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Absolutely not.

No. It took me a lot of hard effort to get here with my upbringing. I think parts of it are fine and for the most part regular people practice in ways that aren't harmful to others, but (at least in the US), the entire structure of it is deeply harmful and results in good, decent folk taking actions or supporting others who do real harm.

Nuh uh. "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. still feels surreal and sad for my heart.

I was raised particularly southern, like three denomination deep Protestant, (that only existed because some people argued if you should speak in tongues in church or if that would be "distracting from the lawd".) And my family participated in the activities so I was forced to attend EVERY SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT until I was 18.

I don't have a lot of good things to say about it. After I realized I only tried to follow it cause of where I was born (and what measure of truth is that?) I started to address each moral question as it came and settle it myself based off of morality I could stomach.

A lack of belief is easy when I've seen nothing to believe, in fact I used to feel alone in it. Eventually I realized I cannot fake it, and what reason would there be, what diety would accept it?

I am atheist but I do enjoy religious spaces. There's a stillness that I like, gives you the opportunity to just be in the moment. You don't get many spaces like that for atheist folk (libraries are the closest I can think of). I sing a lot of choral music so often find myself in churches. I like the structure of a service and the ceremonial aspect, I just don't believe in the content itself.

Not really.

I like witchy stuff but only if its considerable to placebos. A rose quartz bracelet, for example, might not be scientifically going to attract love and good fortune---but its cute and makes me happy, so who knows, THAT might help.

If I had to choose a religion though, I'd probably go with one of those polytheist religions because ever since I was a kid and first went to a church camp, I decided that a singular "God" scares the shit out of me. I basically considered "God" too overpowered and decided that wasn't for me.

Every religious community organisation that I have had first hand personal experience with has been involved in a myriad of verified claims of abuse Including: sexual, financial, and elder. My confidence in these institutions is now nonexistent. And I find myself misidentifying with them completely. I think I am now de facto apathetically agnostic.

Yes, I'm Christian. I am also queer and staunchly opposed to American bible fascism. An unfortunate number of people seem to believe that these traits can't coexist in one person without hypocrisy or denial.

Myself, I enjoy how my religious beliefs and my queer identity support and bolster one another. 😁

Not even a little bit. I'm still in awe of the universe, aware of my own insignificance, and terrified yet resigned to my eventual death though!

Hell yeah! I'm Hindu and I love it.

I loved mythology as a child and devoured every myth from every culture I could get my hands on. Later this evolved into exploration of religion. I've read religious books of many religions - Hindu epics and scriptures, Buddhist scriptures, Jain scriptures, Quran, Bible, Guru Granth Sahib, and the Avesta - I enjoyed them all, and my parents encouraged this exploration.

I ultimately came back to Hinduism because a lot of the stuff in it made sense and resonated with me, and let me adopt a mindset that works well for letting me process and ascribe meaning to the various experiences and phenomenon of life.

Hinduism is a collection of hundreds of belief-systems - a lot of which are uber chill, some literally cult-like, some polticised and weaponised for oppression, and some that are intense but harmless. You can choose what makes sense to you - I personally follow a pretty chill belief system, but it also makes me seem not serious about it.

Oooh and it is fun in the community - festivals, temples, ceremonies, and various cultural events -there are so many of these, and each of them very fun depending on the people involved in the celebration.

Religions have been perverted into a system of manipulation and control of the masses. Granules of truth in each one keep people coming back, but in the end they are like a virus in human consciousness that is designed to control us. I really believe each person can only find real truth by turning inward and deeply exploring their own consciousness.

No, but I also recognize that I may be wrong. To be honest, arrogant atheists bother me even more than arrogant theists.

To me, the whole point is that any answer is impossible to prove. Trying to definitively, factually state that no kind of higher power exists is irrational, and thoroughly undermines any claim of logic or reason. The stubborn, uncompromising kind of atheist frequently describes themselves as a logical, rational person, so I expect them to see this problem.

Agnostic atheist here. If you twisted my arm to choose something I'd make a religion out of this story [http://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html]("The Egg")

Other than that, I don't have any reason to believe its anything other than nothing, non-existence after we die.

It's complicated. I am not religious, and have considered myself to be an atheist for most of my life so far. I also have strong negative feelings towards most mainstream religions, because of their long-standing hate towards people like me and my loved ones. I also grew up in a Presbyterian church and honestly, fuck everything about calvinist-derived theology.

But, it is hard to shake some amount of magical thinking. And honestly, if it brings joy, and isn't harming people around you, why not? So lately I've been leaning into it a bit, in a vaguely neopagan direction. I definitely don't take any of it literally, but if a sprinkle of it helps keep me from descending into despondency, I will shrug and go with it. It isn't rational, but I am a human, not a robot.

I have also considered finding a local unitarian universalist church or something along those lines. Somewhere that is chill with me as I am. The last few years have been isolating and I think I need more community in my life to thrive.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer... sets up power point

My history with religion/spirituality is all over the place.

Those of the more religious bent in my family were/are Baptists. My single working mother never made religion a super big focus for me and sis. She let us discover that part of ourselves on our own. I had issues with Southern Baptists early on as a child when one pastor pressured me about getting baptized. I kinda just ran from organized religion after that.

As I grew up, I had explored Catholicism. What I discovered was I really was drawn to the divine feminine. I was aaalll about some Mary. I flirted with Wicca, Norse Paganism, Pagan Paganism, and finally settled in as an agnostic. "Nobody knows ANYTHING", I figured.

Then, about a year and a half ago, a fella I followed on instagram was streaming his DJ program on Twitch. One of the tunes he spun was Ganesh is Fresh by MC Yogi. It was a bangin' tune! Then I remembered a Hindu mantra I had heard in a new age book store when I was a teen. It left such an impression on me that it just kind of stayed in the back of my mind. I took a chance, and looked it up on YouTube. Sure enough! There it was! Then I looked up the meaning: "A mantra of purification and seeking the oneness of God in all things"

I just sat there listening to my mantra with "new ears". Then I said "Okay. I'm on board. Let's do this." I embraced Hinduism, and honestly couldn't be happier. As I read and researched more about it, it really fit with my outlook on life, the universe, and everything. It's a seeking path that doesn't have rigid dogma. It acknowledges change, and encourages exploration and questioning. I've had to learn to drop a lot of the Western Abrahamic thinking that came along with American culture, which seemed small and kinda dark in comparison.

These days I find chanting, meditation, and kirtan to be great sources of comfort in a world gone higgledy-piggledy. I do my best to make my corner of the universe as kind and welcoming as I can. I refuse to hate, and don't wish ill on others. There's just better ways to spend my energy.

I mean, I have beliefs, just not religious ones. The only religions that I could ever vibe with were Wicca and Discordianism, and in time I realized that was because the only forces that I could ever accept having power over me are nature and chaos.

I'm spiritual and I guess some would say religious, though I just call it witchy. I was raised by strict parents as an evangelical Christian (Southern Baptist), but that made less and less sense as I grew older and learned more about the world around me.

I found my way to witchcraft, and working with and in nature made way more sense to me. I'm eclectic, and not very into ceremonial magic, but I do believe magic is real, and I believe we all have different paths to take in life. I currently worship Persephone, Hestia, and Loki, and I try to honor other deities where applicable. I'm studying everything I can, and love hearing about other people's experiences.

im pretty neutral on it maybe theres a god maybe there isnt doesnt make a difference me people can believe what they want as long as its not actively harming them or others

If by 'spiritual' is meant to be belief in something that is outside of our current understanding of scientific knowledge, then yes.

Obviously, the scientific fields of inquiry do not have answers to all of humanity's questions.

So, that would be the sense that I am 'spiritual'...there are things going on in the immense universe that are outside (or unknown) our collective scientific understanding.

No, I am an atheist and do not believe in anything super natural.

I'm quite drawn to the ritual aspects of religion but there's another part of me finds it all hopelessly silly.

My parents and grandparents were but my generation (all my siblings & cousins) don't follow the church much if at all

I'm apatheistic when it comes to if there is a god and/or gods and I actively dislike all organised religion. Religion has no place in modern society and causes so much suffering. It's time has been and gone.

In any organised sense, no, not really. Beyond that, maybe?

But no more than feeling a sense of belonging within the universe which we are a part of and connection with other parts of that universe, be they human, animal, plant or other.

If there is something else out there or on a higher plane of existence than us, I don't believe it is within the grasp of any human to understand it, let alone write down it's wants and desires in regards to the way we should live out lives.

I hate religion. I hate ""spirituality"" (what does that even mean?). It makes my skin crawl. I hate that people willfully delude themselves into believing things that they clearly know to not be true, on some level, and then argue wholeheartedly for their actual truthfulness. It's the most nonsensical practice I can imagine someone engaging in and I struggle to see people who do so as willful, rational human beings. How could they be? Just look at all the people in this thread searching for one that "speaks to them as if they can just pick the nature of reality out for themselves. How in the world can people do that and not make themselves crazy with cognitive dissonance?

BUT. What I do understand is that people are searching for structure, community and a sense of reverence towards... something. There have been attempts at replicating that experience sans-nonsense, but every time it's tried it's mostly ridiculed and laughed at by the sort of jackass atheists who can't even empathize with that longing. It's sad.

Not at all. First of all... Religion isn't a huge thing in my country - or at least not in the area I grew up in - so we never went to church or anything (although my parents went through the motions with the baptisms and such). I did get some catechism and stuff like that, but it was like... "more school".

