A, sort of. We were taught about a lot of different religions and visited a bunch of different places of worship, with the general idea being we would be informed enough to pick our own, if any, when we were older.
I, sort of. I recognze that some people still really need it, and I do appreciate parts, like some of the basic principles and a lot of the music. But there are days when I really do lean more towards II.
C, 1.5.
Certain religious actions piss me off, and I can hardly contain my eyerolling. But if someone will leave me alone, I’ve got no beef.
A, I
My mother (B, II) is aggressively atheist. My father (B, probably I) is passively atheist.
C, 1. Actually, you nailed it pretty well!
D, I
There is an occasional moment when I am tempted to be bitter and resentful to my religious upbringing, but I realize that it would do me no good and that it would serve merely to make me into a bitter old curmudgeon before my time.
(I was raised Catholic; my parents were always accepting of other religions, rather than merely tolerant; they had gay friends throughout my childhood as they didn’t see it as a religious issue.)
I’m somewhere between the two answers. I think personally think that religion is a waste of time, but it’s each to his own. I love sacred music and I usually think that religious art is beautiful, be it Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or whatever.
I also am disgusted at how some people take the word of their god and twist it to mean whatever they believe it should mean for whatever their purpose is.
B, I
Q1-B
We went to Wednesday school and my grandmother sent us to church with our offering envelopes and a bottle to fill with holy water so she could use it in her Santeria rituals. But we never went. All the neighborhood kids would gather, pool our quaters and fill the jars with pump water.
Yeah, I was well on my way to hell before I was even 10.
Q2-l
I envy people who really believe. To be so sure of something. To know that they are loved and will be saved after death-- that’s pretty cool.
B/C (Catholicism tends to fall somewhere between B and C), definitely a 1.
C I
Another raised-Catholic. My mother remains a very good roman catholic and when I decided not to be confirmed at age 14, I got a lot of talking-to about going to hell and “my grandmother didn’t take the boat over from ireland so that you could reject her religion” etc.
But honestly she is a good woman who thinks the pope and GW are idiots and we should all be tolerant. She loves my gay friends and used to ask me if I was gay all the time.
I have some pagan friends, some agnostic friends, and atheist friends. I try not to get uptight about how I feel, I respect most people too much to go about saying their beliefs are moronic to their faces.
I think it though.
B - My mother was Episcopal (now fallen), my late father was a former Christian Scientist who watched his father suffer and die needlessly at age 53.
II - with no caveats. I agree with every word of Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation., for instance.
B and 1, respectively.
I went to Sunday School for oh, one or two years, and to regular service when we visited my uncle the minister (once a year, at the most).
As for others and their beliefs, I’m generally of the “live and let live” philosophy. Generally.
C, Ii.
A; somewhere between I and II. These days there are definitely aspects of religion which I vigorously oppose, especially organized religion, including the more militantly political forms of Christianity, and of course the flying-airplanes-into-buildings sort of Islam. But I’m also strongly in favor of religious liberty, so any “eradication” would have to be by people voluntarily and individually losing their religious beliefs, not through any sort of coercion.
Q1. I am a D. I was raised as a fundamentalist which required an unquestioning belief in the literal word in the Bible (uhhh…King James was the only correct one for some reason)
Q2. A mixture of I and II, plus a bit more, as there are more complexities than these two choices allow. I fear and loath fundamentalist (or any other types of religion) that seek to impose their beliefs on the community at large; teaching special creation alongside evolution would be an example), or who try to convert or “save” others, especially in third world areas. But I think that religion can be a very positive thing for many people, and can give them a sense of hope, community, and well being.
Think for a moment of how religion can be the basis for horrible things (100 yrs war, crusades, present religious conflicts), and for great things (helping our fellow man, giving comfort to the troubled, and so forth). There is no simple answer for Q2…but we should all be very careful in our application of religion to government.
If you can’t tell, I am a retired science type, and recovered fundie starting at the age of 12.
D, I. The world needs more people like my parents who generously and freely give all they have to those who need it, in both wallet and soul, not more selfish black-hearted people hoarding pennies like me.
A, I
Religion played no part in my upbringing and in my family, it is basically never discussed not for any particular reason other than it’s not relevant to us. I guess the only exception would be is when my mother expresses her annoyance at her pushy Christian friends that insist she come to church with them.
I do believe that fundamentalist beliefs can be detrimental if a large enough portion of a given society adheres to it. But then again I’m also surprised how some people will treat religion like a hobby when in theory they believe it will determine their eternal fate.
Q1: A. (Well, I wouldn’t say “atheists,” strictly speaking, but were all pretty much heathens.)
Q2: …Eh, somewhere between I and II. Generally, I do not care for religion, or what it can do to people or society (To be perfectly honest, I see way too many chilling parallels between a lot of religious practices and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which I’ve suffered from for a large part of my life.). But I don’t want to send all religious people to “Happy Camps” just on principle.
Mind if I crib your answer?
C, I