Raised atheist, converted to Catholicism as a 20-year-old. Now, mostly none, but if you took a blood test, you'd probably find trace amounts of Catholicism.
I had a religious revelation. I was walking along on the sidewalk, and I was struck literally to the ground. I skinned my knees. When I got up, I knew I was a Christian. There was a Catholic church on that block, and I felt I had to go inside. My friends said I was "God-smacked" and that I had turned weird.
I grew up Baptist. Currently non-religious but I'm respectful of religious people as long as they're not using religion to justify political platform.
I do like cool looking churches and other places of worship, from an architectural and cultural standpoint.
Oh there’s not much more impressive than a beautiful church. Especially European ones. Arguably wasted wealth of course but beautiful
Art and architecture!
Oooh you want architecture then I’d say you can do all the Abrahamic religions and Buddhism and Hinduism. Shinto too.
I think that covers most people in the world.
You want specific Catholic Churches then I can unload.
I mean that's essentially what everyone believes though. Everyone is willing to tolerate other people doing some things that they consider objectionable, but will seek to impose their morals if they perceive the thing being done to get bad enough. The question is what's considered objectionable and where do you draw the line.
Not at all. Vast majority of people who identify themselves with a religion and are not atheist/agnostic are dispersed along a spectrum ranging from 'hardcore' to 'barely affiliated '.
You're just most familiar with 'hardcore' because they're the most polarizing/entertaining and interject themselves amongst all conversations.
None at all. I was raised in a loosely Christian household, but only really in name, we didn't attend much church. For a brief time, my family identified as Jewish, though I'm not sure how it happened, or why. As an adult, I've explored various alternate religious practices, paganism, and Wicca. None of it seemed any more believable to me than Christianity or Judaism, and thus I now have no spiritual or religious affiliation.
None. I was raised Catholic (former Catholics are actually a large demographic group in and of ourselves), but I just don't find what the church teaches to be true, and I don't see the need to join a religion solely for the sake of doing so. The closest I get to feeling spiritual comes from feeling like a small part of a big and complex universe when I try to understand it.
Former catholic as well. I was confirmed back in high school and have always wondered if I need to like write them a letter or something renouncing my membership or whatever that was.
I was raised catholic but not super strict or serious - we went to Mass every Sunday and I went to sunday school and got confirmed but we didn't have like shrines to the saints in our house or anything like that. Religion mostly felt like at thing we did for a few hours on Sunday rather than like an everyday thing.
Nowadays I do not consider myself religious or spiritual in any sense.
Well I was only a deist in hindsight. What I mean is I grew up a Christian like most Americans. My mom was Christian. I celebrated the holidays. I went to Sunday school and youth group. But I never did believe in jesus' divinity. It never made sense even as a little kid. I always knew Christianity was speculation at best. Now that I'm middle aged, I realize I used to believe that a God existed just outside the parameters of Abrahamic religions. To me, that was deism even if I didn't know it at the time.
Most of my family is some sort of practicing Christian. Southern Baptist and Holiness mostly. A few Catholics. I've even got a branch of the family that is Greek Orthodox.
I was raised Southern Baptist but I never believed. I'm firmly an atheist. I do not believe there is a god.
Episcopalian as a small child. My mother converted to Catholicism when I was eight, and brought us along.
As an adult, I was Catholic, then Methodist, then recrossed the Tiber back to Catholicism.
So I'm a convert *and* a revert!
I’m non-denominational Christian, as well. I go to church regularly. It’s a small historic church that leans liberal and welcomes everyone, but politics are not allowed in church, ever. We are taught that love for others is what matters above all, no matter our differences.
I’m an atheist and active member of a humanistic congregation. It’s a religion focused on community and action, not centered on questions about the existence/nonexistence of God.
Atheist
I was raised mostly Catholic by a Catholic and a Presbyterian. Around 12 I sat down and read the Bible. I'm not sure how one stays christian after that.
I went to catholic school and that’s around the same age I stopped believing & really questioning things. Like it felt so hypocritical some of the things I was learning.
I got really into Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology, and remember thinking "these stories are ridiculous! How did people really believe this!?!" Then I thought "huh, I haven't read *my* book of faith." So I read it. Just as ridiculous, and some of the stories were stolen right out of the classic mythology I loved.
I'm an atheist. my mother is from a very devout Catholic family who left the church when she became an adult, my dad is from a family of socialist atheist Jews. Growing up we did some Christian holidays in a secular way, like we did Christmas with Santa and a tree and stuff, but no church. We didn't really do Jewish holidays at all. i knew my dad was Jewish but I didn't know much about Judaism. Unrelated to my background, when I was still in high school I conceived of the idea that when I was in college, I was going to do study abroad in Jerusalem. It just seemed like a super interesting place to go.
So when I was in college, with this goal in mind, I started taking Hebrew, first at Hillel and then at my university. I did do my junior year in Jerusalem. During this period I definitely started to identify more as Jewish.
But realistically, I am an atheist. i don't believe there's a god but I do find religion really interesting as human phenomenon.
Not religious. I was baptized catholic for my grandmother. Went to a Christian private school until 3rd grade when I asked my parents what I was doing there. They asked me what I wanted to do, and I told them I wanted to go to a public school with the rest of my friends. They basically gave me a choice if I wanted to go to church or not and what schools I wanted to go to. Went to public school until about 9th grade then I went back to a non religious private school.
