What's your Religion?

my father is catholic and my mother is jewish...however neither of them practice their religions and they didnt raise me or my sisters anything. i guess i could say im agnostic but i usually say im nothing. i do like this quote by the guy who founded agnosticism -

"Is there a God? I do not know. Is man immortal? I do not know. One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be." - Robert G. Ingersoll

and buddhism seems pretty cool from what i know about it but i doubt ill ever become one

 

FYI: Catholics ARE Christrian. That drives me nutz when people think Catholics are some "other" religion.

 

+1

I am Byzantine Ruthinian Catholic. Think Russian Orthodox but in Union with Rome.

 

catholics are the fun christians that get to drink in church

 

I voted for "Other" as I don't subscribe to any major religion, but believe in God, believe in treating other people properly, and believe in love in all its forms. I would call myself a Christian, but a non-demoninational one.

My views have been shaped, shocked, and changed by my own experiences. I'm certainly not looking for the sympathy vote or trying to whine, but i believe my experience with religion if nothing else has helped me be more tolerant and understanding than i maybe would've ended up otherwise.

I was born into a Jehovah's Witness family. My earliest memories at around age 3 or 4 was when my family was living in the Bahamas, i remember going to church (or "meetings" as jw's call them) and thinking there was definitely some really good vibes going on, people of all colors getting along as friends and 'brothers' but also thinking there were some things very very wrong with it.

As time passed, I went through the motions and didn't really have much semblance of faith from about age 9 onwards. Eventually this all came to a head in my early 20's and i finally broke from the church permanently. It wasn't easy, basically i had to start over with friends and lifestyle, and my relationship with my parents became very strained. I got married when i was 20 (not top on my life's list of smart choices ) to a 'devot' member, who long story short, turned on me, eventually cheated on me, and ruined my credit and left me with $40K of bad debt that wasn't mine. When it all went down, my parents encouraged me to go to the church, and at the same time, i suppose they had enough faith that her and i would get back together, they invited my soon to be ex wife to live with them. Let's just say it was a tough couple years

Anyway, now that some time has passed since all that, i know i'll never be in "favor" with my parents or family, but i do know that i live a clean, good life. I take care of the people i love, i respect and honor my girlfriend even when she's not with me, i have fun, get drunk and act like a moron but don't start fights or get beligerant; if someone chooses to be a certain religion, i respect it. If someone was born a different color than me, or was born sexually attracted to the same sex, i embrace the differences that make us humans. If i ever had kids, i would encourage them to find their own way, but would definitely instill strong morals in them regardless of the religious path they chose as young adults.

To me, religion is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you have a high sense of morality in most religious, good values to instill in kids and the like, and a strong sense of community. On the other hand, you have fear, control, elitism, and self-justification.

Religion is a choice up to each of us as individuals to do what's right for ourselves and our families. Good luck to all of you in your searches for truth.

 

I'm a Lesbian.

 

Very, very well said!

 

So, you wanna be Catholic?

 

Charli, if you have any doubts about your religion you can always join mine.

 

Hmmmm...what would "Jesus" say...?

 

Wow... I thought I had a hard time explaining Catholicism...

 

I have the dissertation all ready to go but my post explains the Eastern Church in a nutshell.

 

if this was mentioned in the 3 pages of replies, forgive me, but you cannot have a choice in your poll for Christian, and one for Catholic. You mean to say Protestant and Catholic. "Christian" encompasses everyone from the Pope to a dude dancing around with a rattlesnake in WV

Here is what we are, in a nutshell, like it or not
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24

 

haha, true

 

Websters definition of "Protestant"

1. any Western Christian who is not an adherent of a Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Church.

2. an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them.

So a dude with a snake in WV would have to first be a Christian to be a Protestant.

Websters definition of Christian:

a member of any of certain Protestant churches, as the Disciples of Christ and the Plymouth Brethren.

Key word "certain". So not all Protestants are Christians.

 

Not too familiar with Flying Spaghetti Monster?????!?

 

He would say; "my child, TheMaster is Thy Master and let him leadeth the way, follow him as you would me and he will guideth you with his fog lights and I will still love you as I always have" and then he would pray for your soul.

Charli, if my math is correct you owe me like six beers. My religion forbids me to drink that stuff but wine is totally cool. After all, Jesus turned water into wine. So, if you are joining remember to bring wine. Not mandatory, but it helps.