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I Have A Dream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 07:04 AM
Original message
How much have you "strayed" from your religious upbringing?
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 07:04 AM by I Have A Dream
Were you given a religious upbringing? If so, what faith? Is your family supportive of the way that you currently express your spirituality? If you have children, are they following in your footsteps, or have they "strayed" from their spiritual upbringing?

*****

I was brought up as a Protestant. My mother was brought up as an Evangelical Christian, but since we didn't have a car, we went to the closest church to where we lived, which was a Church of God church. In late high school and early college, I was searching for what would feed my soul, so I tried Evangelical Christianity myself, and I quickly discovered that it certainly was not my path!

My family doesn't try to pull me back into the fold, but I think that my mother is OK only because she knows that I "accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior" back in the day. :eyes: Otherwise, she'd be worried about my immortal soul, I'm sure.

I don't have any children, so I can't answer the last question. However, I'd hopefully be open to their choosing their own path. (Although I'm pretty sure that I'd be disappointed if they were "religious" rather than "spiritual".)

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stellanoir Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
1. Funny you should ask. . .
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 09:05 AM by stellanoir
On Monday I saw an article about a book about Religious Illiteracy. So I wrote to the author just for the heck of it. Then yesterday I heard him interviewed.

Here's a link to the interview. . .

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/03/20070313_b_main.asp

Parts of it are better than others but what a loaded issue this is. Interesting that these issues are coming up with Pluto transiting the last degrees of Sag and on the heels of the 2nd opposition between Saturn and Neptune.

Here's what I wrote to the author. . .

"I was raised as a Congregationalist and it didn't exactly rock my soul. It was like squeezing faith in between tennis and brunch for large swaths of the Congregation. Yet, when the Minister (a quasi Jungian) would raise his hands standing in the back of the Church, as he did every week, and say with his big bombastic voice "and now may the grace of g-d the father and the love of his son Jesus be and abide with you from this day forward for surely it is and ever will be. . .a world without end," only with the last phrase I could fully spiritually concur.

I studied all sorts of religions and mythologies as a youth and could see both truth and fallacy in all of them.

I most strangely ran into a renegade hippie Hasid Mystic in my late 20's in LA whilst purchasing a Siamese fighting fish which I wound up naming "Gilgamesh."

The hippie Hasid absolutely blew my mind and triggered a spiritual crisis of sorts. He spoke a a divine feminine in hiding and explained specific rules about sexuality and money that truly made sense. Especially since, in my counseling practice, most have obtuse imbalances regarding those aspects oft onerous aspects of life. Having many of my core beliefs reflected in a very esoteric strain the oldest monotheistic belief system on the planet was freakish to me as I had long eschewed most organized religions, with the possible exception of Buddhism (and now Pastafarianism would qualify as well http://www.venganza.org/.)

So the hippie Hasid said that I had a Jewish soul. I would only cop to having a Jewish sense of humor and didn't think souls had religious orientations. The Rabbi's always say, "you don't know who your mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's, mother's was. Though I know a fair amount of my genealogy, there's only so far one can go back matrilineally.

Years later I read in a Kryon channeling that Jews are the only group of souls that tend to reincarnate within the same group.

From my limited understanding, Arabic languages have multiple translations and the renegade hippie Hasid, who was fluent in Hebrew and Aramaic would say whilst interpreting the first 5 books of the Bible, "here it is for a Greek audience. . .here it is for a Roman audience. . .here it is for a Pagan audience. . .and here's how I see it. . ." His final interpretation was infused with the finest of comic Divine Comedy and Tragedy. The King James version of the Bible is entirely bereft of humor. Since then, I've refused to discuss the Bible with anyone who is not fluent in Hebrew and Aramaic.

I read a long time ago that astrophysicists speculate, though it's entirely not provable, that the primary chemical component at the center of our galaxy is NO2 (aka laughing gas.) Since then, I've declared that humor is my religion. It along with love are the singular unifying force for all. If we could only learn a joke in every language we may indeed arrive on a place of world peace."

