I Don’t Really Get Religion

July 17, 2012 in People, Religion, Self

Religion. Faith. This big, bold belief that some higher being exists outside of human existence. Whether it be Catholic, Anglican, Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist, there are a huge number of faiths that human beings identify with. They always have. Australia is a multi-cultural country, primarily Christian, but due the diversity of our nation we have a little bit of everything.

I haven’t been into one of these (other than for funerals) for about 7 years.

There are increasing numbers of people in Australia (at least) who identify as either being agnostic or atheist. JJ is one of them. He identifies as an atheist. I’m not as convinced as he is that there is no God, but I’m not religious. At all. I don’t practice and it is unlikely I will introduce my children to practice religion unless they want to. Though I put a disclaimer on that because I think non-parents shouldn’t make absolute statements about their future child rearing until you’ve actually done it. That’s how we all end up with egg on our faces.

I was born to a Catholic mother and an Anglican father. My father, not that keen on religion, let my mother have my brother and I baptised Catholic, as she wanted. We went to a Catholic primary school, only interrupted by a brief stint in the local public school when we moved to north Queensland. We both went to a Catholic high school. I’ve done it all: baptism, communion, reconciliation, confession, you name it.

In senior high school, we were given an option of studying either Study of Religion, a heavily weighted board subject in which you studied various religions, or Religious Education, which was basically Catholic classes. I chose Study of Religion, but my friends who chose Religious Education (not a board of studies subject) usually used that time for their subjects. The ones that actually meant something towards their university entrance scores (OPs in Queensland). Study of Religion was a great subject, because religion can tie in so greatly with different cultures, it was like being absorbed in an entirely different place all together.

As I left high school and moved onto university, I lived on campus. Most of the colleges were associated with a type of Christian church. Cannot for the life of me remember which one my college was associated with, but I didn’t want to go to the Catholic colleges, for reasons that had nothing to do with their denomination. Religion was sometimes jammed down our throat at formal dinners and the like, but I didn’t care much for it. If you witnessed some of our behaviour, I’m sure there would be some who described it as “Godless”. There were a group of about 20 people at college who were so kindly described as the “God squad” who were judgmental, forceful, pains in the collective arse.

Since leaving college, moving into share housing and subsequently finishing uni, I have not sought out religious practice. On reflection, my parents weren’t keen on attending church and the only exposure I had regularly to church was when I was forced to go at school.

I’m quite keen on independent and critical opinion, thought and literature about religion and faith. I like the observations of outsiders looking in. I’m wary of overt religious behaviour being rammed down my throat (as it was in the US where I encountered people all over the place on the street screeching about “sinners” and “God, our saviour”).

I have never enjoyed practising religion. It was always something I “had” to do, rather than something I wanted to do. I would best describe myself now, as agnostic. I believe there is a God. If we’re getting technical, because I believe there is a God or some greater being than humans, I’m best described as an agnostic theist. I don’t believe much of what the Bible says is relevant today and find it strange that people still follow the teachings of a book that was written over 2000 years ago, and says that women are property, slaves are OK and you can be stoned to death for working on the Sabbath. Yes, I know that those are the teachings of the old testament, and the new testament is more about Jesus and his message, but many people are still following some of the old testament.

I believe Jesus was just this great dude who influenced a mass following rather than the Son of God. Don’t really believe the immaculate conception, but am still mildly indoctrinated into the Catholic mindset about it. I don’t believe the story of Adam and Eve.

Most of my friends and family are similar to me. Relatively agnostic. That is why I’m always quite surprised when I meet someone and they immediately describe themselves as ‘Christian’. I don’t often meet people who are religious, or more specifically, people who would use the word ‘Christian’ in a game of ’Tell us 5 words that describe you’. I’m baffled by it because I personally could think of about 50 things I’d rather identify myself as. I don’t really understand that being one of the first things you would tell someone about you. And given my background, I don’t really feel comfortable with people who could be judging me for my non-Catholic behaviours like “living in sin”.

Are you religious? Are you Christian? Do you identify with atheists or agnostics? Are you a different religion? Would it be one of the first things you’d tell me?

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Whippersnapper has written 37 posts.

