Your Religion

[Vinayaka]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

I've had doubts, but rarely did it last long. I left active practice for about 8 years when some of my kids were teenagers. They needed me more than I needed religion. Some would argue that was my religion, for that period.

I occasionally will look into other faiths, or aspects of them, out of interest. For example I liked a documentary on a very reclusive orthodox monastery in Greece, that was on 60 minutes, if I remember correctly. I've been to several indigenous (Canada) religious sites out of curiousity. I've never looked at anything with the idea to convert. My own faith has MORE than I need.

 

[firedragon]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

Once I was a Shafi Sunni. I left it. But I was always a Muslim.

I like to believe that I have looked into other faiths extensively. But that's said with all humility. Although I like to think that, it is very difficult to also believe that I have done that always. Well, I learned of the Bahai faith only quite recently, and I still have not studied the Hindu faith extensively because it is so vast, also studying Judaism is next to impossible because it is also so vast. Yet when I say study, I mean to some serious extent, not just read a bit here and there and say I have studied it. This is a very difficult question to answer really when you think of it.

Id like to think that I have studied Islam and Christianity extensively. But yet, lets say Islamic studies, legend says that only Ibn Hanbal memorised a million ahadith, so to claim "complete" is impossible. At least in Christianity, you could claim to have quite extensive knowledge studying the New Testament. But using the word Islam as a broad brush, it is very difficult because it is so vast its almost impossible to make claims. It will never end.

What kept me assured of my faith is the Qur'an. Nothing else.

 

[PearlSeeker]

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion?

Yes.

Have you ever left it and returned?

No.

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith?

Faith contains many truths. To me love is central and that's why I stay with Christianity although some other Christian beliefs differ from what I believe now. I also believe there is a reason (part of my personal path) why I was born in a Christian family.

Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

Yes. I have learned a lot from other faiths.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I have zero faith in certainty.

 

[Erebus]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

My religious views over the years have gone something like this:

Christian with a bit of Paganism > Atheism > Left Hand Path > Paganism

I was brought up primarily Christian albeit with some Pagan influences. I wholesale abandoned Christianity due to what I saw as hypocrisy among Christians, the harm done in God's name, the contradictory and occasionally reprehensible elements of the Bible and the weak arguments in favour of God's existence. That led me into what you might call New Atheism. Not only did I not believe in God, I wholeheartedly believed the world would be far better off without theism at all.

That changed when I started to read about non-Abrahamic religions. I saw merit in some of the Left Hand Path religions. They were not only opposed to Christianity, they also encouraged self-acceptance, a pragmatic approach to morality, facing your fears and acknowledgement of the darker side of life. I saw it as more honest than the Right Hand Path as it made no apologies for who you are.

I gradually incorporated more Pagan elements into my practices and my views on what a deity can be evolved over time. I also started to find the Left Hand Path less useful and noticed many of the traits I had previously disliked in Christians were just as prevalent among followers of the Left Hand Path. Replace "Holier than thou" with "Unholier than thou" and you get the idea. Ultimately, I figured that if I was going to do my own thing, it was better to just do it and forget the Right/Left Hand Path divide.

I've had plenty of doubts on my journey to where I am now and I'm grateful for them. They encouraged me to keep learning and accept when the shoe no longer fits. I'm pretty happy with my current views though I still have uncertainties. For example, I hold that I can't know whether or not the gods are sentient. I generally work on the assumption that they aren't sentient in my day to day life but then assume they are sentient during rituals and prayer. I'm still not sure on the best way to balance those opposing viewpoints or whether I shouldn't just go all in on one of them.

At any rate, I'll continue learning and try not to view doubt as inherently negative. Doubt is preferable to stagnation.

 

[metis]

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion?

Frequently.

Have you ever left it and returned?

Yep.

 

[Marcion]

I have always more or less been a neo-humanist who does not believe in religion or atheism.
Over the years it took me some effort to improve my understanding of the differences between religions and the spiritual path.
But I never felt that I had to switch my ideological outlook.

 

[InvestigateTruth]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

No to all your questions.
I have seen myself sometimes practicing my religion a bit more, and sometimes a bit less. But I have never doubted it for a period of time. I never looked into other religions out of curiosity in a sense to see of they are suitable, but I have studied them and engaged in debates.