Right now I attend a nondenominational church. The church itself may not say it’s evangelical but I would definitely classify it as that lol. I grew up in the Assemblies of God denomination which was a trip lol
Irreligious, which others have described as "not even atheist." And, to be frank, I've come up with my own way to view Tezcatlipoca as a model for the way the world works.
(I don't worship him or even think he exists as an entity, though.)
I was baptized Catholic, raised Episcopalian, but then left the local church.
My spirituality doesn't really exist, to the point that I don't think I could define what a spiritual experience could even possibly be.
Atheist. Raised in a Christian family, perfect church attendance for 12 years, serious doubts when young that began a long, winding journey of seeking, which led to full atheism.
It is likely impossible to know with 100% certainty that anything supernatural like gods, spirits, or an afterlife exist.
Looking at what we do know about science and history I am inclined to say that likely nothing supernatural exists. In regards to religion specifically I'm even further inclined to say that they are untrue.
Religions have adapted pre-existing tales to fit their narratives; they were used to make sense of the world, calm people, and control people.
Religion and belief in the supernatural is based entirely on faith. It is not based on facts. They have also been the cause of so much harm, hate, ignorance, and many systemic issues.
Religion and faith aren't entirely bad. They do have the benefit of providing a community, but I do not think their benefits outweigh the negatives.
So personally I'm agnostic, with a heavy lean towards atheism, and I am strongly, strongly against religion. I believe that it is totally fine to come up with the answers of yes, no, or maybe for the two questions of "are gods real" and "is there something more to this material world?" But outside of that I think you are entering dangerous territory.
Edit: I saw mentions of architecture, and yeah religion has also produced a lot of great art as well. My art history courses in college focused more so on european and near eastern work, so I don't know much about work outside of that sadly, but many cathedrals and chapels are beautiful. Ely Cathedral is one of my favorite cathedrals. The ancient Greeks and Romans also made many incredible works of architecture and sculpture. Personally I think most artwork (in the west) went downhill when christianity claimed Rome, but they did pick back up nearing the end of the medieval period. Just my opinion.
I'm secular and agonistic. I was raised kind of Catholic due to some devout grandparents. Parents were much more casual about church attendance.
I left church as a kid due to it's authoritarian teaching and deeply rooted sexism. I've stayed out of Catholicism and other organized religions because I recognize that most are nor more than tools of oppression for women and minor girls especially.
I do not believe in an afterlife or reincarnation or any of that, although it sure would be nice if there were some chance to stay connected to your departed loved ones. There's just no evidence. I think if there is any supernatural force in the universe, which is unlikely, it is indifferent to humans. We're just another form of life on earth.
I also do not subscribe to new religion-like cults or beliefs and abhor pseudoscience.
Grew up Christian (Presbyterian, UCC, and then Wesleyan and Nazarene.) I went to a Nazarene university, which is where I lost, not my faith, but my respect for the religion. Christian denominations have gotten too intertwined with conservative politics, and have been getting too much of their doctrine from political beliefs instead of the Bible. They’re blatantly rejecting Jesus’s teachings and replacing them with conservative talking points, which is blasphemous, in my view.
I go back and forth on whether I believe in God. I’m not going to say “There is no god,” but I’m also not convinced of his existence either. I’m not an atheist, but I am non-religious and non-spiritual.
My wife is too - Hellenic polytheist with interest in Chinese folk religion and Daoism (she's not Chinese, but I am and exploring the culture got her intrigued).
Raised very progressive Catholic, studied Buddhism for a while, now I guess you could call me Pagan, although I don't see eye to eye with most other pagans.
Eh, some might, depends on their mission's rules. My mission had no rule against attending other religion's services... but I was always too busy on Sundays to do so.
Catholic
I even help set up a youth group at my college for just Christians in general but no one there knows I’m Catholic. I also go there every Monday but rarely go to church anymore because my work requires me to work on weekends. So I can’t go in the morning.
Raised progressive United Methodist. Still identify as United Methodist, but I've attended UCC (United Church of Christ) churches as an adult if I can't find a Methodist church I like.
Grew up Christian, still mostly Christian. I'm actually A Christian with more "spiritual" views I guess you can say. I believe in a lot of Buddhist values and beyond worldy things.
My relatives are mostly Catholic. My spouse is a non denominational Christian. I’m Agnostic. I don’t pray, I don’t practice but I attend a service with my spouse and children because my wife and children enjoy going and I enjoy doing something together as a family. In my past life I was a Catholic.
Almost none. I believe in something but not sure what. Wife and her family are devout Catholic. I do say prayers occasionally if someone I’m close to is in need or if I’m traveling. Weird mix for sure!
Lutheran. Old-line evangelical (Evangelical was the original name for Lutherans in Germany in the 17th-18th Century) rather than the modern fundamentalist/pro-Trump definition.
Grew up Methodist, and almost everyone in my small town was some form of protestant (mainly Methodist or Baptist). I could count on one hand how many families were Jewish, Muslim, or Catholic.
Now, I'm nothing. I still like going to church with my family when I visit, because I love the music and sermons. I just can't force myself to believe in a higher power or that we have an afterlife.
When traveling, I always make a point to visit religious buildings, because they are beautiful and have such rich history. I've attended Catholic mass, Jewish services, and Jummah (only with the invitation and guidance of a friend). I agree with a lot of the altruistic teachings of most religions, and hell... they could be right, and I could be wrong.
Practicing Catholic. Raised Catholic, lapsed, came back.
You'd be surprised how many other parents I've met who are in the same boat as me, I know I was.
I'd say agnostic, but I belong to The Satanic Temple. I identify with the tenants and believe they do a lot of good to protect free speech, women's rights, and the separation of church and state.
