I was raised a Lutheran. My dad's family all went to a Covenant Lutheran church, while my mom's family was primarily Southern Baptist. My mom and I were both baptized at the Covenant Lutheran Church at the same time. I went to church every Sunday, attended communion classes, and then quit around the time I would have finished confirmation classes (so around 8th grade). My sister had a very bad experience with the pastor and so most of our family left the church. After that we were all a bit jaded about religion in general so we didn't go to church.
Fast forward to about 2 years after I graduated, and my parents began going to church again. My brother had found religion about 4 years prior and had been going to the First Christian Church. He invited my parents, and my parents periodically went. They finally started going every Sunday again about a year later. They really enjoyed it, and still go though not very frequently due to my dad's health. I, however, have not gone to church since I stopped going in my teens.
Long story aside, I am very much a Christian. I am spiritual if not religious - I've read the Bible, but have also studied many other religions because I find them interesting. I still try to live my life the way I was brought up. DH is another story. His family is Episcopal, and his dad is a "retired" priest. DH is not very religious but I think would like to be more involved and start going to church again. I don't intend to have children, but would definitely start going to church again should that ever happen.
Catholic born and raised here as well. I attend Mass semi-regularly - about twice a month in addition to Christmas and Easter services. I've tried other (Protestant) churches, but they don't feel as right as the Church - even though I have a few issues with certain things they've said...
No, no and a thousand times no!! I went to church for 44 years just out of habit and the fact it was banged into my skull since the day I was born that I should go....one day I said to myself....I'VE NEVER BELIEVED ANY OF THIS STUFF, WHY DO I COME HERE?
I can't tell you how nice it is to be free of religion! I'm truly a born-again agnostic and I love having my Sundays back.
I really wish that it was more accepted to talk about the joys of Deism/Agnosticism etc. without people getting all cheezed off. But for me it's like breaking free from chains, guilt, mind control, all of it. Highly recommended!
I was raised Roman Catholic and hated every minute of it. I'm afraid I was just too smart to ever accept there being some form or higher power, especially when all of these religions revolve around books written by "prophets" and actual human beings...with flaws. (as all humans contain). I just couldnt ever grasp the fact that I was meant to spend my life as a follower. I often get told that "its better to have lived as though its true and to die and find out it was false, than to live as though it was false and find out it was true".
I really cant blame people for trying to make me religious again, but it just wont happen for me.
I'm one of those, if you cant see it, feel it, eat it, smell it, or hear it, its not there people.
My mom made me go to church until I got my confirmation, then she said I could do whatever I liked. So I havent been since, and that's going on 5 or 6 years now. All my confirmation was to me was free gifts and a family gathering full of "the food that got me fat". Which I adore.
I do however enjoy attending youth groups, participating in Catholic Heart WorkCamp for 5 years (even after I was confirmed and left the church) because I liked the people who were in my youth group.
I was raised by a Protestant Dad who didn't go to church and a Wiccan mother. I am Wiccan, and although it is a religion, I consider myself a spiritual person rather than a religious. I do like to go to gatherings with other with Wiccans or Pagans on occasion just to feel the power that a group has - otherwise I practice alone.
This is an interesting thread. A good many of my sons friends attend Sunday School and CCD (I think thats what it is called) - but their parents NEVER step foot into a church - I think that is so hypocritical. From what his friends have said to him - most hate going and can't wait until they are done - forcing religion on someone pushes them away from it - IMO.
I was raised in an Evangelical Lutheran Church...baptised, was Mary in the 6th grade nativity play, confirmed and then taught sunday school for 10 years from 1990 - 2000 all at the same church and LOVED it. It was a large church with lots of people. One could come and go and not be noticed or be part of large groups and make it part of your social life. I was on the church bowling league (love the pastor's team name, the Holy Rollers!) and the pastor was the coolest (although he had creepy little tiny hands...never gotover that).
Then I moved away from Rochester and up here where the only ELC church is a good 45 mins away...in good weather...and has about 50 people total attending. Including my parents. Who have become ANNOYINGLY nosey about who was there this week and who has been missing for a couple weeks and must certainly be being sinful or whatever. So, I skipped the ELC to go to the Methodist church in town here. Another tiny, annoyingly nosey congregation and PUSHY to volunteer for everything. And the pastor is majorly creepy. If I don't go to church for a couple weeks, he sees me in the post office and acts like an old boyfriend that I just dumped. I was teaching an after school religion class on MOndays and he was supposed to be helping, but he'd just sit in the corner, slowly strumming his guitar watching the kids run laps around the craft table and not helping at all. And, I don't know, I just hate when I don't go for a week or two and people stop me in the store or post office or whereever and go, "Gee...we didn't see you in church this week..." Some people find this to be concern that they are wondering if you're okay, but I just find it being nosey and it drives me NUTS!
