Why do you belong to the church/group/denomination/religion that you belong to?

[wnwnwn]

I'm non religious, but I can´t see any religion but the catholic as somehow sensible to be "the one". Maybe too much catholic upbringing, surely that.
The Catholic Church recognises the right to form of collective bargaining and it´s a bit pragmatic on the Bible. Also, it has some historic legitimacy.
The problem with catholicism is that I think things should be explained with rational concepts. The Bible can teach some things and tell some interesting stories, but it contradicts the evidence on some aspects of the world (like evolution). But who knows, maybe I will see a miracle in some days. Or maybe I will see the light on other religion.

The Catholic Church doesn’t necessarily opposes or supports evolution.

Oh I forgot.
Well, there are other things. Like the logic of religion itself.

[Ferguson97]

I am an atheist because I have not yet been presented with sufficient evidence that a higher power exists.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I'm an evangelical Protestant with very strong Baptist theological leanings, despite attending a non-denominational church...but, I didn't always believe that...

Why I'm not a Catholic or a member of a liturgical Protestant denomination: ... However, I also want to discuss my personal opinion that a highly ritualistic and liturgical service focuses more on the ritual itself and distracts from the actual point (to know Jesus more).  I know that many devout Catholics (as well as those in highly liturgical Protestant denominations) interact deeply with those rituals and feel that they know God better through them.  However, I think- given human nature- that people often lose sight of why they are doing them...

Not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to touch on this.  First of all, I must say I am obviously at least somewhat sympathetic to this reasoning ... after all, I am still a Protestant and not a Catholic for a reason, and I see many of those issues among some Catholics.  However, wouldn't you say it can go too far the other way, as well?  Some of these ultra-contemporary non-denominational churches have more or less made it their missions to strip anything from historic Christian practices - including those not-quite-liturgical practices of nearly all Baptists from just 30-40 years ago! - in an effort to seemingly morph church to match their expectations for what they would enjoy in a secular cultural setting (e.g., casual, lowkey, not too stuffy, etc.).  I see a theological problem with that, as well.

I get people can disagree with this theologically, and that is totally fine ... but Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. have their liturgies for a reason, and it's not just because they think they're fancy.  A Lutheran reads the Bible and sees the Lord's Supper as containing the real presence of Christ and at the VERY least as something that should be included in every church service.  It was an essential part of the Early Church's practices in the earliest days where we have writings, and it seems like moving it to once a month (at most) simply because it's "a Catholic tradition" or something is being low church to the point of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Main point being, of course, you should not incorporate ritual "just because" ... and you also should not remove ritual "just because."

     My experience with liturgy is that it can be a powerful means of taking you out of your usual context and forcing you to confront something transcendent. Not to say it is impossible to encounter that without liturgy, but so much of what we see in the world today is geared towards making us comfortable and satisfied, allowing us to do what we like when we like. Liturgy is hard to justify in the Protestant tradition since Sola Fide tends to make it superfluous and so the tendency over time has been to reduce its importance, but I would say that from an Orthodox perspective it has real power to reorient us away from the world and in that new space we can strive towards God.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

-snip-

This would be a good opportunity to ask you - and I'm sure you've addressed this issue before but I have since forgotten it - IIRC you attend a Russian Orthodox church. Where does your church stand on the war in Ukraine? I would assume that Orthodox priests have more freedom in Western countries because they can criticize the Church for supporting and enabling Putin for his atrocities and keeping him in power.

Speaking from my experience - early in the war - Russia was named as the aggressor in my church and we prayed for Ukraine. We also prayed for Putin and Zelenskyy as well, for that matter, but the church never tried to both-sides the situation or excuse any of Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. Still, I would suppose that Russian Orthodox churches in America might take a different approach for obvious reasons.

[Mr. Smith]

To answer;

I'm no longer Catholic because it's not true. That's the simplest and most honest answer.

But to go a bit deeper, personal truth is important and I don't doubt personal commitment to belief. But it's not real. It's aesthetic. All Christianity is; whether it's high baroque, spartan or sleek. It's a 'feels' movement. It's a feast for the senses. The 'baubles' are very real. And they excite and dazzle because we put them there to excite and dazzle us.

Different 'baubles', different concepts and philosophies excited us before Christianity.

And that's all very good, and harmless and mostly doesn't bother me.

Except when it's not harmless. Because it can f-ck you or other people up. And then, with either a sharp tongue as dirt or a warm hug as salve; it will blame you for the wounds it caused.

