How much education or practice do you have within religion?

[Spirit of Light]

I'm not sure about 'formal'. I certainly have not according to typical academic standards of classes with exams.

We do have regular classes on various topics so if you consider "formal" to mean regular classes then yes.

The idea behind the OP was to gain some understanding about what different people in RF have done or studied in religion, the academic education has sometimes been mention before in threads, where someone has been said to not have a deeper understanding of the topic.

Personally i believe a person not need a degree in religion to be a good religious person others think or feel that the paper from a school are important.

But remember the OP is not to judge anyone, only to grasp a bit about where people comes from

 

[oldbadger]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice ....

I've always had an interest for the history of Jesus and picked up a lot right here at RF.
And I thought I was a Pantheist until I came to RF.

Religious education in UK schools was fairly good, or so I thought.

 

[Heyo]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

I had mandatory RE in school, 2 years of prep class for confirmation, took "evangelische Religion" (Lutheran) as a minor in (our version of) High School as well as Catholic religion and morals and ethics.
(Thinking back, it is interesting how little actual Bible knowledge I was taught.)
I picked up enough knowledge about eastern religions from readings and discussions to correct my ex on those matters (who teaches religion in elementary).
Today I visit YouTube University frequently for lectures from Stephen Woodford, Alex O'Connor, Matt Dillahunty and others to complete my education in atheism.

 

[Clara Tea]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spiritual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

Volcano's smoke told what God wanted. Sacrificed babies appeased. ljdf;lskjf--God's words in God's language, rolling on ground speaking in tongues. Science wrong, God wants COVID. Drink koolaid (all die) and spirit rides comet (Jim Jones, Applewhite's Heaven's Gate). All other religions "heathen," "blasphemy," "evil," "animist," "pagan." Psychologist said he's not an elephant, but kicked out for eating all his peanuts and crushing couch. Vote for President Bush to support God with wars and torture camps, and the pentagram (pentagon), (people talking about us behind our backs, but Eric Snowden won't let us spy on all phones illegally). Thousand points of light, cut tax for the rich....hoards of homeless now. Pope blocks travel to Vatican during pandemic (God won't protect). Atheists trying to kill God, and take God from schools....schools should force all to pray to my God and oust those who believe in other Gods.

Atheists hope that science cures COVID and finds alternatives to pollution (solar power, electric cars, plant a tree for every tree that is cut). Feed and house homeless and find jobs for jobless. Stop policing the world and bring troops home and let them defend their own nations (ISIS grew because resent occupying forces). Improve education (especially science).

 

[MonkeyFire]

I have been a passive believer since I was six years old until now, with a small hiatus from age fifteen to twenty.

 

[Deeje]

@Conscious thoughts, I take my queues from Jesus. He purposely avoided calling educated men to become his apostles because the religious education system of his day had become a place where truth was not taught. He said that the religious leaders of the day were "teaching the commands of men as doctrines". (Matthew 15:7-9) He was the one who educated his disciples in God's truth. They wrote down what he taught them for our benefit.

He also said that we had to "become as young children" in order to become his disciples. What are the traits of young children that he was emphasizing? Children do not have pre-conceived notions to override....they are usually meek and teachable....and trusting. When we come to Jesus with such an attitude, his Father will welcome us. We will then be taught by him, and not by a religious institution that simply promotes its own doctrines.

Romans 12:1-2 says...
"Therefore, I appeal to you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason. 2 And stop being molded by this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, so that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Our sacred service needs to be governed by our power of reason, not having ideas dictated to us that in our hearts we cannot accommodate. By doing this, we will have the right attitude and the only person we have to please, is God. Right from the very start, all God has ever asked of us is our obedience.....its not too much to ask...is it?

 

[Aupmanyav]

".. or if their knowledge and understanding purely comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice
And now when i do have a spiritual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Formal religious education in Hinduism is only for priests (e.g. Mawlanas), otherwise whatever one learns from family and society. They are exposed to stories in Ramayana and Bhagawat Purana during their childhood. People start reading scriptures around their middle age. By that time they have their life experiences to compare with what the scriptures say.

I had the good fortune of having a learned grandpa who was an orthodox Hindu but he did not deny science. So, I can say that I had the best of both the worlds.
There are families which have a 'guru' (teacher) who belongs to a particular sect. These people may not know much about other sects of Hinduism.

Do you find your education help you understand people from other religions better when you discuss with them?

Firming of my religious views came with study of all (many) other religions (Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the more recent religions). Yeah, I understand the views of people from other religions.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

Interesting question!

For me, it's limited.
I went to Public School, which included 'Religious Education'. It was run by volunteers from the Church of England, and was only about educating us on CofE beliefs, rather than 'religion' in any holistic sense.

