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Religion

What is your religion? (Please don't abuse the multiple choice feature)

  • Atheism or agnosticism

    Votes: 85 72.6%
  • Christianity or Judaism

    Votes: 21 17.9%
  • Islam

    Votes: 3 2.6%
  • Sikhism

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hinduism

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Paganism/neo-paganism

    Votes: 3 2.6%
  • Buddhism

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Other (please elaborate)

    Votes: 10 8.5%

  • Total voters
    117
Leaving a religion is a pretty tough thing, I know; my family is Catholic, and though my immediate family isn't very devout (in fact, I think my mom's agnostic at this point), I did go to a Christian school as early as preschool up until the beginning of first grade; and then when we moved and I went to public school, my parents made my sister and I go to religion classes every Wednesday night at the local Catholic school until I was about... 10? 11? They weren't too happy when I started breaking away and dabbling in other religions when I was 11, and for a while I did slip back into a more passive Christianity; I'd say in total it took me about 4 years to finally find a religion I felt fit me (Wicca), and though my extended family still doesn't know about this for the most part, my parents have grown to become supportive of me in this aspect, even if they don't agree with me, which is good. :)

Anyway, my point! It can be really hard to break away from religion, yeah; in fact, even though I don't hold Catholic beliefs at all, I still find a slightly nostalgic appeal to it, and I own and wear several cross necklaces still (though that's more because I think they're pretty, ahaha...) Though I guess it's different for everyone, depending on how you were raised? It wasn't terribly painful for me, except when I initially started questioning things, but I've heard some stories about how hard or even traumatic it can be for those raised in more devout families.
 
it is very traumatic for those people, yes, and the catholic church especially hates it.

my parents are still catholics formally too, they cant be bothered to do it since its a hassle and my parents just effectively do not care
 
I don't think you can formally renounce Judaism, you can just not practice it. I'll ask my girlfriend considering she's Jewish but doesn't believe in God afaik

My dad is of Jewish ethnicity; he is atheist. Watershed, you're right about the not practicing part. According to my father if you don't practice a religion then you can call yourself that religion in ethnicity only. I think.
 
I don't think any religion, except Judaism, is ethnic or has any ethnic component to it. Jews are also historically people with a culture.
 
You can be ethnically Jewish but you can be culturally Christian, Muslim, etc. what have you. Richard Dawkinds, for example, calls himself culturally Christian.
 
This. If you found it easy and simple, count yourself as lucky because you really are a rarity.

I don't particularly find having the Catholic doctrine forced on me as a child to be 'lucky'. I'm stuck with that for my entire life. In fact, I'm stuck with that because of my *surname*. Jardine = French = Catholic. I'm stuck with that because of the schools I attended. I'm never going to be able to pretend I was never Catholic.

I'm from an Irish Catholic family. When I have children and choose not to baptise them, I'm going to have to deal with the 'why?' 'but they're going to be raised with a Catholic family, right?' 'it's what happened to you' fallout. In fact, when I get married and choose not to have a church ceremony, it's going to be a huge pain in the ass. People don't tend to like the 'actually, I'm going to let my child choose their religion (or lack of) for themselves' explanation, for some reason.

My parents are acceptive of my atheism; the rest of my family? Not so much. It's easy for me right now because all I have to worry about is going to church (I don't, and my parents don't because they're lazy. End). Not really later.
 
I don't particularly find having the Catholic doctrine forced on me as a child to be 'lucky'.

No, no, I'm talking about the people who got out easy. Most people raised in a, say, Catholic family are like you - unfortunately stuck with it for the rest of their life. I'm talking about people who aren't stuck with it. You know, the people earlier who were saying it was easy to get out?

I have a few friends from Irish Catholic backgrounds, and just... yyyeah. Doesn't sound nice. :C
 
No, no, I'm talking about the people who got out easy. Most people raised in a, say, Catholic family are like you - unfortunately stuck with it for the rest of their life. I'm talking about people who aren't stuck with it. You know, the people earlier who were saying it was easy to get out?

I have a few friends from Irish Catholic backgrounds, and just... yyyeah. Doesn't sound nice. :C

Well, under all technicalities it is 'easy' to get out: you can revoke your faith by writing to your parish priest (the one who did all of your sacraments at least) and be like 'bro take me off your list' and he will do it. Except if you call him bro maybe B|

It's not the religion itself that makes it difficult to change; it's the way you were brought up. It's lame!

It also reminds me of one of my boyfriend's family members, who nobody talks to any more because he took his wife's surname when they got married.
I'm not kidding. Jordan was like 'yeah uh I've never met him :B' D:
 
Well, under all technicalities it is 'easy' to get out: you can revoke your faith by writing to your parish priest (the one who did all of your sacraments at least) and be like 'bro take me off your list' and he will do it. Except if you call him bro maybe B|

Yeah, but that's like saying "It's easy to kill yourself, you just pull the trigger!" - sure, it's only one simple action that means you revoke your faith, but actually doing it is very, very hard for most people.

Side-story: my grandmother was from an Irish Catholic family and was one of three (that lived into adulthood) - her brother was a priest and her sister was a nun. I win your Irish Catholic Awards.
 
Yeah, but that's like saying "It's easy to kill yourself, you just pull the trigger!" - sure, it's only one simple action that means you revoke your faith, but actually doing it is very, very hard for most people.

Side-story: my grandmother was from an Irish Catholic family and was one of three (that lived into adulthood) - her brother was a priest and her sister was a nun. I win your Irish Catholic Awards.

Well duh, that's what I just said.

YEAH, WELL, my gran was one of 13 (I think 7 lived until adulthood but don't quote me on that) and my mum was one of six >:( CATHOLIC BREEDING POLICY WIN.
 
My grandfather is from a family of ten, my mother is from a family of nine and my father is from a family of five. I win.

My mother is one of nine (one child died after three days though), my dad is one of six (one died after two weeks), my paternal grandmother was one of 12, my paternal grandfather is one of 14, my maternal grandfather was one of seven, and my maternal grandmother was an only child.

My family are Catholics too.

Tense adapted because most of my grandparents are deceased.

eta: I am related to the whole fucking country in other words
 
My paternal grandad was one of 13 (they all lived into adulthood) and my dad is one of six (all lived too, though one his brothers is missing, along with his son).
They are agnostic/atheist.

My maternal grandparents are both only children and my mother has one sister.
They are Catholic.

what happen
 
My paternal grandad was one of 13 (they all lived into adulthood) and my dad is one of six (all lived too, though one his brothers is missing, along with his son).
They are agnostic/atheist.

My maternal grandparents are both only children and my mother has one sister.
They are Catholic.

what happen

Someone set you up the bomb :I
 
Ah. My maternal grandmother was one of about ten, but as I said, only three of them lived to adulthood. Her mother was one of two, but her dad died aged 24, limiting the number of children. Every person in my family of my grandparents generation is dead. My family, especially my mother's side (which is particularly Irish Catholic), has a ridiculously low life expectancy.
 
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