If you are religious now and were non-religious before

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question remains: why are people saying they're spiritual and avoiding saying they're religious?

I think this belongs in a new thread.

I think you're right. I just noticed here how many said they were spiritual, presumably to avoid saying they are "religious," but it is a different thread.

Troll. Nobody said “I am spiritual.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question remains: why are people saying they're spiritual and avoiding saying they're religious?

I think this belongs in a new thread.

I think you're right. I just noticed here how many said they were spiritual, presumably to avoid saying they are "religious," but it is a different thread.

Troll. Nobody said “I am spiritual.”

? several posters above said they went back to church because they were spiritual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question remains: why are people saying they're spiritual and avoiding saying they're religious?

I think this belongs in a new thread.

I think you're right. I just noticed here how many said they were spiritual, presumably to avoid saying they are "religious," but it is a different thread.

Troll. Nobody said “I am spiritual.”

? several posters above said they went back to church because they were spiritual.

Show us. Give us a time stamp—this is your claim. Somebody has cited posts from people seeking a “spiritual community” and finding “spiritual meaning” and they’ve explained what the word “spiritual” means to them.

Oh wait, you have no cites because you’re a lying troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:question remains: why are people saying they're spiritual and avoiding saying they're religious?

I think this belongs in a new thread.

I think you're right. I just noticed here how many said they were spiritual, presumably to avoid saying they are "religious," but it is a different thread.

Troll. Nobody said “I am spiritual.”

? several posters above said they went back to church because they were spiritual.

01/26/2022 21:59 The LDS woman who joined her husband's church and find it to be a "fulfilling spiritual life."

01/27/2022 12:49 Me talking about finding a religious community (in my case a synagogue) that is spiritually meaningful.

Those are the only three mentions of spirituality before your comment about how people were using spiritual instead of religious. While it's certainly an interesting question, it's just not the case in this post. We were talking about being religious and going to church/synagogue. In no way has anyone hidden the "religious" in favor of the "spiritual" here as you're claiming.

The only possibly thing you could be referencing in this post is this:
01/25/2022 10:08 "I’ve seen several recent posts by people who said they used to be atheists and had recently returned to synagogue or church for spiritual reasons, but they obviously aren’t posting on this thread."
But here, the poster was referring to other past posts, not anyone in this specific post. You could try to go find those people in those other posts who may or may not have specifically talked only about being spiritual, not religious, to ask them your question. Or maybe those other posts are also about "spiritual meaning" within a religious community. Happy hunting to you.

[Anonymous]

I am the LDS poster. When I use the word "religion" it is to identify to the listener/reader that the religion i adhere to is LDS. When I talk about my feelings I use the word "spiritual." I don't really think about it; that is the verbiage that comes out of me.

I did the same when I was agnostic/uncommitted, then leaned somewhat towards Catholicism when I was "searching". (I attended Catholic for undergrad and Georgetown for graduate school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the LDS poster. When I use the word "religion" it is to identify to the listener/reader that the religion i adhere to is LDS. When I talk about my feelings I use the word "spiritual." I don't really think about it; that is the verbiage that comes out of me.

I did the same when I was agnostic/uncommitted, then leaned somewhat towards Catholicism when I was "searching". (I attended Catholic for undergrad and Georgetown for graduate school.)

I'm the Jewish PP. Thanks for explaining this; it's how I use "religious" and "spiritual" too.

[Anonymous]

Hi

I was born in an agnostic and non-religious family. We are Chinese immigrants so most do not take religion very seriously. I as well as my uncle and cousin converted to Christianity. My parents and aunt are still nonreligious though.
Usually conversion happens after someone goes through some stress in their life, for me it was related to my education and for my uncle it was related to his professional career.
I'm a baptist and used to go to an evangelical church for a while but I've started going to a new church as I thought the old one was too extreme.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you started this thread to confront people who used to be atheists and are now religious? Okaaaayyyy…. No wonder nobody is engaging with you.

OP needs to get a life.

Apparently the only person who listened to the podcast is the second poster—OP won’t deign to do so.

OP doesn’t want to listen, she only wants to criticize. I’ve seen several recent posts by people who said they used to be atheists and had recently returned to synagogue or church for spiritual reasons, but they obviously aren’t posting on this thread—that checks out, why bother.

So what? There are lots of people who become religious and lots who drop religion. It's a choice, like many other things in life. A difference with religion, is that it's forced on many as children, and even as adults, people can feel pressured to be (or at least act) religious, or be censured.

Luckily, that is changing, as more non-believers make themselves known.

Parents don’t “force” religion on their children. Do you take umbrage with parents “forcing” their kids to go to school, do their homework, get vaccinations, eat healthy meals, read books instead of watching cartoons, etc? Do you think children are not supposed to abide by the rules their parents set for them?


