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

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Kodo, Nov 20, 2015.

  1. Kodo

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    Out of curiosity (as always), do you still retain the beliefs or religion that you were born into? Has it changed in any way and/or has being a part of the LGBT community affected this?

    Of course, be respectful of others' answers here (EC's religion discussion policy).
     
  2. guitar

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    I was "born" into Catholicism. My mom is still a believer I guess. When I was a kid we went to church maybe 2-3x a month, though my dad seldom did. I think he's (now) agnostic, my mom is a non-practicing Catholic though she hasn't been to church in years and honestly don't know what her beliefs are, though I think she believes in God, even if she doesn't believe in the rest of it.

    As for myself, I was never a terribly strong believer, even as a kid. By the age of 13-14 I saw George Carlin's "Religion is bullshit" routine and have been an atheist/agnostic ever since. I am deeply interested in world religions, and do study the topic on my own time (and have taken several highschool and university courses in the subject). I'm especially fascinated by religion's crossroads with politics, and how fundamentalists are borne, as opposed to more moderate believers. But I don't personally believe in the supernatural. One of my favorite questions is "why do people believe/think/act what they do?"
     
  3. AKTodd

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    I wasn't born into any belief or religion other than that I should make up my own mind on such matters. Most of my family isn't religious, although some are spiritual. I'm a pretty hardcore atheist.

    Todd
     
  4. Alder

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    If we're talking strictly about beliefs and religion- two fairly different things in my case, I suppose so to some extent, but generally as I've gotten older I've re-approached them independently.

    In regards to religion, I wasn't born and raised in a particularly religious family at all. My parents weren't very religious people but my dad did have many friends from Church years and years back during my childhood; I attended choir there, and also the workshops and camps that the local Church led. We also had someone there come to our house weekly to teach me about the Bible and Christianity for a while. I think my parents just wanted me to learn more about it. Even considering all of that, I don't think anybody in our family was actually Christian, or strictly religious. We were just sort of part of the community, had friends in Church at the time, wanted to be respectful and educated about it, and when we moved some of those connections faded. It's a bit of a gray area, and I can't remember that clearly so many years back.
    I'm not religious at the moment- I'll say probaby agnostic- but I've retained what I've learned as a child and whilst I don't practice any faith, I do have some understanding remaining from childhood of what I was exposed to and taught in terms of Christianity. I wasn't told anything even vaguely LGBT+ related actually during that time, just learned about Bible stories and scripture as a general thing. So I wouldn't say that my childhood connection to religion has changed in any way being part of the LGBT+ community, because for me they luckily actually never clashed, and now me being not actually religious means that there is little clash either. Anyhow, I've always believed in the general ideas of love and acceptance within and amongst religion, and it's more of a personal belief that that is one of the most important parts of faith, love and acceptance in general and of course of and within the LGBT+ community.

    The above paragraph was mainly in regards to religion strictly, but a lot of the beliefs I was born into tie into my Chinese culture- which has a variety of beliefs and practices, some of which stretch far, far back into history, and some of them tie into various faiths and aspects of spirituality. With this, I more or less confidently retain these beliefs and practices; I'm respectful of them, and even though I don't understand all of it, they are an important part of my culture and my family. Course I make an effort to try and learn and approach it once again independently, but my connection with this is fairly strong. When I speak of these beliefs and my culture, I'm speaking mostly of them in regards to aspects of life and death, family, ceremonies, holidays, weddings, and funerals- not a whole lot directly and heavily related to LGBT+ in there (though there are some things here and there within weddings and those kinds of ceremonies that are at times more traditional and more conflicting). Being who I am hasn't clashed massively with any of that as of yet, though some of the more traditional beliefs means that they don't always allign perfectly. All in all, I aim to balance and maintain my identity and the validity of it and LGBT+ alongside the beliefs within my family and culture, which are quite important to my loved ones and also to me. Even though not everything fits perfectly together all the time, I do strive for balance and respect within everything that is important to me- and sometimes that means looking at things from a more general and holistic point of view rather than too into the technicalities all the time, if that makes sense. And I think there's a good part of my family, even the relatives with more traditional beliefs, that will agree with me on that.
     
    #4 Alder, Nov 20, 2015
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2015
  5. Mila

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    Religion... Let's just say that I have moved on from the specifics, but I retain some fundamentals. In all honesty, I am somewhat lost/confused as to where I stand right now on several issues, religion included.
     
  6. BryanM

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    I don't believe anyone is born into believing a certain religion or deity, but rather born into cultures where certain religions are more mainstream than others. I was born into a protestant christian area of the US, southern baptist more specifically, and now identify as nonreligious.
     
  7. happydavid

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    I say I am still a christian but I don't believe in all of what is in the bible
     
  8. Origamidragons

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    No. I guess I was kinda born into Christianity, in that my mom took me too church and sent me to Sunday school, but my family was never hardcore believers. Regardless, I'm an atheist now.
     
  9. Kira

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    I second this. My parents sort of forced me to "believe" though, I don't exactly know why that's still legal. Being LBGT in general made my mind go through a lot of thinking that eventually ended in me leaving religion altogether.
     