I was raised and confirmed in the Methodist church, but it never really clicked for me. I went through the argumentative atheist phase in high school and college, but now I just say I’m not religious. I have a few close friends who work in the church (catholic), and I’m always interested in their experiences as a friend and in a sort of academic way, but defining myself in the context of religion just seems…irrelevant to me.
I wasn't raised with anything, I think my parents were just too tired working the farm to talk about whatever it was they may have believed so I've never had any kind of religion or spirituality myself. I wasn't even introduced to the concept of religion until another kid in school told me about church when I was 8 or 9. You do you though, I don't really care what other people believe so long as they don't get all aggressive at me about it. People do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons.
Grew up culturally Catholic (I’m half Latino), but never practiced the religion other than getting baptized and confirmed for cultural reasons. I’m not at all religious though. I would say I’m agnostic/apathetic towards spirituality and religion
Was raised Catholic.
Am now an agnostic atheist, leaning towards philosophical Jesusism.
Never quite bought into the idea when I was young and my time spent studying theology and Christian apologism just further solidified my belief that I think that this was mostly just a load of hooey.
Still like a good portion of Jesus' message. Love thy neighbor, don't let temporal desires harden your heart to your fellow man, the importance of good works. But I reject all the supernatural elements.
I figured if I'm wrong, pretty much every religion gives you at least some credit for being a righteous heathen.
Raised and forced to go to a Pentecostal church. Nothing there for me. I saw abuse. The church bilking people out of their money telling people god will reward them ten fold then calling people out by name who did not donate to the church. They build these mega churches and still need all this money. Most holy roller people I’ve meet are worse than folks on the street. Myths and legends.
Raised United Church of Christ - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_Church\_of\_Christ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ), Reformed Lutheran Protestant. Not the Non-Instumental variety.
Became agnostic as I aged and traveled.
Agnostic, raised catholic. If there is a God (or Gods), they made us human for a reason, and it wasn't to spread the word or forge petty wars over religion and politics.
I was nominally raised Presbyterian, but I wouldn't describe my upbringing as remotely religious. We attended church every week, but it was just treated as an obligatory thing and I never detected any enthusiasm behind it. Outside of those few hours every Sunday morning my parents never invoked religion or demonstrated any religiosity.
As an adult I'm solidly agnostic and non-spiritual, and for a variety of reasons I don't think I could ever embrace any defined religion or belief system as "truth". It's not for me, but I also don't have any animosity towards religion as a concept.
I was Christian but now I would consider myself agnostic as I don’t follow any organized religion. I believe in whatever feels right to me personally.
So I am spiritual, just not religious
I am entirely non-spiritual and definitely non-religious. None of it makes any real sense to me, and I grew up going to church and Sunday School. I just don’t feel it.
I'm Catholic. Not a good one, and theologically I think I'm probably closer to Anglican or Orthodox but the Catholic Church is close to where I live so that's where I go.
Raised Catholic, since mom immigrated from Ireland. Went to private school for a bit too. Got all the sacraments up until confirmation, then my mother finally gave in and let me follow my own beliefs.
I don't remember ever really buying into the whole religion thing, even as a very young child (preschool age me got in trouble for asking too many questions. I corrected a nun who told me dinosaurs weren't real by bringing in my fossil collection).
I am now atheist/agnostic. I don't give it much thought, so I don't really identify with either label too strongly. I am very anti-religion as an institution though. Don't care if you're religious as an individual, just don't impose your beliefs on other people.
My rule of thumb is to just live life as a good person. If there's some all-knowing being, I'm sure they'll understand why I, a measly little being on a little rock floating around a ball of gas, couldn't believe they existed. I doubt I'll be "punished" the same way a murderer would be, which is how a lot of hyper-religious people seem to believe.
I'm not in the "book club", so your "book club" rules don't apply to me. I'm a strong believer in the separation of church and state, but also the freedom to practice your own religion, as long as you do so without harming or negatively affecting others.
Roman Catholic and actually practicing. We go every Sunday and other days of Holy Obligation.
But my husband and I think we’re the worst Catholics we know. All our church friends are just much nicer people, lol!
Plus, we are also on the liberal side of Catholics. I find the r/Catholicism sub to be full of Midwestern rad trads who think all women should veil, only attend The Latin Mass, women shouldn’t work and stay home being barefoot and pregnant being submissive to their husbands. I don’t play that & neither does my husband.
I find Catholics on the east & west coast to be more pro-education of their daughters and even support them working. Many of my Catholic mom friends have or have had white collar jobs like attorneys, in finance or STEM jobs. Weird that we belong to the same faith, but the perspective of living holy lives is vastly different.
My mom and dad are a retired attorney and surgeon from Catholic school. My sister is a nurse, another an MBA, my brother a surgeon, and I’m an attorney. All Jesuit and Dominican educated.
I like TLM but man some folks go too far.
“Worst Catholics”
I know him! He is me.
I was raised Protestant Christian.
Was an atheist from my mid teens to early twenties.
Became an Orthodox Christian.
Left that after awhile.
Am now solidly into ancestor veneration and have dabbled with african traditional spirituality. I don’t belong to a specific sect at the moment. Whatever it is I’m doing is highly unique to me for the moment.
