If you are a Christian, what branch do you belong to?

[elfwitch]

What type of Christian are you and what sub branch of your faith do you follow? (Example: Baptist, Southern OR Catholic, Roman)

AND are you happy with your faith or are you searching for something new?

[bif]

1. I'm a Creaster

I go to church religiously, twice a year--on Christmas and Easter.

[TrogL]

2. Episcopal is a US term

it should really say "Anglican community" or just Anglican.

You forgot Orthodox.

[Bertha Venation]

3. UU in belief... Episcopalian in church of attendance...

Actually I'm searching, not for something new, just for what I believe in. I doubt I'll ever light; it's in the search for me. I learn a lot. I consider myself a follower of Christ, but don't believe in his deity or in any of the events supposed to prove his deity (i.e., virgin birth, resurrection, etc.).

Edit: a young man in the mailroom just delivered my mail, then leaned on my cubicle wall to ask "has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you?" and to invite me to his church, Integrity International. Nice guy. How do you tell someone so very nice, so completely unobtrusive, who obviously has no plans to proseletyze, "thanks but no thanks?" I'll do it but he's so sweet I want to say yes.

[WildClarySage]

6. Bertha, that's exactly how I think of myself, too!

Funny, thought I was all alone in that category. Nice to have some company!

[Bertha Venation]

8. And I thought

for the longest time that if I didn't "light" on something, I'd be a spiritual flake. Not so. :pals:

[WildClarySage]

10. flake schmake

I can't believe God wants us to believe because someone said we'd burn in hell if we didn't. That's what I love about UU- the encouragement to do our own spiritual work.

But since I was raised episcopal, I love the ritual and ceremony of it. So each week I alternate between attending UU and episcopal churches.

[afraid_of_the_dark]

11. I like that...

Follow him because of his deeds, and not because some claim him to be a deity. :)

[supernova]

4. UU/Quaker in thought, Presby by association

I may at some point switch over to UUs if I feel Presbys are getting too doctrinaire. It already pinches somewhat.

edit: that's Presbyterian Church USA. There are other flavors of Presbys such as The Presbyterian Church in America that make the Southern Baptists look like Soddom and Gomorrah by comparison. :crazy:

[camero]

5. No church but looking

None of them really fit me.

[elfwitch]

17. Have you looked at Reform Judaism?

There is a great book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism. It is very informative.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0028631919/qid=1074620552//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/102-0846191-8448946?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[WildClarySage]

7. Liberal

Episcopalian. Guess I gotta differentiate myself now.

[afraid_of_the_dark]

9. Raised in the Roman Catholic tradition...

but I'm finding it difficult to stay connected because Holy Mother Church and I disagree on a few things, like views on homosexuality, abortion, and also how saints are viewed (all too many Catholics I know don't pray through the saints, they pray TO them). So maybe "fallen Catholic" for me would be a more apt description.

[skippysmom]

21. same here

considering going to the episcopalians or the uus.

[noonwitch]

12. New Age christian, Unity denomination

Although I grew up attending a UCC church, a good traditionally liberal denomination.

Unity is different depending on the individual church. My church is going through some serious changes due to power struggles between the former senior pastor (a well-known new age "guru" type who will remain nameless, you can guess who I'm talking about) and her followers and the rest of us.

Unity is sort of a metaphysical way of looking at Christ and the Bible. I don't always agree with everything-some things Jesus taught are meant to be taken at face value, like the golden rule and much of the Sermon on the Mountain. To Unity, everything in the Bible has a secret spiritual meaning, including names of people and places. The main belief that differentiates Unity from more mainline denominations is the belief that the christ mind is like the force( in Star Wars) or the collective unconscience, and Jesus was one of many people who taught mankind how to connect with it in order to transcend the current order. A mainline church would say that Jesus is the one and only son of God (and some will quibble for hours over the word "son" versus a more gender-neutral term). Unity would say that we are all children of God, with no one individual being any more important than any other.

[drb]

13. I'm pretty much a generic...

...evangelical Christian. "Evangelical" -- believe it or not, huh?

Note, interestingly enough, that "evangelical" and "right wing asshole nutcase" are not necessarily synonymous.

