This sort of happened in rainbow's post but I wanted to throw this out there. We already know some of your religous beliefs/backgound or non-religious beliefs. But I thought it might be interesting to see everyone's religious beliefs.

If you don't have any, just mention your background (if any) and where you sorta stand personally (no need to go and attack other beliefs) - just personal beliefs on spriituality, etc.

Just a simple paragraph should be good.  

I'll go first:

I mentioned this all before but will do so again. I'm a Christian and grew up in a preacher's home in a church that many would consider to be evangelical. All my friends were either Catholics or Baptists so I know both pretty well. Currently attend church (well sorta - haven't been in awhile) at a non-denomintional-semi-evangelical church.  

Jordan .

I've pretty well explained my background as well. As an exercise in brevity, here's the short version.

Born to Protestant parents whose church of choice was dictated by proximity and mildness of dogma. Hence, my first church was Methodist. Lived among lots of exotic Catholics, mostly Polish, in Cleveland. I always believed if I had been raised a Catholic and spending time in a beautiful candle-lit churches -- the Latin and all -- it may have all turned out differently. Ave Maria...

From earliest childhood I read the Bible. It was one of the books in our house but I read all the books in our house. I could never grasp why the Bible was non-fiction but my Grimm's Fairy Tales were fiction. How could the adults KNOW for sure??? I could never understand the difference between God and Jesus and why we weren't polytheists. Forget about the third "man," the Holy Ghost who was far less interesting than Caspar. I just always felt inclined to leave out the middle man so, even from my earliest recollections, Jesus held less appeal for me than GOD.

After a move to a more upscale Michigan suburb, where there was a closeby Catholic church (no chance we'd go there) and a Protestant church that didn't make the grade, we lapsed into non-church going status. My aunt always had a problem with a church whose steeple originated from the ground rather than the roof, but the greater reason we stopped attending was probably the era (1960s) and the fact that the 3 kids were moving into teenage years. Moved into a more and more doubting mode through my 20s but came back to a belief in God through, of all things, ART SCHOOL! Always gravitated toward Judaism and Jews for countless reasons, mostly not religious.

NEVER use the word "spirituality," that most over-used, blobby, new age-y non-specific term of choice, as in = "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual" I do believe in God. I feel no need to try to define who/what God is. I do believe in organized religion, particularly when contrasted with the disorganized version. I am not inclined to any group affiliation. Although I've considered converting to Judaism (and still may one day), it is doubtful that I'd regularly attend services. I might read the synopsis later on line, however. Love to discuss ethics and religion in small groups. Love to talk to clergy and religious folks of all denominations though I might draw the line at Scientology. Hey, I'm evolving. Spirituality is an ongoing process.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Im not religious. Not many people in Denmark are.

My dad was Catholic, my mum isn´t -strange I know.

And my grandmother was Christian and I loved how it gave her comfort the last years she was alive.

But so far I don´t have any reason to belive in God or anything else....

Ditte 

I was brought up Methodist; my uncle is a Methodist minister, now retired. I never felt comfortable in any organized church other than his, I guess because he and his congregation seemd more progressive than most others.

I tend to search for religious meaning from the bible and the teachings of Jesus rather than the leaders that make up the church hierarchy. I have little trust in church leader's interpretations and try and study the source material and history behind the events to understand for myself. I have read the bible in its entirety and the New Testimate several times. The last few years I have been studying the history of Christianity and the Gnostic history as well. Sometimes I feel more like the Gnostics in that I beleive in a personal "spiritual" relationship with Jesus within myself rather than having to know Jesus and God only through the church and its leaders, bishops, ceremonies, etc. I think self awareness is important to being religious rather than just following church doctine.

I admit that I have not studied other religions very thoroughly but I would like to know more about the Buddhist faith.

R_Flagg 

"Lost on the freeway again, lookin' for means to an end."

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Well, I can say that I do definitely believe in God.

My definition maybe different to other peoples' but to me, God is the highest state of consciousness possible. It can also mean being part of a collective consciousness. It can also mean a supreme being or even the harmonic balance of the universe. I see no conflict in any of these definitions, they all work for me.

I also believe in the process described by some as enlightenment. I experienced some fantastic but seemingly unexplainable events a few years ago that led me to investigate and explore other philosophies such as Buddhism and Taoism. I think that is one of the main reasons I felt drawn to live in the Far East. I do think it is possible for anyone with an open mind to be touched by God, to feel the presence of God and in that instant receive knowledge, love and understanding.

I don't think it matters which particular religion you affiliate with, at the core of every religious belief system is a deep and sincere connection with God which supersedes everything else, especially petty worldly divides and differences in dogma or culture.

Oh God, I'm a hippie.

x-ray
if your back's against the wall, turn around and write on it...

