change your religion lately?

Great Debates
1

After years of trying to be a self-styled Hindo-shamanistic Buddhist, I finally came home to the Catholic Church. I was baptized as an infant, but wasn’t raised in the faith, so for all intents and purposes, I am a convert. My church seems to have a high percentage of converts. My catechist is an ex-Mormon, as is our church’s former adult catechist, who resigned the position because of job considerations. We have a couple of ex-Baptists, an ex-Presbyterian and I am in a catechism class with a Jew who is considering converting.

My question is, what motivates people to change their religion, or in the case of the non-religious, to join one? In my case, I basically realized that I couldn’t get through life without some kind of relationship with God, and on some instinctive level I knew that the path for me to find God was through the Catholic Church.

I know in some cases, there is a mixed marriage involved and one partner decides to convert to the other one’s faith, but for a lot of people there are other factors involved.

Anybody out there who has converted from one religion to another, been non-religious and decided to join a religion, been religious and decided to quit their religion? And if so, why?

The trouble with Sir Launcelot is by the time he comes riding up, you’ve already married King Arthur.

2

Irish Catholic born and bred, currently (as of last fall) attending an Episcopalian church. Now I know that a lot of you out there don’t see that as much of a change, but I assure you that it is! :wink: Why, why, these people have married, women priests!

Actually, that’s part of the reason for the change.

The first part is that I absolutely cannot STAND the community in the local Catholic church here, which is about two blocks from my house, and in which I sang in the choir for three years. It’s a fantastic choir, damn near professional, which is why I stayed so long, but it’s just not a nice place to be. And too big.

Secondly is that my hubby is an ex-Jesuit priest, and after fifteen-plus years he has an interest in getting back into ministry. The Episcopalians have welcomed him with open arms, I was welcomed similarly into the choir, the Teen Group does great things that even Eldest Son (“Mom, church is stupid, why do I have to go??”) looks forward to it, and the Sunday School has gotten Middle Son and Youngest Son more involved (at the old place they hated it, and I can’t say that I blame them).

You can take the girl out of Irish Catholicism, but I’m not sure that you can take Irish Catholicism out of the girl. If you asked me what religion I was, I am sure I would say “Catholic. But right now I’m going to an Episcopalian church.” Don’t know if I’ll ever get to saying “I’m an Episcopalian.” ::shudders:: This is the church of the oppressors, dammit! : :eek:: But this is a really cool church that we are at now; it really does seem like a big family. We love it.

And don’t EVEN ask me about the pagan streak . . . or the altar to the Goddess in my bedroom . . . .

-Melin

Siamese attack puppet – California

Still neglecting and overprotecting my children

3

yeah … I’ve changed from an “ex-Catholic” to a “lapsed Catholic” :slight_smile:

I’m kind of the same as you … baptized Catholic, went to Catholic school until my last year of elementary school, then had to do CCD til I finished high school. Was required by parents to go to church every Sunday til I moved away for college. I stopped believing when I was a teenager and waivered between athiesm and agnoticism for a good decade.

I haven’t regained the faith I had as a youngster. But in the past year, I’ve had a couple weddings and funerals to go to, and I’ve started taking communion again. In all honesty, I don’t really believe a lot of the things the Church preaches - but then again, neither does my mother, and she’s been an extremely active Catholic her whole life. I couldn’t even try to explain why I’m drifting back, I guess there’s just something comforting about it.

When I stopped going to Mass, initially I just thought my beef was with the Catholic Church (I do have a lot of issues with it as an institution). I went to a couple Unitarian services, and I liked them a lot. But I just couldn’t see joining up. For all its numerous faults the Catholic Church is the only one I’ve ever really felt a part of.

I still don’t see myself attending regular Mass any time soon, I think I’ll stick to weddings and funerals for now. If I ever have kids that might change.

I swear it’s that guilt thing they lay on us from the time we’re toddlers. You never really shake that, do you? :wink:

“Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!”

4

Baptized Luthern, grew up Methodist, My mom was Catholic, I choose Wiccan, and Married a Baptist.
Confused yet? Not really confusing around here anymore.
We have five children between my husband and myself.
We celebrate holidays for both religions, although he doesn’t care for mine.
I feel our children get the best of both worlds, and are free to choose as they wish. It’s nice to have something around for guidance in rough spots.
Which ever diety you lean towards IMHO what matters most is that you are happy with yourself and the path you are on.