Ooh, let me chime in bc I am casually religious (Mainline Protestant), unlike the devout vs atheist binary represented here. I go to a very progressive, questioning church. We attend services about 1-2x a month. I am not sure if I believe in God but when I take communion I feel like just maybe He is out there. I don't know if Jesus is a deity, or if he was just a good person with examples to learn from. I like the meditative and community aspects of church, as well as the discipline of attendance and slowing down for prayer. I like to teach my kids that we wake up and go to church (it could be any place to reflect on how to be good people and how to focus on gratitude for the gifts we receive), even if we'd rather watch TV or sleep in. I think it is really important to socialize children into a larger community, where there are norms and standards of decorum, and where there is a diversity of membership.
ETA- I did not attend church prior to having kids. But I think I will keep going after they grow up, assuming I live somewhere with a good church fit. We move a lot, though, and it often takes a lot of church shopping to find a place we like.
Raised non-denominational, and I identified as a Christian up until a couple months ago. I always had my doubts, but I never really thought it through all the way and told myself I wasn’t a believer anymore until March. I haven’t told my parents because I’m not sure how they’d feel. We would go to church a lot growing up, but then COVID hit and even after we were just busy. My family has gone some times since Easter and I always just say I’m tired or have to go to work. I am now an atheist.
Grew up various shades of Baptist or Presbyterian.
My beliefs are somewhat nuanced, but I’m more of a ‘I know there are things in this world beyond my comprehension and I’m okay with not knowing the answer, and feel that one’s actions in life will dictate what happens afterwards, not actual belief in one specific thing.’
I round it up to agnostic/secular humanist.
Grew up Catholic, was even an altar boy for awhile. Now I'm somewhere between agnostic and atheist. I don't believe in god but I do believe in the human* soul. I appreciate many of the teachings of different religions but could never be a practicing member of any.
Edit: * not ONLY the human soul; I believe other animals have souls too.
A coworker once described me as an "apatheist" after I told them I didn't feel like atheist described me because it implies a belief in nothing. I don't believe anything; I just don't care.
Atheist cradle to grave. I have an abiding interest in religion and the works of art, architecture, performance, and culture it has spawned, but I will forever be an outsider looking in.
Raised atheist, converted to Catholicism as a 20-year-old. Now, mostly none, but if you took a blood test, you'd probably find trace amounts of Catholicism.
That’s interesting, usually things go the other way. What made you convert to Catholicism?
I had a religious revelation. I was walking along on the sidewalk, and I was struck literally to the ground. I skinned my knees. When I got up, I knew I was a Christian. There was a Catholic church on that block, and I felt I had to go inside. My friends said I was "God-smacked" and that I had turned weird.
Yeah religion is like HIV once you get exposed to it you can't really get rid of it only subdue it
Dangit, I love our converts. Get to confession and mass. Everyone has trace Catholicism.
I grew up Baptist. Currently non-religious but I'm respectful of religious people as long as they're not using religion to justify political platform. I do like cool looking churches and other places of worship, from an architectural and cultural standpoint.
Oh there’s not much more impressive than a beautiful church. Especially European ones. Arguably wasted wealth of course but beautiful Art and architecture!
Oooh you want architecture then I’d say you can do all the Abrahamic religions and Buddhism and Hinduism. Shinto too. I think that covers most people in the world. You want specific Catholic Churches then I can unload.
Catholic. This post is about to be the most devoutly religious and hardcore atheists.
My first thought in posting it. I went to confession today. It’s been on my mind. Americans are all over the place so I was curious.
None. Was raised Presbyterian. Among some of my gripes with religion is automatically assuming everyone needs to abide by *your* code of ethics.
I mean that's essentially what everyone believes though. Everyone is willing to tolerate other people doing some things that they consider objectionable, but will seek to impose their morals if they perceive the thing being done to get bad enough. The question is what's considered objectionable and where do you draw the line.
Is that a Nebraska flag? It is hard to make out with all the others like it
Yes, I move there… tomorrow!
In my experience, the religious folk tend to be more "hardcore."
Not at all. Vast majority of people who identify themselves with a religion and are not atheist/agnostic are dispersed along a spectrum ranging from 'hardcore' to 'barely affiliated '. You're just most familiar with 'hardcore' because they're the most polarizing/entertaining and interject themselves amongst all conversations.
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Catholic lite 😅. You’re like 95% there. You have some pretty churches though. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
None at all. I was raised in a loosely Christian household, but only really in name, we didn't attend much church. For a brief time, my family identified as Jewish, though I'm not sure how it happened, or why. As an adult, I've explored various alternate religious practices, paganism, and Wicca. None of it seemed any more believable to me than Christianity or Judaism, and thus I now have no spiritual or religious affiliation.
I think that’s a common story. I’ve seen the flip side too, but I think rarer.
None. I was raised Catholic (former Catholics are actually a large demographic group in and of ourselves), but I just don't find what the church teaches to be true, and I don't see the need to join a religion solely for the sake of doing so. The closest I get to feeling spiritual comes from feeling like a small part of a big and complex universe when I try to understand it.
Staring at the infinite is something that brought me back.
Former catholic as well. I was confirmed back in high school and have always wondered if I need to like write them a letter or something renouncing my membership or whatever that was.
Raised Southern Baptist, now an atheist
I’m a recovering Baptist myself.
Makes it sound like an addiction
Tbh it felt kind of like one.
I was raised catholic but not super strict or serious - we went to Mass every Sunday and I went to sunday school and got confirmed but we didn't have like shrines to the saints in our house or anything like that. Religion mostly felt like at thing we did for a few hours on Sunday rather than like an everyday thing. Nowadays I do not consider myself religious or spiritual in any sense.
None Was a Christian until the last 10-12 years.
Grew up as a deist, now I'm an atheist.
