Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped us

[FetFnask]

We all come from different places, and different upbringings in those places. Add individuality to that and we get a wide range of different people.
The goal of my post is to talk about how we all have encountered, or not, religion in our lives up until now and how that has, or not, affected us.

I'm Swedish, born in the Stockholm area and as far as I can tell I am a 4th generation atheist. My parents forced nothing on me, no religion or lack thereof and no ideology. My father is a janitor and a man I respect greatly, he is hard working, kind and very well liked in the community where he land my mother lives. His atheism is what I think will be the result of a secular society. He does not reflect on the matter at all. No gods, no spirits, nothing supernatural enters his world view. I've asked him about it and he never even contemplated the possibility of a god, even though he could easily verbalize his opposition to theism when I asked him. I believe he is the modern, regular, atheist.

I have had no friends that were religious, some consider themselves spiritual but when that is probed it most often boils down to assertive agnosticism combined with romantic wishful thinking. Something I think we all can sympathize with.

Even moderate religious people are considered weird in almost the same way that the fundamentalists are here.

I've had no religious teachers, influential authority figures, books, TV shows or anything else major during my youth and even less during adulthood. Politicians in Sweden avoid expressing religious belief, even the party Kristdemokraterna (The Christ Democrats) keeps their belief low key and focus more on traditional christian values. A reverse to the US If i interpret the political climate across the pond correctly. There you will most likely not be elected to a political office without faith, here it is the other way around.

All of this has helped shape me into the person I am today. I've often wondered where my more militant atheism and even anti-theism comes from since there isn't really any opposition for secularism in Sweden. I believe it stems from my loathing of being wrong. I hate it. And sometimes the frustration I feel when I do not understand something appears when other people are irrational. Perhaps a form of sympathy for the irrational. I don't really know.

Anyway, what I would find very interesting is to hear what shaped you into the person you are, the person frequenting this forum and others like it. The person that loves science and the never-ending search for a truth we can never truly find.

Share whatever you like or just voice opinions on what is already posted.

Thank you for your attention.

/FF

 

[monitoradiation]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I grew up in Asia and so my religious influences are closer to the whole ancestor-worship thing that is more cultural superstitious than religious. It was not until I immigrated to Canada that I realized that people took these bible stories seriously, and even then I didn't realize that some people believed that the world was 6000 years old.

Lots of things shaped who I am, but I'd have to say religion is one of the things that least affected me growing up, and I'm pretty thankful for that.

 

[nasher168]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I live in the UK, which is still an officially christian nation. However, ironically, people over here take religion a lot less seriously than in the secular US. In primary school (ages 4-11) we sang hymns and prayed in every assembly, but very few of the kids took it seriously. In secondary school (ages 11-18), they are supposed to provide daily group worship, but that seems to be casually ignored, as we never had prayers or hymns except when a vicar came in-which only happened about five or six times during my entire secondary education. Even when a vicar does come in, only a very small minority of the students would actually bow their heads. The rest would be suppressing laughter or whispering amongst themselves.
Neither of my parents are religious (atheist Dad, agnostic Mum), so I never had to go to church or anything like that. As a result, religion has had bugger all influence on my throughout my life. Unsurprisingly perhaps, I ended up atheist.

 

[Prolescum]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

^^ As above, the British form of Christianity is mainly cups of tea with the vicar and something to pass the time on Sunday while the food is roasting...

I was brought up without faith or Santa Claus, didn't really affect me (my parents took me to the toy shops for Christmas when I was little) 'til I went to a Catholic secondary school for a couple of years.
I'm more interested in how it's affected us historically, whether it's a natural consequence of sentience, to make sense of the environment and our place within it or if it just popped into the head of a megalomaniac/drug-user/fruitbat one day. That sort of thing, anyway...

I'm not an anti-theist, I think every lesson is valuable, but reason and rationality are paramount.

C.P. Scott said, "It is well to be frank; it is even better to be fair".

