What is your religion?

[Albadawn]

A work in progress.  :D

 

I'm similar to DanielJUK. I was raised Church of Scotland in my early years, but after my parents divorced, the half of the family I lived with started attending a Baptist Church when I was 12 or so. This turned out to be an evangelical, fundamentalist one, run by a "missionary" American family. I grew increasingly uncomfortable with it but fear of eternal hellfire kept me going. (Even though I read the Bible back-to-back and couldn't find much reference to it, which also made me doubt the hateful teachings filling my ears.)

 

And then I read 'Small Gods' by Terry Pratchett, and took Philosophy as one of my Highers (A-Levels; I don't know what this translates to in other countries but it's the qualifications you need to get into university). I stopped going to church at all when I was about 17. I've been trying to deal with the existential anxiety that mad church left me with ever since.

 

My first port of call was Wicca, out of a combination of its being nature-based (all my genuine spiritual experiences involved nature throughout my life), and probably just to annoy my parents as well, if I'm honest. It didn't really click with me though at the time, the books I was reading then were awfully elaborate and I didn't really get it. So I studied Buddhism for a bit and tried to meditate, and found I wasn't very good at that either, at least the inner stillness, clear-your-mind variety.

 

For the last couple of years I've been making my back to where I was at when I was really little and finding wonder and hope in every rock and leaf, every solstice and equinox. Among my friends I'm affectionately described as "the tree-hugging dirt-worshiper of the group". In the last couple of months I've been carefully reading Scott Cunningham's writings, and it's really re-opened the possibility of practicing solitary Wicca for me. (I have no desire to belong to a coven, not after escaping a cultish church.) I've decided to follow it properly for the traditional "year and a day", which began for me last Yule, and we'll see where that goes.

 

Like I said - a work in progress. Generally if people ask me this question I will simply answer "pagan", as it's the closest I'm happy to pin it down to right now.

 

I did take the quiz for funsies though and here's what I scored: New Age 100%, Neo-Paganism 87%, Mahayana Buddhism 84%, Taoism 84%, Unitarian Universalism 79% (no idea what this one is).

[faerybraids]

Oooo, I took those quizzes a while back (or rather, I took one of them and quit the second one when I realised it was the same as the first, heh). I have my results somewhere...

 

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)

2. Neo-Pagan (97%)

3. New Age (97%)

4. Secular Humanism (94%)

5. Liberal Quaker (94%)

6. Taoism (92%)

7. New Thought (80%)

 

It sums me up pretty well, I think, though I wouldn't necessarily stick any of those labels on me (although I did call myself "eclectic pagan" at one point in time because I felt I needed some sort of label for it...). My problem is I believe in Love and the Universe--it's not really a religion of sorts, but it's also a broad sort of spirituality or philosophy that can't be pinned down the way some other paths can. I'd call myself a starchild if there weren't already several other mindsets using the term and debating what exactly it stands for (some of which I believe I'd fall under, others not so much). Other than that I'm a witch, but that's just one of my crafts--it doesn't define my beliefs any more than sewing or sketching does. (Magicchild? Idk... It's late, I shouldn't be trying to come up with terms right now. I'm not sure it really even matters anyway.)

 

There's honestly so much more nuance I could go into that I'm not sure this is really the place for. :/ My views are constantly changing and adapting to new information and experiences. Some things still haven't changed that much--the idea that there are an infinite number of worlds out there, that each deity could be real in some capacity, that maybe we're all everything or nothing at all. That everything's connected by some energy that you can feel when you're lucky enough to tap into it. Yet other things have morphed completely.

 

I'll probably be re-evaluating things until I die, really, so all I can hope to do is go with the flow until I get there. Hopefully with plenty of tea along the way. 旦_(◡‿◡✿)

[Canid]

Christian Rosicrucian, I grew up in the Salvation Army church, Catholicism (on the other side of the family-had to pin a doily to the top of my head to be allowed in church, ridiculous), was dunked ie Mormon, studied Hindu, Buddhism, Native American, Judaism (another side of the family), etc., I guess I’m none of them yet all of them. Rosicrucian.

[Canid]

Oooo, I took those quizzes a while back (or rather, I took one of them and quit the second one when I realised it was the same as the first, heh). I have my results somewhere...

