How many times?

[mangalavara]

In this poll, I am asking RF members how many times they have switched religions in their lives.

When taking this poll, what counts as a religion is up to you. Some might see sampradāyas, branches, and church denominations as separate religions while others might not. One might see simple panentheism or deism as a religion while somebody else doesn’t. Also, what counts as adhering to a religion is up to you. For instance, if you were merely testing out a religion and then settled on a different religion, did you indeed adhere to the former?

I think the results will be interesting.

 

[ChristineM]

I voted 1 but I'm pretty certain it was more that i left religion behind and became atheist over time.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I've switched either 2 or 3 times, depending on whether or not you consider Neo-Paganism a religion. I was Catholic in my youth, dedicated myself to Wicca after years of agnosticism which morphed into a more generic form of Neo-Paganism, and ultimately Hinduism. In the years between Neo-Paganism and Hinduism, I identified as a pantheist, but I would call that more of a spiritual philosophy or belief system than a religion.

 

[mangalavara]

I voted 1 but I'm pretty certain it was more that i left religion behind and became atheist over time.

I’ve just added a new choice that you might like.

 

[endlessvoid2018]

voted for 1 time, as I've been a lukewarm Christian believer all my life up until about 3 months ago, when I decided I didn't have to be a Christian anymore, so I stopped believing in it. I've been deconstructing since then. I wouldn't necessarily call myself an atheist, but I would probably be categorized in the non-believer category regardless since I don't believe in any revealed religions any longer in general. learning about different religious philosophies and ideas out there on my journey to finding what I believe in spiritually.

 

[LuisDantas]

Hard to measure, but I suppose 2 is the most honest answer.

First I got interested in Buddhism, then I decided that I needed more personal responsibility over what I claim.

There is some statistic in the Vatican somewhere saying that I went through Catholic Baptism and Eucharisty, but that is what others wanted for me. I wasn't given voice there. And I was a member of an occultist group once upon a time, but that was just an artifact of social circunstances.

 

[ChristineM]

I’ve just added a new choice that you might like.

Cheers, vote changed...

 

[an anarchist]

6-10 times throughout my life as well as 5-10 times while a member on RF. I was a Christian most of my life. I had my own syncretic thing going on though when I joined this site, that was #2. Identified as Confucian, Taoist, a Baha'i for a bit, then a Satanist, then a Hindu, then a Pagan, (I probably have the order mixed up and I also hopped around) even tried being Muslim for a week. Agnostic some days.

Idk what I am now. I don't know if I should ponder it even, I think religion might not be good for me.

Oh I remember! Religiously, I am an Anarchist. That has been my religion for a while now. It's not just a political stance to me.

 

[mangalavara]

In the years between Neo-Paganism and Hinduism, I identified as a pantheist, but I would call that more of a spiritual philosophy or belief system than a religion.

When I was in my teens and early 20s, I thought of pantheism, deism, and the like as religions so long as the individual associated a set of values and ethics with them. Otherwise, they are just theistic positions to me. Now, I would use your term of ‘spiritual philosophy’ to categorize the very things that I used to think of as religions.

 

[sun rise]

I voted one because atheist->believer is technically not a change of religions but was the closest one.

 

[Eddi]

I'm not sure, I've lost count

Was christened into Anglicanism as a child

But I started off a staunch atheist, I went to a church school but by the age of ten I didn't believe any of it

I was good at being an Atheist

For a long time I was into Dilectical Materialism, I was a Marxist!

Then became a humanist I even joined the British Humanist Association and ordered a certificate of debaptism from their online store

I then became a Unitarian but I grew to dislike Unitarianism but at the beginning thought it was the perfect fit for me

Then a Christian, I got baptised at a charismatic church having done the Alpha Course there with some friends but joined a Methodist church

I then switched back and fourth between Christianity and Simulation Theory for a couple of years

My version of Simulation Theory had similarities to Hinduism, eg Maya, Karma etc.

I am now a Panentheist

But I have no idea how many actual times I have switched

 

[mangalavara]

But I have no idea how many actual times I have switched

I would add ‘An unknown number’ to the choices, but it won’t let me edit the choices now.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I would add my changes in religions were not the result of changing views; the religions I left behind didn't quite fit my views, which have remained relatively static throughout my life.

 

[MikeF]

Never became religious or joined a religion so I'll have to respond "Not applicable to me" or N/A for short.

 

[mangalavara]

Never became religious or joined a religion so I'll have to respond "Not applicable to me" or N/A for short.

That’s another thing that I forgot to include among the choices. I would add it, but I cannot edit the choices now.

One of the choices is ‘Never.’ A person could interpret that however they want, as in ‘I never belonged to a religion, ever’ or ‘I still adhere to my religion of birth or the only one that I ever joined.’

 

[MikeF]

That’s another thing that I forgot to include among the choices. I would add it, but I cannot edit the choices now.

One of the choices is ‘Never.’ A person could interpret that however they want, as in ‘I never belonged to a religion, ever’ or ‘I grew up x and then changed to y.’

Unfortunately, it would be less about how I interpreted it and more about how everyone viewing the poll interpreted it. If the never religious and those who are religious but never changed select the same answer, it would result in a distorted category. It would artificially inflate the perceived number of religious individual if the natural assumption is that selecting "never" meant never having changed, simply always maintained the same religion/religious views. Such a natural assumption would also consequently mask or under-represent the population that were never religious.

 

[mangalavara]

It would artificially inflate the perceived number of religious individual if the natural assumption is that selecting "never" meant never having changed, simply always maintained the same religion/religious views. Such a natural assumption would also consequently mask or under-represent the population that were never religious.

Thank you for this well explained reply. I see what you mean and I understand your position.

Again, I wish that I could edit the choices, but it won’t let me.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Although - Never had one - might have been an option, I suspect for the vast majority of us, we all had some kind of religion passed on to us. And hence I voted for the last option, as being something I discarded when I began to think seriously about this, and when old enough to do so, which might not be an option where religion was especially relevant and important in any particular country. Fortunately, in the UK then, and as for many other countries, there was no special pressure to retain any particular religious belief. And I'm not one usually for retrieving that which is thrown in the bin.

 

[osgart]

In my family I had to shake off Catholicism, and independent Baptist religions. I believed in each of them for probably a few hours intermittently. Mostly it was ridiculous to me. I hoped for awhile that there was something true about these religions. But it truly did nothing for me, and mostly wasted my time and efforts trying to see what my family saw in them.

My religion now is my very own and about as far as I can take religion without massive speculation. Yet the speculation intrigues me. So I watch a lot of Closer to Truth videos, and maintain a watchful eye with how science progresses. Mainly I enjoy ultimate questions of existence.

 

[Vinayaka]

I have never switched (recently), although there were a few years early in this lifetime I was non-practicing, but He found me again. It was good to go home.