How did you choose your religion?

I am spiritual, but don't follow any religions strict 'rule's' and dont follow any in particular, i suppoes infact i have views from several religions, but would like to find one that was right for me if it existed, i.e. had the same views as me. Being brought up in Britain, suppose i have a lot of christian influence in my views, but i am far from christian.

So tell me, how did you find your religion/spirituality?

were you brought up that way?
Did you try out different religions?
did one particular religion seem right after a particular life experience?

etc...etc...etc..

 

I was brought up christian, but switched to paganism after extensive research I had experimented with many religions in the past... Paganism just felt right.

 

Brought up christian, and after 10 years in a baptist school decided I was an atheist.

I ended up learning too much about christianity for me to actually believe it.

 

I was brought up UU, and encouraged to find my own spiritual path. I do not believe in following or participating in organized religious institutions of oppression.

 

I was brought up catholic, and now I'm completely lost... I just don't know what to believe in, I'm trying to read as much as I can about different religions and i guess eventually I will know which one is the one for me.
Anyway, I guess all religions worship the same divinity, the only difference is how they approach It(He/She/Them) and how they name It(He/She/Them)

 

i was brought up atheist. i somehow ended up reading the tao of pooh when i was about nine. a few years later i started going to church with my best friend's family, which didn't convert me, but it made me realize christians aren't all stupid brainwashed dickheads. then i read some more books about taoism, and read conversations with god. so i'm a taoist christian, but not christian in a conventional sense. everything i experience shapes my spirituality.

 

I wasn't brought up christian,
but was brought up to go to a christian church every sunday.
Eventually the hollowness turned me atheist.
Then, I started studying Buddhism.
It's still pretty much the cornerstone of my religious views,
that all of my experiences build on.
After a while, I moved on to Hinduism, in particular the Hare Krishna type;
then, Paganism, followed by Islam - which is, I feel, the culmination of everything I've been working towards so far.
I still visited that same old United Methodist church occasionally, mostly because I just thought it was beautiful- the building's huge stone arches, the cavernous balconies, the chandeliers hanging on endless lengths of chain, that kind of stuff- it was just mystical; then, there was the sermon- it's always nice to hear the right person talk about the right things, and to reflect and assimilate another day of seeking; and, of course, an important factor- I went to study the people: Everybody should do that, I think...

 

I don't know that you can 'choose your religion'. It might be more accurate to say that when the time is right, 'your religion' chooses you.

I dislike the idea, taken over from the consumerist mentality in general, that 'religion' is somekind of 'life-style choice'. It seems to me that all that is merely on the surface of things, and can easily become a delusion.

 

I don't know about that.
I think religion IS a lifestyle.

 

i agree. in all kinds of churches. they say some really good things in there, which shouldn't be ignored just because they say some things you don't believe. we should study people in every place we go. we can learn a lot. the world is a church.

blackbillblake, i know what you mean. it's like, "so where do you work? what kind of car do you drive? what is your religion?", it's a way for people to pretend they know who you are without the effort of getting to know you.

 

That's a really good point. Although I don't consider myself to have a religion at all, there was never a conscious choice on my part. More like a realization, or evolvement into it. I don't believe in a god because I just can't, not that I don't want to. Afterlife and heaven sounds nice and all, but I can't fake a belief, I can't simply "choose" to believe.

 

I think religion can be a life style, for example nuns etc. but it depends how much you let it affect your everyday life, religion could also be part of your personality, a corner stone for your beliefs etc...

 

*sings* all you gotta do is pretend to believe!

haha i love wonder showzen so much

 

prisma, your sig photo is cool :sunglasse

 

I have no religion. Spirituality? Well, spirit is life, no? How can one obtain spirituality if they are a part of it to begin with?

Personally, I was raised as a Catholic, went to the schools, got the indoctrination. It was never truly convincing.

I haven't 'tried out' different religions. No one religion can bear Truth on its shoulders. It can only express a piece of the puzzle, reflecting a deep and untouched "Ultimate" reality with a smaller, distorted version. It is humanities' attempt to crystallize 'spirit'. Once one sees that all religions are reflections of the same thing, it no longer becomes a matter of picking and choosing, but understanding. There are crucial lessons to be learned, crucial things to be realized. One religion cannot give that to you, but neither can all of the religions combined. Spirit is before religion, keep that in mind.

Shamanism has always intrigued me. But, again, the key is not to become lost in the inspiration. Religion is much like art, pouring out from the white canvas is a beautiful painting - but please do not become lost in the painting, or you will miss the importance of the source - that white canvas. You will miss the importance of creation.

 

by carving away at uncertainty, what remained chose me.

=^^=
.../\...