 

[MRaverz]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I also live in the UK, so my story is pretty similar to nasher's. Religious assemblies in Primary school, along with harvest festivals etc. Secondary school had next to no religious content, in fact... I don't think it had any at all. My secondary school was awesome too, you don't need to pray in school to get moral behaviour. ;D Sixth Form however, has a chapel - which state schools aren't allowed, but I now go to an independent school (due to a massive discount, we're not rich or anything :lol: ). The level of Christian and Rule Britannia nonsense which goes on there is really quite annoying, especially as education seems to take second place to it.

But I'm not bitter, oh not at all. :lol:


Parentwise, my mother is a sceptic who calls herself a Christian just because it's the done thing, not sure if my father is the same or not - he mentions a spirit or a god or whatever but doesn't seem to give it much thought. I guess that makes my mother a sceptic and my father an apathetic or agnostic. Rest of the family is pretty irreligious, some mention of Christianity for traditions sake and a couple more religious aunties - both grandfathers are atheist and both grandmothers seem to be apathetic or agnostic.

 

[Warhawk57]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I grew up going to church, went to a fundamentalist school for 12 years and have had no personnal contact with another atheist.... Dispite being bombarded with freinds,school peer presure to convert to christ i have maintained my atheism. When I was young I always imagined grown ups making up this God charecter as a ploy for children to behave themselves. (Obvously I have changed my theory)

It is incredably difficult to keep a clear perpective when the world is pumping so much information into your head from all sides, it is your job to make sure that the information that you accept as trueth is not because of emotional reasons or circumstances but because it is fact!

 

[australopithecus]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

From the UK too.

Typical Irish/Catholic kind of religious upbringing, mum is a catholic though my dad seems to lean towards agnosticism either by not caring or not knowing. Was sent to catholic schools for both pirmary and secondary and was somewhat invited made to be an altar boy. Thankfully the priests weren't terrible rapists, in fact they were good guys. Except the alcoholic one. Anyway, I never had a bad experience I just decided over the course of a year or so that the idea of god(s) was no different to tooth fairies or unicorns and as such should be treated with the same skepticism (after an admittedly immature and possibly TV inspired 2 month dabble in 'wicca'...lolz). It was also at this point I started blowing stuff up with magnesium strips in science class and though I'd also had a big interest in science (I wanted to be a palenotologist at the age of 6 and an astronomer soon after) it was actually getting hands on with all the coolest bits of physics, chemistry and biology that really fully planted my science geekdom.

But then I went and did an art degree instead. Oh well....

tl;dr

ex-catholic, god unlikely, science awesome! Art!

 

[Obadhai]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

From the U.S., "Bible Belt" no less.

I grew up in a secular household but was exposed to religion at a very early age through a third party. I can remember reading my first picture bible when I was around 8 or 9 and recall being totally freaked out with the idea of what was to come when we died. I had no reference or knowledge other than exactly what was read. Never touched a bible or church again until forced to as a teen when my mom decided to have a "religious" experience. I saw, first hand, a LOT of hipocrasy in numerous different churches. At one point I was forced to a teen camp where, very late at night, we were all forced to drag a very large, wooden cross around a field so we could "get" what jesus went through. Thankfully, my detached nature never allowed me to get into any of it. Sure, I studied a lot, but it simply made no logical sense.

In college, I studied philosophy, religion, science and psychology (my major) and have finally settled on theistic agnosticism based on personal experience, observation and a logical thought process attributed through careful analysis of what we do and, more importantly, what we do not know. I cannot, at this point, deny that life appears to have a driving force behind it that we do not yet understand. Whether it is a conscious entity or not, I can't say.

 

[MRaverz]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

From the U.S., "Bible Belt" no less.

