What is your birth religion and current religious status?

[Matilda]

Born into christian tradition, but none of my parents were very religious. Went to a christian pre-school though.
Currently I am an Atheist.

[Jetxa]

I was born into a Christian life style and raised that way till i found myself in disbelief, i then converted to a non-traditional version of Wicca, and have yet to find anyone who shares a common belief (even within the pagan circles i chat with)

Perhaps we should chat.

My father is a Jew and we followed Judaism till I was a teen. My father then converted to Christianity and the family had no choice but to follow suit. My mother was raised Christian (Welsh, Scottish and Irish), but has never "professed" any real faith or ever talked about her faith that I can ever remember.

Neither Judaism nor Christanity ever felt right to me and only served to burden me with guilt. After a lot of long, hard years of searching, I currently call myself Pagan and claim to a Pantheist point of view. I do honor the God and Goddess or Lord and Lady, but see them as representatives/symbols of the Source of All Life which, for lack of a better word, I call God. I honor the Wiccan festivals (sabbats and esbats) though I do not worship in the Wiccan faith.

[Tournesol]

Hi all!
It's marvelous to hear everyone talk about their religious beliefs.
I'm a Muslim. I was born into a Muslim family, and now in my mid-twenties I'm still a Muslim. I'm not naive about it though, I've read a lot about other faiths, and for me, as a woman, Islam is the only thing that works.

The thing is, I'm from Trinidad, that lil' island in the West Indies. So, our Islam is very orthodox, very free from cultural constraints that Muslims in the Middle East and Asia have been accustomed to. And I'm very glad that it's so! I have friends of all different faiths and non-faiths! And we appreciate one-another for our differences.
Trinidad and Tobago [our twin-island Republic] consists mainly of Christians [of various sects] Hindus, and Muslims. There are minorites such as Buddhists, Jews, and then there are some atheists as well.

[JGL57]

I was raised in a baptist environment but have been an atheist (non-theist and scientific rationalist) for about 30 years now.

Due to my background, I at first thought about starting my own religion - "The Baptist Atheists" - based on a two-part creed:

1. There is no god.
2. Nevertheless, anyone who disagrees with us is going to Hell.

[hyperborean]

"The Baptist Atheists" sounds interesting, JGL.

I was born into a Roman Catholic family. However, I no longer follow the church. I'm not atheist, but I care less about God...because if I did it would make me a slave.

[JGL57]

...I'm not atheist, but I care less about God...because if I did it would make me a slave...

Well, words don't have absolute meanings, just common usages. I am also an agnostic and I have little if any problem with pantheism or deism - as long as followers of those concepts do not proselytize and preach - which in fact they generally don't.

Many so-called "liberal" Christians are ok and I can get along with them well, simply because they are not absolutists - and the fact they have no real problem with modern science – and the fact that they don’t preach. Ditto Buddhists and Hindus - most of whom are not maniacs either.

[Adudaewen]

I was raised as a Lutheran, and because of circumstances, changed churches 3 times while I was still quite young. In high school, I convinced myself that I was agnostic and rebeled against religion, but mostly against my parents I think. I have actually come full circle, not really through faith or religion, but through logic. The more I studied about my faith, the more it, logically, made sense to me. I am not at the moment an active member of a church, but I have a very strong faith in God.

[JGL57]

I was raised as a Lutheran, and because of circumstances, changed churches 3 times while I was still quite young. In high school, I convinced myself that I was agnostic and rebeled against religion, but mostly against my parents I think. I have actually come full circle, not really through faith or religion, but through logic. The more I studied about my faith, the more it, logically, made sense to me. I am not at the moment an active member of a church, but I have a very strong faith in God.

Was it the Lutheran variety in particular or Christianity in general that you found "logical"? And why?

Besides your childhood religion, did you ever study or explore in depth other religions like Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, pantheism, or deism, etc., etc. to see if one or more of them were more "logical" - or not? If not, why not?

Just interested.

[Adudaewen]

Was it the Lutheran variety in particular or Christianity in general that you found "logical"? And why?

Besides your childhood religion, did you ever study or explore in depth other religions like Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, pantheism, or deism, etc., etc. to see if one or more of them were more "logical" - or not? If not, why not?

Just interested.

I really found my logical faith in Christianity as a whole. I think the number one mistake of most Christians is turning against other denominations. Because, let's face it, no one single denomination has hit the nail precisly on the head yet.
I did do some extensive research into several religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Wicca and Hinduism. The surprising thing that I found is most other major religions share serveral things in common with Christianity.
I struggle to keep my faith fluid and dynamic. I don't want to be the kind of person that is close minded enough to say my religion is right and yours is wrong. For me, Christianity is a good fit.

[JGL57]

I really found my logical faith in Christianity as a whole. I think the number one mistake of most Christians is turning against other denominations. Because, let's face it, no one single denomination has hit the nail precisely on the head yet.
I did do some extensive research into several religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Wicca and Hinduism. The surprising thing that I found is most other major religions share several things in common with Christianity.
I struggle to keep my faith fluid and dynamic. I don't want to be the kind of person that is close minded enough to say my religion is right and yours is wrong. For me, Christianity is a good fit.

Now who can argue with that?

If all Christians agreed with the thoughts expressed above, we wouldn't need atheists.

[Redzeppelin]

None of us know who will be saved and why - and thankfully none of us are in charge of that decision (because heaven would be empty).

But: all religions cannot be "right" because they all have exculsive claims to the truth. There may be "pieces" that coincide, which may suggest the larger truth each is trying to find, but they can't all be right.

[Adudaewen]

Now who can argue with that?

If all Christians agreed with the thoughts expressed above, we wouldn't need atheists.

True story

[rjordahl]

I have been an Episcopalian for many years, though I don't believe in women or "gay " priests. I don't even like this distortion of the word.

[EdwardJ]

I have been told that the largest ethnicity in the US is actually people of German descent. However, I know of only one person who claims it. I wonder if because we have faught two world wars with Germany that most German immigrants have cast off that identity. Plus the large waves of German immigrants were aound mid 19th century i believe, so could be over 150 years ago.

Hehehe frankly I doubt that americans would be "ashamed" of having german ancestry. Some americans even seem to be german wannabees.

I have also never understood these statistics. If you pick up any phone list (even one from Iowa, for that matter) it seems that english surnames are in the majority. Maybe they just consider themselves "german"?

Take a look at this: http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf --

Ancestry is a broad concept that can mean different things to different people; it can be described alternately as where their ancestors are from, where they or they parents originated, or simply how they see themselves ethnically.

Maybe they just "see" themselves as german?

[sofia82]

I am Perisan with Azeri ethinicty, and i am Muslim