Have you ever gone through a deep, unbiased assessment of your religious beliefs and come out religious?

I’m kind of doing it right now…

Yes.

Once I realized that most people are insecure, paranoid and too busy putting mans face on god. I was able to see “who” God REALLY is

Well, I came out Buddhist—I don’t know if that qualifies as “religious” in your terms. But the stripe of Buddhism I practice consists almost entirely of “deep unbiased assessment of belief”: digging up beliefs I never even realized I held and looking at them in the light of day. After years of that, you end up with a huge pile of discarded beliefs, religious and otherwise, and not much of anything in the “kept” pile.

Every day. And every day my faith is more affirmed.

My sister did that and came out Buddhist. I did that and came out an atheist who attends a church for the social bonding.

I was raised Catholic but when I turned eighteen I doubted my religion and saw nothing but hypocrisy and falsehood with priests and the church. Even though I harbored these criticisms I still felt drawn to reading the bible and attending mass on holy days such as Christmas and Easter. It wasn’t until I began doing volunteer work that I saw the face of Christ in the poor and I had the pleasure of meeting some great people who were truly living the gospel and they took the time to allow me to soul seek.

I had sort of a transformation and began to allow myself to believe again. I do not agree with everything the church says and does but I don’t condemn it anymore.

@Darwin I’m kind of intrigued by that answer (in a good way), do the people at church know you’re atheist?

@markyy – No. It is sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

I did and came out Baha’i

Oh yes but I’m not sure if I can be classified as religious or not. I do have a certain set of spiritual beliefs however. What caused this decision? After really examining different religious beliefs and non-beliefs I came up with what to me seemed the most beneficial, believable, etc… but it didn’t subscribe to a certain “religion” etc.. Until later when I understood more about my culture’s spiritual beliefs (in general) and then it all seemed to fit together. The beliefs of my culture (in general) and my own personal beliefs. They complimented each other and I felt easy and comfortable, no need to read and question (well I still do that but in a different way, I never close my mind), it just felt ‘right’. And to date it still does. Now that may not make sense as I don’t believe I articulated myself very well but there you have it anyway.

Every time I do I come up even more bewildered as to how anyone buys into religion. I just don’t get why anyone believes that any of these old stories contain ‘the truth’.

Also, people do not ‘become’ atheists. We are all born without any religious affiliations. It is our parents or caregivers who either chose to teach us about their religion, some might call it indoctrinate, or whom chose to let us decide for ourselves. No one I ever heard of was born and without being told about a particular set of religious ideas automatically took on a certain religion.

I haven’t done either of those.

Nope.

No, I have gone through a deep, unbiased assesment of my beliefs and come out an atheist. I was a ‘strong’ Christian, but once I logically assessed my beliefs (as well as many likely alternatives) I found that a deity interested in human affairs is not just unlikely, but impossible in line with readily available evidence.

Not really. I was raised Baptist and don’t really agree with their beliefs. I love God and that is enough for me!

Yes and it’s the reason I don’t go to church anymore. I still believe in god but not in the same way and not with all the out of nowhere rules.

Yes, as a young adult I became an enlightened Christian parting with the interfering personal God of my childhood. Deeper scientific understanding did this. Cosmology, astrophysics, quantum physics, paleogeology, evolution.

No, I – like many – have struggled with religious, philosophical ideas and concepts. I went into it with – I hope – an open mind. But then again, I am raised in the most atheist country in the world, and of course there is cultural bias in everything we learn and do.

I came out a convinced atheist. I many times seem like an agnostic. I would welcome any proof to the contrary, and there might be some day. Maybe god is the god of the gaps, or it is the god of the God’s Debris idea. But I am convinced there is no god. I need tangible proof for such an outrageous claim.

I think that the idea of god is a convenience for many people. It makes existence simple and easy to accept. Existence is a troublesome thing for many. I don’t consider the existence of god to explain anything. Lately I have also realized, that I would be very disappointed if there were one. I have discovered that I don’t find the existence of a god at all comforting. I wish it did. I would love to have that look of peace in my eyes. Maybe, I’ll find that peace somewhere else. I just can’t bite that cookie.

@oratio Which is the most atheistic country in the world?

@FireMadeFlesh – Wikipedia claims that it is Sweden. Or maybe it’s Estonia. It depends on which survey you use.

Thanks @Darwin.

I started out with no particular beliefs until my parents persuaded me to convert to
Catholicism in order to be eligible to go to parochial schools which they assumed were better than public schools because they were all white. Not knowing any better, I swallowed the whole catechism, hook, line and sinker. In high school one of the brothers encouraged us to debate religious heresies with him, which got me interested in Deism (or pantheism) as he called it. Not long after, I was asked to leave that school, which more or less precipitated a rejection of that religion.

After exploring eastern religions (and reading William James, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim), I came to the conclusion that religion needn’t have anything to do with God, gods, faith or belief. In my experience, the only reason people find the idea of supernatural beings appealing is so that they can enter into a relationship with that being in order to gain an edge over their fellow man. Once one feels blessed by having the True Religion, one eventually comes to believe that one is entitled to act violently toward those not so blessed. So, in this respect, a belief in supernatural beings inevitably becomes a group rationalization for ripping off your fellow man.

The role of gods in Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Buddhism are tangential at best; so it is possible to have religions that are agnostic or atheistic with respect to the question of God or gods. Indeed, if you see the role of religion as a guide to right living (as opposed to right belief) then religion can become a form of moral discourse and a vehicle for helping people in society develop values, attitudes and behaviors that make life more worth living for the people in it.

In other words, I see no impediment to developing a religion that atheists and agnostics would find appealing, and I am actively exploring that idea.

i am certain that if anyone were truly unbiased in their assessment…they would veer from structured spirituality

religion serves its purpose for those that need guidance to maintain a sense of morality…or to explain to them the seemingly unexplainable…or for the psychological purpose of filling the role parents once filled…much the way the ego fills that role for the id….and for those who’s programing (upbringing, social expectations, etc) has bound them to the illusions of duality, deity, ultimate anything, truth, good, evil, etc

i do not say thing to discredit the achievements of religious orders…nor to condemn them for their numerous and outstanding travesties to man kind…

i do not say this to say there is no god…but rather to question…who really created who

Aum Sunyata ~ Rakshasa

@sunya13 Welcome to Fluther!

Why would a mature adult need or want religion to step in as one’s parent?

most adults never truly lose the part of the psyche that seemingly needs that nurturing relationship…but society still expects them to move on from that stage, yet doesn’t provide them with the means to do so…so they seek out a crutch…religion is just on of them..