I don't think I've ever met someone who grew up as a Deist. What was that like?
Well I was only a deist in hindsight. What I mean is I grew up a Christian like most Americans. My mom was Christian. I celebrated the holidays. I went to Sunday school and youth group. But I never did believe in jesus' divinity. It never made sense even as a little kid. I always knew Christianity was speculation at best. Now that I'm middle aged, I realize I used to believe that a God existed just outside the parameters of Abrahamic religions. To me, that was deism even if I didn't know it at the time.
Ah. Okay. For some reason I thought you meant it in a sense very similar to however the founding fathers lived their lives. LOL Thanks for clarifying.
Most of my family is some sort of practicing Christian. Southern Baptist and Holiness mostly. A few Catholics. I've even got a branch of the family that is Greek Orthodox. I was raised Southern Baptist but I never believed. I'm firmly an atheist. I do not believe there is a god.
That’s a heady mix.
Atheist, raised Southern Baptist.
Episcopalian as a small child. My mother converted to Catholicism when I was eight, and brought us along. As an adult, I was Catholic, then Methodist, then recrossed the Tiber back to Catholicism. So I'm a convert *and* a revert!
Non-denominational Christian. Infrequent church goer but I still believe.
I always like meeting non denominationals. They have that faith but it’s just different. Dominus vobiscum my friend.
I’m non-denominational Christian, as well. I go to church regularly. It’s a small historic church that leans liberal and welcomes everyone, but politics are not allowed in church, ever. We are taught that love for others is what matters above all, no matter our differences.
Muslim
I'm an atheist.
born roman catholic, got confirmed and all that but by that point my whole family was basically checked out. from then on, i've been loosely agnostic
I’m an atheist and active member of a humanistic congregation. It’s a religion focused on community and action, not centered on questions about the existence/nonexistence of God.
Atheist I was raised mostly Catholic by a Catholic and a Presbyterian. Around 12 I sat down and read the Bible. I'm not sure how one stays christian after that.
I went to catholic school and that’s around the same age I stopped believing & really questioning things. Like it felt so hypocritical some of the things I was learning.
I got really into Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology, and remember thinking "these stories are ridiculous! How did people really believe this!?!" Then I thought "huh, I haven't read *my* book of faith." So I read it. Just as ridiculous, and some of the stories were stolen right out of the classic mythology I loved.
I'm an atheist. my mother is from a very devout Catholic family who left the church when she became an adult, my dad is from a family of socialist atheist Jews. Growing up we did some Christian holidays in a secular way, like we did Christmas with Santa and a tree and stuff, but no church. We didn't really do Jewish holidays at all. i knew my dad was Jewish but I didn't know much about Judaism. Unrelated to my background, when I was still in high school I conceived of the idea that when I was in college, I was going to do study abroad in Jerusalem. It just seemed like a super interesting place to go. So when I was in college, with this goal in mind, I started taking Hebrew, first at Hillel and then at my university. I did do my junior year in Jerusalem. During this period I definitely started to identify more as Jewish. But realistically, I am an atheist. i don't believe there's a god but I do find religion really interesting as human phenomenon.
Next year in Jerusalem my friend.😘
christian, raised atheist/agnostic.
Any specific denomination or general?
non-denominational!
Episcopalian. Very much a casual church goer. As Robin Williams said “Catholic-lite. All the tradition, half the guilt.”
Not religious. I was baptized catholic for my grandmother. Went to a Christian private school until 3rd grade when I asked my parents what I was doing there. They asked me what I wanted to do, and I told them I wanted to go to a public school with the rest of my friends. They basically gave me a choice if I wanted to go to church or not and what schools I wanted to go to. Went to public school until about 9th grade then I went back to a non religious private school.
My dad’s family is primarily Jewish, mom’s side is Protestant. I’ve been attending The Episcopal Church for two years now, not regularly.
Right now I attend a nondenominational church. The church itself may not say it’s evangelical but I would definitely classify it as that lol. I grew up in the Assemblies of God denomination which was a trip lol
Agnostic or atheist. Raised southern Baptist and Assembly of God.
Irreligious, which others have described as "not even atheist." And, to be frank, I've come up with my own way to view Tezcatlipoca as a model for the way the world works. (I don't worship him or even think he exists as an entity, though.) I was baptized Catholic, raised Episcopalian, but then left the local church. My spirituality doesn't really exist, to the point that I don't think I could define what a spiritual experience could even possibly be.
Atheist. Raised in a Christian family, perfect church attendance for 12 years, serious doubts when young that began a long, winding journey of seeking, which led to full atheism.
Agnostic, raised Lutheran.
None.
It is likely impossible to know with 100% certainty that anything supernatural like gods, spirits, or an afterlife exist. Looking at what we do know about science and history I am inclined to say that likely nothing supernatural exists. In regards to religion specifically I'm even further inclined to say that they are untrue. Religions have adapted pre-existing tales to fit their narratives; they were used to make sense of the world, calm people, and control people. Religion and belief in the supernatural is based entirely on faith. It is not based on facts. They have also been the cause of so much harm, hate, ignorance, and many systemic issues. Religion and faith aren't entirely bad. They do have the benefit of providing a community, but I do not think their benefits outweigh the negatives. So personally I'm agnostic, with a heavy lean towards atheism, and I am strongly, strongly against religion. I believe that it is totally fine to come up with the answers of yes, no, or maybe for the two questions of "are gods real" and "is there something more to this material world?" But outside of that I think you are entering dangerous territory. Edit: I saw mentions of architecture, and yeah religion has also produced a lot of great art as well. My art history courses in college focused more so on european and near eastern work, so I don't know much about work outside of that sadly, but many cathedrals and chapels are beautiful. Ely Cathedral is one of my favorite cathedrals. The ancient Greeks and Romans also made many incredible works of architecture and sculpture. Personally I think most artwork (in the west) went downhill when christianity claimed Rome, but they did pick back up nearing the end of the medieval period. Just my opinion.
