What's your religion? (Or lack thereof)

[Soldier of the One]

all pagan all the time.

Cool. What kind of Pagan are you? I know that can be a broad category :)

[Cassandra]

I'm an atheist who occasionally considers the idea of agnosticism.

[Soldier of the One]

Nontraditional Mormon.

Cool. How do you define a 'non-traditional Mormon'?

[FaustianSlip]

Raised Episcopalian, started practicing Judaism in college after years of reading about it as a teenager. Officially converted in March with a Conservative beit din (religious court of three rabbis) and now doing the lone ranger thing here in China. While in the States, a lot of my practice revolved very heavily around communal Jewish life; I went to synagogue almost every Shabbat and was a regular at morning and evening services during the week, but here, that's not really an option, so I go to services at a liberal congregation a couple of hours away when I can and daven on my own during the week.

I would put my practice pretty squarely in the middle of Conservative Jewish norms, I think. I don't have a kosher kitchen, but I don't eat pork or shellfish, and I don't generally mix meat and dairy. I'm not shomer Shabbat, but I lay tefillin every day. In some ways I'm more liberal, in others I'm more traditional. I've found that I'm way pickier about what I want in terms of services than I thought I was; egalitarian services, the more Hebrew the better, no choir or instruments is my personal ideal. I'll go to services wherever, but in a perfect world, that's what I've got available.

[ElphabaGalinda]

Jewish. Raised pretty much culturally Jewish (just celebrating major holidays out of tradition). On a form for an Israel trip once when it asked for denomination i put "just Jewish" (which was an option). My beliefs are pretty consistent with reform Judaism,which beliefnet confirmed for me, but I always kinda knew.

[Soldier of the One]

FaustianSlip: are you a woman or a man? I think it's admirable if either sex lays tefillin, but as a tried-and-true egalitarian, I have even a little more admiration for a woman who does :)

I cannot even imagine what it is like to live a Jewish life in China! :0

Funny how FJ seems to harbor quite a few Jews.

And yes, I want to hear MOAR from the Pagans! Come on, you Pagans - tell me about your religions. I am endlessly fascinated (in a good way) :)

[dramallama]

I'm agnostic.

[FaustianSlip]

I'm a woman. My rabbi (a guy) is pretty adamantly egalitarian, so he was happy to show me how to do the whole tefillin thing shortly before my beit din. My synagogue in the US is pretty egalitarian in general; the overwhelming majority of women wear tallitot and kippot for morning services (even the older ones who wouldn't have grown up with it), and at morning minyan, it seemed like more and more women were putting on tefillin.

Being Jewish in China is just... weird, in some ways. Though ironically, while they love to put pork and shellfish in practically everything, the meat/dairy thing is usually really easy here, since they use basically no dairy stuff in their cooking. It only comes up if we're going out for Western food somewhere. One thing I have found is that people here are generally more understanding of religiously-motivated dietary restrictions than they were in Japan, where they'd say, "Oh, there's no pork in that!" and you'd get a salad loaded with bacon. I assume it's because of the decently-sized Muslim minority, and there are a fair number of vegetarian Buddhists around, too.

I freaked out one of my Chinese instructors back in the States when I told her about the Kaifeng Jews. She was all, "But- they're Chinese! And also Jewish?" It was kind of hilarious.

[loveandwar]

Christian, nondenominational.

[Soldier of the One]

Thanks for the explanation, FaustianSlip! And good luck with Judaism in China :)

[clibbyjo]

Non religious/pagan/witch wannabe.

I'm an atheist who experiences strange things occasionally (feeling something happening from far away or very rarely knowing something in advance) which hasn't in any way convinced me about any particular god but most certainly has about human spirituality.

YEP :clap:

[Soldier of the One]

Care to elaborate, Clibbyjo? :)

[homeschoolmomma1]

Catholic since birth and still attend every week

I had an odd time with the mormons- not my type of religion but respect them- good people

[anniebgood]

ELCA cradle Lutheran, liberal and seeking. Married to an agnostic who was Presbyterian, Born again, and now views things with a scientific slant.

Kids are nominally Lutheran (they did get confirmed, and it's up to them to chose their own path, unlike the Maxwells I don't tell them who and what to believe even though they both live at home and are over 21. :angelic-halofell:

[Shirley MacLaine]

Atheist.