I'm what I like to call a religious mutt.

I grew up Baptist for 12 years, then switched to becoming a Lutheran due to the way the Baptist church elders treated my mom. I spent the rest of my religious teen years as a Lutheran.

When I entered college, I found that I wanted more than what the Lutheran faith was teaching me so I went to a non-denominational church with Jordan, but that lasted for like a year, and I stopped going after that. Jordan continued for awhile.

Jordan and i started attending church again after we got married beginning in an Assembly of God church and I wasn't too keen on the whole charismatic scene. It just made me too uncomfortable. Again, we stopped going to church.

Then about 2 years ago, we started going to another non-denominational church again where we have continued to go. We like what it stands for, we like how the service is conducted and each member has another religious background so we feel at home there.

Kelly

How Do You Live Your Dash?

Check out the Kids' blogs:
The CaleBlog and the Zoe Blog

personal pact with G*d.

I can't explain it that well but it's basically turning your back on God. Some extreme satanists do bad things as all extremists do but not all Satanists are 'evil'.

These are the statements which we believe in:

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence.
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams.
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit.
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates.
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires.
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all.
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years.

And I bet I'm going to be hated now

Being Irish you pretty much have to fall into the Catholic/protestant game. Catholics=Nationalists, Protestants=Loyalists.

I can say that I am a Nationalist and support the Unification but I am not a Catholic. I grew up a Catholic, was baptised and confirmed, but Religion provides no answers for me personally therefore I have no interest in it. If someone else is a religious person, thats fine to me, as long as they dont try to shove it down my throat and they are not complete idiots when it comes to it. ie, Creationists. Im sorry if any here is a Creationist but I think its just ludicrous.  

 

Satanic dabblers: These are typically rebellious teenagers who have created their own form of black magic. It is composed of rituals taken from benign sources: religious Satanism, Wicca, other Neopagan religions, ceremonial magic, etc. These are the individuals who are typically responsible for the Satanic graffiti that is occasionally seen on the sides of buildings. Some dabblers might sacrifice a cat or small dog; but this is quite rare.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I was baptised into the Church of England (Anglican) but my parents never took me to church as a child. They always believed it was up to me if I wanted to pursue my faith, when I was old enough to make the decision for myself. My Dad always used to tell me that God created the world and then everything evolved from that creation.

Anyway. When I was 27, my cousin died at the wheel of her car; she had an aneurysm. It was one of those things she had always had but never known about. She was 24 and had been married for less than a year. I remember being at her funeral and her sister howling like an animal when she saw the coffin. It was the worst experience of my life but also a turning point.

I had a lot of friends at the time who would say to me, "If there is a God then why does he let these terrible things happen?" and that was the starting point for me trying to discover what I did actually believe. I was fortunate enough to live directly opposite a church of my faith and felt for a long time that I was drawn to going there. So I mustered my courage one Sunday and in I went. It turned out to be Palm Sunday so next thing I knew I was parading down the road with the whole congregation, singing Glory Laud and Honour.

The vicar, Father Bill, was an absolute inspiration to me and his Sermons answered a lot of the questions I was faced with at that point in my life. He asked me if I wanted to be put forward for Confirmation as there was one in June of that year, which was to be performed by the Bishop. He gave me some time to think about it and I decided it was something I wanted to do. One of the main things he taught me was that the congregation itself is the church, not the building. They were very welcoming and supportive of any new people and I felt at home and at peace there. I used to attend the Sunday and Wednesday services as it was a calming influence in my life.

Confirmation was a great day for me and I will always be grateful I decided to take the plunge, as it were. Unfortunately in April of the following year I moved away and as of yet have not been back to Church. I still pray, I still read my Bible, and I still believe in God. But as of yet I can't find a congregation I feel as much a part of as Father Bill's. I would like to go back to Church as I enjoyed it and feel I learnt a lot, but I am not sure what is stopping me.

Sorry for length of post, don't mean to go on...

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

Well, I've explained before too as some have, but will again as everybody else is....

Just wrote huge long essay but don't wanna bore you all with it, so here's the short version...

Grew up methodist.  Scrapped that in teens. Became athiest/agnostic.  Then realised there WAS a higher power.  Then wicca practically threw itself at me and everything one form of it said (a lot of people don't realsie there are many different branches of it) made sense to me.  I studied for the traditional year and a day to prove my seriousness about the craft then became a first degree witch.  Bunnies are shagging have to go pull his arse of her head night-night.

"watch out for my cousin.."

I went to a number of different churches growing up - Church of Christ, Uniting, Anglican, even Catholic(a couple of times).  For my beliefs, just check in with the Bible - I let that be my guide.  So no matter which flavour of christian church I'm going to, I listen critically and always cross-check with the source document.  For the past umpteen years I've been going to Church of Christ which is a modern, penti-style church with a fairly young attendance, large video screens, cool worship team etc.  It's a church that's doing great things and expanding rapidly.