Children are part of a family, and many families have religious faith and traditions. Children are not being abused or indoctrinated by participating in their family of origin’s faith tradition.

Children can choose to continue that faith, or discard it, when they are adults. I think it’s problematic, extremely unrealistic, and flat out wrong to pretend you have any right or business to try to pretend you can tell parents what to do with their children. Parents do as they think is best for their children. Unless a child is being neglected or abused, your opinion about their childhood is meaningless.

People always ask for examples of how religion is forced upon adults in America, and I’ve never seen any examples posted here that concern me. A neighbor asking you to come to church with them isn’t an example of forced religion. Attending a friend’s church service in the evening that features a band is not forced religion. Hearing a person or people at your voluntarily attended wine and book club say unkind comments about a mutual friend is not forced religion. Having your single mom leave the state, and because the only family that would assume responsibility for your needs and well-being by caring for you in their home were religious, and you attended youth group with their child is not forced religion.

If you don’t want to raise your kids in a faith tradition, that’s your choice. However, labeling patents/families as bad because they choose to raise their kids in a faith tradition is honestly terrible. That’s scary and invasive crap that doesn’t belong in America.

As someone who experienced “forced religion” as a child, yes it’s a thing, and it’s a disgusting ploy to force nonsense on children before they’re old enough to know better. My parents thought they were doing right by me by forcing me to go to church. Lucky for me my dad was a closet atheist, so I did my time in CCD which is all they required and opted out as soon as I left the house. Many of my peers were more thoroughly embedded in the faith, Church schools, sports, etc during the “covering up systematic abuse” and “pray the gay away” years, and the damage has been long lasting and is still with them, if they are still alive and not dead from overdose.

I am proudly raising my children in a secular lifestyle, with an eye toward the greater good instead of tribalism. If they gravitate towards religion I won’t stop them or hide it from them. But it’s amazing - they’ve never shown any interest in an all-knowing deity who will punish them for their sins or offer love only under certain circumstances. Kids will never come up with this on their own unless they are indoctrinated, which is a fact most religious clerics and parents recognize. The whole system is built up to indoctrinate kids as much as possible and isolate them so they have no other choice but to continue. That’s facts, and it’s the reason America continues to fall behind the rest of the world while being convinced of its own superiority. Indoctrination makes peoples brains soft. And any more it’s Christian indoctrination that is being pushed by an increasingly emboldened Supreme Court.

[Anonymous]

Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

Picture a Venn diagram with two circles, one for brain damage and one for being born again. Then picture the tiny piece where these circles overlap, and draw your own conclusions about pp’s ability to interpret scientific papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

Picture a Venn diagram with two circles, one for brain damage and one for being born again. Then picture the tiny piece where these circles overlap, and draw your own conclusions about pp’s ability to interpret scientific papers.

Here another one-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500821/

Lots of theories abound, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are many factors beyond individual choice that influence religious thinking. OP asked “what changed to make them religious” - for a fair number of people, it’s their brains that changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

Picture a Venn diagram with two circles, one for brain damage and one for being born again. Then picture the tiny piece where these circles overlap, and draw your own conclusions about pp’s ability to interpret scientific papers.

Here another one-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500821/

Lots of theories abound, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are many factors beyond individual choice that influence religious thinking. OP asked “what changed to make them religious” - for a fair number of people, it’s their brains that changed.

I think that's what happened to my sister. She was wild, then found religion and became obsessed with Jesus -- and eventually with right wing politics.

[Anonymous]

^^

My brother was the opposite. He was quiet and thoughtful. Then he lost any sense of direction and became obsessed with left wing politics. He is not a nice person anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

Picture a Venn diagram with two circles, one for brain damage and one for being born again. Then picture the tiny piece where these circles overlap, and draw your own conclusions about pp’s ability to interpret scientific papers.

Here another one-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500821/

Lots of theories abound, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are many factors beyond individual choice that influence religious thinking. OP asked “what changed to make them religious” - for a fair number of people, it’s their brains that changed.

I think that's what happened to my sister. She was wild, then found religion and became obsessed with Jesus -- and eventually with right wing politics.

That’s not brain damage, even if some Trumpies don’t seem all that bright.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Becoming “born again” has been associated with brain damage. Draw your own conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068149/

Picture a Venn diagram with two circles, one for brain damage and one for being born again. Then picture the tiny piece where these circles overlap, and draw your own conclusions about pp’s ability to interpret scientific papers.

Here another one-

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500821/

Lots of theories abound, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are many factors beyond individual choice that influence religious thinking. OP asked “what changed to make them religious” - for a fair number of people, it’s their brains that changed.

Again, brain damage causes lots of behavioral changes. Doesn’t mean all religious people are brain damaged. Don’t sacrifice logic to make a bigoted point.