Not spiritual...but religious. Big difference. This bumped into my mind because I was home for the holidays visiting the folks and went to church with them tonight, and as I was sitting there reciting the apostle's creed (not Apollo Creed), I just stopped and thought, this is crazy. I don't find myself religious as I haven't found one that I wholeheartedly follow and like. I'm reading up on Hindu and agree with many of the aspects of it, but for the most part I am more of a spiritual person. Just wondering what you felt. Seemed appropriate given the time of year.

Only when I see blue lights in the rearview.

fuck no

I used to be religious -- before my parents called me Satan.

Whether you're religious or not, or what religion you follow is just a crap shoot. You're indoctrinated when you're a child so whatever belief your family has becomes your belief. A baby born to Hindu parents will not naturally believe in Hinduism if he is adopted into a Christian family.

But I have no problem with religious people as long as their beliefs keep them honest and kind.

Jesus is cool.

Jesus was a hippie.

Which makes me wonder why the religious leaders were so down on the hippie kids when they looked and acted more like Jesus than the establishment did?

Not religious, but do consider myself spiritual. Hell, I even have my very own "God spoke to me" story, but I rarely ever share it with people. Did it make me religious? Nope, but it did give me greater belief in myself.

I'm as confused about religion as I am with every other aspect of my life.

technically : yes (baptised and confirmed Catholic)

practically : fuck no

Haven't been religious since a dinner when I was 12 with my parents and their priest. Somehow during the course of conversation the priest said that "all faggots will burn in hell." That's exactly how he said it, too. I realized that this guy who was supposed to be like "connected" to God was a complete fraud, and neither I nor my parents went to church again. Spiritual I guess, but never again religious.

i used to be a huge "believer" but i practically joined a cult, got myself out of it, got new friends, stopped going to church, etc. lifes much better now

I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school through 8th grade. Then I insisted that I go to public high school. And god knows there are tons of Catholic high schools around Chicago. That's when we moved out into the suburbs, and I've been an atheist ever since.

Not in the slightest.

I am a pretty devout Jew and I am not at all offended by the terms "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays." I think I will go out for some Chinese today.

when is hannukah?

atheist, so no.

The first candle is lit tonight.

Raised on Christianity since I was 7. I wouldn't say necessarily in the strict fundamental sense, but it almost was. At the age of 22 I pretty much decided it no longer made sense to me. I am 31 now and don't really know what I am. I would be lying if I said the idea of "God" never presented itself in my thought process. But religious? Nay.

aww, i hope you have a nice hannukah, beginning tonight.

i think there was a really stupid idea that began circulating among free-thinking christians beginning in the 70's that christians should have "relationships" not "religion." the impetus for it was obvious - they considered catholics et al. dogmatic and stuffy, and wanted to show that god wanted more than rituals, blah blah. but even the most non-denominational of non-denominationalists prays, probably will be baptized, and reads her bible, all obviously religious acts. of course they mean "blindly ritualistic," but it was a stupid idea because it gave religion a bad name even among religious people (at least those who didn't bother to stop and think about what they were repeating).

this has been a tangential observation by haqdiesel.

but i think to a lesser extent this applies to people who consider themselves spiritual without being religious. to be spiritual you probably have to have at least some minimal ideas about those spirits, which essentially amounts to "private doctrine" but which in reality you absorbed from others rather than (entirely independently) observed or invented yourself. i don't mean this as an admonishment or criticism, so please don't take it that way.