And while I am secure in my faith - as secure as a fallable human can be in a faith in things unseen - I am searching. In fact, I consider my faith a continuous search, a journey of exploration, not just a place to sit.

"Who is God, what is He like, and what does He want from me?"

Those are the questions to be answered along the way. Or maybe at the end of the journey.

We do have some hints as to what he wants.... maybe the trick is to grit your teeth and get busy on the things we do know about.

---

"Don't the Bible say we must love everyone?"

"O, the Bible! To be sure, it says a great many such things, but then no one ever thinks of doing them. You know, Eva, nobody does."

--Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

---

"Lord when did we see you hungry and give you food, or naked and give you clothes?"
"I tell you, in as much as you have done it for the least of your brothers, you have done it for me."

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
--Dwight David Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Liberal Episcopalian

raised Lutheran but left because I found the denomination inhospitable to singles and too accommodating to shlocky pop culture.

Theologically, halfway to Unitarianism, but confident that the mysteries of the Universe are too big to be fathomed by the human mind (new mind-boggling articles on cosmology nearly every month in SciAm and Discover), so that all paths are only approximations, and we have to find the one that suits us best.

[LynneSin]

15. Born and raised Methodist who attends Quaker meetings

I was pleased that the Methodist Leadership was so opposed to war that they tried to get a meeting with Bush (another Methodist) and persuade him to not go to war.

However, I do not see this kind of attitude at the ground level of Methodism. The Methodist church I attended when I was growing up was a progressive thinking organization. However they got a new pastor in there that was suprised that the church wasn't attending anti-choice rallies and other conservative ideological gatherings.

Quakerism is for me. It's the most progressive church out there and I'm all for that!!!

[T_i_B]

16. I go to a Methodist church

but first and foremost I am a Christian.

The particular denomination is not a major concern for me belive it or not.

[youngred]

18. I am a Roman Catholic

who is very angry with many of the actions of his church

[afraid_of_the_dark]

24. Right here with ya!

[CBHagman]

19. Roman Catholic, but...

...I've attended various Christian churches. I am practicing (and lifelong) Catholic, though I don't go to confession very often. :evilgrin:

[Snow]

20. Friend (ie, Quaker)

I think there's 3 or 4 of us here.....

[Snow]

25. It occurs to me, however, that whether Friends are Christian

is a matter of debate. Our Meeting has, I think 3 active practicing Jews, one of whom wrote a great little book entitled something like "How going to Quaker Meeting made me a better Jew". And there're a number of us for whom Christ is not central or essential to our religion. Having said that, though, the Society of Friends is well over 350 years old and has from its origins considered itself a Christian group, probably even protestant in that the founders were protesting the Church of England, although that wasn't the main idea of the faith.

[LanternWaste]

22. We have as much fun as the Baptists, but we get to drink and dance

Presbyterian. The old line goes, "We have as much fun as the Baptists, but we get to drink and dance". On a more serious note, (and I don't know if this applies only to my congregation or to Presbyterianism as a whole) that while I am absolutely comfortable with my fellow parishoners, I also get the added bonus of being mentally and spiritually challenged on an almost weekly basis.

I am happy with my Church and my Church keeps pushing us to continually search it and ourselves.

[Cannikin]

23. My name is Christian.....

but I dont go to church right now cause they all say I'm going to hell for being gay.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Not all

Try a liberal Episcopal, Methodist, U.C.C., Unitarian, or ELCA Lutheran church.

[Cannikin]

27. I am a methodist! But I also live in Arkansas....

That puts a different slant on it! hehe

[Kat45]

28. I go to a Congregational church (UCC)

I was raised Catholic, hadn't gone to church since college, then started exploring my spirituality a few years ago. I researched religions to see if there was one compatible with my thinking, and I started going to a nearby Congretational church. It's a wonderful church full of really nice people and an excellent preacher, who cannot stand to listen to bush* any more than I can. I met a number of antiwar protestors at my church.

This denomination is not dogmatic at all. The most basic of Christian beliefs is all that's required. Beyond that, diversity of thinking is welcome.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

29. non denominational nt

[UrbScotty]

30. Catholic (nt)