A life without religion.

zero religion here, unless you count pressies and stockings at xmas and easter egg hunts..... and halloween.

My family stopped attending church when I was 5. Why would I feel as if I was missing something?

None for me either. My mom took me to church when I was young ( I guess because she thought that was the thing to do) but when I realized I didn't/couldn't believe in any of it, I never went back. These days, I simply can't understand how anyone can believe it.

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I have no religion, no god-belief. I always knew it, even as a small child, yet tried to force myself to be religious. But, you can't accept what you can't believe. Similar to Setanta, I learned more and more about it, which only confirmed how true my original concept is.

Me too. Raised agnostic. No feeling that something's missing.

I find this curious, everyone has been equating a life without religion to living a life without a belief in God.

OK, I'll say it, I have no use for religion, but I do believe in God.

One of my favorite lyrics by Sting...
Men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one.

It's the people I don't have much use for.

littlek- What I think you are describing is being a "secular Christian". Although you apparently don't follow the religious teachings, you are involved in the cultural aspect of Christianity. There are many Christians and Jews, who run their lives exactly that way. They may not believe in the dogma, but they do relate to the social trappings of the religion.

I believe in God - I pray (almost)everyday - I don't visit a house of worship and practice traditional rituals, although I have no problem with those that do.

I just recently gave up religion. It is hard. I was brought up by "real" Christians, not phony ones with guilt trips and threats of hell. Good people. Very good people, all the way back to great grandparents that I was lucky enough to know and spend time with throughout my childhood.

I gave it up for several reasons, but mostly because of what I read here. Too many non-religious people on this site that I view as "good people" were actually making sense. It became difficult to ignore the reasoning.

Another huge factor has been the religious right take over of our government, media, public airwaves, etc.. The more fanatical, hypocritical and vindictive they became, the more I wanted distance from any association. The whole war thing based on Islam v. Christianity was an eye opener, as was our president claiming to be a Christian as he lied us into war.

But, it isn't everyone elses fault I lost religion or decided to give it up. I actually grew up finally. I'm still a nice person. (I don't think standing up for oneself requires being hateful.) I still prefer to see the good in others, and I now believe we are all just humans trying to get through life the best we can with what we have as we learn and grow in our own ways, at our own pace.

I don't need religion. It's now okay that I might just die and be gone. I don't need an afterlife to feel good about myself, or to do good towards others. I still have my heart, I just recently discovered that my brain can operate in conjunction with it.

You know, I can't remember when I gave up religion. It may have had something to do with science. I just couldn't see how the two could both be talking about the truth, so seeing as once had evidence to prove it correct and the other didn't, I gave one up.

However, in the past decade or so, I realised that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. Just because something doesn't have evidence backing it up, doesn't mean it's wrong.

And I would have gone back to religion.

I didn't see any conflicts between science and religion anymore, so I should have gone back.

The only thing that prevented me from doing so, were the religious people themselves Now, I know they're not all the same. There are those who couldn't care less what you believe. There are those that say, Live and let live. They're not the ones that prevented me from getting back into religion.

No, it was the Fundamentalists. It was the "We are holier than thou" and the "Oh you're not an X...? Well, why don't you become one?" attitude. Not all of them were fundamentalists, either. Some were pretty tame in comparison.

I just couldn't stand their attitude.

Sure, they aren't representative of all religous people. In fact, the majority of them are nothing like that.

But you know, a minority can always sour an experience and make things bad for everyone else.

Still, I haven't rejected all the religious tenets, you know. Why else would I be considered a liberal? Many of the liberal views match my old Christian views quite well.

All who aspire to atheism, like myself, have the fundamental problem of steering "their life" around a landscape filled with the historical and cultural artifacts of "belief". Whether it be attendence at religious ceremonies for others, the appreciation of "religious art", or the loathing of dogmatic fundamentalism...can any one of us ever say we can be "religion free" ?

