Random Religion Thread

[linguoboy]

I was raised both Catholic and Protestant, I went to a Catholic school in kindergarten (mostly because the other schools were ghetto) and we went to a protestant church for a bit when I was in 1st and 2nd grade.

Um, yeah no. You were raised Protestant.

[Ludwig Whitby]

I was raised without a religion, actually. My family did and does celebrate all the big Orthodox Christian holidays, though. By that I mean: Easter, Christmas and Slava*. They are all originally Pagan, anyway. We also celebrate both New Years, usually at different places, as it is customary to celebrate them with friends, rather than family.

*But we have never gone to the church, nor have we asked the priest to come round and hold a small service in our home. What we do is mumble Pater Noster in broken Old Church Slavonic and that's it.

[JackFrost]

If you can find me a link, I'd love to see it.

I can't find it. A pity since it has more details how often they go to church per week, per month, per year, etc. and not just "xx% still attend the mass".

I did find some others...

Canoe: 77% are non-practising; 7% go to every mass; 42% say religion is still important in their life (?!?).
Canada.com (from the Montreal Gazette): 20% still go to church once per month; 85% still claim to be Catholic.
CBC: in the rest of Canada, 32% attend the mass regularly, down from 75% in the 1950s; in Quebec, 20% still do so, down from 88%.
A Canoe article on a forum comparing Canada to America.

I'm not exactly well informed in this, so don't rely on me too much about this. It's a general perception that most Quebecois still claim to be Catholic, even if a vast majority don't attend the services or support the doctrine. According to the Wiki, Quebec is ranked to be the second province with the least percentage of atheists/agnostics/humanists (5-6% of the population). Newfoundland takes the top spot. This bipolarity confuses me sometimes since I live just a block from a Catholic church and I only see a few dozen mostly old folks going inside for the weekend mass.

[linguoboy]

If you can find me a link, I'd love to see it.

I can't find it. A pity since it has more details how often they go to church per week, per month, per year, etc. and not just "xx% still attend the mass".

I did find some others...

Okay, I'm seeing the confusion now: when you said "(like most of the people here)", I understood this to mean most of the people on Unilang, not most of the people in Québec, which--from where I stand, is not "here" but "up there".

All the same, the links are interesting. Thanks.

[JackFrost]

Oh, "here" as in my geographic location. Sorry about that.

[linguoboy]

Oh, "here" as in my geographic location.

Egocentrist!

[Dormouse559]

Oh, "here" as in my geographic location.

Egocentrist!

How dare he not refer to his location in relation to the wonderful U S of A!

[Hunef]

Why is there no option "Other"?

I was in Northern Ireland and a man asked me what religion I was.

I said, "I am atheist."

"But are you Protestant or Catholic?"

"Neither. I'm an atheist. It means I don't believe in God."

"Yes, but which God don't you believe in, the Protestant God or the Catholic God?"

That's exactly my problem with the term "atheist", hence my comment above. In order to be an atheist you need to make a conscious choice to not believe in a deity. I was simply brought up in an environment with no deity belief (which is standard procedure in Sweden), and hence I wouldn't label myself "atheist". I'm neither atheist nor theist, I just "am".

[linguoboy]

Oh, "here" as in my geographic location.

Egocentrist!

How dare he not refer to his location in relation to the wonderful U S of A!

Or, you know, in some kind of geographically neutral way, like "Here in Québec", so all of us Americans will know it's someplace we don't care about that doesn't matter.

[johntm]

so all of us Americans will know it's someplace we don't care about that doesn't matter.

But "someplace we don't care about that doesn't matter" leaves the rest of the world that's not the US!

[hlysnan]

I demand the other option!

I was raised Methodist, but I consider myself Deist with an interest (not belief) in Heathenry. I think that going to church was a great experience for me and I'd definitely take my kids there in the future. The sense of community, the singing, the friendly people, the morning tea, volunteering and socialising etc.

[BlackZ]

I am Agnostic. I don't know if God exists or not, nor I think I'll ever know it.

My mother is Catholic and, just like JackFrost, I was forced to do the communion (but I refused to do the confirmation). My grandmother is Protestant and she keeps trying to convert our entire family. I avoid talking about religion with them. The only time I did (I just asked for proofs for the existance of God...) they treated me like I had the demon in my body

[Bryon]

I demand the other option!

I was raised Methodist, but I consider myself Deist with an interest (not belief) in Heathenry. I think that going to church was a great experience for me and I'd definitely take my kids there in the future. The sense of community, the singing, the friendly people, the morning tea, volunteering and socialising etc.

That's good you had a good experience at church. Although I didn't like the services in Michigan, I actually liked the people at my parents' church when we used to live up there. However, down here in Kansas, I've had a completely opposite experience with churchgoers. I went to one church with some family members here, and nobody would even look at me, even though I was friendly and smiling. I honestly don't know if I've ever met a more cold-hearted, fake group of people.