I also attended CEBS, which was CofE Scouts, basically. Somewhere between a boys club and Sunday School.
I got badges for first aid as well as prayer recital, but generally found the former more useful when someone injured themselves...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

I was educated by the Church for most of my middle school years. I was taught quite a bit about church history and Bible studies. Not my religion anymore, but I still retain a sizeable chunk of those understandings and knowledge.
When I was a neo-Pagan I was taught and certified in Reiki.
And though not religion per-say, I do have a minor in philosophy, which of course does heavily overlap into religion.

 

[darkskies]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

I never recieved formal education in Hinduism. My parents tried to get me to join Gita reading sessions and learn religious art and stuff but I was never interested. We celebrate a lot of festivals every year, so I had many prayers memorised.

Still I barely know anything. Every once in a while I may join prayer or fast because everyone's doing it, but apart from that religion hasn't been a big influence on anything in my life.

I had many opportunities to learn but didn't want to waste my time on myths and the like. Now I regret not learning more. Would've been nice having some more knowledge.

 

[Aupmanyav]

"Now I regret not learning more. Would've been nice having some more knowledge."

If you feel that way, why don't you check with the Hindu members of the forum with a few questions.

 

[Marcion]

I spent four months in acharya (teacher) training in which I studied the scriptures, listened to lectures, did service and passed exams and did intense spiritual practices mostly collective, but also alone (at night under a neem tree).
Also I attended live darshana's (spiritual talks) given by the founder of my tantra-yoga path (not a religion).
And I try to read the recorded talks of my founder and his scriptures on a daily basis.

It is probably not yet possible to follow a course in university, although I've observed that some of the scriptures are already held in some university libraries.

Other than that I tried to educate myself about the origins of the Christian New Testament by visiting university libraries and also online by reading and listening to talks by experts.

 

[thomas t]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

no formal education.
However, I had Latin at school. This helps a bit whan you want to understand Greek grammar. It happened to me that in a scriptural debate with a fellow believer, when it really hinges on one Greek word, I needed to look up Greek grammar to really know what was meant.

But besides, most of what I know I know from experience from all the debates in the 4 forums I've spent time in.

 

[Erebus]

I have no formal education in Paganism.

In terms of learning about practices, folklore, ancient history and other subjects connected with Paganism, I'm pretty much entirely self-taught. Most of that is through reading, though I've also listened to a few lectures on various polytheistic cultures. While I've learned a fair bit from other Pagans online too, I haven't joined any form of coven or order which would provide a more structured education and potentially pass on esoteric knowledge.

In terms of actual practice, I think the path I followed is fairly typical of Pagans. I started off by following the rituals laid out in various books on magic but eventually began to put my own spin on them. Nowadays, my rituals tend to be very straightforward with minimal symbolic objects. A single candle is usually enough for me. Some people find it useful to have fairly elaborate rituals with multiple symbolic objects. I personally started to feel like it got in the way of establishing the frame of mind that lets me feel truly connected to the gods and spirits.

 

[Colt]

I hope this can be a OP that inspire people to say a bit about if they have any form of formal education within their own religious faith, or if their knowledge and understanding purly comes from a long life within their own religious life and practice

Personally i do not have any formal education within the field of religion, so what i do speak out of is my personal understanding and experience through religious practice. And now when i do have a spirtual teacher who guides me, i have realized that i did actually have very little knowledge about deeper topic of religion. i kind of only scratched the surface

Everyone is welcome to speak in this thread. and if you are a non believer but have a lot of education or experience within religion please share your story too

I've searched on my own, no "formal indoctrination".

 

[pearl]

We were fortunate that in our diocese there was a collaborative with catholic colleges and universities, and the diocese payed half of the tuition. I had earned enough credits to allow me, if I so chose, which I did not, to contract with a parish for the position of religious education coordinator. Nowadays with easy access to on line studies there is no reason to not be well informed of ones religion. The knowledge is out there for anyone who chooses, and most is free and no need to take exams to enrich ones own knowledge.

 

[Mystery1]

My small amount of education reveals that the fool who fancies he is full of wisdom while he sits by his hearth at home. Quickly finds when questioned by others. That he knows nothing at all.

Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. In the fool who acquires cattle and lands,
Or wins a woman's love, His wisdom wanes with his waxing pride, He sinks from sense to conceit.

Little a sand-grain, little a dew drop, Little the minds of men: All men are not equal in wisdom,The half-wise are everywhere. Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but is he peaceful, loving and fearless, then he is in truth called wise. Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame. Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

 

[Tzephanyahu]

formal education within their own religious faith

I think, in the Christian faith, formal education is death of the spiritual life. Don't get me wrong, newcomers need a little guidance in this crazy world but the education should ultimately come from the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Man likes to try and be a mediator though, sometimes with ill-motives.

In Christianity today, it seems as though everyone is a teacher. Many Christians speak as if they know it all, keen to show their faith boldly. Humility towards being corrected by the Word seems sparse. There are also many options to be formally "recruited", on a academic and personal level. This only causes more issues down the road and some have fell away because of it.

I suppose if dirt could lead the wind, then man could also lead the Spirit. Alas, many Christian teachers will continue to arise and confidently share their understanding.

Peace.