Which religion do you embrace?

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I'll start. I found the greatest spiritual identification with Buddhism. I was born a Catholic but realized a pull to Buddhism when I was 12 years old. It started, believe it or not, from a 1970's televison show starring David Carradine. He played the part of a wayward Buddhist monk. It was called "Kung Fu". After studying Buddhism, Catholism was all but a memory. Besides, it was way too social for me. Buddism provided me with solitude and I liked looking "within" for answers to life's questions. Being Christian/Catholic meant going to church and spreading the word. Too social for me. Buddhism gave me adequate space where Catholism suffocated me with "other people". Buddhism forced me to examine my own head and heart instead of blindly following "commandments", not eating meat on Fridays, and going to Hell.

Advaita Vedanta [brach of Hinduism]
i think god is a divine equation or universal calculation
i like Buddhism too and loved Carradine in that series

Last edited by alba on 15 Jan 2009, 12:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I used to be Buddhist, after being brought up Anglican, but now I'm really a mix of a lot of religions. Primarily still Buddhist, but also a bit of Wiccan and all that. I like religions that respect nature and other people's differences, instead of the self-righteous preachy religions.

I inherited a religious tradition from my parents. I can't rightly say I embrace it in the sense of wanting to give it a loving hug. If I had my druthers I would be a ben Noach, one who follows the Noachic Laws (there are seven). Compare that with the 613 commandments found in the TNKH (Hebrew Bible) plus hundreds and hundreds of rabinnic laws found in the Talmud.

The laws are:

The seven laws listed by the Tosefta and the Talmud are:

1. Prohibition of Idolatry: You shall not have any idols before God.
2. Prohibition of Murder: You shall not murder. (Genesis 9:6)
3. Prohibition of Theft: You shall not steal.
4. Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity: You shall not commit adultery.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy: You shall not blaspheme God's name.
6. Dietary Law: Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. (Genesis 9:4)
7. Requirement to have just Laws: You shall set up an effective judiciary to enforce the preceding six laws fairly.

And that is it! Even an atheist can keep these laws. Why? Atheists would not worship idols nor would that blaspheme an entity whose existence they either do not believe or which they deny. They rest are just rules of good behavior.

Other customs could be added such as being charitable to the needy and generally polite to people. Number 6, above, can be extended to not committing cruel acts upon animals.

ruveyn

I'm Zen Buddhist / Advaita Vedanta. But I wouldn't not call either a religion. The word "religion" has many bad connotations, not least of which is the concept of "belief" or "faith" which is alien to Buddhism and Vedanta. Both are concerned with the discovery of the nature of truth and reality for oneself and not with the swallowing of statements by other people or so called religious books.

Even the Buddha said "If you see Buddha on the road kill him".

Same with Buddhism.

The five precepts, if I remember rightly, are:

1) Do not kill
2) Do not steal.
3) Do not tell lies.
4) Do not commit adultery.
5) Do not drink, smoke, or do drugs.

So really, the hardest one to keep is the not drinking part, and after a while I figured that as Buddhism is a flexible religion, drinking in moderation should be ok.

(Though maybe the amount I had on Xmas Eve wasn't the technical definition of "moderation", but hey.)

Church of Scientology because it's sure way to get well without the use of meds or anything unnatural.

I'm an atheist Theravada Buddhist.

but also a devout Pastafarian.

I love the fact that neither of these codes includes anything about maiming people without killing them.

I admire Buddhists and respect their beliefs. I would like to be a practicing buddhist but unfortunately I pretty much fail at mindfulness. I'm sure it would make me a better person... In the meantime I'm just a plain 'ol agnostic (which is really not mutually exclusive from buddism anyway).

My mom had me baptized into the United Church. While I am not a fan of christanity, I am at least greatful that if I had to be a member, it was in the United Church.

I grew distant from christanity and religion in general and I think my father had a role in that, and it all began with the middle-east fighting I was always see in the news, dad would tell me that religion is the cause of most wars and explaned to me why.

I stopped going to church (dispite the anger of my mom) and since I stopped, my father stopped too.

My mom showed me the ugly side of religion, and my dad never really supported it.

since then I became a pagan but in the past year I think I have become a open-minded athiest. The ONLY reason that I cannot dissmiss gods or spirits is because no one knows for a fact what happens after we die.

So I guess the athiest in me doesn't like religion in general, and the pagan in me says there could be a afterlife and spirits around us.

are you serious lol?

me, pagan.

Are you serious?

Semi-practicing Lutheran here.

Yeah why?