I'm interested to find out what other people's views on religion are.

What do you class yourself as (if anything)?

I was brought up in a family that although 'technically' Christian; had views from other religions/philosophies mixed in as well. I was made to understand the concept of the astral plane and the occult in general from a young age. And I knew it as a matter of fact rather than something I later found out about. I was also aware of the possibilty of otherkin but didn't really put two and two together until a few years ago. I'm not really sure what I'd class myself as now - I've certainly moved away from the Christian side of me. However, when I practice magick, I tend to appeal to the Judeo/christian deity. *shrugs*.

Anyway, I was just interested to know what your beliefs are and what lead you to your current path.

Thank you

xPurplex

(sorry for going off a on a bit of a tangent)!

Like so many people I've also been brought up in a christian faith, be it a very mild variant. Nobody in my family was devotely religious except for my grandfather briefly after his wife died.

My thoughts on organised religion are usually not very positive. Regardless of the deities they worship or the nature of their messages ... I find the thought of a group of priests or whatever deciding on spiritual matters for the masses rather insulting. Religion can be used for great things but at the same time for very horrible things, just look at history.

I'm a very spiritual person but not a religious person. Religion just has too much human influence. Spirituality should be between you and whichever god or force you wish to interact with. This also reflects on my energy work .. or magic. I do my own thing there, rarely using rituals or spells that others made.

I'm the kind of person that always goes his own way. I listen and learn from everything I can but I can't bring myself to follow any one predescribed path because it'll never be completely mine. Instead I take bits and pieces from many things and puzzle them together as my own creation. So you could say I follow a religion of one.

Raised Church of England

Practising Wiccan....short and sweet lol.

I find that organised religion (for me at least) is rather empty. I don't feel anything. Whereas, when I'm doing my own thing - I feel it and it is personal. I think that in societies where religion is dictated, it often becomes so familar that the masses don't think to look beyond it and therefore it can become repeatitive and meaningless.

I was raised under devout christian, but there were too many words, and things that didn't make sense for me to follow blindly, just cause someone said so.

Problem with most of the christian kind is they are stuck on the bible, some things I get, but the bible is more a thing of the past in my eyes and can no longer, be held to it's written word exclusively. To me it's become more of a metaphor or guidebook, that says one thing, but allows reason for others, than strict black and white.

As many it seems, I've formed my own sorta side christian beliefs and they've been working fine for me for the past 9 years since I gave up trying to adhere to the norm. I apparently had no clue how to be normal and everyone else just dubbed me with a name. Where if someone asks, who's Nightwolf, Reply is, well it's...nightwolf, ya know? Can't really explain, just the way she is, and I smile. Anywho, spiritual Christian is close enough, as nature is my teacher and the voice of my deity, more than the written word which can be skewed by man and made false or to adhere to certain times or greed.

The main thing i believe of Christianity is in the deity, but not the tales of you're supposed to fear your deity or whatnot. To me he's like a gentle mentor, helping me pick my own path amongst the prickly road. Christians might need to change some of their concrete views or at least get some flexibility in my views.

i just got dissillutioned with the establishment of the Christian church, at least in my area, its too beureocractic and obsessed with making money and forcing views on people, i couldn't go along with it.

I've noticed many christian churches seem to ask for more donations lately. I know it's a part of things, but at the same time I'm like I don't know, doesn't feel right or just a worthy enough cause I guess.

Preaching has gotten to be boring as well, I rarely go to church much anymore, don't like that many closed in spaces. Rather be out in the open air, quiet and own thoughts

I agree with what zan and purplemoon has said about organised religion...being an eclectic pagan i tend to favour creating your own personal sense of spirituality...interacting personally with dieties of your choosing and things...much more fulfilling than blindly following something without understanding what it really means

thats how i made the final break with the religion i was brought up on....basically my parents are in a sect of hinduism that follows a guru...i was raised to believe the things they did but when i got older and started thinking for my self...i realised i disagree with the whole point of their religion and found it too controlling, restricting, and narrow minded and anti-life basically

as for being a pagan i have been interested in the occult, the old western gods and things like that from a young age

*Nods* Being independent thinker will lead you to your right religion as all self thinkers has a self made path.

Christianity is popular, but it's also losing it's streak for being absolutely right in this day and age. Noone wants to hear, you'll be smited, or you'll this or that.

Even believing in what I am is absolutely not allowed in christian society, but I figure if my god didn't want me to come upon it, or not believe in it, he would've never let it get near me. Also, I never was able to just believe without investigating. Blessed and cursed curious cat nature.

Someone tells me one absolute and I question it to death. Why do you believe the bible is the only word, but if man wrote the bible, wouldn't that technically not be the lords word, even if the holy spirit chose someone it still means that the bible is man influenced and who's to say holy ghost jumped into them to help write it, have you seen it?

Stuff like that

being a free-thinker always leads to more fruitful results than blindly following something you don't understand

and it can be annoying sometimes when people tae the bible so literally and take every single word as fact

raised christian went to a catholic school till i was 8 then moved back to england and went C of E school went to being atheist and now i'm a practicing pagan/wiccan

I actually was raised without any real sense of religion. My parents were never really religious, then again, that could have been because they were potheads and more concerned with where their next bowl was coming from. So when one of my brothers friends came along and started talking about paganism, I was intrigued. So I talked with him about it, got an idea of what it was about, raised some good points and questions, and eventually started following it. Now, I'm kind of a wanderer, though I do have two deities I follow rather devoutly.

which dieties may I ask?

My dad was also in sect a of hinduism that followed a guru. He has know returned to Christianity. But I remember going to the temple with him when I was really young. Lots of incense and annointing etc, etc....

Well for my parents' one theres not so much incence or annointment but really they're all the same