Blessed Be,
Mistress Kricket

5

Don’t normally post in GD, but what the hell…

I was born into a Christian family (Christian Church, like the Disciples of Christ but with less organization). Spent three hours of practically every Sunday in church, plus an hour on Wednesdays. Active in the youth group. Did the Christmas play thing every year. My Dad is extremely well versed ( ;)) in the Bible, and he and Mom made sure that my brothers and I were, too. Consequently, I know the Bible better than most ministers I hear.

Incidentally, through much of this period I had an interest in the supernatural and pseudosciences. UFOs, Bigfoot, ESP were just some of the things that I read about.

When I was in high school, one of my best friends was an atheist. Although he was a good enough of a friend to respect my beliefs (once we came to the agreement that nothing could be proved one way or the other), we did have some interesting discussions. Did I become an atheist then? No. Not yet. But looking back, I think it was the start.

I think credit for the next step has to go to one Cecil Adams. I stumbled across his first Straight Dope book in the college bookstore my freshman year. I stood in the aisle and read it for an hour before realizing that I had to buy it.

Reading his book made me realize that not everything that claims that it’s true, is. In fact, frequently it’s not. I started reading Carl Sagan shortly after. (Actually, I had watched Cosmos a few years before on PBS, but at this time I started reading his books.) This helped me learn to think critically (in the good sense). Eventually, I began reading other debunking books.

Several years later (about a decade), there was an elder who had a heart attack in the sanctuary of our church. Now, our congregation is fortunate enough to be one of the more affluent congregations in the area. We have many professionals in the group. No doctors, but we had several nurses, several trained fire fighters, and a knowledgable and respect pharmacist there. They worked on the elder, giving him CPR while we waited for the ambulance. Everyone else was deep in prayer, including me.

He was dead before they ever lifted him onto the stretcher.

Now, I know what the religious are going to say. “It was God’s will.” “There could be no better place to go than in your church.” “It was probably the best thing for him.” My reply:

If prayer doesn’t work in that situation, can it be reliably counted on in any situation? This puzzled me for the next few years, as I found myself questioning the “good book” more and more. This culminated in deciding to read it cover-to-cover, hoping to find some answers.

I ended up with even more questions than I started with. I found it to be full of contradictions and inconsistancies. Finally, one day about two and a half years ago, I was reading about some absurd beliefs of a cult (sorry, don’t remember which one) and it occurred to me: “Are my beliefs any better?” That was it. I realized I didn’t buy any of it anymore and that there was nothing that anyone could say to change that opinion.

I still attend church regularly, and none but a few of my closest friends know about my anti-conversion. Why? I have several friends in the church, and all my family (parents, brothers and their families) are still very devout. I don’t begrudge them this. I think it’s wired into our brains to invent symbols to represent things that we don’t comprehend. If it makes them happy, so be it. I can fake it. I’ve been doing it for years.

When someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles to frown. But it takes only 4 muscles to extend your arm and whack them in the head.

6

Man that has got to be my longest post ever.

7

Warning: Long personal post ahead.

I was raised atheist. By that I mean that neither of my parents ever discussed religion in any way, and neither of them ever took me to any sort of religious service. I became fascinated by religion when I was about 13 or so, and became a sort of nominal pagan for a couple years, but certain aspects of generic paganism really turned me off. I don’t believe in astrology, crystals, and am basically a pretty skeptical person when it comes to New Agey things. I liked the idea of the earth being the goddess and mother, though.
Anyway, my near-obsession with religion led me to go to the various churches of my religious friends, and while I always enjoyed the community and sense of belief and love, I never felt like I was a part of it. When I was a senior in high school, I sort of decided on a whim that I wanted to study abroad in Jerusalem. I had always wanted to study abroad, and Jerusalem seemed like a pretty amazing place. I had always been interested in religion, and most of my exposure was to Christianity, so I thought it would be incredible to go to the place it started. So my freshman year of college, I began taking Hebrew, in preparation for study in Israel, where I became really good friends with a Jewish girl who talked me into going with her to Jewish events. My father is Jewish, but he was raised atheist, and knows NOTHING about Judaism. But I knew that my family was Jewish, and I was interested in religion, so I went along with my friend to Shabbat services and Pesach seders. I really liked them, more than Christian services, but was more into learning about religion, not practicing it.
When I finally did go to Israel (July 1998-June 1999)…I dunno, things changed. Going to Friday night services just seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I started studying the Parshat HaShavua, going to Shabbatonim, and so forth. I kept Passover kosher for the first time last year. (Not like I could buy bread anywhere, even if I’d wanted to!) I know five tunes to Lecha Dodi, I can sing along with the Birkat HaMazon, I hate it that I don’t have anyone to do Havdalah with. BTW, although I am not a member of any synagogue, I consider myself to be affiliated with the Reform Movement, because of my patrilineal descent. (The other two major movements require matrilineal descent.)
I don’t really feel like this was a major personal change. I’m still the same person I always was. I’m still psychopathically left-wing, and I’m still fascinated by religion (I’m planning to begin graduate work in Religious Studies in 2001). I just feel that there’s more of me now, another side.