 

[Straw Dog]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

Yes, doubt has consistently played a role in my journey. First, by losing faith in one religion only to monkey branch to another faith, either religious or philosophical. Eventually doubt brought me to a nihilistic epoch , the extreme end of hyper-skepticism.

And then a new age dawned. After I stopped believing in anything, what was left was raw.... what remained was real. It was a basic building block to construct a new sense of self and a new sense of direction.

Yes, I’m interested in other faiths and welcome a diversity of perspectives. I’ve learned from a number of faiths over the years, especially in the ballpark of Buddhism, Taoism, and Stoicism. I may not identify exclusively anymore, but do still revisit ancient wisdom.

 

[Twilight Hue]

This is in interfaith.

Have you ever had a period of doubt regarding your religion? Have you ever left it and returned?

If you have never had such doubts, what is it that has kept you sure in your faith? Have you ever looked into other faiths, not necessarily for conversion, but maybe just out of interest?

Doubt is actually an indication that I'm doing ok.

 

[Patience]

Yes. For most of my life I was dedicated to my religion and beliefs. But when my beliefs and book began to conflict with my heart and conscience it became too emotionally painful for me to bear any longer; to such an extent that I at one point consciously decided to take a break and step back from beliefs in the hopes that the chaos would settle. It has been a few years now since then and somehow I have flowed into a more spiritual mystical view of life. I am able to look back more clearly now at what I used to believe in and although I value who I was and where I was at during that period in my life, I have no intention of going back. I am much more at peace now and I am at a point where I am able to be open and interested in all people and faiths.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

In my atheist days, doubt was pretty much the "god" that ruled my life. But this didn't make me happy, it only made me feel like I couldn't trust anyone or anything, making me prone to apathy and bitterness. Besides that I've always had a natural fascination for immorality, violence, death and drama. These things still fascinate me, but I don't want to become these things. But it takes dedication and certainty to keep such demons away. I believe that this and the disillusion that atheism was the right way(In my environment most people were agnostic or atheist and my old friends had a very proud and degrading attitude towards religion, which was a trait I never liked about them when I started to think critically of myself and the things I grew up with), was what kindled my interest in studying the religious scriptures. The studying of these scriptures eventually turned me into a Believer.

I can still have doubts about what the proper way is to practice my religion, especially when dealing with people who are atheist, agnostic, or people who deify anything else than the One I call God. But my religion has some core values that have more to do with personal preferences and choice rather than say, rationality in the way as secular people would define it. I see these core values pretty much as "universal common sense stuff", as similar values can be found in any lasting culture/civilization. The only core value I hold on to that isn't necessarily so obvious for many is the belief that there is only one real God, but there is no reason for me to doubt that.

 

[SeekerOnThePath]

I'm not sure, I've grown through a lot of stuff.

I grew up a Protestant Christian and ran that race until I disowned it for Atheism in my teens. Then I disowned Atheism when I explored eastern mysticism and Occultism, became a Thelemite for some time. From there brought lots and lots of books on lots and lots of religions and philosophy too (from ancient to modern).
Then became a Muslim years ago after that from strong love, conviction, passion and immersion in the Qur'an. Still at the same time I had a great appreciation for Hindu traditions (Shaivism, Vaishavism, Vedanta etc) and Buddhism (especially Mahayana and Vajrayana).
Leaned Shia/Shi'ite for a lot of reasons, never had any satisfaction with Sunnism. Shia Islam fully satisfied my mystical, esoteric, gnostic impulse which very much defines my spirituality and personality (though I have a big sense of humor too).

But as of the relative present, I am kind of a drifter but the Qur'an is my biggest guide and my spiritual and epistemic center. It's my go-to for anything and the closest I've ever found for what I am seek (which for me is no superficial statement). But as a drifter, I go in and out of the three Abrahamic religions and their heresies. Trying to find my way.

 

[osgart]

I have a general, universally accepting and utterly simple faith. It's a faith in the eternal with a lot of unknowns. I like to syncretically include, and exclude ideas from other religions.

My faith shakes a lot. I have bouts of nihilism.
Then I realize the nihilism has no good logic or reason. Nihilism is based on experience and observation. But reason is on the side of faith!