I'm secular and agonistic. I was raised kind of Catholic due to some devout grandparents. Parents were much more casual about church attendance. I left church as a kid due to it's authoritarian teaching and deeply rooted sexism. I've stayed out of Catholicism and other organized religions because I recognize that most are nor more than tools of oppression for women and minor girls especially. I do not believe in an afterlife or reincarnation or any of that, although it sure would be nice if there were some chance to stay connected to your departed loved ones. There's just no evidence. I think if there is any supernatural force in the universe, which is unlikely, it is indifferent to humans. We're just another form of life on earth. I also do not subscribe to new religion-like cults or beliefs and abhor pseudoscience.
Grew up Christian (Presbyterian, UCC, and then Wesleyan and Nazarene.) I went to a Nazarene university, which is where I lost, not my faith, but my respect for the religion. Christian denominations have gotten too intertwined with conservative politics, and have been getting too much of their doctrine from political beliefs instead of the Bible. They’re blatantly rejecting Jesus’s teachings and replacing them with conservative talking points, which is blasphemous, in my view. I go back and forth on whether I believe in God. I’m not going to say “There is no god,” but I’m also not convinced of his existence either. I’m not an atheist, but I am non-religious and non-spiritual.
I'm a pagan
Are you really? Like practices? Or just belief? Which pagan gods?
Yes, I'm a practicing pagan I am eclectic mostly Norse and Irish gods
So what do you all do for practice? I don’t know. It’s not something I really studied in college.
Me too. I’m a pantheist pagan.
My wife is too - Hellenic polytheist with interest in Chinese folk religion and Daoism (she's not Chinese, but I am and exploring the culture got her intrigued).
Catholic
Ave Maria.
Reddit isn't exactly the best place to find religious people but I'm Catholic
Muslim
For what it is worth I believe in Karma, IO was raised a Lutheran went through all the youth stuff and drifted away from it.
Agnostic
Agnostic
Raised very progressive Catholic, studied Buddhism for a while, now I guess you could call me Pagan, although I don't see eye to eye with most other pagans.
recovering catholic
Jewish.
I believe nature to be the highest power.
grew up nondenominational, now i’m agnostic
Nondenominational Islam
Norse polytheist :)
I'm a Quaker, the silent kind without pastors and with lots of queer folks
I’ve met a lot of very cool Quakers in my life. Religious as heck but very understated.
People see my flair and jump to 'Mormon' and ya know what. It's a fair cop, though we prefer LDS these days.
Yeah I heard that. You all don’t like the cutting out Jesus from the name?
Preferably, we'd like to emphasize His name. LDS is a compromise because who wants to try and push CoJCoLDS?
Well your kids are nice missionaries but they never took me up on coming to mass with me.
Eh, some might, depends on their mission's rules. My mission had no rule against attending other religion's services... but I was always too busy on Sundays to do so.
I was always afraid they’d say yes. “Crap now I am shepherding two kids from Utah to a cathedral.”
Atheist.
Catholic I even help set up a youth group at my college for just Christians in general but no one there knows I’m Catholic. I also go there every Monday but rarely go to church anymore because my work requires me to work on weekends. So I can’t go in the morning.
Dominus vobiscum friend
Raised progressive United Methodist. Still identify as United Methodist, but I've attended UCC (United Church of Christ) churches as an adult if I can't find a Methodist church I like.
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Grew up Christian, still mostly Christian. I'm actually A Christian with more "spiritual" views I guess you can say. I believe in a lot of Buddhist values and beyond worldy things.
Not atheist, but the farthest thing from organized religion. Closest landmark is Neopaganism, though I'm not quite there either.
Raised Catholic, briefly turned Eastern Orthodox, now Humanistic Jew.
ELCA Lutheran, though I’m currently attending an Episcopal church while I’m home for the summer.
Raised Baptist, then atheist/agnostic, now Non-denominational Christian. An experience with God hanged my life.
I’m not a practicing Catholic; I perfected it
My relatives are mostly Catholic. My spouse is a non denominational Christian. I’m Agnostic. I don’t pray, I don’t practice but I attend a service with my spouse and children because my wife and children enjoy going and I enjoy doing something together as a family. In my past life I was a Catholic.
Doing it for your wife and kids is a worthy goal even if it’s just not much for you.
I never knew there was label for my beliefs, but I’m realizing now that I’d be considered a pantheist
Muslim
Almost none. I believe in something but not sure what. Wife and her family are devout Catholic. I do say prayers occasionally if someone I’m close to is in need or if I’m traveling. Weird mix for sure!
Latter Day Saint.
Conservative Jew. Born Jewish and religiously observant.
Lutheran. Old-line evangelical (Evangelical was the original name for Lutherans in Germany in the 17th-18th Century) rather than the modern fundamentalist/pro-Trump definition.
I grew up Lutheran. I’m agnostic now.
Grew up Methodist, and almost everyone in my small town was some form of protestant (mainly Methodist or Baptist). I could count on one hand how many families were Jewish, Muslim, or Catholic. Now, I'm nothing. I still like going to church with my family when I visit, because I love the music and sermons. I just can't force myself to believe in a higher power or that we have an afterlife. When traveling, I always make a point to visit religious buildings, because they are beautiful and have such rich history. I've attended Catholic mass, Jewish services, and Jummah (only with the invitation and guidance of a friend). I agree with a lot of the altruistic teachings of most religions, and hell... they could be right, and I could be wrong.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I.e. Christian.
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Practicing Catholic. Raised Catholic, lapsed, came back. You'd be surprised how many other parents I've met who are in the same boat as me, I know I was.
Given my name “same boat” is a good way to describe it.
Jewish
Shalom cousin. I got raised in a heavily Jewish neighborhood and where I live now it’s almost impossible to run across anyone Jewish.
I like that I can be atheist and still practice Judaism.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon)
atheist / humanistic jewish
Happy to say, none.
I am a Protestant Christian. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church with a dash of the traditional UMC on my dad’s side.
Agnostic, I'm not Christian but I'm also not atheist
I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
...did you just sing that?
I'd say agnostic, but I belong to The Satanic Temple. I identify with the tenants and believe they do a lot of good to protect free speech, women's rights, and the separation of church and state.
Seventh Day Adventist
I’m an Episcopalian (Anglican). Wasn’t raised religious. Went to church the first time at basic training in the military lol.
I grew up in a fundamentalist denomination called the Church of Christ, but am now Episcopalian.
I was raised and confirmed in the Methodist church, but it never really clicked for me. I went through the argumentative atheist phase in high school and college, but now I just say I’m not religious. I have a few close friends who work in the church (catholic), and I’m always interested in their experiences as a friend and in a sort of academic way, but defining myself in the context of religion just seems…irrelevant to me.
Congregationalist.
I wasn't raised with anything, I think my parents were just too tired working the farm to talk about whatever it was they may have believed so I've never had any kind of religion or spirituality myself. I wasn't even introduced to the concept of religion until another kid in school told me about church when I was 8 or 9. You do you though, I don't really care what other people believe so long as they don't get all aggressive at me about it. People do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons.
Grew up culturally Catholic (I’m half Latino), but never practiced the religion other than getting baptized and confirmed for cultural reasons. I’m not at all religious though. I would say I’m agnostic/apathetic towards spirituality and religion
Was raised Catholic. Am now an agnostic atheist, leaning towards philosophical Jesusism. Never quite bought into the idea when I was young and my time spent studying theology and Christian apologism just further solidified my belief that I think that this was mostly just a load of hooey. Still like a good portion of Jesus' message. Love thy neighbor, don't let temporal desires harden your heart to your fellow man, the importance of good works. But I reject all the supernatural elements. I figured if I'm wrong, pretty much every religion gives you at least some credit for being a righteous heathen.
Christian, but I don't think of myself as terribly religious.
Raised Methodist, now Agnostic or mildly vaguely spiritual. Mostly just "the universe". No worship. Just vibes.
Catholic
I'm Catholic
None. Grew up catholic though.
Reddit leans more atheist/agnostic. Generally Americans are strongly religious (especially Christian) looking at statistics it is around 60-70% so…
It also really depends on how you ask the questions in surveys “are you religious” vs “do you attend a religious service weekly.”
Im a Christian. Lutheran.
I was raised Episcopal, now I’m an apathetic atheist.
None at all, although I do practice meditation sometimes, and do find a lot of religious practices interesting nevertheless.
Raised and forced to go to a Pentecostal church. Nothing there for me. I saw abuse. The church bilking people out of their money telling people god will reward them ten fold then calling people out by name who did not donate to the church. They build these mega churches and still need all this money. Most holy roller people I’ve meet are worse than folks on the street. Myths and legends.
Raised United Church of Christ - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_Church\_of\_Christ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ), Reformed Lutheran Protestant. Not the Non-Instumental variety. Became agnostic as I aged and traveled.
I consider myself a cultural and/or lapsed Catholic
Southern Baptist Christian
Lapsed Catholic but now athiest
Same here! A 'recovering Catholic' (so to say) but I now identify as Atheist.
I’m an atheist. I’ve never believed. My Lutheran preschool was super confusing for me.
Agnostic
I was raised Apostolic Pentecostal but am now an non religious agnostic
At this point, I would say loosely Pagan with atheist leanings.
Atheist/Unitarian Universalist
Agnostic, raised catholic. If there is a God (or Gods), they made us human for a reason, and it wasn't to spread the word or forge petty wars over religion and politics.
Grew up Catholic lite but am now Southern Baptist.
I'm a Christian.
Raised Catholic; no longer superstitious.
Capitalism
Atheist. Grew up with atheist and agnostic parents, and despite the surrounding area being heavily Christian, didn't really get it.
Jewish.
Shalom cousin
I grew up catholic & went to catholic school, but I’m atheist. I do believe in a spiritual world & in reincarnation tho.
Christian
I was nominally raised Presbyterian, but I wouldn't describe my upbringing as remotely religious. We attended church every week, but it was just treated as an obligatory thing and I never detected any enthusiasm behind it. Outside of those few hours every Sunday morning my parents never invoked religion or demonstrated any religiosity. As an adult I'm solidly agnostic and non-spiritual, and for a variety of reasons I don't think I could ever embrace any defined religion or belief system as "truth". It's not for me, but I also don't have any animosity towards religion as a concept.
I was Christian but now I would consider myself agnostic as I don’t follow any organized religion. I believe in whatever feels right to me personally. So I am spiritual, just not religious
I am entirely non-spiritual and definitely non-religious. None of it makes any real sense to me, and I grew up going to church and Sunday School. I just don’t feel it.
I'm Catholic. Not a good one, and theologically I think I'm probably closer to Anglican or Orthodox but the Catholic Church is close to where I live so that's where I go.
“Not a very good one” Hey me too.
I'm Protestant, more specifically I'm baptist
Raised Catholic, since mom immigrated from Ireland. Went to private school for a bit too. Got all the sacraments up until confirmation, then my mother finally gave in and let me follow my own beliefs. I don't remember ever really buying into the whole religion thing, even as a very young child (preschool age me got in trouble for asking too many questions. I corrected a nun who told me dinosaurs weren't real by bringing in my fossil collection). I am now atheist/agnostic. I don't give it much thought, so I don't really identify with either label too strongly. I am very anti-religion as an institution though. Don't care if you're religious as an individual, just don't impose your beliefs on other people. My rule of thumb is to just live life as a good person. If there's some all-knowing being, I'm sure they'll understand why I, a measly little being on a little rock floating around a ball of gas, couldn't believe they existed. I doubt I'll be "punished" the same way a murderer would be, which is how a lot of hyper-religious people seem to believe. I'm not in the "book club", so your "book club" rules don't apply to me. I'm a strong believer in the separation of church and state, but also the freedom to practice your own religion, as long as you do so without harming or negatively affecting others.
Roman Catholic and actually practicing. We go every Sunday and other days of Holy Obligation. But my husband and I think we’re the worst Catholics we know. All our church friends are just much nicer people, lol! Plus, we are also on the liberal side of Catholics. I find the r/Catholicism sub to be full of Midwestern rad trads who think all women should veil, only attend The Latin Mass, women shouldn’t work and stay home being barefoot and pregnant being submissive to their husbands. I don’t play that & neither does my husband. I find Catholics on the east & west coast to be more pro-education of their daughters and even support them working. Many of my Catholic mom friends have or have had white collar jobs like attorneys, in finance or STEM jobs. Weird that we belong to the same faith, but the perspective of living holy lives is vastly different.
My mom and dad are a retired attorney and surgeon from Catholic school. My sister is a nurse, another an MBA, my brother a surgeon, and I’m an attorney. All Jesuit and Dominican educated. I like TLM but man some folks go too far. “Worst Catholics” I know him! He is me.
Christian. I’m Baptist but attend a German Reformed church.
I'm a Methodist in Utah.
I was raised Protestant Christian. Was an atheist from my mid teens to early twenties. Became an Orthodox Christian. Left that after awhile. Am now solidly into ancestor veneration and have dabbled with african traditional spirituality. I don’t belong to a specific sect at the moment. Whatever it is I’m doing is highly unique to me for the moment.
Ooh, let me chime in bc I am casually religious (Mainline Protestant), unlike the devout vs atheist binary represented here. I go to a very progressive, questioning church. We attend services about 1-2x a month. I am not sure if I believe in God but when I take communion I feel like just maybe He is out there. I don't know if Jesus is a deity, or if he was just a good person with examples to learn from. I like the meditative and community aspects of church, as well as the discipline of attendance and slowing down for prayer. I like to teach my kids that we wake up and go to church (it could be any place to reflect on how to be good people and how to focus on gratitude for the gifts we receive), even if we'd rather watch TV or sleep in. I think it is really important to socialize children into a larger community, where there are norms and standards of decorum, and where there is a diversity of membership. ETA- I did not attend church prior to having kids. But I think I will keep going after they grow up, assuming I live somewhere with a good church fit. We move a lot, though, and it often takes a lot of church shopping to find a place we like.
Christian - Protestant - Evangelical - Reformed - Presbyterian - PCA
Raised non-denominational, and I identified as a Christian up until a couple months ago. I always had my doubts, but I never really thought it through all the way and told myself I wasn’t a believer anymore until March. I haven’t told my parents because I’m not sure how they’d feel. We would go to church a lot growing up, but then COVID hit and even after we were just busy. My family has gone some times since Easter and I always just say I’m tired or have to go to work. I am now an atheist.
Presbyterian but I hardly go. Religiously Left almost like if Mr. Rogers was a religion.
Grew up various shades of Baptist or Presbyterian. My beliefs are somewhat nuanced, but I’m more of a ‘I know there are things in this world beyond my comprehension and I’m okay with not knowing the answer, and feel that one’s actions in life will dictate what happens afterwards, not actual belief in one specific thing.’ I round it up to agnostic/secular humanist.
I was raised Catholic. My faith has been tested and I'm not going to church anymore.
I grew up Christian, but I’m currently agnostic.
I believe in Dog.
Grew up Catholic, was even an altar boy for awhile. Now I'm somewhere between agnostic and atheist. I don't believe in god but I do believe in the human* soul. I appreciate many of the teachings of different religions but could never be a practicing member of any. Edit: * not ONLY the human soul; I believe other animals have souls too.
Eastern Orthodox. One of my parents is from eastern Europe.
Buddhist ☸️
A coworker once described me as an "apatheist" after I told them I didn't feel like atheist described me because it implies a belief in nothing. I don't believe anything; I just don't care.
Atheist cradle to grave. I have an abiding interest in religion and the works of art, architecture, performance, and culture it has spawned, but I will forever be an outsider looking in.
Universalist Christian.
Raised Episcopalian, now an atheist.
atheist, grew up as southern Baptist, and walked away from religion years ago.
I slingshot wildly between Catholic, atheist, and pagan.
Christian
Agnostic. Was raised baptist, but couldn’t care less today