~Harborina

“This is my sandbox. I’m not allowed to go in the deep end. That’s where I saw the leprechauns.”

8

I’m not sure there’s a debate here…

I was raised Catholic, had an unfortunate incident that caused me to leave the Church for close to twenty years, during which time I identified myself as an agnostic… and then I just decided to come back.

And I’m glad I did. I attend church regularly (in fact, I’m up this morning getting ready to go to 9:00 Mass), and am very active in the Knights og Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization.

  • Rick
9

For most of my life, I called myself Christian. I was never baptised, and I attended a few different churches, but I think that was because I didn’t know any other way. I always felt a little funny about it, though, like something just wasn’t quite right with me and Christianity. Not that it’s bad, just that it wasn’t mine.

Then I met this woman who was a friend of my husband’s. After knowing her for a year or so, she told me she and her husband were Wiccan. I had heard about it, and while I knew it had nothing to do with Satanism or devil-worship, that was about all I knew. We started talking.

And talking.

And talking.

At this point in my life, I am not Wiccan, and I don’t really practice magick, mostly because I haven’t had the time to really sit down and study it, but I am also working on redefining what is magickal in my life. But I finally recognized the fact that I am not Christian, and I never really have been. When I pray, I call my deity Goddess. I don’t ask her to do for me–I ask her to help me clear my head & figure stuff out myself. I ask for her protection, for myself and my loved ones.

So far, so good. My husband does not share my beliefs, but we came to an agreement of sorts–we just keep it out of each other’s faces (Mr. Cristi is very Christian, raised in the Pentecostal church. He’s not quite that rabid anymore, but he still has some pretty deep-rooted beliefs).

I’m happy with my “religious conversion,” if that’s what you’d call it. I think I’ve just always been this way, really, but I just didn’t quite know what to do about it.

Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.

10

good morning friends.

i, too, was raised a catholic with fourteen years of catholic education (kindergarden through the first year of college) a growing skeptism made my religious experience difficult. the final break ended with a rather informal “excommunication”

the incident began as almost a cliche. a parrish priest left his church to “get some help for his depression.” after a few days, the story came out.

while cleaning the rectory, a housekeeper came across some photographs of nude young men. the tape in the vcr was of a few of the altar boys, nude on the altar, with the priest’s voice in the background directing the action. the housekeeper was unsure of what she should do, so she took the materials to the bishop’s office thinking that the church would know what to do.

one of the priests resident at the church i attended is the chancellor of the arch diocese. this post seems to be the right hand man of the bishop. he was a man i really respected. a very learned scholar, with a great deal of integrity.

were the police notified of the child abuse? no. “my” priest went to the offending priest and had him pack, and put him on a plane to a catholic treatment center somewhere on the east coast.

after a while, the housekeeper, wondering why nothing had been done, went to the media. the police began an investigation which was stonewalled by “my” priest. the community was horrified to find that there was a long history of complaints against the offender. none of these complaints were acknowledged by the church. their line was that there had been no complaints even when there were copies of letters sent to the arch diocese. despite constant requests from the authorities, the offending priest was not recalled to be questioned. the materials given to the bishop’s office were only turned over to the police by court order.