I Baptized my son myself at my friendly neighborhood power spot (a sandbar) during an eclipse.

He and I talk a lot about the limitations and restrictions within most religions and the absolute hypocrisy of many who masquerade as Christians.

We always joke about the marquee in front of the local fundie church which has actually read. . ."Our Sundays are better than Dairy Queen's" and "Christ, He hung in there for you." I even called my folk's minister to run that latter statement past him and inquired as to whether it was my imagination or is that in incredibly poor taste. He concurred.

And though I've posted this before it's clearly evidence that my son has inherited humor as his religion. . .

Raymo's best stupid bar joke ever. . .

"So-o-o. . .this amazing energy previously unavailable to humankind walks into a bar. . . the bartender says, "W-oh". . .everyone gets enlightened."

on edit-wows. . .just stumbled on to this article. . .

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3061/preaching_revolution/

It's about progressive Christians who are more Libertarian and sick of globalization and being represented by evangelical RW whack job and are actually helping their communities. Really interesting.


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hippiechick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 08:59 AM
Response to Original message
2. I don't know that I had one ...
... which is odd. My parents had serious Catholic backgrounds, both graduated from Catholic elementary and high schools, all of my older siblings went to Catholic school up until 9th grade, I was baptized and went to church with my parents every week until I was about ... 12 <?> ... but they never force-fed me.

Signed me up for after-school 'church lesson' stuff, but the few times I went, I contradicted the nuns and shortly thereafter, didn't have to attend anymore ;) . Never confirmed, never married, HippieKid wasn't baptized, so no need to 'belong' to a church ...

I guess after trying to raise 6 kids on hellfire and brimstone and seeing it fail miserably, they decided not to put up too much of a fight and let me find my own 'religion'.


:shrug:
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Dora Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 09:58 AM
Response to Original message
3. My religious training was minimal.
We did not attend a church when I was a child. My mother was raised in the Disciples of Christ, and my father as a Lutheran. They did not attend services after they left the family nests. They divorced when I was two years old. My stepfather, who came to our family when I was three, had been an active Methodist but was exiled from his church because of his relationship with my mother. I never attended church services unless I was visiting my grandmother in Marshalltown, IA. I think I've been in a church less than twenty times in my life, including funerals and weddings.

I had a "Taylor's Bible Storybook" when I was growing up, a collection of Greek myths, and an antique children's book called "Bedtime Stories." The first two books gave me a great childhood grounding in the core mythologies of the Western world, and the third was a highly moralistic anthology about good children doing bad things, realizing the error of their ways, and seeking/finding/giving forgiveness.

Even without a church, I managed to grow up with a Gigantic Guilt Complex.

I remained religiously unencumbered until I met my husband, and he at the time we met was beginning to study Rinzai Zen Buddhism. I loved Buddhism, the ideas of unattachment and suffering. Its precepts are what speak most loudly to me today, though I have never been a pracititioner of seated meditation. We did have a Buddhist wedding ceremony, and many remarked afterwards that it was one of the most spiritually engaged services they'd seen.

I've always admired the Quaker practice, but I don't consider myself a Christian. Nonetheless, I'm sure my sensibilities are deeply colored by my upbringing in American Christianist culture. I want my son (now two years old) to grow up with a sense of his spiritual self, but without the weight that Western religion can impose. If he can grow up understanding that everyone suffers and that every thing is impermanent, even suffering, and if he has a sense of compassion, justice, and forgiveness, then that's enough for me.
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NMDemDist2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 10:30 AM
Response to Original message
4. since i had no religious upbringing, you could say i strayed by the
spirtual life I lead today huh?
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 10:46 AM
Response to Original message
5. My mother is the same.
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 11:02 AM by votesomemore
Even though I have told her that I'm not the "Christian" she is, she still believes I'm "saved" and will follow in the Rapture. I would be quite shocked by anything like that, to say the least. I expect to die and join the stars.
edit: it could be this attachment that has made me follow along in this woman's evolution. I want to be done with it. She caused me so much pain. But a different thing happened a few weeks ago, in that she said she is tired of fighting with me. Therefore, I feel this karma debt is PAID in full.
I wouldn't mind having her around if she is not always trying to beat me down or suck my life spirit.

