Were you born religious or is it something you learnt?

Were you born a christian, a muslim, a jew or do you have to learn these religions? Or are you born an atheist? What happens if you are born an atheist but have religious parents?

I would argue that you are taught your religion and that the teaching will depend on whom you are born to. So was your birth a pure chance or was it predetermined by a god that you had yet to learn about?

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I was born into a hindu family.

I went to a christian school.

I grew up reading the bible... and I was attached to it, especially the Psalms and the proverbs.

I went through a phase where I hated muslims...and loved hearing news of muslims being killed (especially in Israel)

Then 9/11 happened....and I hoped America would deal severely with muslims.

9/11 sparked my interest in Islam and I started reading the Koran.

And now I accept that Islam is a religion of divine origin.

Basically, I went from being anti-Islam to one of the most ardent defenders of Islam (at least here on ATS)

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Religion and spirituality are two different things

Religion is taught by others, spirituality is self taught.

I was born into a loose catholic home, went to catholic primary school, and all boys catholic secondary. I never 'believed' in religion, there was something to oppressive about it. When i left school i was anti-religious for many years.

Now 5 years after finishing school i believe in all 'gods' that religious people believe in, though i do not believe they are 'God". I believe the idea of God is the mechanic of the universe and all that exists. I do not have a religion but i am a heavily spiritual person now, i do not pray to a god, i meditate to the universe, i do not follow a dogma, i follow the idea that everyone is exactly the same and should be treated exactly the same.

Morality is a natural thing developed by conscious, intelligent beings.

Don't kid yourself when it comes to labeling yourself as a religious person, everyone is the same and wants the same thing.

We are all born as sinners and desire to follow only our own desires. We learn to be better.

We are all born as sinners

reply to post by DarthMuerte


How so? Every human on earth born a sinner. What sin has a 1 day old child done? To be born, so being born is a sin. How very bizarre.

It was something I had to un-learn. lol.

Actually I have a curious feeling about religion. I do not believe in it, but I believe it serves an evolutionary purpose, as a kind of survival mecahanism. So even if it is not "true," it is not "bad" either. Does that make sense?

reply to post by SilentThundersGF


makes sense to me. I actually think religion does a lot of good within communities. I actually volunteer in the charity sector and the religious charities do an amazing amount of good work in communities with passionate workers and volunteers. I'm not religious myself, but appreciate the benefits of having religion in civic society

If you believe in 'god' then it's something you feel and know not something you learn. Did someone teach you to breathe?

Religion was developed by man as a tool to control man. (it's a scam in other words.)

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


So your telling us what?

That your easily influenced and sway which ever way the wind is blowing? LOL

Your born with basic instincts for survival. Everything else is learned behavior.

The short of it is that most people are born into the religion they have. Meaning the parents had it and passed it on through your typical social intergration.

I've always said that if you have the religion that your parents had, then you ain't thought too much about it.

reply to post by mwood

So your telling us what?
That your easily influenced and sway which ever way the wind is blowing? LOL

No. Im telling you that if I wanted to "sway which ever way the wind is blowing", I would have continued to hate Islam to this day.

Originally posted by cavalryscout
If you believe in 'god' then it's something you feel and know not something you learn. Did someone teach you to breathe?

Religion was developed by man as a tool to control man. (it's a scam in other words.

)

The link/connection to whatever god/universe/source/all is can be helped by reading Jesus/Buddha/Einstein or other spiritual people. You are not reading it to belive something. You are reading it to find something. Those that quesition everything find more questions but also much wisdom. Follow your instinc and it will guide you home.

I was born into and brought up in a household where Atheism was the norm.

My brother, father and mother are all Secular Humanists / Atheists.

I had several spiritual experiences and am now a devout Christian, and my family for the most part just thinks I'm weird.

imo one is born a child of God.

I'd say everyone's born with implicit atheism

Then most adapt their parents beliefs as they are raised.

Most stick with those beliefs, some have different judgement and switch.

~
I never adapted my parents beliefs, really. It never sat right with me, never 'seemed real'. Maybe that was just because I was lucky enough that, due to other reasons, they ended up waiting a few years before going into the hardcore attempts at deceitful indoctrination.

Since it was never a seriously held belief, It didn't take very long before I completely disregarded it. Much later, when I was older, I could exorcise independent judgement on the issue. I rejected it when I was a kid because it sounded like nothing more than a story, but I reject it now for various more objective reasons.

~
I most certainly wasn't born religious. On top of that, after I was seriously analyzing various religious claims, it never became something 'learnt' either.

reply to post by woodwardjnr

What happens if you are born an atheist but have religious parents?

I would argue that you are taught your religion and that the teaching will depend on whom you are born to. So was your birth a pure chance or was it predetermined by a god that you had yet to learn about?

Excellent questions.
I just finished reading a book titled The Evolution of God by Robert Wright.

I learned of it from TV and then the Bible.

I was heavily influenced by cosmology and historians before then which in all actuality helped me better take in the philosophy in the Holy Bible.

and now I'm angry!

I was watching alot of those conspiracy show like on youtube some we're really bad and just claiming total control, but there were others also that seem to approach it from a scientific point of view. Still even there are other directly from the religious point of view also... I had to take atleast these three sides in before I drew some conclusion, I can't say at first I was skeptical of the religious views because I watched some really nice ones and the speakers were very presentable and not just responding to Dawkins.

on of my favorites which I learned so much from and then later researched if it was fact...

reply to post by wildtimes

I just finished reading a book titled The Evolution of God by Robert Wright.

I was born into an Italian family that is culturally Catholic. Baptize babies, weddings and funerals in the church but that was the extent of my belief. My mother taught me that God would punish me when I was bad.

I became an Atheist once I was old enough to form my own opinion and remained one until 19. I met a Christian guy and I had a spiritual experience with him which led me to Christianity.

I went to Bible college. I was devout. But as I read more and more about Church history I began to question Christianity. Never Christ, but the religion in General.

I kept searching for answers until I had my "Bodhichitta" experience in 2010. That was the beginning of my Life as a conscious being.

I'd say I don't have a religion anymore. I'm just awake.