Did you change religions?

[Quintessence]

Changing one's religious orientation is not an uncommon occurrence. Is your current religious path analogous to the one you grew up with?

 

[Jumi]

I was brought up Christian, though I never believed in it. Was atheist for decades, now just an irreligious monotheist.

 

[metis]

I grew up in a fundamentalist Protestant church, became quite agnostic in my 20's, converted to Catholicism when 30, converted to Judaism when 50, and then returned to Catholicism this year (I'm 73 years ol --er, I mean mature).

However, as some of you know, I'n very ecumenical and am pretty much loosey-goosey when it comes to my personal theology (see "My Faith Statement" at the bottom of my posts for clarification).

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't know how to answer the poll. I never considered myself Catholic nor Mormon, and I definitely never considered myself a Kardecist Spiritist. But I did exist in social environments that did not want to ask whether I adhered to those, in some cases to the point of arguably criminal action.

On the other hand, I tried to fit into a Gnostic occultist group for a few years before fully embracing Buddhism and open atheism.

On a second look, the only option among the four that even comes close for me is definitely the last one. I never had any use for the pre-packaged doctrines that I were dumped over me during the first 20 years or so of my life. I don't even know if I was expected to - it was all just so blunt and brutal.

Edited to add: odds are that you expected it already, but the results are bound to be non-representative of the wider community. RF, by its very nature, will attract people who have some history of rebellion against received beliefs.

 

[Woberts]

I was raised as both an Atheist and a Christian. (It's a long story)
But now I'm a Pastafarian.

 

[sun rise]

My parents were atheists and now I'm a spiritual but not religious type so there's no check box for my path.

 

[Holdasown]

My parents were atheists when I was growing up. I am a polytheist. If you asked them now my mother is a political Christian and my dad a deist.

 

[nPeace]

Changing one's religious orientation is not an uncommon occurrence. Is your current religious path analogous to the one you grew up with?

I was raised Methodist. I chose to become a Jehovah's Witness.
I would say the only similarities are that they both fall under the bracket of "Christian", but the teachings, I would say, are vastly different.

 

[stvdv]

Changing one's religious orientation is not an uncommon occurrence. Is your current religious path analogous to the one you grew up with?

I was brought up as a Christian, but already about age 10 I argued with my mother "I do not believe Jesus is the only way".....

Then I met Sai Baba, and His Teaching matched exactly what I always believed/felt myself

So in a way I did not change. I was drawn to what I already believed.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Changing one's religious orientation is not an uncommon occurrence. Is your current religious path analogous to the one you grew up with?

No. Left the Christian church. Zen made a good fit although it barely qualifies as a religion. I viewed it as coming back "home". The place before it all started.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

My parents were very typically British: they believed in God and used the Church of England just for rites of passage. At school, we had a Christian service to start the day, with a couple of Jews and an atheist ushered in at the end for the announcements. And I took it seriously, studied theology, and tried to make sense of it all. Eventually, I woke up and discovered that there were actually gods out there who cared, listened, and even replied.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Changing one's religious orientation is not an uncommon occurrence. Is your current religious path analogous to the one you grew up with?

No. I don't consider myself culturally or indoctrinated Catholic since it was only between 2012ish till '16ish that I practiced. I never believed of the tenants and jesus dietism.

Never was anything growing up. Took Dharma precepts last year August. So, religion, spirituality, etc were foreign until almost a decade and never knew none to any about any other religion than christianity until I came on RF about the same year I stopped going to mass.

 

[Orbit]

I was raised Presbyterian, but left Christianity for agnosticism a few years back. I'm drawn to Eastern philosophies (Advaita Vedanta/Zen) but am not an "official" practitioner of those. I need to meditate more; I find meditation to be very beneficial.

 

[Revoltingest]

I was born a weak atheist.
Upon learning of religion, I became a strong atheist.
While in engineering school, I reverted to weak atheism.
What a wild ride!

 

[iam1me]

While I was raised generically Christian, and still consider myself to be a Christian, I put "almost entirely different."

The reason being that way back in high school I began to seriously study theology and the basis for such "core" doctrines as the Trinity & Salvation via Faith Alone, etc - and my research over the years has led me to fundamentally reject these doctrines. Rather, what I consider the core teachings of Christianity now are outright rejected by many/most churches - at least the ones I grew up with. As such, my collective theological views are unique (though individually you can find groups that agree with me on individual points) and - from an "orthodox" perspective - considered heretical.

I also got my BA in Religious Studies in College (along with my Masters in Computer Science), with my classes primarily focused on other religions. I thought it important to be informed about what others believe, and I'm glad I did so. That said, I wouldn't say the study of other religions particularly moved me. Rather, it made clear just how absurd it is to claim that all religions are fundamentally the same thing.

 

[Quintessence]

Edited to add: odds are that you expected it already, but the results are bound to be non-representative of the wider community. RF, by its very nature, will attract people who have some history of rebellion against received beliefs.

True, but at the same time, not staying with the same religion one was raised with is hardly uncommon, at least in the United States. I can't seem to find it right now, but PEW did a study that showed that something like half of Americans have changed religions.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

True, but at the same time, not staying with the same religion one was raised with is hardly uncommon, at least in the United States. I can't seem to find it right now, but PEW did a study that showed that something like half of Americans have changed religions.

I honestly think it's more a political switch in older adults. I know many Catholics and a lot just let the church (probably less on the rituals but still same beliefs) cause of t.v. stuff. I know I don't know everyone but all I have known and know left because of upbringing, politics, of environmental pressures.

We moved every two years so I never had a chance to be in a religious environment till I moved here. But I'm in the city. Bible belt places would be much more difficult to acknowledge it's already to differ than your family and still be a family

 

[Holdasown]

True, but at the same time, not staying with the same religion one was raised with is hardly uncommon, at least in the United States. I can't seem to find it right now, but PEW did a study that showed that something like half of Americans have changed religions.

Are they changing religions or denominations? Changing from Presbyterian to Methodist isn't a change.

 

[Flame]

I was raised Roman Catholic before leaving senior year of high school. Since then I've been dabbling to find where I fit.

 

[Quintessence]

Are they changing religions or denominations? Changing from Presbyterian to Methodist isn't a change.

Changing denominations is still changing religions. There are some pretty darned significant differences between denominations. I'd have to find the study PEW did to tell you more about how they outlined their categories.