 

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)

2. Neo-Pagan (97%)

3. New Age (97%)

4. Secular Humanism (94%)

5. Liberal Quaker (94%)

6. Taoism (92%)

7. New Thought (80%)

 

It sums me up pretty well, I think, though I wouldn't necessarily stick any of those labels on me (although I did call myself "eclectic pagan" at one point in time because I felt I needed some sort of label for it...). My problem is I believe in Love and the Universe--it's not really a religion of sorts, but it's also a broad sort of spirituality or philosophy that can't be pinned down the way some other paths can. I'd call myself a starchild if there weren't already several other mindsets using the term and debating what exactly it stands for (some of which I believe I'd fall under, others not so much). Other than that I'm a witch, but that's just one of my crafts--it doesn't define my beliefs any more than sewing or sketching does. (Magicchild? Idk... It's late, I shouldn't be trying to come up with terms right now. I'm not sure it really even matters anyway.)

 

There's honestly so much more nuance I could go into that I'm not sure this is really the place for. :/ My views are constantly changing and adapting to new information and experiences. Some things still haven't changed that much--the idea that there are an infinite number of worlds out there, that each deity could be real in some capacity, that maybe we're all everything or nothing at all. That everything's connected by some energy that you can feel when you're lucky enough to tap into it. Yet other things have morphed completely.

 

I'll probably be re-evaluating things until I die, really, so all I can hope to do is go with the flow until I get there. Hopefully with plenty of tea along the way. 旦_(◡‿◡✿)

 

Oh, I love Emilie Cady’s books!

[faerybraids]

Oooo, I took those quizzes a while back (or rather, I took one of them and quit the second one when I realised it was the same as the first, heh). I have my results somewhere...

 

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)

2. Neo-Pagan (97%)

3. New Age (97%)

4. Secular Humanism (94%)

5. Liberal Quaker (94%)

6. Taoism (92%)

7. New Thought (80%)

 

It sums me up pretty well, I think, though I wouldn't necessarily stick any of those labels on me (although I did call myself "eclectic pagan" at one point in time because I felt I needed some sort of label for it...). My problem is I believe in Love and the Universe--it's not really a religion of sorts, but it's also a broad sort of spirituality or philosophy that can't be pinned down the way some other paths can. I'd call myself a starchild if there weren't already several other mindsets using the term and debating what exactly it stands for (some of which I believe I'd fall under, others not so much). Other than that I'm a witch, but that's just one of my crafts--it doesn't define my beliefs any more than sewing or sketching does. (Magicchild? Idk... It's late, I shouldn't be trying to come up with terms right now. I'm not sure it really even matters anyway.)

 

There's honestly so much more nuance I could go into that I'm not sure this is really the place for. :/ My views are constantly changing and adapting to new information and experiences. Some things still haven't changed that much--the idea that there are an infinite number of worlds out there, that each deity could be real in some capacity, that maybe we're all everything or nothing at all. That everything's connected by some energy that you can feel when you're lucky enough to tap into it. Yet other things have morphed completely.

 

I'll probably be re-evaluating things until I die, really, so all I can hope to do is go with the flow until I get there. Hopefully with plenty of tea along the way. 旦_(◡‿◡✿)

 

Oh, I love Emilie Cady’s books!

 

...I just had to check out who that was. xD;; Her books look intriguing. Thanks for name-dropping her, I'll have to add them to my list of to-reads. (◠‿◠❀)

[FLizarraga]

Interesting thread.

 

 

Me, I have been down a few paths over the years, after having been raised Roman Catholic. Buddhism has been the religion that makes the most sense to me. Though I find that, when push comes to shove, I am an agnostic at heart, first and foremost.

[Portia]

My spirituality / worldview is always evolving. My best description of where I am right now would be an agnostic atheist with Buddhist leanings.

[~D~]

My top answer was Unitarian Universalism  8)

[Elin by the Sea]

Theravada Buddhist and humanist.

 

One of my favorite buddhist teachers, Ajahn Brahm, was once asked if buddhism was a religion or a philosophy for a peaceful and happy life.  Ajahn Brahm replied, "It's a religion... for tax purposes".  ;D

[keen]

Interesting. Lots of UU folk and ex-Christians.