Then there was Vacation Bible School. They said there was going to be a meeting to get things set up for VBS and if you're interested in helping out...HELPING OUT...then come to the meeting. Well, I got to the meeting and it had been decided that, since I"m a stay-at-home mom, that I have plenty of time on my hands to be 'in charge' of the whole thing! Really, I just wanted to sign up to bring snacks and do a craft or to. I am a totally disorganized fool when it comes to things like this and I'm a much better helper than boss. Besides, as my husband puts it, we don't sacrifice an entire paycheck (mine) so that I can volunteer out my time...it's so I can take care of our kids! I gave them back their curriculum and never went back. And I do miss church very much. there is talk of the pastor leaving and if he does, I may go back to the Methodist church, but for more reasons than I've listed, I'm just too creeped out there to go there when he's there.
I do miss it being a part of my kids' life,though. I loved Sunday School when I was a kid.
My parents are a real pain, too, in my daughter's being the age of being confirmed and tell me, "We really want her to be confirmed and to go to confirmation classes! It's important to us!" Well, mom and dad, I appreciate your concern, but she's MY daughter and it's MY decision and your persistantness is making me NOT want to go to church at all anymore. If you know what I"m saying.
I grew up in a Christian sect, but left it long ago and have since resigned. I am a Buddhist, and by that I mean that I'm a practicing member of Buddhism in the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism (Tibetan). Many people are interested in Buddhist thought without doing the practices or "belonging" to a sect, and that's fine!
Buddhism doesn't have set days of "worship," since we do not worship a creator god. Many local groups do have regular meetings, though, during which we practice together (meditate, recite scriptures, etc.).
One's teacher and the teacher's spiritual lineage are important in Buddhism, and so a practitioner will try to attend teachings that the teacher presents during the year. In the U.S. one often has to travel for this purpose.
One of the most uplifting spiritual experiences I have had was seeing the Dalai Lama in person when he came to the Ft. Lauderdale area in 2004. He is such a gentle and peaceful person. One famous quotation of his is, "My religion is kindness." He embodies that principle.
I was one of those kids whose parents ship them off to Sunday School but don't attend church themselves. I think that turned me off the church from an early age! My father was totally indifferent towards religion - I have no idea what his personal beliefs were. My mother's opinion was "I believe in God but I don't believe in the church" and that stuck with me for a long time.
I'm a very spiritual person, so although I never felt comfortable in church, I have spent a lot of my life looking for a spiritual home. At one point this home was a pagan group of friends, where I was very happy and spiritually fulfilled. Unfortunately, such groups have a tendency to disperse, due to non-spiritual issues (like work) and I have yet to find a similar group anywhere. In my previous town I did start attending church again, more for a place to be spiritual with my family (now I have children) and did find great companionship and fellowship. As someone who looks to the commonalities within religion, I am not fond of any "one-true-way" viewpoints, but can agree to disagree on certain points. I enjoyed my time in that spiritual family.
Unfortunately my experience with churches recently is that they are desperate to survive, and in that context, there is far too much emphasis on getting people to volunteer, stewardship etc. Even in the church I enjoyed, there were WAY too many sermons centred around how much one should be giving etc. I haven't found a church I am comfortable with here, so I don't go. Part of that is being rural - DH drives into the city to work every day, I don't want to always be doing that on Sunday also.
So we don't go to church. I'm not unhappy about it - to me church has always been more about fellowship than spirituality anyhow.
Jax
Wow - lots of people who were raised Catholic here... including me! I went to Catholic elementary school until 5th grade and did communion, confession, confirmation (the whole Catholic shabang).
I don't currently attend church and haven't for around a year, though I do feel like perhaps I should. I'm not sure if I want to attend Catholic church or somewhere else, as Catholic church services, to me, are not the most entertaining things. They're solemn and all the stand-sit-stand-sit-kneel-stand-sit stuff drives me crazy!
I have a very strong relationship with God (I think...) - I pray all the time, whether it's to request something, thank Him, or just say hi. I do consider myself to be a spiritual person and am even thinking of getting a tattoo of a scripture verse: Matthew 7:12 (It's the passage that says, "Do unto others as you would wish to have done unto you." - of course, I'll just make everyone look that up! ) I got my girlfriend into praying, too, and before me, she was an agnostic who thought "something was out there" but that was as far as it went.