i do not pretend to legal knowledge, but it seems to me that when the offending priest was sent out of town to avoid being questioned that the church would be guilty of aiding and abetting a criminal. by covering up this crime, they would be an accessory after the fact, and by refusing to cooperate in the investigation, they were obstructing justice.

when i discussed this with “my” priest (the chancellor, in charge if this mess)it led to a rather heated discussion that ended in his suggestion that i “might be happier if i would worship elsewhere.” i took this as an informal excommunication. i left the church, never to return.

after 10 months of difficult investigation (due to the lack of cooperation from the diocese) the offending priest was forced to return to face charges. he pleaded no contest, and was sentenced to five years (for multiple counts of child abuse!!!)that he is serving at a state hospital, rather than a prison. the lawsuits from the victims are ongoing.

“don’t get strung out by the way that i look, don’t judge a book by it’s cover” (tim curry as dr. franknfurter in rhps)

11

Bricker wrote:

Yes there is!

12

Mel, of course you’re a Catholic, just presently a member of an English Rite church not currently in communion with Rome ! :wink: And with the “statue of the goddess” you’ll love some of the stuff in the new trial liturgies… about 20% of it focuses on the feminine characterization of God that never gets into the traditional masculine characterization we’ve always used. As a card-carrying member of the oppressive sex, it didn’t bother me one way or the other – my comment was to be sure not to throw out worthwhile traditional liturgy, just because it’s old, when you’re looking for meaningful new stuff, but keep both.

13

I was brought up Catholic. My parents were nominal Catholics, never practiced it. They let me eat meat on fridays cause I “needed” it! ha
I became a Christian, meaning I met Jesus(no, not in person!) in 1978. I will always be a “Christian”. No matter what my denomination is… :slight_smile:

14

It looks like I’ll get a piece of the “sharpest turn” award.

As a child, we attended a Presbyterian church on a somewhat random basis (perhaps one week out of three), along with some additional church functions. As a teenager, I attended one of two Baptist churches with my friends, having been born-again at the age of 15.

Seven years ago I embraced Islam.

Notice I’m only giving the bare facts here, because the reasons and explanation for my change/enlightenment/downfall (depending on your point of view) would take quite a bit of virtual paper.

I’m not the only Euro-American to embrace Islam later in life, as I have met quite a few like myself. And we sure didn’t change because it was easier.

15

I was raised Presbyterian and became atheist sometime late in high school. I can’t pinpoint the exact time or reason, but it came from a deep sense that I could not accept the Christian notion of personal salvation/damnation, combined with the dawning belief that the Bible was an historical document that reflected generations of human thought and nothing more (not that there’s anything wrong with that, quite the contrary.)

I still attend (Catholic) church as a courtesy to my husband who wants our family life to reflect some religious teachings, especially while our children are young.

16

orangecakes wrote:

At one Halloween party I attended back in 1990, one person came dressed in a perfect Jesus costume. It was so good, I rushed over to one of my acquaintances who was also at the party, pointed to the room where the Jesus-dressed guy was, and said, “Have you met Jesus?”

It was then I suddenly remembered that this acquaintance was a Born-Again Christian. You can guess what his response was. :wink:

17

longhair75-

Your post is too long to effectively quote. Yes, I have for many years been aware of the “pedophile priest” issue. My only answer is one I gave to a coworker who has brought it up on more than one occasion. I believe that what the Catholic Church teaches about God and His relationship with human beings is true, and I can’t allow the sins of the individual human beings charged with the adminidtration of her sacraments to come between me and my faith.

I personally believe that any priest who is found to be abusing the position of trust he is in by taking advantage of young children in this way should be summarily defrocked. The same goes for any bishop or archbishop who is complicant in covering up such a crime.

I think I could cope with just about any sin comitted by a priest, up to and including first degree murder, and still willingly receive the eucharist from his hand. Priests are human beings, and subject to the same shortcomings and failings that the rest of us are. However, when it comes to abusing children…

There is something so aberrant, so unnatural about abusing a child, whether physically, sexually or emotionally, I just can’t see how any human being could do it and live with themseleves.

I sometimes have to remind myself the the Church hierarchy is made up of human beings, and human beings are subject to prolonged bouts of cranio-rectal inversion. If a priest abuses a child, that is the priest’s sin, if a bishop covers up a crime committed by a priest, that is the bishop’s sin. It is not the Church’s sin, and it is most definitely not Christ’s sin.