 

I'm ex-Christian also. Devotional hard polytheist, animist, and spirit worker is about as close as I can get summarizing my religious life. I do a lot of very weird, but very rewarding stuff for the spirits in my life.

[aleatoryEpiphany]

I've been on a long spiritual journey encompassing SDA (which I grew up in) Baptist, Methodist, Church of God, then sliding into Wicca, next into agnosticism, followed by atheism, then into a genuine miracle that convinced me that there was a higher power which led into a thorough study of spirituality via tarot that led me into eclectic Paganism, where I finally feel like I fit into my own skin and am not trying to be something I am not. It was a long journey (I didn't really settle into my current beliefs until about three years ago) that has been at times horrible but also mind-blowingly amazing at other times.

[tarotnovice]

Probably fairly rare for someone interested in tarot, but I'm an agnostic atheist  :)

[Arch]

I was born into the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  O:-)

Though I left that...

My society worships materialism.  >:D

 

I worship my anima and whatever objects I see her projected upon.  <3

Though I remind myself that they are only her likeness and not the Godess herself.

Once I find her, I will take her to the sun and we will burn there forever,

or for an instant that seems like forever, before we return to dust.

Or maybe I will trancend to a higher plane after that, who knows?

But better the dust metaphor or my ego will explode and I will never get there.

[bastet]

My name says it all.

[TerraAkhert]

Dual tradition here, Kemetic Orthodox and eclectic Wiccan.

[rjmamula14]

Presbyterian Christian, but I have found value in Wicca and paganism.

[hierophant]

Probably fairly rare for someone interested in tarot, but I'm an agnostic atheist  :)

Not so rare.

I would say I'm atheist. :)

 

[Wanderer]

Another agnostic atheist, but with philosophical Taoist and animist inclinations. I suspect virtually all religions are picking up on something, though, and that something may be related to glimpses of the true nature of reality, which people have then built elaborate stories around in order to make them comprehensible. I gave up on Christianity when very young, because it just didn't sit well with how I saw the natural world.

[Arch]

Hmm...

I have a very firm Christian imprint, so in my unconscious realm I'm Christian,

like I associate Angels/God/Jesus with light and Devils/Demons/Satan with darkness.

 

While if you ask me what I consciously believe, I most often come up as an Agnostic.

Cause how should I know what happened on the Metaphysical plane? (now or ages ago)

 

In practice I'm more like a Taoist philosophically.

I subscribe to the ideas of psychoanalytic psychology and interpret most metaphysical phenomena symbolically.

Meaning I think they are more indicative of what is going in my mind than the actual order outside of me.

Yet again, I cannot know what the actual order outside of me is.

[MysticZn]

Hindu

[chongjasmine]

So many of you are from different religions.

[Guest Night Shade]

As Paul in the bible said, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. I believe tarot is one of the permissible, but not necessarily beneficial thing

 

I'm curious about this statement, chongjasmine[/member] .  If you don't believe that Tarot is beneficial, they why do you practice it?  I'm not being judgemental at all, I'm just trying to understand your reasoning.

[Little Fang]

I've merged your new topic of the same type and name with the one you've made previous since it's full of the same information. :) Thanks!

[chongjasmine]

As Paul in the bible said, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. I believe tarot is one of the permissible, but not necessarily beneficial thing

 

I'm curious about this statement, chongjasmine[/member] .  If you don't believe that Tarot is beneficial, they why do you practice it?  I'm not being judgemental at all, I'm just trying to understand your reasoning.

 

I don't believe tarot to be beneficial, but I practise it because I love pictures.

I love cards with pictures, and I enjoy divination.

I can't resist my desires.

That is why I practise tarot though it is not beneficial.

[Fizzy]

I believe all religions have value and truth, so I take some of each and incorporate them into my overall belief system.  Lately, I have been more interested in pagan belief systems because I believe nature imminates from the divine, plus they are more tolerant of my hodgepodge of beliefs.  I believe in Oneness, which for me, means there is one consiousness, which means that we are gods ourselves, and within us individually is all there is, and paradoxically all that is is us. I believe we are creating all we experience because of oneness(i believe this is how magick works).  I also believe all things are equally divine, incuding animals and plants, and I believe the ego dies when we die.  I am agnostic as far as what happens to us after we die.