Around my late teens I went beyond sampling christianity and came to actually know God - and there's a huge difference.  At this time my natural sense of rebellion kicked in (because to an extent we all want to be the supreme being in our lives, we all want to set our own standards and behave how we like without any repercussions), and I spent 2 years spending time at the local uniting church throwing them every question and stumper that had troubled me.  I debated, I argued, I fought intellectually to try and resist God who was calling me.

What I found was all my questions were answered - usually on the spot, and others were answered soon after while I waited prayerfully.  I've thrown plenty of challenges at God through my life, and he's remained a reliable rock.  So I am a committed believer in God, his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit - and for the details just check the good book.

I am Christian, belong to the Catholic Church, like a big majority of the nation here.

Haven't been raised in a very catholic way, though... I went to First Communion later than most children because my parents skipped that somehow and remembered again two years later ;-) And then I had a period of typical "children religiousness" - something I can now see very well when I look at my older daughter.

In my teens I came through a time of rebellion, advanced interests in philosophy, including Nietzsche fascinations, never liked the idea of being agnostic though so I tried to create some para-religious systems of my own. Got close to the Hare Krsna movement for some time, too, but without commitments.

And at the age of 18-19 some things happened and I found my way back to the Church and what it offered me... and there I am. I go to church every week, sometimes more often when I have time. Easter - or actually the three days before Easter - is my favourite time of the year and usually the time of biggest emotional/ spiritual/ contemplative/ meditative/ etc. intenisty. Long ago I described what it looks like over here, some members might remember.

An important difference to most of you is probably that being actively religious is very common here. Probably depends where you find your friends, too, anyway a big lot of my friends are truly religious people.

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

I grew up not really wanting anything to do with religion and then in the late 90's had an encounter with God that totally changed my life.  I now have a relationship with Jesus and try to spread his love and power throughout the community.  I go to a church but I am not really interested in being in a denomination, but I am not againest denominations or anything like that, in fact I feel like all the denominations have something to offer and impart to others. My beliefs are in a relationship of intimacy with Jesus, speading the love He has freely given, the Supernatutral, (visions, dreams, healing the sick, raising the dead etc...)  The Kingdom of God and I feel the Kingdom can manifest right now where ever you are.  You don't have to die to manifest it.  I believe in to love God and to love others.  I guess that would be it in a nutshell.  Also, here is a cool testamony.  My aunt and mom where at the nursing home the other day and there was an old man there in a wheel chair.  The doctors said he would never walk again they laid hands on him and said Arise and walk and he is now walking.

Also for those of you who believe in prayer and the power of God, please pray for me as I go out to the streets.  Also, please pray for some crippled children I have been praying for.  They are all so sweet and I know I am going to see them healed and walking at anytime.  God Bless. 

I'm a Discordian.

Discordians are allowed, encouraged in fact, to believe whatever kind of mythologies turn their personal crank. Underneath these narrative layers lurks the core theory that existence can most effectively be understood as a chaotic system. The human mind naturally tends to make patterns, and this may even be its primary purpose. The ordering principles that inevitably result have great power to offer, and should therefore be used sensitively, mindful of the value of striving for balance. Probably most Discordians share the view that the contemporary Western social model -- and Discordianism is primarily a Western phenomena -- has either a tad too much order for its own good, or at least the wrong kind of order in some key areas. There tends a leaning toward the offbeat, the contrary, the exception, and the absurd. The numbers 5 and 23, among lesser others, are granted substantial significance in Discordianism's symbology, as is the image of a golden apple (often inscribed with a K for "Kallisti", which you're welcome to google, as this paragraph is getting long).

The Five-Word Distillation Challenge: Pseudo-Spiritual Dadaism For Geeks. Not entirely fair, but what is?

Though the movement is crowded with the trappings of performance art, fringe-cultural fetishism, and ironic in-jokery, many practitioners acknowledge an essential human need for worship -- although it is often understood as more of a physiological drive, in that certain ritual behaviors can help to invoke certain desired states of being and levels of consciousness, and that regular practice of such behaviors reliably improves their efficacy. Fantastic and absurd imagery and iconography is chosen because it helps the worshipper avoid selling themselves a bill of goods. If your divine figure is a sock puppet on a hockey stick, then when transcendent religious states are achieved, you're less likely to attribute it to the god and more likely to attribute it to yourself and the diligence of your efforts.

So desire keeps us engaged, absurdity keeps us intellectually rigorous, and the resulting state of receptivity without judgment hopefully helps keep us sane. YMMV.