Oh, apparently you need ten characters to post so I'm adding this sentence :P

[emilymea]

Christian, nondenominational, sorta-charismatic, Bible believing without being legalistic about clothing/food/gender roles/etc. My church encourages higher education and women in the ministry. Pastor asks us to let him know if he preaches anything unbiblical.

Yeah, I love my church. :)

[Soldier of the One]

Your church sounds awesome. And by 'women in the ministry' you mean actual ministry (i.e. pastors and ministers) and not just 'women's ministry' a.k.a. homekeeping, right?

[emilymea]

Your church sounds awesome. And by 'women in the ministry' you mean actual ministry (i.e. pastors and ministers) and not just 'women's ministry' a.k.a. homekeeping, right?

Totally not homekeeping at all. Three of our associate pastors are female - roughly half the pastoral staff. Pastor's wife is known as "Pastor Becky" because she does as much ministy work as her husband.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

One thing I have found is that people here (in China) are generally more understanding of religiously-motivated dietary restrictions than they were in Japan, where they'd say, "Oh, there's no pork in that!" and you'd get a salad loaded with bacon.

Heh. I've never seen the actual bacon in that circumstance, but yeah, you better believe that you might get a pork-based soup but with the actual pork just removed at the last moment! I'm middle-aged and been away for a while anyway, but certainly while I was growing up, ANY sort of dietary restrictions or dislikes of any food at all were looked upon as picky and childish, and might get you a "well, you never starved in the war, so I guess you're spoiled" or similar (at least if you were a kid).

I've not dealt with kosher issues there (beyond advising a poster to USENET ages ago that if you can't name the fish, at least you can be comfortable in the knowledge that odds are it's full body in the market so you can look at the fins and scales yourself ;) ) but I've definitely heard of vegetarians a while ago getting the "oh, there's no meat, no worries" thing but no understanding that yeah, for them, the meat (or fish more likely) BROTH is an issue... Meat in general is lesser amounts but small amounts are pretty much everywhere - though it seems to be changing some in modern days with the vegetarian "fads." Certain very religious monks have a truly vegetarian diet but it's not common, also it's a niche sort of cooking (so it's interesting food on its own).

That said, I did have an awkward moment! a few years ago back in Japan on vacation, I'd rented a room in a house for two weeks, and as it turned out it was owned by a guy originally from Jordan (who had married a Japanese woman and had a 10-month old baby). I was in the room one evening, he knocked on the door, turns out his wife was out somewhere for a while and he ate some dumplings they'd picked up as a gift somewhere. His reading ability apparently wasn't up to average, because he apologized but asked if I could read the ingredients to see if there was pork in it. Well... yeah, there was pork in it! I sheepishly told him the truth, sorry but... and he just kinda had the disappointed look but then quickly the "ah dammit, well, teach me to not check first haha" so it was ok. Phew. I mean, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...!

[liveonradio]

Atheist pretty much all my life. I've done my share of trying to believe in something, but I just can't seem to do it. I've come to think of it as a matter of brain chemistry - some people are able to have religious/mystical experiences, others are not. We're just wired differently.

[Kathryn31]

Mormon....

[zcccrv]

Care to elaborate, Clibbyjo? :)

Please do.

Shirley MacLaine wrote:

Atheist.

Oh, apparently you need ten characters to post so I'm adding this sentence

This was hilarious. A true atheist indeed.

[clibbyjo]

Please do.

This was hilarious. A true atheist indeed.

I have always been open about my beliefs(or lack of) here(on the old board). What else would you like to know? :animals-chickencatch:

[emmyfair]

Well, here I go.

I grew up in a fundamentalist home that evolved into tridentine catholic - think fish eaters. Since I left at seventeen and never looked back, I either attended a Quaker or United church, as available, to keep my family off my back. I'm done with that now.

I've been following the path of a green witch since I was fifteen. Only people very close to me know this, but I'm starting to see that being who I am to everyone is so much better for my mental health ....

There. As they say, I'm out of the broom closet.

[zcccrv]

I have always been open about my beliefs(or lack of) here(on the old board). What else would you like to know? :animals-chickencatch:

Is that a Sanders smiley?

:lol: