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I would have thought it's people of British descent, but I don't have any statistics (It's just a general impression, maybe it's only because the British were among the first settlers, so we tend to think they're the biggest group?)
The point is, in the U.S. everyone is originally from somewhere else, so 'race' and ethnicity probably matter much more to people than over here because it's something their identity is based on to a larger extent??? You know what I mean?
I think it just depends on where you are, there's an enormous amount of 'Germans' where I live and I'm talking statewide, regionwide really because I know SD and MT and MN have a lot of Germans as well and none of them feel the least bit awkward about admitting that. In fact I have a little German in me, along with Norwegian, Swedish, English, a tiny bit French and an even smaller amount of Scottish, Irish and Welsh...the English side of the family apparently got around a lot. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Virgil
I'm Lutheran 'by birth' and by choice, with a few Dieist leanings.
You may be rght Idril. The mid west has a larger contigent of people from German and Scanadinavian ethnicity. While where I'm from we have a larger Italian and Irish contigent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Idril
Well, I found your post and the section I was thinking of after I wrote you last in Lawrence post. So ignore that part of my post. I should own the miniseries, too. Loved it! Got it from my library on loan from another library so I only had a weekend to watch it. I would have watched it twice, but too long to fit two viewings into that short a time span. I loved the book as well. Much to think about. Poses many questions on religion. I have been thinking about it since I watched it weeks ago. The miniseries was so well done - don't you agree? It followed the book just about exactly. BBC did a fine job!Quote:
Originally Posted by Virgil
I loved it. It was the best mini series I have ever seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
To Dr Eep--Thank you. I try not to kid myself about myself. A running gag going on at work and home is that I can relate almost anything and get it back to being about me when in cold reality it rarely really ever is. When ever I do dishes anymore I remind the long suffering wife there was a reason I didn't like my daughter getting married--why should SHE have a life---what about ME!!!???
I'm solid on knowing the Lord Christ as my personal saviour but overwhemed He cares on such a personal level. I feel like the guy who owed 50 pence and likes his redeemer least because of it or (especially worst) the servant who hid his talent in the ground. I spent years trying to relate to God as a 'Father' when I really shold have stopped comaring him to my dad and make it make sense. This mind you after years of thinking of Him as a High School principal--sure they want the best but don't mess up. Heart knowledge--head knowledge -the constant struggle to be real.
Bottom line--His forgiveness is TOO GOOD to be true. YET IT IS. I'm still learning that THAT is a very good thing indeed.
I'm born Muslim,
in the beging I was a bit far from religion,no practice but then I was like: is my life purposless, went back to study religions and my focus was on my birth religion Islam. I feel like I've lost many years of my life>>>now I'm strongly back to practice my religion,knowing more about it.
I'm born a Muslim, I'm a Muslim now , will die a Muslim inshallah.
Hey Miss T. I had a similar experience with my religion.Quote:
Originally Posted by miss tenderness
Hmm, i was born totally oblivious to religion, which is rather releiving. My mother tought me about all religions, i have book's on Toaism, two bibles (one of them has illustrations), The koran, and so forth.
I would love to say i'm agnostic, but I'm not. I'm an atheist. On the other hand, i feel people should be free to practice their religion. What i strongly dislike about religion is extremists, or people who feel so blessed that they try to convince other's of they're religion.
Religion is a personal thing. Don't push it onto people, and don't push it away from them!
I'm half danish/norwegian nad I grew up in Indonesia.
Well I am Belarusian. I was born there. 1/2 Jewish and 1/2 Catholic by birth.
I have plenty of religious fanatics and atheists in my family, I abhor dogma, I am a spiritualist in my own regard.
My mom was born a Catholic but ever since she was a kid, she would very hesitantly do, never heed if she had her way, the routines and the doings in her church simply because she was in her right state of mind to realize what's wrong and what is right.
Now I'm afraid to say it all one-by-one because some people here are Catholics. I know religion is a very sensitive and touchy subject so I hope nobody bears a grudge on me. (Please don't take anything I say personally...)
When she grew up, she became a Christian (I always associated the word "Christian" with a religion and didn't know what it really meant) and until now, we are Christians, I say. We believe that there is an Almighty God and his son Jesus is our saviour. We don't go to any church, don't listen to any sermon but we are filled with joy and blessings because we know that we are serving him right. Just read the Bible and do everything it says.
All you have to do is fear him and all the good things are yours.
We have no religion; but God is.
hey! i like that idea!! :)
i used to be like that for a while after i left Judiasm . . . then i declined bit by bit into aethism. i'll probably be a solipsist in a year, the rate i'm going. :D
I am an American who is 1/8 English 1/8 Dutch(descendant of Stuart Kings) 1/4 German, 1/4 Italian, 1/8 Irish(Northern, so Protestant) 1/8 Scottish: The first half I listed coming from my father who was born and raised and still is Lutheran, and the second half from my mother who was raised Catholic because her Italian mother, but she(my grandmother) was not very religious and my grandfather(Protestant Scotch/Irish) was very, so then my mom was very little religious, especially after my grandfather died around 40 of complications from Lung cancer. My mom had rejected Catholicism when she was 15 and lived w/o a religion until . . .