I think the Church needs to have another ecumenical council, something on the order of the Council of Trent, to deal with this kind of corruption, but I don’t think that this sort of abuse should be a faith-destroying issue. The Church needs to be reformed from within. It is up to the faithful to demand such reform.

The trouble with Sir Launcelot is by the time he comes riding up, you’ve already married King Arthur.

18

Firstly - cards on the table -I’m the sort of nasty atheist who enjoys talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses so I can give them a hard time.

There are a lot of posts here which I don’t understand. I always felt that theists truely BELIEVED in something, a creator/guiding intelligence/cosmic plan etc. That they believed their faith was the TRUTH. As true as things which can be verified, such as whether you have any beer left in the fridge.

But then I see posts like these…
Agisofia - “After years of trying to be a self-styled Hindo-shamanistic Buddhist, I finally came home to the Catholic Church”

As far as I know, these religions aren’t remotely compatible. Did you really BELIEVE in Hinduism? Buddhism? If you didn’t, what were you doing? Have you rejected something you once had absolute faith in? If you have, how can you have absolute faith in Catholicism? How did you decide which was true and which was false?
Melin - I don’t know what an Episcopalian is, I’m afraid. But I don’t think you should be able to change religions on the grounds that one church is friendlier than another. How much of a Catholic were you? Did you really believe in the infallibility of the Pope, for example? Did you change your mind?
ruadh - “I don’t really believe a lot of the things the Church preaches - but then again, neither does my mother, and she’s been an extremely active Catholic her whole life. I couldn’t even try to explain why I’m drifting back, I guess there’s just something comforting about it.”

I just don’t get this. I’m missing something here. So what DO you believe? Why do you choose to believe some things the Church preaches but not others?
If you feel you are allowed to do this, why not found your own religion?
Kricket - “I choose Wiccan”

How did you decide?
MrKnowItAll

I think I’ll keep quiet, I don’t want a whack in the head…
Raza

Wow, you’ve done the big one!
I have the same questions for you that I asked Agisofia - did you truly believe in the Christian faiths you practiced, the whole God - Jesus - Crucifixion thing? Did you believe that the Bible is inspired by God? Do you now believe that it isn’t, since it contradicts the Koran, which is the word of God? (The Bible states that Jesus was the son of God. The Koran states that Jesus was not.) HOW DID YOU DECIDE?

My difficulty is this - the theist posts here seem to imply that there is a way to decide which religion is the true one. And I don’t understand what it is. How can you change your religion? Especially important, how can you change your religion because you don’t like the atmosphere in your Church, or you fell out with a priest, or your clergy have been convicted of crimes? I’m losing my faith in believers here!

19

freind agisofia,

thanks for your response.

you wrote:

true enough. the clergy are human beings, and so subject to the same imperfections we all have. at what point does the church have to take responsibilty for the actions of the clergy? the child abusing priest and the ensuing cover up happen so often that it is a cliche in our society.

you also wrote:

also true! however, when you state that this sort of abuse should not be a faith destroying issue, i ask this: do you mean faith in god, or faith in the church?

as a life long catholic (until recently) i have followed many of the debates conducted by the faithful, demanding reform. the celibacy issue, and women priests have always been hot catholic topics. two years ago, the bishop of a nearby diocese (lincoln, nebraska) formally excommunicated a group of “the faithful” that were examining the church’s stance on these issues.

at what point is the church as a whole at fault?

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity -Kahlil Gibran

20

Matt: I think its pretty clear that theology has little to do with religion - at least little to do with the religion of most all of the posters here. As you point out, none of them present a rationale for the change other than their feelings.

I think you have to understand Matt, that not all people are like you. Not all people have to understand something, in fact they may prefer not to understand. I was raised catholic, and though I’ve been an atheist since around the age of 16 I still occaisionally get pulled into this debate with my family. It always ends the same way, with all of them agreeing there is no way to ‘prove’ anything, and stating their opinion that it is just better to believe.

It is surprising how different they are, that they can believe something that (even by their own admission) does not make any sense. It is surprising that they find comfort in these nonsensical ideas. But it is by no means uncommon.