where does religion stand in your life?

48 comments

1. It doesn’t

2. It’s overly applied to the laws in my country. Sigh.

   I’m an atheist who finds religion unnecessary.

3. Nowhere. I am not religious.

4. In the past, I moved from organised religion to a more cobbled together form of spirituality that works for me.

5. I find the architecture of some cathedrals interesting. That’s about it

6. I use to be religious. I was raised in a Roman Catholic household. Stopped being religious when my mother passed away. Currently, I am agnostic and reading about Buddhism.

7. Nowhere

8. [removed]

9. I am spiritual and consider myself agnostic. I believe in a higher power, not necessarily God per se.

10. It doesn’t.

11. I was raised without religion. Been an atheist as long as I can remember. Not something I ever really think about any more.

12. It never has been in my life and never will. Religion is a cult.

13. I’m trying to keep it away from me as much as possible. I was raised religious in a religious family, and have tried pretty hard to separate myself from it over the years. Now that I’m fully independent, religion has no place in my life and I like it that way. My family just thinks it’s a phase though and completely ignores my disdain for religion.

14. I am not into organized religion whatsoever. I do consider myself quite spiritual though.

15. Raised a Roman Catholic, stopped practicing in high school and now find Buddhism more interesting.

16. My own is very important in my (inner, personal) life and of absolutely no importance to anyone else unless they want to know about it, more or less.

17. [removed]

18. I don’t believe in any religion, but I try being respectful to family members who do. But it’s so difficult to ignore their bigotry and words of hatred about other people while they are busy spouting bible verses out the other side of their mouth.

    Edit: Fixed typo

19. Nowhere as I’m irreligious.

20. Prominently, I’m Catholic

21. At the top

22. I grew up fundamentalist so religion was the centre of my life whether I wanted it to be or not. I was super miserable.

    When I left the church (and was subsequently shunned by both the church community and my own parents) I ended up feeling very bitter and indifferent towards religion.

    I still have no faith in religious institutions.

    However, I have a tricky relationship with the concept of God. I often feel amazed and overwhelmed by the vastness of the universe and our place in it. Nature both freaks me out and inspires me on a daily basis. Hiking in the mountains, and backcountry camping strikes fear and awe in me simultaneously as I work with the weather and assess my own mortality and ability to survive in a world without my luxuries and comforts.

    I am deeply curious about humanities need for a higher power. Does it mean that I subscribe to my upbringing? No. I feel completely distant from that. But i do feel constantly curious about the things we don’t know.

    In short, I just feel hopeful and excited about being a part of something greater than myself… and most importantly, I’m also completely open to the possibility that I could be wrong.

23. It’s very important to me and best kept to myself. I was a Lutheran turned atheist turned Taoist. I had to go through a lot in my life to make that journey.

24. It’s more that it hovers or looms over me.

25. I was raised Catholic, now I’m an atheist. I believe that we’re all responsible for ourselves and while I make plenty of mistakes, as we all do, I try to be a good person because it’s the right thing to do and not because I’m trying to bribe my way into an afterlife. The only thing I keep from Catholicism these days is Lent. I still practice it parts of it every year because I like the idea of reevaluating my life and what in it has become unnecessary or unhealthy that I’d be better off without. That’s just a good thing to do for yourself every once in a while.

26. I am an atheist.

27. It’s very important to me. I wish I dedicated more time into it.

28. I am an Ordained Spiritualist Minister. Broadly the basic beliefs are that we are responsible for our own actions and the consequences of those actions, we believe that there is truth in sacred texts of all religions, and there is continuity of life after death as proven by mediumship. This belief system has sustained me through a lot of trauma.

29. Don’t care for it.

    While it does enrich people’s culture, it also creates a divide in society. So not really a big fan of it.

30. I believe in God but not in religion so I feel out of place a lot of the time

31. It provided a path for me to live in confidence and freedom.

32. #1 but because it can be.

33. I never know how to answer this question, so I usually settle on “I’m vaguely Christian”

34. Nowhere. I left organized religion as a teen.

35. No where. I am Athiest

36. I was raised in a Baptist church although my parents permitted some things my church didn’t: alcohol (my dad doesn’t get drunk but enjoys a beer), dancing, and Halloween.

    My husband was raised Catholic and we attended a Catholic Church for a while and were married in a Catholic Church. We go to a Methodist Church now. I like the ritual and liturgy as opposed to the Baptist church I grew up in.

    The strength of my faith ebbs and flows and there are times I questioned it totally but overall, it’s important to me personally.

37. Not a factor but I do fake it because I live in the Bible Belt.

38. Was raised very religious. I still struggle with overwhelming guilt every day and notions that I’m sinful and dirty. I think Yeezy of Nazareth was a cool guy. I think the Church, protestant and roman catholic, are criminal organisatons responsible for multiple horrific genocides and the maltreatment of millions upon millions in their power-grabbing bloodbaths. I do sometimes go to Quaker meetings. There are no sermons where I attend. No evangelization. It is powerful to me to sit in meditation with others in silence. If somebody wants to speak, they can. I worship nothing but nature, so I don’t know what that makes me. I miss my faith sometimes. I feel very lonely.

39. In the way

40. I like the gothic style buildings but nothing else. Most of what theistic religions have done was hurt me or shamed me for existence. The religion I’m in now which is an atheistic one is literally about acceptance for everyone and being a good person for the sake of being good not to achieve an afterlife.

41. It has no place with me. The more influence the religious right wields here in the US, though, the closer I get to outright hatred of it.

42. [removed]

43. My dad was a minister in an end-times apocalyptic cult. I’m now an atheist and can be a bit of a nihilist.

44. Watching how pseudo-religion has taken over and poisoned the U.S. has put this European off organised Christianity, probably for good.

45. Buddhism helps with putting things into perspective, but I don’t actively practice (I can’t give up my meat and beer, lol).

46. I’m not religious and I don’t think I ever have been. The closest I’ve been to religion was when my parents got divorced and my dad forced us in church every Sunday for several years because it was “the right thing”

47. It indirectly shaped my sex life. In my late teens I lived with shame for having sexual desire or being slut shamed. Can’t help but feel this has a lot to do with my country’s catholic background

48. I believe in god, that there is a heaven for all those good for when they die and a bad place for those who were not so great in this life. Believing in those after death is what gives me peace about dying one day, the thought of heaven doesn’t make it seem so scary. I’ve never followed the rules of a Christian at all, I’m no saint that’s for sure but I was christened and that’s what I believe in to get through life.