15 Comments »

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http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

I can understand faith…from a philosophical perspective, if you believe that there is a creator, I can’t deny you that belief (even though I don’t think the Universe requires a creator, and the science backs me up…)

I can also understand religious faith, to a point…I understand that it feels good to belong to a like-minded group of people – I understand how having moral codes to help guide you through life is useful – but I’ve never understood blind, unquestioning religious faith…surely when religious faith is based on a human interpretation of something “divine”, you need to keep questioning those beliefs, because people are not infallible…they can get things wrong…like religious stances on homosexuality or scientific discoveries (like the persecution of Galileo)

I personally don’t feel I lack for anything without having religion in my life…I get to pick and choose from all the great religious philosophies and create my own moral framework, whether those be the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Darwin or Einstein.
Jen

Yes I am a ‘religious’ christian. Would it be one of the first things tell you? Most likely not. It’s an incredibly big and important part of my life, but I’m not going to bring it up unless relevant to current conversation. If you get to know me though I’d hope it would soon become evident – you’d learn i go to church every week and pray before my meals – obvious indicators you’re likely to observe, and less obviously in my general behaviour (that’s probably debatable).
Detachable Princess

I can’t organise my thoughts on this one at all. I know what I want to say, but I’m gonna offend the living daylights out of people who I know and like, and so I don’t want to do that.
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  I shall be pre-offended then
- Ozgirl
  
  I am with you! No way could I articulate my thoughts on this without pissing someone off and that would not be my intention either.
  
  Raised Catholic (did it “all”) but didn’t go to a catholic school.
  
  But nope I don’t get it either.
  
  My one inflammatory thing I will say is that I think there is too much angst in this world that is due to religion and that makes me sad.
  - http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
    
    I firmly think that God would be AGAINST a lot of the crap that gets carried out in His name. We know from the Bible that Jesus would be.
    
    I always think of Lily Allen’s song Him “Ever since He can remember people have died in His good name. Long before that September, long before hijacking planes. He’s lost the will, He can’t decide. He doesn’t know who’s right or wrong. But there’s one thing that He’s sure of: This has been going on too long.”
    - Ozgirl
      
      I agree!
      
      My biggest issue if that people really believe that god speaks to them (ie priests etc) then god would say “Stop That!”
      
      I was really traumatised visiting Northern Island. One reason was I was in a pub and people were dancing and singing along to “where is the love” by black eye peas and got really angry/upset and had to leave. I just couldn’t see how a place that people are locked behind a wall each night due to their religion could not see the irony in singing along to that song.
      
      And they worship the same “god”
      - Ozgirl
        
        My argument would be better if i spelt island Ireland! Doh
      - http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
        
        I’d just assumed it was some place I’d never heard of (which is pretty easy to achieve)
- Whippersnapper
  
  I could have been a lot more offensive in this post about how much I loathe organised religion, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to be too antagonistic.
  
  Definitely think that we are an evolved species with technological and scientific advances that have never been seen before, explaining things our ancestors put down to “God”, you know, like how the story of Noah was probably just serious flooding, nothing to do with “God” and more to do with the environment which has a scientific explanation.
  
  Hence why I do believe there is a huge decline in the number of people practising religion and the huge rise in people like me and JJ
http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse

I adored Studies of Religion in my HSC! Loved learning about different religions, I think it’s really helped me understand the world and other people better. I think it also helped to open my mind up, which has been really helpful.

I’m also confused when people say they’re “Christian” as there are no “Christian” churches. There are Catholic ones and Baptist ones and Mormon ones and Jehovah’s Witness ones and Anglican ones and Seventh-day Adventist ones… You get the idea
- Melissa Savage
  
  Actually there is a denomination called ‘Australian Christian Churches’ (Hillsong is the best known of these). They were called ‘Assemblies of God’ but rebranded themselves in the mid-2000s (I assume but do not know that they are connected to the Australian Christian Lobby as the naming would indicate). They are part of the Pentecostal movement. Most people who go to these types of churches (charismatic, pentecostal?) identify simply as Christian rather than using a denomination name.
  - http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
    
    Interesting!! I thought Hillsong was just Hillsong.
Jessica Chapman

I think you either get religion or you don’t, particularly if you grow up religious. All the rites, traditions and ceremonies are completely meaningless (and a bit ridiculous) until you have your own faith behind them.

What I don’t get is people who are so sure of themselves that they think it’s their calling to Bible bash everyone around them. I know what I believe and I know why I believe it but I have enough doubt (and enough logical sense) to realise that other people will always believe differently to me.
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  I’m with you, Jess. Like many things I think it’s something that resonates with you, or it doesn’t, but doing forcing what you think on others is just not OK.

KiKi & Tea