I was raised by a Baptist minister and his wife (my parents). Her dad was a preacher and her sister married a missionary preacher. My dad's best friend was a Naval Chaplain. Oh yeah. We had CHURCH.
My last year and a half of high school I lived with another family in Texas, while my original family lived in Arizona. Even though none of them went to church, the mother made me get up and go, alone. My dad had baptized me as a child. What I remember of that is that I slept during the sermon and then woke up and wanted to go down the aisle. Don't know why. When I was on my own in college, at the Baptist college both my parents had attended, I went to a couple of different churches, but eventually dropped out. The church was our LIFE. But it wasn't a very healing one. More destructive, I would say. My first husband was a Catholic, and I enjoy their forms. Instead of all the horizontal goings on, at a Mass I could actually feel a vertical connection. But I could never agree to all the musts and lessons and catechisms. There is so much more, and I know it. Like Stella, but not at such a young age, I began to systematically study all religions. I spent hours in the library and bookstores and reading. Looking for the ANSWER! Each subsequent religion had some flaw or outright deceit .. which left me with nothing. A few years later a friend introduced me to the Church of Religious Science. I always attended alone. Was engaged at the time to a man who was also the oldest child of a Baptist minister. But his dad had left the formal ministry to open a psychological retreat center here in central Texas. My fiance' didn't go to church and was rather appalled that I was going someplace that didn't teach it the way we were taught. It was all new to me, but made more sense than anything else I had been told. We didn't get married. I talk to him every few years and he is still strong spiritually. It makes him feel good. So that's good enough I say.

Shortly before my second marriage, I read a Christian book written by a woman who had been in Silva Mind Control. Her book claimed that demons were chasing her through the Alps. I got scared. Got up in the middle of the night, I couldn't put that book down, and threw many many New Age books into the dumpster. How I hate that I did that. So I was scared back to Christianity for 13 more years. Took my son. He was baptized. But he tells me he didn't REALLY make the decision at that time, so was baptized again at some later date. He is very religious, but not a pain, too much. He knows for sure that I'm not on the same page he is. He believes in the end time scenario. I spent months and read at least a dozen books on this topic. They all say something different, you know. The books that discredit Rapture theory convinced me. No such thing. But many who buy into that, never let it go. Sad.

My second husband was raised Methodist, but mostly the Lake on Sunday. No big church goers. He joined the fold at the Bible church we had settled on. Denominations just irk me. So many rules and viewpoints .. not my style. However, when we split up, we both doubted our faiths. How could faith be true when two people who love each other cannot overcome enough to stay together. I can't be one of these people who believe that I have something to give God or prove to God or say I can be sooo good for you, God. That is crazy. From step one, (in this cosmology), GOD made me. Exactly. Everything. Brown eyes. Wavy hair. A brain that never stops questioning. A perfectly imperfect human being. The book, "Tao of Sobriety" points out that we do not think a cat is being a sinful cat when he catches a bird or claws the furniture. He is a CAT! Humans have many more options open to make things happen, set up scenarios, look for lust, or whatevah! Not that I created Kitty, but would I destine him to hell because he likes to hunt and scratch? That is non sense.

Last summer, I joined my son in prayers, which made me, I guess, a gnostic Christian. But there is no church for that. I don't believe in the standard Christian lines of belief. At my heart, I am mostly just a Pagan. I cast my lot with the power we have as spiritual humans. I like to assume that Jesus was very misinterpreted. All 'religions' are intended to get us in touch with our spiritual basis. These days, the teachers are leaving religion out of it and telling us some truths, as they understand them.

