WARNING: Religious musings ahead

[tir_synni]

For those wondering about the previous post, it was based on my realization of how many good, solid fics still have little comments in there, such as basing someone's likes and dislikes (sexual and gen) purely on their looks and gender. Pretty guy automatically equals femininity, etc. Also, an old comment on one of my SPN fics, where Dean bottomed but still referred Sam as the "damsel": I'm not sure I get Dean's "I just got bottomed but he's the damsel" logic, but whatever. Now I'm going to be paranoid about many accidental stereotypes I incorporated into my stuff...especially my older stuff. :(

Two things inspired this: one, as a social worker, I'm constantly surrounded by religious people and organizations, with one particular religious co-worker in my hearing range, and two, my uncle, who was raised without religion, chose Catholicism, and is now...neither of us are sure..., and I had a conversation about religion the other day.

I've probably commented on this before, but it bugs me. I guess the confusion is based on my background. As stated before, raised entirely without religion, and when I first heard about it, I decided to research (something which hasn't quite stopped yet).

When you decide on your specific religion or faith, how the hell do you pick one and decide, "This is the one?"

Now, let's keep in mind how many religions specifically state they're the only one. Many of these religions also state that if you don't worship their religion, you're going to burn in some fiery pit or another.

Let's also keep in mind the various ages of these religions. Remember, all myths used to be religion. Religion = modern myth. Some religions are shiny new and with easily read histories (hey, Scientology...hey...)

My uncle chose the popular "All" belief. Specifically, if such and such deity is The creator deity, it wouldn't make sense for only one group of people to know about him/her and for the rest to be ignorant and worship another deity or two or fifty. His belief is that the deity you worship is the known face for your culture of the All, with other cultures familiar with their own side of the deity.

Of course, then we have the other example initially provided, that of my religious co-worker. She is of the strict Christian variety. The ONLY way to Salvation is through Jesus Christ. She believes in the Devil, Lucifer. These are very specific beliefs, specifically oriented onto the Bible, and they have a strong influence on her life. I don't believe she decided to draw her religion out of a hat.

Some people stick with the religion with which they were raised. Some people experiment and end up coming back to their initial religion. Other people diverge but stick with a similar religion. Other people move to a completely different religion.

How the hell (no pun intended) does this decision making process work?

Sincerely,
an incredibly confused atheist

Comments

[qem_chibati]

You look at what makes sense to you, what you feel, and what you can live with. For a lot it's about faith, history and connectio rather than logic.

For me a lot of things in the bible are guidelines and metaphorical. Consequently I interpret differently from your coworker. I also think a lot of assholes subvert for their own agendas.

There are things about my branch that I like, such as our understanding of Mary, saints. There are certain things that piss me off, and I protest in various way. I stick with my branch because of the people I love and care about and the comfort it can give.

My husband is a practically athiest Jew, but he's very determinedly a Jew.

[tir_synni]

It's just fascinating how many different interpretations can be made of the same reading material and how many different things can be taken from it.

Do you ever wonder if They're right and you're wrong? And vice versa? And how it plays out in the grand scheme of things, if it's even important enough to play out at all?

I think faaaar too much on this subject.

[qem_chibati]

Well, that goes for life in general. I think you should do the best you can, with the information you have, and it's important to you and the people you deal with at the time.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

My early training was in one denomination, there was a period of exposure to another, with guest viewings of a third and ambient for yet others.

I tend to think in a base level Christianity, the determination of which is clearly colored by the original denomination, but figure any 'contradictions' are because someone sometime saw a percentage in it. Likewise, I judge tenets based on the a----les allowed to take shelter there.

That said, I learn a lot when I do research to be better informed of mindsets characters would have been exposed to. Yes, fanfiction makes me more aware of historical processes in Chicago.

[tir_synni]

You have to wonder about how the politics of the time affected what was actually written down (notice how careful the New Testament is about the Romans, for example).

Never underestimate how much knowledge is gained through researching for fanfiction.