I grew up in a secular household but was exposed to religion at a very early age through a third party. I can remember reading my first picture bible when I was around 8 or 9 and recall being totally freaked out with the idea of what was to come when we died. I had no reference or knowledge other than exactly what was read. Never touched a bible or church again until forced to as a teen when my mom decided to have a "religious" experience. I saw, first hand, a LOT of hipocrasy in numerous different churches. At one point I was forced to a teen camp where, very late at night, we were all forced to drag a very large, wooden cross around a field so we could "get" what jesus went through. Thankfully, my detached nature never allowed me to get into any of it. Sure, I studied a lot, but it simply made no logical sense.

In college, I studied philosophy, religion, science and psychology (my major) and have finally settled on theistic agnosticism based on personal experience, observation and a logical thought process attributed through careful analysis of what we do and, more importantly, what we do not know. I cannot, at this point, deny that life appears to have a driving force behind it that we do not yet understand. Whether it is a conscious entity or not, I can't say.

Life has a driving force? You're being a bit vague there, could you elaborate?

 

[creamcheese]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

From the US.
My parents aren't very talkative, but they live like apathetics/atheists; religion simply doesn't come up and was never a part of my life growing up. My Mother went to Catholic high school, but mostly for the better education than the local schools. I guess you could say my parents were my biggest influence in that regard. I also live in a very multicultural region and hence am exposed to a wide variety of religions/cultural traditions/whatever BS.

 

[Your Funny Uncle]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

My dad was raised as a Catholic but as soon as he left home he abandoned it all. My grandparents apparently wanted me baptised but he wouldn't attend the ceremony and the priest wouldn't do it without him. Despite spending some time in a convent school I don't think my Mum ever had religion. I never really talked to them about religion until my adult years, and so my experience was pretty similar to that described by the other UK based posters.

My wife was raised as a Catholic in Mexico, where such an upbringing is the norm, but says that she could never find the elusive thing called "faith" that her teachers kept telling her about and didn't think that their teachings made coherent sense. She definitely sees the good side of religion more than I do but doesn't believe in any of it to be true.

 

[Hector]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

My parents became christians when i was 2 then i was brainwashed into becoming a christian. I grew up as a christian ,went to a christian private school and went to church every saturday and sunday. Everything changed when i went into middle school when i began to question myself and "my religion" . I realized that it was pointles and pretty stupid to believe in imaginary beings, from then on i became an athiest. All that brainwashing over the years still left its mark on me i still had remorse for not going to church anymore then i remind myself that religion is all a smoke screen. Now i am 15 and happy being an athiest.

 

[Demojen]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

My mother was presbytarian and my father was roman catholic. Neither were particularly religious, despite their alleged beliefs. Back when they were young, you believed even if you didn't. It was a part of growing up. It was going through the motions.

They never instilled in us the necessity of God, though certainly spared no threat telling us how much they'd punish us, instead.

When I was nine years old I went to my first sunday school. I wasn't particularly impressed despite the environment. I had alot of friends so didn't need the familial environment the church encouraged.

At this time I did not care about God. Cartoons back then featured the teenage mutant ninja turtles and the closest thing to god in my life were comics depicting Thor.

My next major crossroads with religion was when my sister decided she was pagan. I thought she was nuts. She practiced weird rituals and believed in strange superstitions. Later on she got involved with a Christian who spent their entire relationship trying to convert her to christianity. That was when I got my first bible. I read the book cover to cover, disgusted after the long read with the incredible number of inconsistencies and gross exagerations made in the Church.

Over the course of nearly a decade, I watched her fall into the well of lies and deceit offered by those proponents of the bible and I offered her a critical thought now and then. I wanted her to ask the people who were brain washing her, the questions that were on my mind because I wanted her to see first hand, the veil being pulled over her eyes.

She eventually dropped Christianity and acknowledged paganism as just a passing phase. She's a critical thinker. I'm a critical thinker. Neither of us believe in the god of bibles and scripture. I don't believe in any god, but I'm sure she believes in something god-like.