What is the function of religion? As I perceive it in other people's lives, it is one, a method to associate with others of like faith. Big social. That can teach us acceptance. Believe me. Show up to one and see if you are not challenged to grow acceptance. They are supposed to teach us self acceptance too. As long as we remember that without the HS or something else, we are doomed and falling from the sky. They are supposed to offer us security. My dear friend of 20 plus years and her husband who through a wonderful fate of situations lives here in this city, even though we met and bonded 300 miles north of here, take patience with me. They love me. He wrote me a long response to why they believe. This stuff has not been easy for me to give up, and my son is part of that. C.. is a great mind. He served a lifetime to the IRS as an attorney. He wrote that they know they will be with their loved ones in the future. After this material plane is gone. Of course I have my own hopes for the material plane, and do not think it needs to be dismissed so. However. Very shortly after he wrote that, one of his sons developed a liver condition that was not diagnosed for months. He came very close to losing his son. I thought that was ironic. I don't fear losing anyone. I know they are still here or there. There is no loss.

So how far have I strayed? I would say . um maybe 180. Or maybe not. Religions TRY to hold spiritual truths. Some individuals get it in mainstream religion. I never did. I TRIED. To quote George Carlin, I TRIED. I felt like the little lost sheep that Jesus would never find. I wasn't hiding. I was lost. Jesus did not show up to bring me back to the fold. I wandered over rocks and cliffs and looked up at the stars and moon and night and the sun during the day and was more nourished by the streams and the clover I could eat. If Jesus had shown up with a big staff and lifted me off a cliff of doom, then yeah, I would worship him, I guess. If I can trust him, I'll stick around. I had no such experience. My quartz crystal has performed more miracles that the so called Jesus.

I am looking into the Christ experience. And even to Kabalah. I am open minded, so if God the Great has a message, the door is open. His silence and failure to show up tell me, he is not on board. Not really my decision. What I do next is.
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:04 AM
Response to Original message
6. Raised Catholic
Complete with the stain of Original Sin and other fallacies.

I am a pagan (I do not really identify as a Wiccan, since I am a solitary practitioner, and have not gone through all the rites of initiation and stuff). I draw from many different "religions" to arrive at my sense of spirit.

There was a time that you could say I walked away from The Church (meaning Catholic). But I choose to look at it as if I am walking TOWARDS spirit. I have dabbled in other churches over the years. I even did the whole "born again" fundie thing and even went as far as being Pentecostal for a while. All in an effort to seek spirit.

I do know that I feel far more connected to spirit alone in the woods than I do in any church.

That is not to say that I could not use the fellowship. Because I find for me, right now, fellowship is the thing that I am missing in my life. I did not miss the fellowship when I still lived in Minnesota, because I had a very stable and loving support system that was a regular part of my life. Granted, I am starting to get some of the fellowship need met at a 12 step group I attend, but I do feel I need more.

I am planning on paying a visit, this Sunday, to the local Unitarian Universalist Church, in the hopes that I can make a connection and gain some fellowship in my life. And I know that UUs are pagan friendly, so my beliefs are not going to "get in the way".

So much for brevity.
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:17 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. For months
before I moved to Austin, I read the UU website for the local church here.
I went. Part of the story I left out was the first roommate I had here is into spirituality.
He wanted us to go to church. He has his reasons. I have mine.
The UU experience for me was a strong protestant flavor with an open mind.
Not quite my stuff. The people there were all frowning. No one was friendly or open.
Hope you have a better experience.

The Church of Religious Science is where I go when I 'need' church. They don't have a strong social group either. But is is positive and uplifting. I find most of my fellowship in meetups or informal gatherings. We don't meet under any formal religion. Well, I'm going to Abraham Hicks, Ask and it is Given at a Unity church. And we take up an offering, of course. But they say, if you can't put cash in, just hold your hand over and bless us.
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:20 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Unity is the next place I want to check out
If I don't feel a connection with the UUs here.

I am in Orange County California, which makes the whole "fellowship" shopping thing kind of dicey, since this is the world capital of the fundie megachurch.
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:37 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. no. I did not know that.
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 11:38 AM by votesomemore
so cal? Fundie? hermmmm .

