Post by pithy on Aug 19, 2019 2:23:16 GMT
It's what this area is about, nothing is here yet, and so I thought I'd start something. Maybe in more ways than one! 
Religion is one of my favorite subjects of discussion, and I'm not one of those who thinks everyone should have the same religion as me, so I'm not looking for a fight.
So, if you are inclined, talk about how you were raised, how you assessed your early religious assumptions as an adult, and whether or not that assessment (and/or subsequent reassments) resulted in a different religious path later in life.
I'll be happy to start since I brought it up.
I was born into a family of seekers. We had all manner of religious texts in our home, and we were encouraged to read any or all that struck our fancy. I remember The Bible, The Bhagavad Gita, books on mythology, books by Thich Nhat Hanh, Kahlil Gibran, and Edgar Cayce, among others. While I had no contact with my father or his side of the family, I know the vast majority of them were/are Baptist. My maternal grandparents were Spiritualists, my mother and oldest sister were/are Lutheran, my oldest sister's children and grandchildren are Wiccan, my middle sister is an atheist, her children are born-again Christians, and I am a generic Pagan. And we all get along. Even during the holidays!
I was exposed to classical mythology earlier than most kids my age, about 9 or so, and thought it explained everything; from being made "in the image of the gods" with all their warts and scars, and why you would go to different gods for different problems, just like you would go a specialist when you needed more specific medical help. But when I expressed that idea in grade school, a classmate insisted, "That's not real, only the Bible is real." For some reason, perhaps to "fit in," I internalized that bit of information and set aside the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc., although I never did pick up on the god of the Bible. In the mid 1980s I fancied myself a Buddhist, but I was looking for community, and had no opportunity at that time to meet other Buddhists. Upon further study, I also figured out that I wanted a little something "more," so I kept looking. In 1989 I got to Paganism via Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. Even as it says in that very book, I felt like I had "come home." It was all there, how I was raised, some of the things my family did, all my beliefs that I had previously put aside when an outside agent told me that my beleifs weren't "real." While I still consider myself to be Pagan, I'm more of an agnostic today. There's no "law" in Paganism that dictates that any gods are literal entities, but I do deeply enjoy ritual, and I also feel a deep sense of reverence for Nature. I now have a spiritual home in the Unitarian church, and I wouldn't regularly attend any other church at this point in my life. If I ever change religions I may reassess that. Or not. You can do that in the Unitarian church. It's the only church you can go to where you can change religions and don't have to leave the congregation.
I am very appreciative of the way I was raised and every day I consider myself very lucky to have had had that kind of upbringing.
Anyone else want to have a go at it?
Religion is one of my favorite subjects of discussion, and I'm not one of those who thinks everyone should have the same religion as me, so I'm not looking for a fight. So, if you are inclined, talk about how you were raised, how you assessed your early religious assumptions as an adult, and whether or not that assessment (and/or subsequent reassments) resulted in a different religious path later in life.
I'll be happy to start since I brought it up.
I was born into a family of seekers. We had all manner of religious texts in our home, and we were encouraged to read any or all that struck our fancy. I remember The Bible, The Bhagavad Gita, books on mythology, books by Thich Nhat Hanh, Kahlil Gibran, and Edgar Cayce, among others. While I had no contact with my father or his side of the family, I know the vast majority of them were/are Baptist. My maternal grandparents were Spiritualists, my mother and oldest sister were/are Lutheran, my oldest sister's children and grandchildren are Wiccan, my middle sister is an atheist, her children are born-again Christians, and I am a generic Pagan. And we all get along. Even during the holidays!
I was exposed to classical mythology earlier than most kids my age, about 9 or so, and thought it explained everything; from being made "in the image of the gods" with all their warts and scars, and why you would go to different gods for different problems, just like you would go a specialist when you needed more specific medical help. But when I expressed that idea in grade school, a classmate insisted, "That's not real, only the Bible is real." For some reason, perhaps to "fit in," I internalized that bit of information and set aside the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc., although I never did pick up on the god of the Bible. In the mid 1980s I fancied myself a Buddhist, but I was looking for community, and had no opportunity at that time to meet other Buddhists. Upon further study, I also figured out that I wanted a little something "more," so I kept looking. In 1989 I got to Paganism via Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. Even as it says in that very book, I felt like I had "come home." It was all there, how I was raised, some of the things my family did, all my beliefs that I had previously put aside when an outside agent told me that my beleifs weren't "real." While I still consider myself to be Pagan, I'm more of an agnostic today. There's no "law" in Paganism that dictates that any gods are literal entities, but I do deeply enjoy ritual, and I also feel a deep sense of reverence for Nature. I now have a spiritual home in the Unitarian church, and I wouldn't regularly attend any other church at this point in my life. If I ever change religions I may reassess that. Or not. You can do that in the Unitarian church. It's the only church you can go to where you can change religions and don't have to leave the congregation.
I am very appreciative of the way I was raised and every day I consider myself very lucky to have had had that kind of upbringing.
Anyone else want to have a go at it?