I've never tried to convert her, only to encourage her to think critically.
I am now involved in a number of philosophy groups that debate various topics every day. I still don't believe in god.

 

[Spaceboy]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I was raised as a catholic by my catholic mother and atheist father, under some contractual obligation to raise me as a christian as proof of the sincerity of their marriage. (I know...unusual. At least that's what I understand)

The plus side of this is that I have an at least passing knowledge of christian scripture, or at minimum the more palatable aspects of it. At the age of 11 I realised most of it was bollocks, and at the age of 16 I noticed a lot of it was dangerous. My Irish grandmother was a fantastic influence in my childhood, in that she regarded religion as a personal persuasion, and largely ignored the teachings of the mainstream church in favour of her own ideals.

Religion as a whole has left me largely unscathed. I remember praying with my mother before bed at a young age, but the only aspect of catholicism I have retained is to "love others as you would yourself", aka the golden rule. I also have a basic understanding of the rituals and popular teachings of the church, which are of course invaluable in dialogue with catholics. However, I would argue that whatever religion has given me, I could have obtained with my own free interest and a decent moral compass, which of course does not derive from religion.

However I always regard churches, at least in the UK, as meeting places for a wide range of people, amongst whom are a fair few intelligent, interesting characters that I much enjoy the company of.

 

[Felfirez]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

I was raised in a strict Muslim family. Both my parents are devote Muslims, so are the rest of my aunts and uncles. I went through religious classes while young and graduated to the level equivalent to graduating from high school, while at the same time, taking my technical diploma, and since then have not attend any other courses. My family members are very wary of the Islamic teachings, but they strangely don't understand the Qur'an. As for me, after all the classes, teachings and influences, I end up an atheist.

From young I couldn't understand some illogical claims by my religious teachers. I've read the Qur'an, translated in English and understand it. At that young age, I somehow managed to reason and ask, how could anyone worship such violent and ruthless God? When I asked why is there so much violence and killings in the book I was shunned and was told not to ask too much questions. Being young, I obeyed. As I grew old, the questions became more liberal and I started to question my other Muslim friends about my ideologies. To my surprise, I was given the cold shoulder, shunned out of the group, was called a 'traitor', and told I was 'lost'. They didn't even explain a thing to me. Though most just rather not talk about it because the topic was 'sensitive', the ones that do talk were rather 'hostile' should I say.

From my point of view, my family members are nice, simple people. They care for just about everyone around them, be it of the same religion or not. I feel much oblige to ask them about these matters as I'm afraid of breaking their hearts.

Because of my love for science and technology, my logical thinking and knowledge made me think about religion. Not only Islam, but all religion. For a moment, I felt rather alone with my questions and thoughts because it seems like no one would want to have a reasonable conversation with me regarding religion and the questions that I would ask. As of recently I've been quite liberal with my status as an atheists with people outside of my family. Unknowingly, the people whom I am close to are atheists/agnostics.

 

[MRaverz]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

but the only aspect of catholicism I have retained is to "love others as you would yourself", aka the golden rule.

Let's be fair, that rule has been around since Egyptian times.

 

[Spaceboy]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

Really?
If that's the case, the catholic version's still the only modern manifestation i've ever encountered of it.

 

[MRaverz]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

Really?
If that's the case, the catholic version's still the only modern manifestation i've ever encountered of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule

It's found practically everywhere and in almost every faith.

 

[Briton]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

Family non religious. Spent some time at a Church of England school but had no heavy indoctrination. Never believed any of the Christian claims. Became interested in atheism/secularism/rationalism after working in Saudi Arabia.

 

[Spaceboy]

Re: Our personal experiences with religion and how it shaped

Really?
If that's the case, the catholic version's still the only modern manifestation i've ever encountered of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule

It's found practically everywhere and in almost every faith.

Ooh, interesting. I never assumed a moral as basic as that was originally derived from religion, but it's nice to see it dates quite so far back.