[Lenguas]

That's good you had a good experience at church. Although I didn't like the services in Michigan, I actually liked the people at my parents' church when we used to live up there. However, down here in Kansas, I've had a completely opposite experience with churchgoers. I went to one church with some family members here, and nobody would even look at me, even though I was friendly and smiling. I honestly don't know if I've ever met a more cold-hearted, fake group of people.

What denomination church was that?

Once my friend invited me to his church. I'm used to Lutheran churches, where essentially the congregation is made up of people who range from being very conservative to quite liberal in their interpretations, and nobody tries to force things on other people. Everyone seems to get along interestingly enough. Anyway, at his "non-denominational" church, it was totally different. They went on and on about how their interpretations were the only correct ones, and that Catholics were terrible and misguided, and Muslims and Hindus were even worse. I kept my mouth shut, but vowed never to go with him again to his church.

[Bryon]

That's good you had a good experience at church. Although I didn't like the services in Michigan, I actually liked the people at my parents' church when we used to live up there. However, down here in Kansas, I've had a completely opposite experience with churchgoers. I went to one church with some family members here, and nobody would even look at me, even though I was friendly and smiling. I honestly don't know if I've ever met a more cold-hearted, fake group of people.

What denomination church was that?

Once my friend invited me to his church. I'm used to Lutheran churches, where essentially the congregation is made up of people who range from being very conservative to quite liberal in their interpretations, and nobody tries to force things on other people. Everyone seems to get along interestingly enough. Anyway, at his "non-denominational" church, it was totally different. They went on and on about how their interpretations were the only correct ones, and that Catholics were terrible and misguided, and Muslims and Hindus were even worse. I kept my mouth shut, but vowed never to go with him again to his church.

We went to a Lutheran church in Michigan, and it was the same as you described. In addition to the different views, all of which were mostly accepted, we often had parties when some graduated, moved, got married, etc. I owe a bit of my interest in languages to them as well, since my best friend there for years was a girl who moved from Germany. The Lutheran church here in Kansas isn't nearly as nice or close-knit, though.

The church I hated was a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. Some of my family members belong to them, so I've been invited to go a few times. I must throw off some sort of gay-atheist halo or aura, because they avoided me like the plague. They are incredibly homophobic, and to a degree, misogynistic. It was a very unenjoyable experience, as I'm sure you can imagine. I'd never have imagined that a non-denominational church would have that "our interpretations are the only correct ones" thing in common with the Witnesses.

[Lenguas]

Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to go to a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.

I'd never have imagined that a non-denominational church would have that "our interpretations are the only correct ones" thing in common with the Witnesses.

It's funny. The most extreme fundamentalists I know are all either "non-denominational Christian" or "spiritual". Apparantly those words can mean just about anything.

[Bryon]

Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to go to a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.

I'd never have imagined that a non-denominational church would have that "our interpretations are the only correct ones" thing in common with the Witnesses.

It's funny. The most extreme fundamentalists I know are all either "non-denominational Christian" or "spiritual". Apparantly those words can mean just about anything.

I don't blame you about not wanting to go to a Kingdom Hall, I'll definitely never go again if I have the choice. They probably visit your house rather often, since Wyoming towns are small, but hopefully my feeling is wrong.

That is funny. In Kansas the most fundamental people tend to be "born-again Christians" and of course Jehovah's Witnesses. The thing with the born-agains is that quite a few of the ones I know are very hypocritical. For instance, they'll be gung-ho against premarital sex, but then go out and have it, and do a nice bit of gay bashing on the side. I don't know how it is with the Witnesses, but it's probably a bit similar, at least with the younger members.

I don't know anybody who identifies as "non-denominational" or "spiritual," but it would be interesting to see how they act here, compared to what I'm used to.

[ILuvEire]

My mom was actually raised Catholic, but once she grew up, she quit going to mass. I've been to a lot of mass with my grandparents, but I was never baptized, nor did I go through confirmation, so I never took communion. My dad was raised in a pretty Jew-y house and I had a bris when I was born (because my grandma wasn't having a goyish grandson), but then decided that he wanted to be a Baptist/Non-denominational Christian sometime when I was a kid, so I got to do, uh, that. I've been completely fucking confused about everything, but a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to embrace Judaism, so I became bar mitzvah and I've been going to shul semi-regularly. I'm not the most observant, but I kind of get along, and I've been reading a lot of Jewish philosophy (because my rabbi likes to give me books, and, hey, who's going to complain about books?!)

Dunno if I believe in God or the afterlife really, but that's not really what being Jewish is about, honestly.

[Imyirtseshem]

.

[hlysnan]

That is funny. In Kansas the most fundamental people tend to be "born-again Christians" and of course Jehovah's Witnesses. The thing with the born-agains is that quite a few of the ones I know are very hypocritical. For instance, they'll be gung-ho against premarital sex, but then go out and have it, and do a nice bit of gay bashing on the side. I don't know how it is with the Witnesses, but it's probably a bit similar, at least with the younger members.

My friend's ex is an evangelist and she says he's been going on preaching against premarital sex, yet it was pretty obvious something was going on in the bedroom. Coincidence?

Books??? Oh yeah!

As soon as I saw your username, I immediately thought Amartya Sen.
/random