# Have you changed from the religion that you were born into?



## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

It strikes me that many change due to coming from a dysfunctional family or as part of a teenage rebellion.  Me?  It was for both of the aforementioned.  And you?


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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

NO I have never changed, but then I was born into a Mixed religious family. My mother was a staunch Catholic and my father was a Calvinist. She felt she did wrong in marrying him, and they fought about religion their whole married life..so although I was sent to Sunday school as a child, I have never followed an organised religion.


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## oldman (Feb 10, 2015)

I was born into the Episcopalian religion, but married a Methodist girl. We had one Pastor from each church perform the service, which was not unusual for that time era. I joined my wife's church when the daughter (our first child) was born.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Ahhh, yes, Sunday school, I was sent,too, but it didn't take in my case either...


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Men seem to follow the wife's religion when it comes to children...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

I was raised strict Catholic.  My mom converted to marry my dad although she rarely went to church.  I enjoyed church as a kid, but was forced to continue to go to church and catechism class as a teenager which I did not want to do.  Got married at 18 and that was the end of that. I have been to mass quite a few times since but I'm not a Christian. My husband is Catholic. He says I'm genetically Catholic  but doesn't care that I don't go to mass with him. 

I swore I'd never force religion on my kids like it was on me, and I didn't. 

I've researched all the different types of belief systems out of curiosity and I was a 'Celtic Pagan' for years.  Then I explored Buddhism.  I am unlabeled but I do lean toward Zen Buddhism and try to practice it.  I'm not really an atheist but I think many of us believe in a higher power as it's comforting.  It's nice to think of our deceased loved ones as being in some lovely heaven looking down on us.


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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

Not in _my_ family ralphy...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> Not in _my_ family ralphy...



Or mine.


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## Bee (Feb 10, 2015)

My mother was a Wesleyan Methodist and married my father a Scottish Presbyterian in a Church of England Church, 2 brothers were baptised Wesleyan Methodist another brother and myself were baptised in the Church of England.............religion was never spoken about in our family home and we had free choice as to whether we went to Sunday school or not.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Well, of course not, you were heathens.  So, I should have said that if a wife was following a traditional religion...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Well, of course not, you were heathens.  So, I should have said that if a wife was following a traditional religion...



My mother was raised methodist.  

Heathen is misused by christians, Ralphy.  It's actually one who is polytheistic.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

You are definitely a heathen by telling us of your religious (lack of) journey you fit the definition perfectly...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> You are definitely a heathen by telling us of your religious (lack of) journey you fit the definition perfectly...



Lack of?  Paganism is polytheistic and is certainly a religion.  Buddhism is not a religion, it's a philosophy.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

You might think about repenting while you can and getting good with the Christian God.  Come to think of it, maybe I should, too, as my days run out...


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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)

I was born into the Lutheran faith... Missouri synod..   It was forced on me from the age of 4 until 18 when I married a Baptist.  I didn't follow his religion... neither did he I might add.    In later years I tried another denomination of Lutheran. (American Lutheran)....  then Methodist.... I toyed with Universal Unitarian..  Now I do not practice a particular denomination.   My agnosticism always gets in the way.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> You might think about repenting while you can and getting good with the Christian God.  Come to think of it, maybe I should, too, as my days run out...



Uh huh. Whatever.  layful:


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Who would have thunk it, this forum is weighted down with heathens...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Who would have thunk it, this forum is weighted down with heathens...



and you don't like heathens becuzzzzz?


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

I was a was born a Protestant, became an agnostic, moved on to be an agnostic, then a pantheist/hedonist (mostly the latter these days) but may have a deathbed conversion just to play it safe, and I recommend the same for all of you, my fellow heathens...


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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

LOL....you make I lafff Ralphy...... :lofl: probably that's a heathen trait...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> I was a was born a Protestant, became an agnostic, moved on to be an agnostic, then a pantheist/hedonist (mostly the latter these days) but may have a deathbed conversion just to play it safe, and I recommend the same for all of you, my fellow heathens...



Haha!  You're just a troublemaker!  I'm a hedonist as well.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Troublemaker?  No way, just telling it like it is or, perhaps, should be...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Troublemaker?  No way, just telling it like it is or, perhaps, should be...



Actually, troublemakers can be okay.  I've been known to be one sometimes.  :bigwink:


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Hmmm, troublemakers, heathens, hedonists, could this forum be possessed?