  10. Andrew99

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  11. AlamoCity

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  12. ForNarnia

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    Not at all. I was raised Christian, but I never really believed in it. I knew magic wasn't real as a kid, so stories about a man named Jesus roaming the world performing miracles sounded like a bedtime story to me. I've just never really thought of it as being something believable or real.

    I have an interest in different religions and cultures, but I choose to remain Atheist, as though I am open to the idea of religion, I am yet to find one I truly believe in, and besides, life's hard enough already without adding extra rules.
     
  13. AtheistWorld

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    I feel sorry for people who had religion imposed on them, and am so grateful that my upbringing wasn't anything like that.

    When I would stay at my cousin's over the weekend we should go to church on Sunday and I hated it. It was boring, I prefered to sleep in, and I would just be happier being anywhere but at church. There were times when the preacher would hapr about sinners and I would leave feeling so frazzled that the next time I went I would plug headphones in my ear to drown it out. It was less depressing that way.

    I was raised Catholic, but we almost never went to church, nor did we waste time studying the bible. I didn't even have to go through the communion seeing as my family was very secular, and if it were brought up I would've said no. NOnetheless, there was always a belief in Catholocism, mainly it was praying to the saints, but like I said we did go to church rarely and I imbibed the beliefs. Because of that, I grew up calling myself a believer in god, but it was only because I never put much mentation to it till I began reading atheist literature and that was when I abandoned religion for good.Conversely, I had a neighbor/friend who was brought up as a Jehova's Witness and his life was so stifled by his dad's strict adherence to that religion as he never got to celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc and his dad kept a watchful eye on movies he watched, video games he played, books he read. Interestingly enough, he now hates religion, celebrates birthdays and flaunts his drinking, seemingly as a way to revolt against the hell his dad put him through.
     
  14. denouement

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    I was born into the Methodist branch of Christianity, haven't held onto the belief system.

    LGBT issues didn't really play into this, it was more of a general dissonance between what I thought the church was trying to teach and some of the practices it was putting in place. Don't get me wrong, my church has a very welcoming and loving congregation, and they do a lot of good work. But in the end I decided I don't believe in quite the same things the UMC, or Christanity in general, does.

    I am still officially considered a member of that church, but I don't consider myself a Christian at this time.
     
  15. Purp

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    Nope, and good riddance!
     
  16. Just1Dude

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    Yes, and No.

    I was born into Church of Christ - as I grew older and began reading more into the teachings and there were a lot of things I did NOT agree with. So I left the church (one of the hardest decisions I have made.)

    I have done a lot of studying because I am still a believer in Christ and I have done a lot of soul searching/inner fighting with myself because it is so taken over by people filled with hate.

    I was "lucky" I use that term very loosely. When my parents divorced we stopped going to church. We had went every Sunday and it came to an abrupt halt. That gave me enough time to grow on my own and decide what I wanted to do. If I was going to hold on to my beliefs or not. As I stated above, I didn't choose to retain the teachings I had grown up with.. but I knew I still believed. (If ANY of that made sense haha)

    I am now in a much better spiritual state than I have been. I attend a church that is welcoming to the LGBT community. I just answered another denominational post and I will say here what I said there. Finding a church (Heck finding ANYTHING) in this part of the U.S. that is accepting to the LGBT community is RARE, but it is so amazing that I have found one.
     
    #16 Just1Dude, Nov 20, 2015
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2015
  17. ThatBorussenGuy

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    Nope. I was raised a Jehovah's Witness; as soon as I was old enough, I made out of that Kingdom Hall like my left ass cheek was on fire. :grin: Haven't looked back, don't want to. Now I'm a staunch atheist, and happier for it, too.
     
  18. Fighter694

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    If you are to call Hinduism a religion then yes! I m still a Hindu, but growing up and being a part of lgbt I have become more free to discover how I define my faith (differently from my family) because there is no exclusive way to be a Hindu! I've realized a lot of different things about religion though, and the whole evolution of religion! Religious studies interest me hence! But over all I am agnostic while I should have been theistic by birth, so yes I've changed but not completely!
     
  19. Open Arms

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    My faith was not imposed on me, and I have many relatives who are not Christians; in fact, many are atheists. My parents became Christians in their early 30's.

    I fell in love with Jesus at the age of 9 and have never looked back. I talked to God all the time and read the Bible a lot.

    I grew up in a non-Christian area, school and went through university where Christianity was often mocked, but it didn't unsettle me or challenge my faith. In fact, it made it stronger.

    Later in life I went to Bible College and Seminary where I learned to question traditional aspects of my beliefs. Maybe the earth wasn't literally created in 7 days. Maybe hell is not literally fire and brimstone.

    Through the years I have changed some of my beliefs... such as what Scripture teaches about homosexuality and women pastors and the Rapture.

    Awhile ago, I changed denominations, and now I'm attending a less conservative church.
    One of the main reasons is I could not justify being part of a church that was not gay- affirming.

    Anyhow, the older I get, the stronger my faith in Christ grows, but the more I realize how much I still have to grow in love for others and devotion to God. Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light in the world, and that's what I want to be. God gives me great strength, peace and joy, and His Holy Spirit is my constant companion in daily life.
     
  20. WeirdWhovian

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    My parents are Christians so I was taught Christianity when I was younger. To be honest, I'm not sure if I still believe in it now though. I suppose I'd call myself agnostic.