Have you tried any meetups? Can't really say they are totally conducive to fellowship either.
Sure do meet some interesting people though.

The LOA meetup here, I believe went by the ditch side. The 'facilitator' took way too much power unto herself. A real fellowship, as I invision, is one where each member is as important as the whole. I guess that's socialism. Or Nirvana.

We need teachers. We are all teachers.
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u4ic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 08:08 PM
Response to Reply #7
19. That could have been a Christian UU congregation
Yes, they do exist.
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u4ic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 08:05 PM
Response to Reply #6
18. Our congregation certainly is
We have a number of those that follow Pagan, Wiccan, and Native Canadian spiritual paths, followers in our congregation. Our two biggest events are the Winter and Summer Solstice services.

Every congregation is different; one may resonate with you more than another.


This site may help you find a suitable congregation: http://www.cuups.org/content2/
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 05:34 PM
Response to Reply #18
23. Thank you for the link!
It looks like the UU church I am planning on attending has an active chapter of CUUPS as part of its ministry!

:woohoo:

:D :D :D
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u4ic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 01:44 AM
Response to Reply #23
26. w00t!
I hope you find that congregation as wonderful as mine is. :hug:

I have met the most amazing people - friends, mentors, supporters - at my UU congregation. I'm lucky, they're the first UU church I attended.
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MorningGlow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:43 AM
Response to Original message
10. I am a survivor of the Catholic faith
:rofl:

Really, there's no other way to describe it. And my family wasn't even overly religious. We were Catholic as an extension of being Italian, if you know what I mean. But we didn't go to church every Sunday--not even every holiday. However, because we had such a large family, we were forever going to funerals and masses being "said for" someone. (I'm continually astounded when people say they have never been to a funeral. For me, it was an enforced pastime!) So I still know the Catholic mass as well as I know how to breathe.

My dad's side of the family was more religious than my mom's, but ours was a matriarchy, so we abided by the traditions from my mom's side. Tee hee--my maternal grandmother (off the boat from Sicily) taught me strega folk magic when I was little, so I think I see where I get my leanings! Unfortunately, she died when I was 16, so I never had a chance to find out a lot about strega. But I've got a great remedy for hiccups!

I was sent to CCD (religious classes) at the local parish once a week, which I saw as a great way of getting out of school early. Then, with my suburb's public school system circling the drain, my mom transferred me to the Catholic school for eighth grade. THAT was an eye-opener. A much better education, but who were all these people who took Christianity so seriously? Eep.

I tried to get up to speed, but even at 12, I knew it was stuffed chock-full of contradictions and admonishments not to think. At around the same time, I saw Star Wars and identified more with working with the Force. So that's what I started to do.

I knew I'd never be able to survive my public high school, so I chose an all-girls Catholic school (shudder). I know, I know--but I'm a sucker for tradition and 100-year-old architecture, which the girls school had and the co-ed-but-divided-by-wing Catholic school didn't, so off I went.

AIGH that was worse. Not only were they all devout Catholics, but they were all FEMALES--trained to focus on marriage and having as many rugrats as possible before they hit old age (late 20s)--and definitely not encouraged to think or question or anything. (And this was in the early 1980s!--at least outside those four walls. Inside, it was still 1956!)

I made quite a name for myself, doing reports on ESP and writing essays about reincarnation, learning about Hinduism (via a healthy obsession with the Beatles, especially George), and dressing like a hippie when we didn't have to wear the evil uniforms. And guess what? My freaked-out classmates started calling me a witch! But I wasn't (overtly) at the time. And in college a white witch saw that's what I was by nature, but I ran from her as well. I just wasn't ready.

I was ready about seven years later, and true to form, when I was ready, a teacher appeared--my best friend met the woman who would become our elder, and the rest is history.