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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)




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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)




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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Hmmm, troublemakers, heathens, hedonists, could this forum be possessed?




I'm all 3 always have been...UH OH< watch out nice people we're coming after ya...


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 10, 2015)

Perhaps an exorcism is in order...


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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> I'm all 3 always have been...UH OH< watch out nice people we're coming after ya...



and eat your babies!!!!


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## Josiah (Feb 10, 2015)

My parents were essentially non religious, but I attended a private school and had to attend a morning chapel service every morning. At the age of 12 I concluded in my own mind that religions were nothing but collections of superstitions. At the time I thought I might me the only atheist in the world and wasn't even familiar with the word. Reading Bertrand Russel at the age of 14 gave me a first inkling that perhaps I wasn't the only person who didn't believe in the existence of god. I will say the headmaster who conducted the chapel services placed a great deal of emphasis on ethics and I still feel that these teaching formed the basis of my moral development. So I do believe that young children should have formal instruction in matters of ethics with particular emphasis on citizenship.


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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

:magnify: LOL , QS...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Perhaps an exorcism is in order...



NOOO!!  I like being possessed!


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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)

mmmm....me too... but it depends on who or what is possessing me..  lol!!


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## AZ Jim (Feb 10, 2015)

Not me Ralphy!   The head turning round and round would hurt too much!!!!


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## QuickSilver (Feb 10, 2015)

Puking pea soup wouldn't be fun either.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 10, 2015)




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## Lon (Feb 10, 2015)

Mom was raised Baptist but never practiced when I was a kid. Dad was raised Seventh Day Adventist from Missionary parents but never followed the faith when I was a kid. I went occasionally to Baptist/Methodist services with a step sister or friends as well as Vacation Bible School. I said my prayers, bowed my head when grace was said, but never really believed as it was all to much like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus for me. I was really a non believer/atheist from an early age but never called my self that because of fear of being rejected socially and business wise. I came out of the closet shortly before retiring and found Secular Humanism to be appropriate for me.
It was something that I could identify with. So today, I refer to myself as a Secular Humanist rather than the more harsh atheist. My avatar is the logo for Secular Humanism.


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## darroll (Feb 10, 2015)

Still a Baptist even though I go to my wife’s Lutheran Church.
The Church is like the military, they teach you manners and right from wrong.


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## Cookie (Feb 10, 2015)

I was born a catholic, but I don't think I'm one anymore, although I never actually got excommunicated or officially left the church.  I think you might call it lapsed.


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## hollydolly (Feb 10, 2015)

darroll said:


> Still a Baptist even though I go to my wife’s Lutheran Church.
> The Church is like the military, they teach you manners and right from wrong.




I think most of us learnt manners and and right from wrong from our parents!!


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## Bee (Feb 10, 2015)

Agreed hollydolly.


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## Butterfly (Feb 10, 2015)

My parents were members of what I consider a very harsh fundamentalist denomination.  I left that as a young woman and later became a Lutheran.


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## rporter610 (Feb 10, 2015)

I was born into a Congregational/Universalist/Unitarian family.  I enjoyed this denomination because it emphasized history and science along with Bible teaching.  For example, although I don't remember the explanation, a high school science teacher explained to my Sunday School class how the burning bush might actually have been burning.

As an older adult, I studied American Indian spirituality and have become a member of a Plains tribe.  I practice that tribe's spiritual ways now.


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## Kitties (Feb 10, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Men seem to follow the wife's religion when it comes to children...



My brother married a Catholic gal from Europe. She wanted to raise the kids Catholic and my brother was fine with it. We are certainly not Catholic. In this case Ralphy was right.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 10, 2015)

Born and raised Catholic, but as an adult, don't practice any organized religion.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 11, 2015)

rporter610 said:


> I was born into a Congregational/Universalist/Unitarian family.  I enjoyed this denomination because it emphasized history and science along with Bible teaching.  For example, although I don't remember the explanation, a high school science teacher explained to my Sunday School class how the burning bush might actually have been burning.
> 
> As an older adult, I studied American Indian spirituality and have become a member of a Plains tribe.  I practice that tribe's spiritual ways now.



When I began searching in my early 40's I was drawn to Native American spirituality. Lot of wisdom there.  But I then diverted to Celtic Paganism.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 11, 2015)

The biggest influence on me was Omar Khayam...


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## Butterfly (Feb 12, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> The biggest influence on me was Omar Khayam...



The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on . . . .