Good point fresco.
Our society and culture is permeated with religious iconography and ritual, from our holidays to the way we keep time. It would be very hard to completely sever oneself from the trappings of abrahamic religion.

But, as for myself..that is a hard one to call.
Define religion. If you define religion as the belief in and worship of deities, then I may qualify..but not in any ordinary sense. I see the concept of 'deity' as being born within each mind, subjectively. To some it is nature, to some, jesus..yet others deify money and success. What is deity if not that which is to be admonished and devoted to?
I see deity in what is most important to me. ME.
My deity has ultimate authority over what constitutes right and wrong insofar as I am concerned. Does my deity require dogmatic adherence? Certainly..being true to myself is indeed something I demand of myself.
Does my deity require worship? Certainly, what is more deserving of reverence than my own consciousness, without which I would not even exist?
Am I religious? Depends who is defining the word.

Let me start by saying that I don't think organized religion is an overall negative force in the world, as some have implied or stated here. There are many absolutely beautiful, good-deed-doing religious people and organizations all around the world. A lot more than a lot of non-religious people want to admit, in my opinion. There are huge negative consequences that I think are attributable to organized religion, of course, but I just think that people tend to forget the positives, of which there are many. I do it myself. But I think that is a wrong conclusion.

My problem with religion is that I just don't believe a word of it. And at one point, I REALLY believed. I was raised catholic, and was somewhat of a religious nut all the way up until I went away to college. I freed myself from a lot of things during that time, and religion was one of them.

I don't know if there is any connection, but as I was learning about things like drinking, smoking, taking mind-altering substances, and having sex with real live women, my faith in religion just disappeared somehow. Who knows where it went? Maybe I left it on a tray at the dining hall one hungover sunday morning, or on the floor in some girl's dorm room. I may never know. But does it really matter? The point is, it's gone. And thank GOD for that!

I would not want to be completely religion free. I think that religion has its place of honor in the evolution of human beings. I think that the cultural aspect of religion has produced some of the most glorious works of art and music. I usually enjoy going to religious ceremonies of others.

I used to say that if I ever turned religious, I would espouse the faith that created the highest level of pomp and circumstance. What marvelous theatre! What fabulous architecture! The difference would be, that I believe that all this ceremony was created by human beings for the benefit of other human beings. So I suppose that whatever group I happened to join, probably would not want me.

As far as fundamentalists are concerned, I say, "Whatever floats your boat". My problem with the radical religious is that they attempt to insert their beliefs into secular law, which I believe is highly inappropriate.

There are religious individuals, groups even, who dedicate their lives to good works. I have no quarrel with any of them. When I speak for my ideals, I speak solely for me.

Fresco's phrase, "a landscape filled with the historical and cultural artifacts of 'belief'", recalls Nietzsche's reference to the "shadow" that persists after the Death of God, meaning, as I understand it, after the rise of secular societies that do not derive their authority from the Church.

I am so so sad about all reply about this topic.. Religion is life-style of mankind..

…Yes, whoever finds the boundless sea of mercy, surely does not rely on his own mirage-like will and choice, which is like a mirage; he does not abandon mercy and have recourse to his will...

…As the fire-fly relies on its own miniscule light and remains in the boundless darkness of the night, and since it does not rely on itself, the honey-bee finds the sun of daytime, and observes all its friends, the flowers, gilded with the sunlight….

We're all poopin,
poopin', poopin', poopin',
we're all poopin' our way through the world.

Re: A life without religion.


I live life without religion. Very successfully.

so get with the program kevnmoon. We can't all be irreligious without you.

From my perspective, "Spirit" refers to the energy, life, or enthusiasm with which an individual, society, or era, lives its life.
"Religion" has to do not with theology, supernaturalism, otherworldliness, etc.; it has to do with any and all attempts to realize one's unity with Nature or the World or the Cosmos. Re-ligio: to reconnect, as in ligament. But the fact of the matter is not that one connects with The All (however one wants to call it), but that one realizes one connection from the beginning.
Amen with apologies.