My mom married my father and then they moved from Chicago to California then to Arizona and then my parents joined the church that they are still members of and my mom was enthralled because of the genius of our old pastor(now a pastor at Cal Lutheran University, who was a bishop of Arizona) and now she is still very religious
Apparently when I was a young child I wanted to be a minister
I am very spiritual with heavy Christian tendencies, but I love philosophy, mainly classic, but including 19th century, so I have a very diverse outlook on religion. I rarely attend church, yet still am deeply religious. I love studying every religion under the sun, but am definitely a monotheist.
So, I would consider myself a Christian Deist with Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Socratic influences. All at almost 17 years old
Jewish though birth right but never practest any religion
now sorta budist pagan if that makes sence...
Quarter Japeness
Mostly rich white people
I am decsended from people who came from the British Isles, France, Germany, and Russia.
I was baptised Greek Orthodox, but I'm an Atheist.
Born and bred in the NYC area, I am Jewish by birth and choice - definitely Jewish ethnically, culturally and religiously. All four of my grandparents were from two little towns (very much like "Anatevka"!) not far from Kiev in what is now Ukraine, was then Russia. In fact, my mother was actually born in Russia and came to Canada (the Toronto area) when she was a year old. She came to the US to visit cousins, met my father (whose parents had emigrated to Brooklyn a few years before he was born), and moved here and became a citizen when she married him.
While I love the rituals of Judaism, I don't actively practice them very often. I am, I guess, more spiritual than actually formally religious. But, while I am Jewish, and decidedly so, I am very curious and open to ideas and beliefs from all other religions and cultures. I impose my beliefs on no one and treasure the chance to learn about theirs.
I think the basis of my beliefs is that the essence of G-d, or whatever spiritual creative being(s) you believe in, is too big for any of us to have any clear perception of. I don't know if any of you have ever heard the story of the 7 blind men who came upon an elephant on the road. Wanting to find discover what this entity is, they approaches the elephant and, by chance, each of them touches a different part of the beast. Excitedly they try to describe it to each other: "The elephant is like a huge wall, " said the one who felt the elephant's side. "Oh, no - the elephant is like a snake," protested the one who touched the elephant's trunk. "No it isn't," said the one who touched the elephant's ear, "it is like a great fan!" "Nonsense," scoffed the one who felt the elephant's tail, "it's like a rope." "I disagree! It's like the trunk of a tree," insisted the one who had wrapped his arms around the elephant's leg. But seventh blind man had walked right past the elephant. "What are you all talking about," he said. "There's nothing here at all!"
That story epitomizes how I feel about religious beliefs. Each of us "sees" or feels or believes in the perception of G-d that we have personally experienced (or that has been taught to us by others). But that doesn't mean the we "know" all of what G-d is. The creator, whatever he/she/it may be, if there is one at all, is far too big for any of us to understand in its totality. We each see a tiny part of the whole. We are all right, but none of sees the whole picture. When we fight about religion, we are like those blind men, fighting to maintain that their perception is the only one. I prefer to believe that we all see some part of the whole - even those who see nothing at all - and that we can all benefit by sharing our beliefs and learning from each other.
No religion by birth for I was raised to choose my own spiritual path. I am now a Spiritualist with to me is a religion although some may disagree that is fine with me. But I believe in a higher being and the power of prayer and my church is where ever I am at the moment.
Spiritualism, while certainly a religious position, is not an organized religion, per se. That's ok, neither is atheism.
Some people still think it is Satanism but it is not but is similar to Christian beliefs.
Some people still think the sun goes around the earth. What can you do?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ancestor
The sun actually does go around the earth, its all a matter of which you take as a reference point, after all, movement is relative. A problem with taking the earth as a reference point would be that the other planets would have really wacky orbits.Quote:
Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9
Some people still think that the earth is the immovable centre of the universe, and that the cosmos consists of seven crystal spheres.
Happy?
I was raised by parent's who became Jehovah's Witnesses shortly after my birth. After a long and varied journey I connected with my ancestral memories and my ability to 'read' Runes, a language I was born knowing. I consider myself a keeper of the Old Ways and am fascinated by the stories under the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
An interesting mixture of Scotts/Irish, English and Swede with the blood of the Vikings in my veins, the wail of the Banshee in my throat, you can hear me coming through the heather and the Highlands playing the bagpipes, my wild crazy curly hair blowing in the wind.
some people still believe that the earth has a top and a bottom, north up, south down. what if we just turn maps around the other way?
Raised Roman-Catholic.
Recovering now. (thanks to shrink)
Atheist (Show me a god that believes in ME and maybe I'll consider believing in him/her/it/them)
1/2 Polish
1/4 French
1/8 Irish
1/8 English
All American
Born Atheist (if that makes any sense) and will die Atheist, as far as ethnicity goes im:
one quarter martian
one quarter uranian
and one quarter robot
Q: What's the worst thing about being an atheist?
A: No one to talk to during orgasms.