Later on, religion just never clicked. I was into mythology, so I always got stuck at "Why would THIS god be real and not all of those? They were there before."

I have a complicated relationship with religion. I was raised in a very hardline and honestly kind of culty ‘born again’ environment so I have a deep-rooted distaste for conservative Christianity, but I also don’t really love the fairly shallow ‘atheism, monism, logical positivism, and physicalism’ that’s taken as the default for most people these days. I’m open-minded to spirituality but I’m cautious about taking a leap of faith directly into oncoming traffic.

Yes, very much. I think it would be impossible for me not to be religious. If I wasn't Anglican I'd be Buddhist or Baháʼí.

I grew up in a christian household. My larents even went to two seperat churches (one service on saturday, one of sunday). They were very uptight about what was acceptable and what was evil. For example pokemon, star wars, yu-gi-oh, dragonball and harry potter were all forbidden for me. In my teens i became an atheist and never went back. Even though i do not believe in anything super natural anymore, i came to enjoy talking about religion with people again eventually.

I don't, I'm an atheist. I grew up in a very strict christian household (my dad took away my yugioh cards and my Harry Potter books for being "demonic" lmao) kinda turned me off to religion.

No.

I was expelled from Sunday school, I asked too many questions (faith is not about critical thinking).

Now it seems to me like faith/religion serves only one purpose - controling people. It doesn't matter on which historic period you look at it is always about politics and control.

I'm a Christian. I'm in a weird state where i'm trying to figure out where my faith sits and trying to find a new congregation I am comfortable with, since there's so much bad stuff coming from Christians nowadays.

@alyaza I was quite religious when I was very young. My parents were not too religious, but my grandma, where I would spend a huge part of my childhood, was. She never asked me to keep a lent or an advent (I don't know what it's called in English, but on the Orthodox side we have various periods of the year when we basically become vegan 😀)) We call that post - religiously it's mainly about food, but not only. You're supposed to clean yourself up in a way), but I would occasionally go to church with her, and I got the habit of crossing myself whenever I would pass next to a church (both walking or when taking the public transit).

Later when I grew up, I would find some awesome friends that gradually got me less religious, to a point where I would simply become agnostic - which was pretty much the same to this day 😁

I was born and raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic schools up to college. I feel very disconnected from the religion because of how it upholds discriminatory views against gender minorities. There was also a lot of fear instilled in me when I was younger and I just grew out of it eventually. It didn't make sense that I would do good just because a higher being promised salvation when I die. There well also too many hypocrites around me who would go to church religiously but never practice the teachings from the priest.

I now try to make sense of life as I see it and I still practice spirituality through Tarot. It's brought me a lot of peace but I still struggle every now and then

No, not for me. My wife and I are both athiests, but she believes in spirits, some sort of afterlife where some are able to communicate with the living world (like mediums).

I'm very skeptical, and I'll reserve judgement until something can be proven.

I'm all for individual spirituality if it makes you happy and doesn't negatively influence your decision making process.

I have a problem when it makes people hurt others, or vote for those who would legislate hurting others.

Nope, my parents are atheists and my siblings and I were raised as same. Never went to churches or had a bible at home etc.

I've found myself surrounded by a lot of spiritual people lately and I've used it as an excuse to try and get in touch with that side of myself. It's been a very interesting experience. There's a lot of it I still don't understand but a lot of it is just nice vibes? Like I don't ascribe any meaning to the moon or when I'm born or male and female sexual energies or being actually connected to the souls of anyone else but sometimes it's nice to recognize when things are just unexplainable by conventional means and to use a common language to recognize it. To speak in soft or uncertain terms as a way to acknowledge something you can't quite put your finger on, only to have it create a wonderful connecting conversation with another human is honestly kind of nice. And it makes approaching certain subjects a little bit more accessible because it's not rigorous and scientific but more human centered and amorphous.

I am agnostic. My personal point of view is that if there some sort of all-powerful being(s) and they want something other than "don't be a jerk" out of me, I don't care enough to put effort into impress them.

I do love learning about other people's belief systems, though, as long as they don't try to prostelytize to me.

Yep! I grew up nominally christian but actually pretty personally areligious, even with a long atheist phase, but in a pretty diverse religious upbringing both family and community-wise - mostly a mix of Unitarian Univeralism, Catholicism, and Judaism. I had a lot of anger at religion as a queer teenager from the US south but thankfully ended up falling in with more positive ex-Christian interfaith groups and not the antitheist community, which led to a lot of open exploring down many different religious paths just to better understand and see what the fuss was all about, to where I am now, an animist polytheist with a pretty solitary practice. No pressure, just me and my own relationship with the world and the many kinds of persons, human and not, who inhabit it.