Are you the same religion as you were born into?

[bendk]

I subscribe to S.C. Hickman's blog: The Dark Fantastic: Literature, Philosophy, and Digital Arts. A few days ago he published an essay "On My Atheism." I thought this might make an interesting topic. I am just going to cut and paste my response that I left on his page. I may elaborate a little later if there is any interest in this thread.

I was raised in a devout Catholic household. I was an atheist before the age of 10. Nothing I saw of the world mapped onto their interpretation of it. The idea of a benevolent God struck me then, as it does now, as demonstrably ridiculous. Still, I was forced to go to church and Sunday school until I was 16 and became a “confirmed Catholic”. If I didn’t, I was threatened with being taken to a detention home and I was physically beaten by my lunatic, zealous mother. Listening to those lies year after year took a serious toll.

(I realize that many people become atheists due to an abusive religious upbringing. That is not the case with me. The abuse came only after I informed my parents that I didn't believe in God. To my dad's credit, he couldn't have cared less. In fact, I once said "The Lotto is my God." and he laughed his ass off.)

[Arthur Staaz]

I was born into an average Catholic family, half Irish and half French Canadian (Quebecois). For both of these ethnic groups, Catholicism was fused with their ethnic identity. I went to Catholic schools from first grade right through high school. My parents weren’t hyper-religious. Just average Sunday/Holy Day Catholics who largely believed in the truth of the Catholic Church. I was very religious as a kid and even thought I might like to be a priest before puberty kicked in. Like many of my friends, college proved a challenge to my religious upbringing. With the influence of new friends, new ideas, new music and loads of science fiction novels, I was soon an agnostic then an atheist. But before college was over, reading and various experiences led me to reconsider spiritual matters. I was very influenced by books like The Teachings of Don Juan, The Way of the Shaman, The Tao of Physics and even the novel Little, Big. Over the years, I’ve experimented with Zen Buddhism, shamanism, Evangelical Christianity, the occult (particularly tarot), Episcopalianism, and Unitarian Universalism. I’ve also been in and out of my native Catholicism, most recently of the traditionalist variety(Latin, smells and bells, etc.). I’m very attracted to mystery and mysticism in spiritual matters. My current spirituality is Paganish, with an especial interest in Traditional Witchcraft. As you can imagine, my wife and kids never know from week to week what religion/denomination/spiritual approach I’ve adopted.

[Sepulchral]

Where I come from I can no longer say: in the temples I am without belief, in the cities, without ardor, among my own kind, without curiosity;
on earth, without certitudes.

I dream of wanting - and all I want seems to me worthless.

[service worker]

I was brought up a Baptist. My father was an aspiring minister. He was a good man. It was a wholesome upbringing for which I am grateful. I no longer have any faith. If you have to kill in order to live, that seems evil to me. This world is not the creation of a good god. I also have listened to lapsed theologians like Dan Barker and Bart Ehrman. They know it's all a lie.

[miguel1984]

I was baptized as an infant, but, when given the option by my parents to attend confirmation, I declined. The baptism was done as a family tradition; I think they mainly did it because they did not want to disappoint my grandparents, but my parents are both atheists and my father was sexually abused one time as a student in a Catholic school. I should undertake apostasy, but I do not want to deal with the hassle.

My parents' attitude changed after a few years and my little sister was not even baptized. Also, an abuse in that same school took place two or three years ago and some adults started talking about things that did not seem right when they were kids. Luckily, my sisters and I went to a secular school and had a great education.

[bendk]

I am hard-pressed to think of any religious bureaucracy that doesn't exploit power dynamics to sexually abuse those that are vulnerable. The Catholic Church is obviously notorious for this type of thing, and it has been known for ages. But it happens across the board. I've read numerous accounts in both Christianity and Islam. There is a devastating documentary The Keepers on Netflix that is disgusting. But there are others: David Koresh, Warren Jeffs, et al. It's pervasive.

To the best of my knowledge, the parish I grew up in wasn't tarnished in this way.

