How did you end up with your religion?

[Skeptisch]

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism: 900 million
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
6. Buddhism: 376 million
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 15 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 7 million
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
22. Scientology: 500 thousand

Major Religions Ranked by Size

 

[Desert Snake]

I'm syncretic. I read commentary on scriptural texts and it may or may not change my viewpoints from reading the texts directly.

 

[Octavia156]

I spent 21 yrs thinking (whilst searching) that I'd invented a new religion.

Then Thelema found me and i realised I wasn't unsane - there were others who understood the world like me.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Spent most of my life as a Christian, but studied world religions. I began to study philosophy, and began to have doubts on major Christian beliefs. After forming a philosophy of how I seen the world, I realized that I fit with Buddhism perfectly. And now here I am.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

I was raised by a Christian father and Atheist mother, both of whom were research scientists. As a teenager and young adult, I studied multiple religions and the evidence (and lack of evidence) for various philosophies/religions.
The intuitive, logical, and obvious answer is agnosticism.

 

[SageTree]

By being me..... or by not being me... depends on how you look at it.

 

[Tarheeler]

A lot of soul-searching, a lot of studying, and a formal conversion.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

.....skip....
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
.....skip....

Major Religions Ranked by Size

I must say that I am both suprised and happy to see that secularism is now such a large portion of human philosophy. Perhaps there is hope for humanity yet. :shout.

 

[Skeptisch]

q connor, Octavia156, dyanaprajna2011, SageTree and others:
Thanks for answering.
It would be very interesting to know what your take is on the “supernatural”. (pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal.)

 

[mycorrhiza]

Raised a mix of New Age and Christianity, gradually lost faith in God, became an atheist and then one summer I meditated outside and felt a very deep connection with Nature that I hadn't felt before. Later found a description of pantheism and it matched my beliefs.

EDIT: My take on the supernatural is that it doesn't exist. There is nothing but our physical world.

 

[E. Nato Difficile]

I think people find the religious or philosophical path that suits them. Tolerant people find tolerant faiths, and overbearing jerks find religions or philosophies that pander to their arrogance.

And I usually refer to the supernatural by its old name, the pretend.

-Nato

 

[Sir Doom]

I made up (and continue to modify) my religion. I treat it more like a philosophy than a religion in most cases. But I typically think of religion as a subset of philosophy anyway, so that's not all that important.

 

[Harrytic]

I was born into a Christian home. My parents preferred the more traditional churches, but generally went to the ones that made them feel most welcome and which were convenient to get to. I have been in Baptist, Pentecostal, open Brethren and Anglican. I was well and truly indoctrinated into Christianity. However about 8 years ago… (I was in my 30s) I learnt to start questioning my beliefs. I started to see that the Old Testament portrayed a very wrathful and cruel God and started to come to certain conclusions. I am still a committed Christian, but I no longer sugarcoat God.

 

[sandandfoam]

I feel like my religion found me.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I walked this path, and here I am.

 

[Jainarayan]

I was raised Roman Catholic, but from my early teens I was fascinated by eastern religions and philosophy. There was never really a time when I didn't believe in the Hindu deities, OR that all religions lead to God. I've recently begun studying Buddhism, specifically Vajrayana Buddhism, which I'm finding works nicely with my Hindu beliefs. I also find that Jesuism (the parts of the NT that are only what Jesus taught) fits in nicely. So I'm one of those darn universal syncretists.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

q connor, Octavia156, dyanaprajna2011, SageTree and others:
Thanks for answering.
It would be very interesting to know what your take is on the “supernatural”. (pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal.)

"supernatural" just means that we haven't figured it out yet. When we do, it will simply be 'natural'.

 

[Jainarayan]

Wasn't it Arthur C. Clarke who said something to the effect that any sufficiently advanced technology resembles magic, or was it someone else?

 

[iolo]

I'm caught all the time between a liking and respect for Anglicanism, in our Country the most civilized of churches, and the near-impossibility (shared by all but the happy-clappy, I think) of believing what it is supposed to believe. I got to where I am by way of a slow, grudging retreat.

 

[Leftimies]

I found Confucianism by reading Four Books and Five Classics (四书五经 - Sìshū Wŭjīng) one Weekend afternoon few years back, and coming to believe the described Will of Heaven. Was discreet about it for a long time, for my Mom's a passionate Christian incapable of understanding such "pagan idolatry"...ugh.

Anyway, I found it, and I love it.