I tried talking to my mom about being a pagan once; she kind of shut down--she listened, but when I tried to bring it up later, she had kind of erased the memory because she didn't really understand it. That came from trying to explain why we were not going to baptise MG Jr. (my Catholic fundie aunt went NUTS over that one)--you'd think they'd be used to it by now--DH and I were married by a Unitarian minister (though we wanted my elder to do it, we didn't want family member fainting dead away, so we had a handfasting ceremony with my coven and then the wedding a year and a day later) and we jumped a broom at the end of the ceremony. My relatives are still talking about that, 10 years on!
:rofl:

Much to my Catholic fundie aunt's chagrin, we are not raising Jr. in any particular faith, but I have started teaching him about all sorts of different religions--including Catholicism--ever try telling a 3-year-old about Jesus? :eyes: He'll be allowed to choose which one he feels an affinity for (if any), but since he's a crystal child, he might choose paganism. We shall see!

So basically, the family and I just don't talk religion. That seems to work for us. :hi:
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. My son
was baptized as a Catholic. I had no fore knowledge of it. Heard about it later.
His dad isn't even a devout Catholic, but bestowed that 'blessing' on our child.

I had a discussion with my now 28 y/o adult son about these things. It is really cool to explore.
He has no feelings about that. Baptist is his preference.

I asked him, and still want to know .. so who told John the Baptist to baptize? With what athority did he do that? Didn't baptism just come up out of nowhere? Yuh.
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MorningGlow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. We had a wiccaning instead
But we didn't tell my family about it.

I don't care one way or the other about water on the head and all that (but I can't bring myself to buy into the concept of "original sin"--that had to have come from greedy churches trying to boost their membership--"You automatically have sin and you must come to us and have us remove it!") but I just could NOT stand in a church and promise a Catholic priest that I would raise my child in that faith. I am not that much of a hypocrite, nor am I a liar.

My brother and DH often joke about checking Jr.'s head to see if it's damp after he spends some time with my Catholic fundie aunt. Sometimes I wonder if it's really just a joke...
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 05:46 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. I think possibly...
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 05:47 PM by votesomemore
original sin has not been dealt with enough. What a doom, being born into loser-ville.
It casts a pall over all we know. As much as we are pagans and worship Nature and all is well, society is absolutely drenched in 'original sin'. It was not pushed so much on me. I was "saved" at the age of five. Catholics are "saved" at the age of two weeks, so what is the bother!!??

As if sin is a bad thing.

Sin is not a bad thing. It is a God who is so un defiled, even though he commanded that entire societies be murdered in cold blood and taken hostage, he's the Good Guy. But let one of us want something untoward and BOOM, ORIGINAL SIN comes home to roost.

Gimme a break. If my god does not even follow the simple precepts HE lays out, but expects me, a flesh, to hold task, I think something is very wrong.

Religion is all made up, anyway. When I think about it, it is very depressing. That our entire being, wars, way of life is determined by some made up non-existent meanie.. whoah. what could be more depressing than that. He made the rules he doesn't abide, but we are supposed to pop out of the womb and be fully compliant. Is something amiss?

Not sure what a wicanning is. But it sure as heck would be better than an original forgive me daily because I have sinned occasion. And people get dressed up for that.
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MorningGlow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 09:35 AM
Response to Reply #15
21. "Being born into loser-ville" ROFL!
Exactly. I always bridled at the part of the Catholic mass, just before communion, when you had to say, all as one, out loud, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you". I mean...

:wtf:

Wiccaning: Just like the scene in Sleeping Beauty, when the faeries bless the newborn princess with gifts like beauty, grace, happiness, etc. When a baby is born to someone in the coven, we have a ceremony where the representatives of the four directions blesses the baby with good traits from that direction. (For example, I'm East, so I might give the baby a talent for music, the gift of gab, a happy youth, things like that--whatever the universe "tells" me I should give at that moment. South might give the gift of passion, North might give the gift of steadfastness, etc. Other folks in the coven not representing a direction can give a gift if they're so inclined too.

Then we have pizza and cake.