The question of inherited belief systems is one that everyone should ask themselves. "I was raised to believe..." shouldn't carry much weight, if any.

[Arthur Staaz]

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

I am hard-pressed to think of any religious bureaucracy that doesn't exploit power dynamics to sexually abuse those that are vulnerable.

Not defending the Catholic Church or any institution that has facilitated child abuse. But the problem seems to affect a lot of organisations that have a major role with the vulnerable and have a strong interest in covering their asses. E.g., prep schools, Boy Scouts, etc.

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

The Catholic Church is obviously notorious for this type of thing, and it has been known for ages.

Absolutely right. It has been known for a long time. I got a little tired of hearing certain Catholics blame it on liberalisation in the church. My father had stories going back to the 1930s.

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

To the best of my knowledge, the parish I grew up in wasn't tarnished in this way.

Unfortunately, the parish I grew up in was, by at least two priests. Both were considered “cool” priests.

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

The question of inherited belief systems is one that everyone should ask themselves. "I was raised to believe..." shouldn't carry much weight, if any.

True. Still, I do wonder if all of us grow up with a certain, pervasive amount of what I call socio-cultural hypnotism, wherein much of what lays unquestioned is stored in the unconscious with the potential to do as much or perhaps more damage than what we consciously believe. Conscious beliefs are easier to challenge.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Staaz

Not defending the Catholic Church or any institution that has facilitated child abuse. But the problem seems to affect a lot of organisations that have a major role with the vulnerable and have a strong interest in covering their asses. E.g., prep schools, Boy Scouts, etc.

True, and I've read that some individuals that are so inclined seek out these professions for that sole purpose.

I feel the exploitation is far more insidious on a "spiritual" level. The supposed authority is more intimidating. Parents even betray their children in many cases. The level of disgust I have for these people cannot be overstated.

Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Staaz

I do wonder if all of us grow up with a certain, pervasive amount of what I call socio-cultural hypnotism, wherein much of what lays unquestioned is stored in the unconscious with the potential to do as much or perhaps more damage than what we consciously believe. Conscious beliefs are easier to challenge.

Agreed. Cultural imprinting is a given. And it isn't all necessarily bad. But at a certain point, it should be questioned. Keep the useful, discard the rest.

[cannibal cop]

I was raised Catholic, but was never really a believer, just an observer, and I've never experienced a true "crisis of faith" at any point in my life. Even so, I don't harbor any particularly anti-Catholic sentiment, and have never had a reason to doubt the sincerity or the basic decency of any of the many people I knew personally involved in the Church.

Mass for me was always a mere formality that I occasionally put up with as a concession of sorts to relatively devout family members or friends, and I stopped attending altogether in my early 20s. Since then the only occasions I've had to visit a church or place of worship of any kind have been funerals.

Nowadays I have a great deal of sympathy for the position popularly known as "antitheism" (a term I arrived at to describe my own values before I heard Christopher Hitchens using it), but I don't consider myself an atheist in the most militant sense. I do not deny the possibility of "higher" powers or properties beyond our ken being involved in the formation of life, for instance, but any resemblance to the powers or deities represented in humanity's various religious dogmas is, I imagine, purely coincidental.

[paeng]

Yes, Catholic. During one discussion, I was asked why I remained with it over other Christian groups, and why Christianity in the first place, and I pointed out that it's a highly intellectual and philosophical religion, especially when seen in light of Judaism, Greek philosophy, Roman laws, medieval scholasticism, etc. Examples include the story of the tree of forbidden fruit, the Book of Job, Jesus' parables, the Catechism (which I surprisingly found out difficult to read), the Real Presence, the mystery of the Trinity, the idea of God becoming Man and salvation, various encyclicals across decades (esp. Lumen Gentium), the twin towers of Augustine and Aquinas, Gabriel Marcel and others, the incredible and very complex collection of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, the Wheel of the liturgical year, and combinations of canonical works from literature, from Dante's Commedia to Milton's Paradise Lost.

As much as I appreciate the world of cosmic horror, I can't let go of these, especially Dante's world.