fleabassist1

I was born catholic, and about 8 or 9 I was baptised Baptist. After that, I started to loose faith in the Christian god because of personal things that happened to me - so I started experimenting (and studying) with several different religions ranging from Buddhism to some Pagan religions. After studying for years and years, I am still agnostic - searching for what I find as a good fit.

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Why do geeks think Halloween and Christmas occur on the same day?
Because 31oct = 25dec!

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Flying Fungi

We are generally known as 'recovering catholics'

I am good for 12 years of schooling. Something about having my parents 'excommunicated' from our parish because they got divorced started to turn me off.

Now...I find organized religion to be a source of history and fascinating architecture...

I'll identify myself as a quantum theorist with spiritual tendencies and no conviction that anything more than **** luck led us to where we are. Consciousness is its own punishment.

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DarrylS

In reality it is RI.

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In the last conversation Tillman had with Bauer, he told his agent, "You won't believe the letter I got from Bill Belichick.'' In the letter, Belichick praised him for his courage, his leadership, his willingness to set an example for people in this materialistic society, and he said it was an honor to be in the same league he'd been in. Peter King..

ironwasp

Pretty near then. I love Rhode Island. Visiting my cousin has become one of my favourite trips. It's been about two years now, so I'm excited to be heading to Newport in November.

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Handel

Was raised as catholic (actually my mom wanted that I go to the Church each sunday to forge my character - you know enduring the boredom during 45 minutes- ). I stopped going to church during teen (14-15).

Became atheist and rather anti-clerical.

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To rent.

wistahpatsfan

Born and raised Catholic. Wised-up when I was about ten. Had to go to church by force after and went to Catholic shool until I could get out of the house at 17 on graduation. Parents' divorce caused the dioscese to cut off contributions to my HS tuition and had to quit sports my senior year to work for tuition. Parish shut my mom off, too, at a time when she really needed help. I'll never go back to the HRCC for that alone.

Now an affirmed athiest (seen and experienced way too many absolutely unholy things). Admittedly, missing the social connections churches offer.

The only valid religion, IMO, is science. All religions are based in mind control and fairy tales originally designed to protect children and explain things science has yet to understand. There is no life after death or before birth as far as we know....there might be, though, but I'm not giving any money to those who say there is, yet.

Miss Gomezcat

Erm, I have an Anglican mother and a Jewish father. What does that make me? Sitting on the fence in many ways as I don't feel that I completely belong to either camp. Faith-wise, I'm an agnostic and very nearly an atheist though I can't be a complete atheist without proof that there is no God and I doubt I'll ever get that. Mr G Cat has just observed that this is the closest thing to a post from a non-Catholic, non-Jew so far on this thread.

jct

I am a lifelong Catholic.
I aspire to be a disciple of Jesus.
One of my protestant mentors had me study the red letter edition of the bible.
That is pure wisdom.

Fogbuster

Nice to see this forum cleaned up!! Congrats to those who made it happen.


As to my beliefs, I was born, baptized, and raised in the Episcopal Church. My dad was very seriously committed to his faith: he took the whole family to church every Sunday; he would lead us in prayer each night before sleep time; and he prayed every morning before he started his day.

I attended Church, was confirmed, and served as an acolyte (liturgical assistant to the priest leading the service) for five years. I had a spiritual experience with Christ Jesus when I attended my first mid-night Christmas Eve service. My dad had to push me to go, as I was a sleepy teenager, but I am forever grateful to him that he did because it opened my spiritual eyes to the love and grace of God.

When I went to college, though, my church attendance and spiritual pursuit dropped off, as I became more secular in my thinking: my concerns were focused on "making it big" in the world. Things like money, power, and fame became the "glamorous" attractions in my life. At the same time, however, I could not escape feeling my obligation to God and Jesus and my nation. It was the Vietnam era, so I felt I should join the military to fight militant atheistic communism, which I viewed the biggest threat to America and the world.

After I went on active duty, however, I began to see that the use of force does NOT provide the lasting solution to human conflicts; I needed to find a better way, a more peaceful way, a non-violent way to end human struggles. But it had to be a way that did not exclude God or people who believed in God and eternal world. I even had another visitation by Jesus when I was working on a farm in New Hampshire and Christ came to me and told me to keep on searching, that he indeed loved me very much.

Finally, after much searching for about ten years, I met the Unification Church movement in 1975 -- in New York City, of all places. I learned about God's ideal of creation, how Adam and Eve had been given a beautiful world, while being born as God's children, who should fully inherit God's love, life, and lineage. Then I saw how tragically Adam and Eve had been tempted by a rebellious archangel, Lucifer, and how they fell into unprincipled self-centered love, the opposite of God's love for the sake others. The first human ancestors fell into into the false, unGodly love of the archangel, which led to their accusing and hating each other, as well as the serpent archangel. This then later led to the first murder, when Cain killed Abel.

History has always been working to solve this fundamental problem because the human being has an innate sense of conscience that always seeks goodness. Today this desire for the right and principled way is being pursued by those who realize that God needs true sons and true daughters to grow up pure and true to God's unchanging, eternal, unique and absolute love. I learned this by the life-long support I have received from Jesus and Heaven, who led me to meet the Original True Parents, Father and Mother Moon.

The Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Moon, have been taking responsibility to educate the whole world about God's ideal and how to realize it, and they have endured unimaginable hardships to fulfill this mission, which is exactly what Jesus and all others have endured when trying to tell the sinful world of God's ideal. But more than Jesus and other saintly people, the True Parents have been able to establish the foundation of God's blessing of marriage to create families of pure, unchanging, eternal true love. It's been done here on earth and can never be removed, indeed, the greatest victory of all time for God.

I know that my observations will probably elicit skepticism, maybe even hostility. Nevertheless, it is what I have personally experienced and thus is the core of my religious belief, as this thread has asked, "What are your religious beliefs?".


//

Wotan_the_Wanderer

Well, followers of the Unification Church are mocked and disparaged enough as is, so it's really not my intention here to perpetuate this intolerance or even to criticize your religion. But I do find the quoted passage above a bit odd. Though Sun Myung Moon has suffered social ostracization, persecution and hardship, especially in the US and his native South Korea, I really can't say it's at all comparable to what Christ is said to have suffered. Obviously, Christ never had mansions throughout the world including Gloucester MA, nor did he own the Washington Times, was once the owner of the international new wire service UPI, nor did he possess extensive holding throughout the world including the Brazilian football clue Sao Paolo. I really wouldn't say Christ or even the Dalai Lama for that matter had such extensive holdings.

As far as my religious background is concerned, I was born and raised a protestant and attended a Catholic primary school for a few years, but I cannot say I am a practicing Christian given that I only attend church twice a year on Christmas and at Easter. I've also read a bit on other religions both antiquated and current, and have attended Buddhist and Krishna temples as well as Sufi gatherings on many occasions. But when it comes down to it, I do believe in divine order and creation, and am by default a Christian given that one cannot easily dismiss the influence of cultural immersion that began since birth.

Said all this, I'll be honest and say that at this point in life, my real religious goal is to become a guru of a sex cult in San Diego.

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Peter Sellers as Laurence Olivier as Richard III reciting "A Hard Day's Night"

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