ones but that's because I never put a lot or merit in the bible.

 

I never had any religion imposed on me. Most of my mom's family is agnostic (she is as well) and my father's is Protestant but, although my father says he's Christian, he never really expressed his beliefs.

I define myself as Agnostic, however, I do tend to believe in a God and I'm somewhat spiritual too.

 

Family never really was religious, borderline agnostic honestly, but everyone basically believed in God and gave lip service to Jesus. I ended up a full on atheist when I was 12. And I can't imagine I'm the only one who will be out of all my siblings.

 

No... I never want to step into a church again.

I was born into a family that has been part of the Christian faith for many, many centuries. Both sides come from poor backgrounds in the country. My dad's great grandfather was a sharecropper. Naturally my family is very Christian, though my parents both sort of parted from it.

From the time I was little it's never been a big thing. I think I've been an atheist for many years now.

I didn't totally swear off Christianity as a whole until recently. Something really bad happened to someone who means a lot to me... I refuse to be a part of it now for her sake. And mine.

 

My mother was nominally christian. To this day I have no idea whether my father had a religion, he was a very private man. Although my mother had me attend "Sunday School" ( until I told her I didn't "get it") that was more as a babysitter for while she went to church than an attempt at indoctrination. My parents had the good manners and respect to allow me to make my own decisions regarding whether I needed or wanted a religion. I never developed a need for it, so here I am still retaining what I was born with ...a complete absence of belief.

 

I used to go to Sunday school (I was forced really ). Suffice to say I didn't become a devout Christian :lol:

 

No I don't