To me, there is also something inherently selfish about salvational religion. The things people will do, or say or act (or not) in order to secure their own post mortal destiny. These things can be good, genuinely good and impactful things. They can also be objectively bad and wicked things, wrapped up in some paternalistic 'this is good' gaslighting and blackmail.

It's real hurt, for assumed personal gain made under 'spiritual' pretexts.

And those who aren't religious or of a salvational faith can't escape the 'game' that gets played at an interpersonal level or worse, a legal/political level by people who don't want to mess up their chance (and it is their chance) at salvation. We just have to navigate around it as collateral. Which I think is something that a lot of believers forget; what is the basis of my interaction with you? What's the transaction?

As a gay man (and I know many people of faith who are queer, irl and on here), I'm always going to be hyper vigilant because quite frankly, the record of Christianity and the Church has been deliberately and vindictively inhumane. Pleasure has been derived from dehumanising queer folk. Because it's up against what is real and what is true and yes a connection a communion even; with the body, the self and others that is 'spiritual' in form and act.

Leaving faith behind was a healing act. It made me a better person. It made me a more patient, and kinder person. Because what I carried with me and what I put out into the world was now my own.

If I wrote the TL,DR: this probably the best effort post to elaborate my own reasoning...besides sexual orientation, that's a divergence.

Though like wnwnwn, I'm still too hardwired towards Mormonism to completely call atheist on the matter. I still very much believe that milieu would be the closest to true of them all, if any, but that it still doesn't pass muster.

It truly became a very-zero sum affair, and that's pretty much what happens to most ExMos. It's either it's all true, or it's not, and if it's not, the rest are probably shams too. Some might call this reductive, but that's just the psychological toll taken.

[Associate Justice PiT]

-snip-

This would be a good opportunity to ask you - and I'm sure you've addressed this issue before but I have since forgotten it - IIRC you attend a Russian Orthodox church. Where does your church stand on the war in Ukraine? I would assume that Orthodox priests have more freedom in Western countries because they can criticize the Church for supporting and enabling Putin for his atrocities and keeping him in power.

Speaking from my experience - early in the war - Russia was named as the aggressor in my church and we prayed for Ukraine. We also prayed for Putin and Zelenskyy as well, for that matter, but the church never tried to both-sides the situation or excuse any of Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. Still, I would suppose that Russian Orthodox churches in America might take a different approach for obvious reasons.

     My church supports peace and we have liturgical prayers that are appointed for us for an end to the war. Additionally, our ruling bishop (Abp. Benjamin of San Francisco and the West, for the record) has spoken out against the statements of Pat. Kirill supporting the war. While my parish is Russian, we belong to the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America so we are not actually subject to the hierarchy in Russia. It's created a situation where many priests and deacons who come here from Russia and who oppose the invasion seek to join the OCA over ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) because they don't want to have to commemorate Pat. Kirill liturgically. The issue is that we actually don't have many Russian parishes left since a lot of historical ones have either switched to ROCOR over the years or become Americanized, so giving them a parish assignment is difficult.

     What's interesting is that our local church also sides with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (historically Moscow Patriarchate) over the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (recognized by Constantinople). Contrary to most online discussion, being pro-Ukraine/pro-UOC is actually a fairly normal position in the Orthodox Church and the majority of local churches adopt this line. With that said, it does set up a rather uncomfortable dynamic where we are heavily critical of both sides in the conflict, though not as a "both sides" deflection as the proposition may sound at first blush.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Secular or Traditional divided us anyways so it doesn't matter what religion you belong to


I would like to address atheism, it's not a matter of everything has to be real or not, belief in spiritual nature is about belief and although there hasn't been any rapture, we don't know if there is reincarnation, but if there is you don't come back right away. It takes awhile to reincarnation like 100 yrs so you can see your deceased loved ones in the afterlife

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I had no formal denomination growing up, if you pressed me I would've said Presbyterian or Lutheran depending on the day but I didn't really care. My parents were not and still aren't fans of organized religion, my grandparents were but they lived three hours away.

In College, left to my own devices, I ended up in an evangelical Christian campus group and that is where I really found God and learned how to actually apply scripture to my life. I didn't agree with every stance they took but I had great friendships, learned how to have a real relationship with God, and developed a mature purpose in this world.

Coming out of College, I wanted something like that group but with less YEC sh**t, speakers that weren't all white men, and perhaps less Trump loyalty. After a bit of trial and error, I settled on Assemblies of God and never looked back. I love how engaging the worship is and I feel it, as close as possible, represents where I am on the religious ideology scale. Once I was settled on this choice, I got Water and Spirit baptized to lock it in.