:rofl:
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LiberalEsto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
13. They pretended to raise me Lutheran
but I think my parents were pagans in some ways. My mom taught me about the animistic beliefs of her home country, Estonia. My parents only went to church on Christmas and Easter. When I went to confirmation classes at age 15, I found the four-hour services of the Estonian Lutherans extremely tedious and rejected it all.

Eventually I became a wiccan and was initiated in a Celtic tradition. One day I told my father, who disclosed that his own father had left the Lutherans back in Estonia and joined a pagan movement.

It seems I was really following a family tradition.

My husband and I have also been Unitarian Universalists for about 20 years. I'm sorry to hear about one poster's negative experiences with UUs in Texas. Our congregation in Germantown, Maryland is unbelievably warm, friendly, inviting and fun, as well as accepting of folks from all backgrounds. If you're ever visiting these parts, come visit the Sugarloaf UUs!
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yellowdawgdem Donating Member (972 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
14. Half Jewish
Edited on Wed Mar-14-07 04:28 PM by yellowdawgdem
My father is jewish,was raised in St. Louis in a very jewish, but not very religious atmosphere. Mom is episcopalian, and somewhat more religious overall. However they are not that into organized stuff of any kind. They are very disorganized people in general. So we went to a few different churches and synagogues, and didn't really connect.
But since my mother makes all of the family decisions, we eventually started going to the Episcopal church. When my father got older, he started valuing his heritage more, and tried to get everyone to switch over to going to temple. My siblings wound up doing this, but I felt I wasn't accepted as easily. Because I look less jewish than they do, and found that even reform temples are somewhat cliquish. I have a very private connection with god, and/or spirituality. So I am still sort of making attempts at attending some services at our local synagogue. And greatly enjoy the music, and the oral traditions etc. But would have to say that my connection with religion is still primarily a private matter between me and god.
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gblady Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 06:46 PM
Response to Original message
16. not sure about the word strayed.....more like part of the unfoldment
I was raised in the Methodist tradition. My parents, and therefore by default, I (an only child) were very actively involved in the church, going at least 2-3 times per week to church service, choir, and youth group. We read devotions and the Bible every night at dinner…(a tradition that my parents kept until my mother’s death at age 93) It was our primary social function. I have no immediate family in physical reality now, so my story is more about the process than about what they think of me. I have always been fairly closeted in expressing my beliefs…(as noted by some here recently in the number of posts I have in the time I have been a member here and I have lurked without being a member since 2000.)

I can remember being age 5, sitting on a huge rock, pondering why I was here on Earth. I saw worlds within worlds, and was exquisitely curious about what life meant. This continues to unfold daily. My questioning of the value of organized religion began when I was in Jr. High. I was the neighborhood babysitter. The discrepancy between what I saw in the church goers’ behavior at church, and what I witnessed as two faced behavior in their homes drove me nuts. I used to tell my Mother that “going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.” Another huge issue in high school was my dating a Catholic boy, which had my mother in a continual twit. We would have long discussions about it, and I would argue that it was the same God and it didn’t matter one bit how you worshiped, but, of course, back in the 60’s she wasn’t buying any of it.

My level of questioning increased while at college, when in my first quarter Humanities class, we discussed the Bible as a group of folk tales which was reason enough at this point to disassociate myself from the church and only go on Holidays to please the folks. During my senior year, I took a Comparative Religion course that was taught by a wonderful Quaker professor who stood for decades every Friday afternoon on the same street corner ,with a sign bearing only the word “Peace”. Anyway, he had us read books written by persons of different faiths, Black Elk Speaks, Siddhartha, Varieties of Religious Experiences, and I came away with the absolute knowing that there is only One God, one Source, a validation of my feelings in high school.

That had led me on a inner journey, a spiritual quest that is unrelenting. Throughout the years, I have probably read and attempted to digest hundreds upon hundreds of books, attended seminars, worked with healers, readers, etc…and feel like I am a work in progress...or process. My particular interest is the place where spirituality meets quantum physics. I have tons of faith, I want proof. Einstein is a hero: “I want to know God’s thoughts, the rest are details.” I strive for personal connection with Source and living my life from that place of connection. At this point in my life as I near the age of 60, and am nearing the completion of a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program, I am looking for answers on how to be of service and fulfill my life’s purpose on Planet Earth. I have faith that the way will unfold.

