What religions have you belonged to in your life?

[shunyadragon]

I was raised in the Roman Church (RCC). I was in St Francis College in Costa Rica when the Roman Church was making an attempt to reform Vatican II, this began my journey to understand the broader universal perspective of religion in par, because I felt the Roman Church was not Catholic (Universal), I met Quakers, Unitarians and Baha'is, which seemed to have a more universal perspective on religion, and were more tolerent then the Protestant missionaries. I am strongly inclined toward science my whole life, and traditional religions based on the Bible did not remotely make sense, In college I attended the Unitarian Universalist Church and still feel empathetic toward them. I began a more intense investigaton of religion and philosophies and became a Baha'i in 1971. Since I have developed what I call a Universalism philosophy and I am still a Baha'i. The Universal ism philosophy gives me a more independent perspective on religious choice and the consequences even to the point of skepticism as to what I believe.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm Catholic but I've been:

Hellenic polytheist
Germanic polytheist
Satanist
Luciferian
LHP Hindu (Shakta)

I wasn't really raised religious and my family is not Catholic (I converted along with my mom). Nominal Christian, I would say.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I know many people change religions in life and I was curious what y'all's experiences have been. I was just a basic Theist when I was a kid. God was a kindly man with a beard looking down at me from the clouds smiling. I like and miss that view of him. I was a Christian for 28 years, became agnostic, atheist, Baha'i, Pagan, Quaker (still Christian but just different and nice, IMO), Unitarian Universalist, toyed with LDS (not LSD), Buddhist, and probably more that I am not thinking about. What about you?

Atheism isn't a religion. Heh.

Still I was a Christian then occultism , then chucked it in the barrel when I entered the gate less gate.

 

[osgart]

I was raised Catholic, went to school in Catholicism. Then some in my family converted to Baptist Christian. I made a confession of faith in the Baptist Church, and then that slowly unraveled to the point of being atheist. So I picked up the pieces of what I thought the spiritual journey is all about and came to an independently religious conviction. I wasn't satisfied with all those exclusive major religions, and I was looking for a more universal truth. I found truthfulness in my own experiences and I found shortcomings as well. I'm simply convinced that all scriptures contain many, many falsehoods. Any relevance and wisdom I find in scriptures I can safely say are purely human insights and not divine.

If there is a God then it's a personal journey alone that will get people there. I find many condemnations in religion to be rejectable especially those based on what a person doesn't believe. In my religion all are born in darkness and eventually all will come to the light. I'm confident in an eternal source of life. I remain atheist about the meanings of the word God.

 

[mangalavara]

I know many people change religions in life and I was curious what y'all's experiences have been.

I was raised in a Christian household without being required to be a Christian. During my teens, I was into Satanism, Neopaganism, and ritual magick. When I turned 18, I took an interest in world religions. Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam all fascinated me and I dabbled in them. After about a year in my early 20s being a Hellenist but sometimes a Roman Pagan, I formally converted to Islam in a masjid. I still retain some Islamic habits and ideas in my life. Interestingly, some of them are actually older than Islam and found in the Mahābhārata. After leaving Islam, I had a Christian conversion experience and was baptized by affusion in a church. Later, I left Christianity for reasons that I will not get into. I adopted Sanātana Dharma (Hinduism) as my religion and way of life after researching Indian religions again and remembering past experiences with Hindu spirituality. So far, I have been a Hindu for two years. Hindu philosophy and spirituality are equally powerful factors behind me remaining a Hindu.

Regarding my conversion to Islam back in my early 20s, I think that what really influenced my conversion was how exotic it was to me. I loved the Arabic, the architecture, and a life of regular prayer and remembrance of God. When it came to the Qur’an though, my understanding of it as a religious scripture was superficial at the time. Basically, my way of thinking as a 21st century American without a higher education, who had not yet reached the age of 25 only allowed me to have a surface level understanding of it. How I understood the Qur’an back then was a factor behind my leaving Islam.

 

[Eddi]

Atheist first

Then Unitarian

Then Christian

Then a religion of my own making

And then back to Christian again!

 

[Sand Dancer]

Did you have a name for the religion you made for yourself? Can you describe it?

 

[kendall]

I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic religion until someone shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ to me. I repented of my sins and believed the Gospel and became a follower of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world ever since. He saved me! That was in 1979.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I know many people change religions in life and I was curious what y'all's experiences have been. I was just a basic Theist when I was a kid. God was a kindly man with a beard looking down at me from the clouds smiling. I like and miss that view of him. I was a Christian for 28 years, became agnostic, atheist, Baha'i, Pagan, Quaker (still Christian but just different and nice, IMO), Unitarian Universalist, toyed with LDS (not LSD), Buddhist, and probably more that I am not thinking about. What about you?

I've never been a member of any church, but I've attended:

- Baptist
- Catholic
- Quaker
- UU

 

[Spice]

I grew up in a Congregational Christian Church that joined with the United Church of Christ when I was an adolescent. That was a very good background, IMO.

When I left home as a young adult I ended up joining a Southern Baptist Church. That soon cured me of just about all of it. LOL I have not sat through a Sunday Service in any church since -- 45 years -- and find it extremely difficult to sit through a SB funeral service filled with fire and brimstone, which I find I must do from time to time.

But eventually I did fall back on the open-minded teachings of UCC and continued to study, pray, meditate, and think for myself, and in this found my spiritual way to peace with no affiliated boundaries.