I do miss church in my life though, and have been thinking about going again. Just... as I mentioned before... I want to find a church first. I want to find a church where I can feel welcome and where I won't have to dress like a frumpy church lady to don acceptable attire. (That seems rare down here! )
I was raised Southern Baptist and usually spent more time at church than any place other than school. I loved it. The youth activities, the choir - I always had the most fun and my best friends were all friends from church. DH was raised Catholic and hated it. He always felt forced to go. When we got married, we avoided the issue by just not discussing it and just not going. We were living a life of sin for sure.
After graduating with his master's, DH got a job in our new town and we both sat down to talk about attending church. We settled on a Baptist church that we both feel comfortable with. We tried several in town before finding one who's doctrine and mission we agreed with. We're both starting to get used to being in church every Sunday and I just joined a women's bible study. It will take a while, but I'm sure the church will eventually be the social center of our lives.
We both take our spiritual walk seriously and pray about everything all the time. We know God's guided us to the best place for us, and we trust Him completely. I think this is the first time in my life that I've trusted God to make the best decisions for me. It feels good to have 100% faith in Him and I hope that my spiritual self continues to grow.
Last edited by Kim_Star060404; 09-13-2007 at 09:56 AM.
I was raised as a Southern Baptist since the age of 10...Dad was a deacon and brother is pastor. I have a very strong faith in God, but I confess that I'm lazy. Sunday morning sleep-ins are hard to give up, but I believe that I need to get back into church as I feel that the spiritual part of my life is becoming a desert. Also, I would for my girls to learn about living a life with God in the center.
I attended a catholic church until the age of 14... i was forced to move from my catholic high school to an agnostic one due to bullying, and the church going ultimately stopped. I DO believe in God, certain little things in my life that happen help me know that he's there. Like my sister becoming pregnant... after all the deaths in my family i knew this was a gift!
I feel bad for not going to church anymore, but i guess i'm just afraid... i don't really know what of. There aren't many people my age that go (i'm 19) and i guess i'd just feel a bit out of place. But i know i'm just making excuses for myself here. I have been going that last few weeks though.
Every single Sunday...I rec'd Christ just almost 4 yrs ago, It'll be 4 yrs in November. When my dd1 was only 6 months old. I was 24. My parents took me occasionally and i do mean VERY rarely on Easter and that stopped when my Great Grandmother passed away, I went off and on thru school only b/c sometimes my friends went and i wanted to be where they were. Now, there's no option, in our house God is first all the time, and that means that we go to corporate worship every week. I believe that it's important to worship weekly with other believers, plus, thats our "family" we're much closer to our church family than our earthly family. My kids LOVE to go, and so do we
I was forced to go to Sunday School as a child and hated it. As a teen and then at the beginning of my first marriage, I was seeking God in a big way and tried to fit into my parents' Baptist church (with the Preacher's crazy wife stalking my father and his son torturing small animals in the woods behind the church). When I finally found Her, it was a day of rejoicing. I'm Pagan through and through, as is my new husband. We celebrate our 8 Sabbats as well as the cycle of the Moon with either family Circle or a group ritual with other Pagans. My sons aren't particularly religious either way but my daughters (15 and 3) are little Witches at heart. So I suppose, if you consider attending or celebrating your Sabbats with some sort of commemoration to be the definition of religious, then we are a religious family. I prefer to call it spirtuality, myself. We are moral, stable, happy, law-abiding, ethical and kind people.
I think this thread is great an I am so impressed with the way eveyone is listening to each other and not arguing! Well done!
Extremely brief background: I was raised Pentecostal (the people who speak in tongues and fall down under the power, etc.). Long story short: I don’t attend church; I’ll spare my personal reasons. I'd like to add that I'm also very impressed with everyone's contribution in keeping this a discussion and not an argument.
Basically, I agree with the statement: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
I can respect those who go because they know and understand what benefit they’re getting out of it, but I have difficulty with people who consider it a means to an end, in and of itself (I’ve met many of the latter, very few of the former).
) I got my girlfriend into praying, too, and before me, she was an agnostic who thought "something was out there" but that was as far as it went. 
I'm Pagan through and through, as is my new husband. We celebrate our 8 Sabbats as well as the cycle of the Moon with either family Circle or a group ritual with other Pagans. My sons aren't particularly religious either way but my daughters (15 and 3) are little Witches at heart. So I suppose, if you consider attending or celebrating your Sabbats with some sort of commemoration to be the definition of religious, then we are a religious family. I prefer to call it spirtuality, myself. We are moral, stable, happy, law-abiding, ethical and kind people. 