I have 2 sons, who I took to Sunday school when they were young, they both hated it, and because I was not comfortable in the church either, stopped trying to do what I thought I should do. I trust that they will find their way. I have searched around over the years, trying churches on for size and nothing fits. The most spiritual place for me is Nature. My closest association with any organized something is the Theosophical Society whose camp I visit several times per year. My sons have gone with me for 13 years and we will go again this summer…they are eager at ages 21 and 18 to attend.

My focus of teacher right now is Abraham, whom makes to most sense to me at this point in my life.
Cheryl
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I Have A Dream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-14-07 07:38 PM
Response to Reply #16
17. Hi, Cheryl. Thank you for your post; I'm happy to have you here in the...
ASAH forum.

When I used the word "strayed", I meant what other people would define as "strayed" rather than straying in reality. (Thus the quotation marks.)

Your journey has been very interesting. As a child, I also remember thinking very differently than other people. I always wondered why I questioned things that nobody else did. Life would have been much easier if I saw the world the same as most of humanity, but it would certainly have been a great deal less interesting.

:)

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yellowdawgdem Donating Member (972 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 03:21 AM
Response to Reply #16
20. I would agree that
10 posts in all the time you've been at Du is definitely not alot. So I wanted to thank you for taking the time to give your (eloquent) thoughts and feelings abt. religion, spirituality, and where you are at now. I think it seems quite precocious for a 5 year old to sit on a rock and ponder her purpose on the planet.
Also enjoyed hearing about the Quaker professor who stood on the same corner holding the Peace sign. It's amazing to me the effect that something small (but consistent) can have.
Not familiar with the Theosophical Society, though it sounds interesting.
It seems like psychology will be a good field for you, and a way to make a difference in the world.
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windy252 Donating Member (742 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 05:26 PM
Response to Original message
22. That's amazing
I've been thinking about this for a while lately. I grew up raised in a very Baptist traditon. Once I started attending a university, my beliefs started generally being discarded in favor of agnosticism. Though I have drifted back to theism from time to time, mainly because I believe it's a miracle that we got a semi-fair election in 2006. That being said, I still have severe doubts. I don't think my family's too happy about my doubts, but I don't think I'll be able to return to a traditional religious belief after these crazy years.
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Grateful for Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 06:28 PM
Response to Original message
24. I was raised Catholic
and I went to a parochial grammar school. As an adolescent, I went to counseling with a priest, and eventually had a pretty horrendous experience with him.

As a consequence, I stopped believing in that religion, and, by extension, all religions.

I have pretty much defined for myself since my late teens what I believe and don't believe.

Sometimes, our lessons can be harsh, but very effective.
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Celebration Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-15-07 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
25. I wasn't sure
I was never sure if I didn't go to church because I was lazy, because I was anti-social, or because I "strayed." We actually "belong" to a church, and I suppose it is okay, but when Sunday, or Easter, or Christmas rolls around we just don't go. We did (sort of at least) go when the kids were young.

Anyway, today I went to church for a funeral in the same Episcopal denomination, and we went through the entire service and the Communion, with zillions of hymns, prayers, kneeling, the whole bit.

I realized why I don't go to church. It just doesn't speak to me at all, where I am, or what I am about.

I live in a very churchy city, too. I have an uncle that I am crazy about that is a retired Presbyterian minister in another city. Oh, well. One of his daughters never goes to church either.

Once I tried going to a Unity Church in town, because people there are into energetic healing like I am. Their beliefs are closer to mine. I wanted to like it--I really did. But the service seemed a little strange to me and I seemed to feel as out of place there as I was in *my* church.

I do feel the need to do something a little more organized than what I am doing now. I might do an actual meditation class, and then group. I like group meditation.

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