Wow... this response may be longer than you were expecting (then again, when have my answers ever been SHORT?
), but I think my situation is slightly unique...
I grew up in a household where my parents did not force any particular religion down my throat but rather encouraged me to study and explore and NOT make a decision about my beliefs until I reach the "appropriate" age (originally 18, but they figured I was mature enough to decide what religion I was at 16).
I spent my childhood hearing about various belief systems but being encouraged not to choose any of them. A lot of my early religious education was at the Unitarian Church; if you know anything about this faith, you know that it is VERY broad based and often approaches religion from a "here is what THEY believe" rather than "Here is what YOU MUST believe" point-of-view. This is very encouraging for a young child, because it teaches them the merit that can be found in ANY belief system; and we learned about them all: I remember learning about Passover, Celtic Pagan beliefs and St. Patrick's Day, Native American Beliefs, Jesus, and a wide variety of others, all which were presented as full of equal merit.
As I said, my parents did NOT allow me to subscribe to any ONE belief system until I was of the "appropriate age"... (they allowed me to say I was Unitarian, but not to be anything more specific than that).
However, children want to be like their peers, and I knew all of my peers (with the exception of a few) had already declared their religious beliefs... I wanted to be part of a religion too! I started thinking in terms of "When I am older I will need to chose a religion, and THIS one looks favorable...so I will focus my attention on it to the exclusion of all others, then officially declare myself a follower of this faith when I am old enough".
Then I got a little older and I began talking to my parents about religion. My mother made the mistake of taking me with her to a celebration of her religion. I figured, "Hey, this is nice...AND Mom believes it! I change my mind. I will become THIS religion when I am old enough!" I declared myself that religion for several years, but my father and mother refused to recognize that my "beliefs" were legitimate and encouraged me to explore more.
So it was back to the books, back to discussions with friends, back to visiting churches, pagan rituals, and other forms of worship. We stopped visiting the Unitarian Church when I was 10, but I'd say my education was fairly Unitarian in its broad base of different teachings.
I began noting trends in religions, such as the fact that most have mythology and seemingly empty rituals hiding some greater truth, and I started regarding religions as a bunch of stupid human creations meant to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. I ALMOST became atheist when I felt it might be best to ditch spirituality and study religion instead. Then I studied some more and became convinced that there is more to life than just what we see and what science tells us... and more to spirituality than mythology and rituals. I began picking and chosing from different faith systems the theories that made sense to me.
At the age of 16 I declared myself Unitarian.
The point on that last, LOOONG story? My parents clearly had good intentions in allowing me to explore and then "choose my own path"...but it almost led me to blindly chosing the first faith I heard about and liked without really knowing much about anything, blindly following my mother's religion because SHE followed it, and blindly deciding that the symbols in religion contain NO deeper meaning and therefore there is no God but a human creation called God.
And if you really want to look at it this way, it is possible that I DID choose the religion my parents most approved of--Unitarianism--because it was the one that taught the most varied catalog of beliefs and the church that I attended most as a child.
Now, in response to your actual questions:
If you practice a religion because it fits your personal views and morals, why do you need to classify yourself as something?
Unfortunatly, it is human nature to classify, and since I am often pretty outspoken about my spiritual beliefs, I commonly am asked "What religion ARE you" (most people honestly can't tell). Which means I have to have SOME idea... if only for the benefit of others.
I prefer to lump myself under a few terms (thus emphasizing the fact that my beliefs are REALLY hard to classify correctly): "Unitarian Eclectic Agnostic" rather than just "Unitarian" (especially since there are Unitarian Christians, Unitarian Pagans, Unitarian Buddhists, etc...and I don't really identify with any one group of Unitarians
)
Does committing yourself to a religion allow you greater insight into reality than watching objectively from the sidelines and searching for truths among all religions?
For me... no. Technically I never committed myself to a religion... only to a religious LABEL. I do not attend church (yet). I only committed myself to a religion AFTER watching from the objectively from the sidelines for several years and searching for truths among all religions... and then I CHOSE to identify with a religion that does exactly as I was doing: explores! However, when I am no longer dependent upon my mother for transportation
P) I will probably start going to church.
Do you ever need to take 'the next step' from personal investigation and searching to committing yourself to a religion in order to know the truth?
No again. I do not think in terms of "This is Truth" but rather in terms of "This makes sense". My views change constantly, and I find the only purpose to church to be to explore in a group environment. I will NOT go to a church that tells me what is "Truth". I will probably go to the Unitarian Church because it encourages exploration.
Is there a necessary connection between belief in a religion and liking what the religion proclaims?
Yes. If I go to a church that says things that just don't make sense to me, I am not going to believe them no matter how much they say "This is the Truth!" However, if I go to a church that teaches things that do make sense to me, and if they say "This is the Truth!" I will think "Yes, it very well may be. I like this environment; I will come here more often."
Could you imagine believing in something only because you were convinced it was the truth even though you hated what it meant?
Yes. For example, I believe that Bush is President and I'm convinced it is the truth even though I hate what it means
However, thus far I DON'T hate what I believe reality to be... so I do not yet have this problem!
If you are a practitioner of a religion, are you committed for better or worse, or would you jump ship if someone presented you with enough evidence to do so, and would you jump ship happily or grudgingly?
If I found that I no longer believed my beliefs but instead believed something else, I would simply reject the theories I no longer find valid and adopt the ones I see merit in. I have done this MANY times, and felt no grudge. It is, for me, like believing for a while that red is my favorite color, then one day deciding the color I like most is blue... I feel no regret in no longer liking red and I rejoice in blue, lol!
