Religion and spirituality

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I would like to know a few things about y'all.



Do you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or other?

Do you follow the same path you were raised in?

If not, what made you choose a different path?



Please keep this as civil as possible. I am not looking for a flame war or a heated debate. I am reconsidering my own path and just want personal experiences/perspectives. Thank you.

Do you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or other?

None of the above. I don't follow rules I don't agree with or that don't make sense to me so I'm not religious. I've never experienced anything that could be considered spiritual so I'm unsure if it has any real value and don't subscribe to it.

Do you follow the same path you were raised in?

I suppose I do, I was never taught any specific philosophy on how to lead my life except that I should be considerate to others and treat them how I want to be treated.

If not, what made you choose a different path?
Well, since I was never set on a path I just make it up as I go along, really. Sticking to those two tenets, consideration and kindness, as much as I can.

My parents were Jewish and so am I.

I do not consider myself spiritual. In fact when people around me start talking about being spiritual I reach for my phasor and it is NOT set to stun.

I follow the path of reason and science.

ruveyn

Do you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or other?
Nah, I'm not spiritual or religious, total atheist here. But some aspects of science I kind of "revere" if that makes sense, like evolution or astronomy, it's that cool you can't help but look up to it. I am not spiritual however, it's all still an accident to me and life has no meaning what-so-ever. I don't need gods or higher purposes to explain away the natural world.

Do you follow the same path you were raised in?
I don't know, at home I wasn't raised with any religion in particular. But my schools have all been christian, and through most of primary school I believed in god. My parents aren't religious but my mum tells my siblings off sometimes if they speak mockingly about religion, as if I'm a bad influence to my siblings even though she agrees with us that religion is all aload of BS.

If not, what made you choose a different path?
There wasn't a clear path to begin so I just went with my own. Which is atheist that's all scientific about everything.

Do you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or other?
I'm not religious (I'm dreading the High Holidays) and for me, it depends on how you define spiritual or if spirituality and religion go hand in hand.

Do you follow the same path you were raised in?
I was born Jewish. From birth to third grade, I had no idea what being Jewish meant. It was just a word. From fourth to seventh, I was a believer. Now, I'm an atheist.

If not, what made you follow a different path?
My aunt died and it made me question if God exists. I toyed around with the atheistic belief and I stopped believing. I remember hearing my Mishna teacher tell me how someone she knew lost someone and stopped believing. She told the class that it was an uneducated way of thinking about God. I disagreed.

I do not count religion and spirituality as the same thing. Religious people follow a pre-determined path with stringent rules in place. Spiritual people often follow a windy road that splits off into many different directions and is not generally well traveled.

A spiritual person can belong to a religion, but a religious person is too set on their clearly defined path to be spiritual.

At least, that's how I see it.

weird to echo ruveyn here.
I am neither religious nor spiritual.
But I seem to respect faithful adherence
more than "deep spiritual feelings"

Is there any particular reason for this?

I am someone who is extremly religious and spiritual

Yes and no to the question on whether i follow the same path i was raised in. I do follow christianity like my my mother and father. But i am also acherokee medicine man in training, What made me choose this path is my great uncle is someone who follows a lot of the cherokee traditions, where my father was raised by german christians and he isnt into the whole native american spirituality. and my great uncle is traing me to be a cherokee medicine man, A cherokee medicine man is someone who(usually) descended from shaman, but when shaman were banished for the practice of black magic we decided to only use magic to spread love and joy to others. i feel the difference between a white witch and a black witch is a white witch use the power of god(or the creator if your going by native terms) in our healing ceremonies since all we do is pray while using things from the earth to strengthen our prayers.

I think it is because I understand adherence it is something I can do.
I have a hard time understanding faith but I do understand faithfulness.

It could be that I think the actions of a man should be judged rather than his feelings.
is this from my Jewish background?
I don't know my family has not been observant for generations.

Ah... A Pagan-Christian! How do you reconcile some of the contradictions within the two paths?

1: Other
2: No
3: I grew up and put away childish things.

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Thanks.

Well you see Native americans believe in a god called the creator, and his son the great spirit. See the native legend goes that a long time ago A man came down to the Native people named walkabout(if im not mistaken) and he taught us how we should stop eating one another(we were cannibals at the time) and learn to love one another, He taught us how to use plants to heal and he started the sundance ceremony. Before he left us he told us that he had other flock to tend to(something pretty much along those lines). We refer to this man as the great Spirit(yet his name was wallkabout? the elders werent always clear on their teachings lol) It is believed by many natives that he was referring to those who lived in israel etc, and he meant he was going to start christianity.

Ah-hah! I've heard similar things. I haven't dismissed the idea that Jesus was here more than once. Incarnations of a deity fascinates me.

1 religious versus spiritual by any of the usual definitions is a hard call. Trinitarian Christian okay with the Nicene creed, fairly conventional in a lot of theological areas but not able to fit much of any of the standard doctrinal packages; unchurched though we really have tried, tending to be odd man out or persona non grata when churched, virews on church polity as on government rather cranky anarchic. strongly focussed on personal discussions with the Lord, still working things out and non-stop skeptic.

2. I was brought up the son of a "you WILL go to church and I don't have to explain it" Episcopalian and a "no need to discuss it" atheist. I stopped going to church as soon as allowed, and am no longer atheist, so no, I am not still where I was raised.

3. The deviation from being a "because it is there" church goer - I saw no evidence for a divine entiuty, no reason to pretend I did, and had no incentive to do more social stuff than I was forced to.

The deviation to being a Nicene Christian and universal heretic - evidence for a divine entity registered onm my sensors and I have not yet been able to refute it.