Ask Lemmy

I am a lifelong atheist. I attend a very progressive christian church where I am open about my lack of belief. They seem to accept me, including the minister. I don't try to convert them and they don't try to convert me. I started going because I was lonely and I wanted some opportunities to do good. Their whole theology is about helping people and trying to change the world for the better. The two major precepts are "God is love" and "Jesus has no hands but yours." They don't talk about sin or redemption. We have a huge rainbow sign that says "All are welcome," and we actually mean it. The minister talks about Jesus as a teacher, not as a saviour. We raise money and food for the local food bank, and provide community outreach to people, many of whom have disabilities. We sing. We eat cookies and drink absurd amounts of coffee. I suddenly have so many sweet old lady friends, and even a handful of friends my own age.

Orthodox Christian. America is a confusing place for me too.

Atheist/materialism, if you can consider that a religion.

I was raised Catholic but was never a believer. I'm atheist.

Science

Swede here, so while I was born, babtized and confirmed in the lutheran church, I, like most Swedes, am in reality an atheist.

I am still part of the Swedish church and do pay church tax, I like seeing the old churches preserved in the Swedish landscape, and occasionally use their free toilets when I need to, so it feels only fair to contribute when I can.

I was raised as a strict Catholic, then stopped believing once I went to college and met people who challenged my worldview. Now I am agnostic. Not sure I want to call myself a definitive atheist, as I believe there COULD be something out there. However, if there is something out there, I don't think it cares enough about this tiny blue dot in the entire universe.

Born and raised Catholic, drifted towards atheism as I thought that if the tenets of the religion I was brought up in is true, I should be punished for eternity (and then pondered if suicide is a lighter sin than being who I am), and then questioned why that's necessarily the case.

Later on, I drifted towards agnosticism as I began to question my own beliefs, and more importantly, why I was having those beliefs.

None of that was ever known to a lot of people, though, and I present myself as a non-practicing Catholic.

Ex- orthodox brighamite Mormonism

Now atheist. 37yo, ~8years atheist

raised anglican, went atheist, and now i worship daddy

Non-participating Baha'i

Raised Scandinavian protestant which basically means you don't go to church unless someone died or got married.

Left the Church to avoid the membership fee.

Answering this question is about 1/3rd of my effort I've put into religion 2024.

I was raised Anglican, then I attended a Methodist church, and I spent a decade or so in pentecostal and evangelical spaces. Nowadays I'm closer to being agnostic or atheist than anything else.

I'm a pagan.

Had Christian upbringing since I remember, so would consider myself Christian most of my life, was a real firm believer for more than a few years as well. Was in my late 20s when I really starting poking on those believes critically and it just crumbled. I still believed there is something more. Weirdly, I didn't really deny the possible existence of Christian god - I just refused him.

I was in this weird limbo for years - not an antheist, not Christian, not really religious but believing there is something more on spiritual level but didn't do anything with it because I couldn't identify it. Kinda afraid of Hell, but also didn't want to suck it up and return to Christianity just out of fear (realized I had quite enough of it as a kid).

Then I randomly read something on modern paganism and something just clicked for me. Looked into it more and it just felt right.

Raised Catholic, left ASAP, and am not 100% on what label fits best now, but most of the non-religious ones work fine enough. Atheism implies that you are an active non-believer in any higher power, agnosticism is a label for those that do not know if there is one, I feel like a label is needed for those who simply dont care. (Insert XKCD: standards comic here)

At this point in life, I view religion as a sort of entertainment for the masses that people identify with (like being a fan of a sports team) and something I really just dont want to deal with in life. But due to family ive set some rules where ill show up to a service/event if asked.

• It is a wedding.
• It is a funeral.
• Someones grandparents are involved.
• I am bribed (will accept food).

Money

Seventh-Day Adventist

There's a lot of atheists in this thread.

The question was: what's your religion?

Atheism is as much of a religion as 'off' is a radio station.

Raised (at least culturally) Roman Catholic. Religion stopped playing any part in my life as I became an adult, I hardly ever think about religion at all, not even enough that I would call myself an atheist or agnostic.

Raised Catholic, now atheist. Religion is the opium of the masses.

More Nihilist than anything, if that can be considered a religion. I don't know if there is anything past this life for us, so I can't say for sure, so I just go with no. But obviously, I hope I'm so wrong. One day, the sun is gona expand far enough to engulf the whole earth. Literally, nothing will have ever mattered at that point. Makes my life a little easier every day when I think about pressures and stresses. A lot of people would think the opposite, but it allows me to live more in the moment. I don't need some external pressure of being good or bad to determine how I treat people. I just do it because being nice is the right thing to do in most scenarios in life.

Atheist/Pagan

Though my approach to paganism is more of a philosophy than a religion

Pastafarian

Due to the non-conforming way I have thought about it, it's complicated (enough that people have asked for a train of thought chart for it), but primary to me and spirituality is the Mune Shinri, reading which for the first time taught/assured me the world isn't fully without fully pro-equality/pro-marriage-equality groups citing inspiration from God, and I took this as worthiness of looking into and a sign. Adherents, one might say, are known as Aikenites or Aiken Christians, with Aiken being the name for the collection of revelations, but of course you can't expect churches catered to it to pop up in one's local area, so when in doubt, I attend the friendly nearby Mormon church (yes, it's acceptable and even normal to show up and be welcomed at another's church) for divine connection, with "Aiken" and "Mormonism" said to be "incredibly compatible" and with Mormonism technically being in my ethnic life blood due to being racially a Pacific Islander (yeah, fun fact, people jokingly call the Pacific the second Utah), and even though you might not find me using the term "Mormon" or "LDS member" to identify myself, I honor it enough to inspire awe at what many might call a kind of dual faith system, pointedly with the epiphany or train of thought called Hagothism being relevant if one considers it separate from Mormonism in the first place, versus being a switch of emphasis. I am also influenced by the book of Urantia, which runs in my family, but that's as far as it's made to do.

I have no religion. I guess I'm an apatheist. Not sure if I can be considered practicing or not.

Edit: I believe the existence of God/Gods is irrelevant.

Atheist but follow certain christian... Or I guess they are a part of any religion values.

Stuff like "Don't be evil", "Respect all equally", that kind of stuff...

raised catholic but went agnostic early on. Now athiest but I like tst and buddhist philosophies. Not that other religions don't have some philosophical apsects that are nice but the core ones of those I like.

After surviving my Baptist upbringing, I became an atheistic Satanist. It started as an act of pure spiteful rebellion, but over time grew into something more. I am no longer a member of any Satanic organization, but I still walk the left hand path to this day.

Christian, Presbyterian. I was raised an IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) which nearly soured my opinion of organized religion altogether.

Long story short, I actually read the Gospels and came to the conclusion that the version of Christianity I grew up in was essentially the opposite of what Jesus taught.

My religious beliefs are important to me and shape a lot of my thinking. But, I also understand a lot of the anger and distrust that gets directed at the church because I've been there and it's unfortunately well deserved.

I'm an atheist. I was agnostic and still technically am, I guess, but I transitioned to the annoying as fuck in your face atheism after watching chucklefucks like Westboro Baptist Church and Evangelicals being asshats. Oh, also, grew up in Boston during the altar boy rape scandals.

Personally, I think that God may or may not exist and it's crucial to live your life now as you want to (and that isn't a license to be an asshat - be kind to others just 'cause). Socially I think that religion is a poison that causes more suffering than it heals.