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 12, 2015)

Indeed it does...nthego:


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## Old Fire Fighter (Feb 18, 2015)

Check out Pascal's Wager.


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## Warrigal (Feb 18, 2015)

Pascal's wager is a poor reason for religious faith.
It's not the same thing as agnosticism, which is a much better and more rational position to take.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Yup...


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## jujube (Feb 18, 2015)

I was raised in a religious Protestant family with all the customary church-and-Sunday-School attendance but much to both families' dismay, I got engaged at 18 to a Catholic.  To get my future mother-in-law off my back, I attended conversion classes but constantly got into arguments with the priest conducting the classes and got myself kicked out.  End of conversion, followed soon after by end of engagement.  So I ended up a few years later married to a man who had spent eight years in a Benedictine seminary studying to be a priest, but left before his final vows.  By the time I met him, he was an atheist.  I would call myself a cross between a heathen, agnostic and Christian-at-Large.  I try to live by the Golden Rule (not *always* successful, I'll admit) and I think that's religion enough for me.


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## Falcon (Feb 18, 2015)

Does one have to "practice" religion?  Can't one simply  BE a  Catholic, Methodist, Protestant.....whatever?

Josiah, can you give us the definition?

 Guess I don't get it.  Maybe explains why I don't believe in any "mystic" entity.


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## Warrigal (Feb 18, 2015)

Falcon said:


> Does one have to "practice" religion?  Can't one simply  BE a  Catholic, Methodist, Protestant.....whatever?
> 
> Josiah, can you give us the definition?
> 
> Guess I don't get it.  Maybe explains why I don't believe in any "mystic" entity.



Rewriting your question a bit, I would assert that you cannot be born a Christian although you can be born into a Christian family. Each individual must confirm their commitment when they reach the age of reason. Baptism confers membership of a church but does not confer faith.


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## Cookie (Feb 18, 2015)

In Catholicism, baptismal records exist in the church and there are rites of passage like confirmation. 
It's more complicated in the Jewish religion. In a mixed marriage, if the mother is Jewish, the children are considered Jewish, as it's a matriarchy. There are other more complex factors too, but that's the obvious one I'm aware of. 
I would imagine other religions like Lutheran and Protestant, work the same way as in Catholicism It would depend on baptismal records registered in the church, how the children are brought up.

To me religious affiliation means belonging to a specific church and means something different from faith, in that you can be a Catholic by birth, but no longer practice or believe but it doesn't take away from your ancestry.

But it's worth researching the subject for anyone who is interested in the details.


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## Warrigal (Feb 18, 2015)

Baptism certificates in OZ indicate that the person has been baptised into the "_one holy and apostolic catholic church_" and is recognised by all denominations with the  exception of those that require adult baptism. 

The list of denominations recognising the certificate include Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, Congregational, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Uniting (formerly Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational). I was baptised as an infant in a Methodist church but as an adult applied for membership of the Uniting Church. I could have applied for confirmation as an Anglican or a Catholic but in every case my baptism as a Christian would stand. However, baptism is not a magical process. It does not make one a Christian. 

In my roundabout way, I am saying that I AM a Christian (existential statement) but I worship in the Uniting Church for the most part (affiliation, tradition and custom). I also occasionally partake of the Eucharist in Catholic and Anglican services.


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## Catraoine (Feb 18, 2015)

Absolutely!


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## Capt Lightning (Feb 19, 2015)

I was born into a staunch Presbyterian family.  Marrying a catholic was one of the worst imaginable crimes that you could commit - I have known people to be disowned by their parents and family for doing it.
I had too much religion forced down my throat as a child, and I soon rejected it.  We live a religion free life and the children have not been baptised.


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## jujube (Feb 19, 2015)

Capt Lightning said:


> I was born into a staunch Presbyterian family.  Marrying a catholic was one of the worst imaginable crimes that you could commit - I have known people to be disowned by their parents and family for doing it.
> I had too much religion forced down my throat as a child, and I soon rejected it.  We live a religion free life and the children have not been baptised.



On my mother's side of the family was a cousin who was disowned by her Southern Baptist parents for marrying a Methodist.......the new husband hadn't been "totally immersed", only "sprinkled" and therefore wasn't a "real" Christian in their eyes.   We were raised very, very Protestant and every one of has married a Catholic.  My sister-in-law just about sits at the right hand of the Pope and all of her six kids married Protestants.  She and I have a good laugh over that occasionally.


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