I was baptised greek orthodox, but my familiy never really pressured me to go to church or believe in God. I think my grandparents thought I did: Greece is quite a religious country (in my opinion) and people always assume that everyone is religious, and are quite taken aback if you're not.My father had some bad experience with the church when he was a child, and altough he never discouraged me from following any religion, he didn't exactly support it either. Now I'm an atheist.
I'm half Greek and half Irish with a big influence from italian culture
Well im 70% English 30% Scottish, if that makes sense. My mum is a sort of hippie Christian, well sometimes. My dads religion was motorbikes, drugs and the Clash. I am a Buddhist :D
I enjoyed reading most of posts here, interesting thing for me.
Only nightshade i want to say that every one is born Muslim (surrender to God) as Hadeeth of prophet Mouhammed peace be upon him say and then his parents change him to the religioun they want.
I was born Muslim for pure parents my mom is a strong believer, at first i was praying all 5 times normally without a lot of knowledge about religioun but always believed. When i arrived here in europe alone when i was 18 years i became more and more believer because i watched life here and sosciety and how people live and how families go and sit alot of time alone thinking of what i saw here, the door was widely opened to make big mistakes and my age was and still the age of "curious" or "wanting to try every thing", but i didnt go with what my body say, i offered every thing on my brain and decided that the way i was living and the principles i was born and raised with and the teachings of my religioun is better than what nights give me here and days. Secondely i became more believer because of lies i hear about my own faith said in this sosciety. My arrival here teached me alot of things that inflewenced my faith, thats why i wrote all that.
I am 100% arabic, PERHAPS with a thin turkish vain.
I was born into an atheist family. Most people in the Netherlands are atheist I suppose. Either way, it never changed.
None, clear and simple. My mother raised me later in a very strict Fundamentalist Christian church. I rebelled when people couldn't answer questions I asked, and tried to hide it by saying "I was preaching before you were born!" Well, that didn't change the fact that they misquoted the Bible to suit them. I tried a lot of things. I finally became a fundamentalist preacher, but one who had issues with most other preachers. So when I had a nervous breakdown and was in no shape to fight back, they kicked me out. I still preach, but I've changed a lot. I cannot get recognition from most, which is fine if that's how they wish to act. But the Bible says different. And God is He that speaks and it must be, say a great many, I do not disagree. That being so, why kick me out? Why not simply pray that someday I will not have to depend on medication to get me through a day? :)
Correct response: "Yeah, well so was Anton LaVey."Quote:
Originally Posted by Pendragon
i don't how easily i can answer this. i was raised in a christian-church-going home. i knew things about God but i can't say that the knowledge had much personal meaning. then in about 10th grade i met jesus for myself and realized that much of what i had been told about God appeared to be true to me. currently (10 years later) i am still seeking to know jesus more, through trying to understand the bible and finding God in various form of art, as well as other people's experiences with him. in that sense, i am a christian.
(that does not mean that i believe everything about american christianity or that i support t.v. evangelists :flare: .)
hopefully that's not too complicated...
as far as blood lines, i think i have irish and german in me, although it's pretty far removed. i like guinness and a good polish sausage, if that means anything. :brow:
Christened in all the solemnity of orthodox rituals/ the obvious reasons of the disadvanteged age/ Now my necessary piousness for my community is accompanied with arguments like "Once christened you have to follow your path"....-tricky...-smart guys- Historical heritage perhaps
Completely agree with you!Quote:
Originally Posted by tucsongirl
I attend the mass every sunday but not a Catholic.
By chance I meet Catholic, they are really good persons. Spending their time and money to help others.
I'm a Christian and I'm a Finn. I'm not a Lutheran, though, but a member of Evangelic Free Church of Finland.
Born non-denominational Christian (in case you dont know, and i've encountered a suprising number of people that don't, that means we go only by the bible and its teachings. nothing extra, or, according to our beliefs, uninspired). I am currently undecided, though i am adamant that my religion of birth is misguided in many areas.
One of which would be comdemning bisexuals such as myself. Meaning that my relationship with my parents and immediate family (extended family's religions do not think i will rot in hell) are based on a fragile lie. which i fear will break apart before i'm ready...
but what will be, will be. and i dont have much say in that =D
Excellant point, Joe! :) Also "And you never learned to read in all that time? Bummer." There is an excellent quote in the Bible: I Corinthians 14:38 "But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." :nod:Quote:
Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9
Everyone is, eh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chava
I and all my siblings were christened because my secretly atheist mum didn't want to piss off my die-hard Christian grandmother. I was raised with a fair amount of religious teaching, but it came to a point where I realised that I saw absolutely no sense in any kind of faith.
Eventually I left the State Church (although they constantly try to sneak us non-members in, using the population register as their member list) and I'm certainly an atheist. I'm a member of the humanist organisation in Norway, and I'm very comfortable with relying on ethics instead of belief.
I was born into a Christian family. My father is Jewish by blood, but his mother converted to Christianity when she was a girl. My grandfather was a pastor. Both Mom and Dad grew up being involved in church, and so did I.
I have remained a Christian. I have never felt that there were questions I had that couldn't be answered, and believe me I asked them. But that's relative to my life and the people around me, meaning I wasn't surrounded by the shortsightedness and/or legalism that seems to infect a lot of churches, leading to members rebelling and questioning their faith.