Poll: How Long Have You Been in Your Current Religion or Lack Thereof?

[sew.excited73]

Was raised in a catholic household in the Netherlands. Not as strict as I noticed in other countries, but I was an altar boy and a acolyte. Started questioning my beliefs since puberty and at the age of 18 I told my church and my parents I didn't believe anymore and I didn't want to go to church anymore. And that was that. I didn't have bad experiences as a believer in my childhood. It was pretty ok.

Since like 10 years I started to get more interested in religions and started to interact on Dutch forums. And now also on this forum since a year.

Pretty similar here (bijna hetzelfde).

I used to go to mass every week too and as a teen even went to Jongerenpastoraat (Young Christians Group), but there we discussed paranormal things, which interested me much more than the Jesus story.

After a while we all (my family) just went to church less and less often, not just me… and from going every week and praying before meals, we became ‘those people’ who only went at Christmas and at weddings and funerals.
I got married in by a Catholic Chaplain still… and my mum had a Catholic burial… but it all just ‘petered out’ as we say.

I never lost interest in spirituality and the paranormal though, and even briefly went through a Wiccan phase, looking for where I really ‘belonged’, but never found it. When asked what I believed in, I would say: “I don't know, I am not an atheist per se, as I know there is something (iets), but not sure how to describe it.”

I immigrated though, and only a few years ago I found out there was now actually something like Ietsism, and since I no longer lived in the Netherlands, but it was actually an Dutch derived term, it was almost like: ‘Woow! That’s it! See, there is something indeed, otherwise why would it so clearly be calling to my soul with that Dutch name!’ (to anyone else that would just be a coincidence, but then… to me, it meant a lot!)

So, that’s what I am. An Ietsist. Someone who believes in something greater than what our 5 senses can sense and whether that’s create by a God-being or a God-thing or as many now seem to call it in such a situation: the Source, I don’t know… whether science will ever be able to explain it all, I don’t know, but I am definitely not a (full time) atheist because there’s not nothing, there definitely is something! (I know this from personal experiences).

 

[loverofhumanity]

50 years this year.

 

[anna.]

My entire lifetime. Baptized Catholic as a baby. Even though I haven't been the best Catholic I ever knew (I have yet to feel any remorse for my enthusiastic obedience to the bishop during the Covid shutdown of my local parish), every time I've drifted, I've always come back. If I was on my deathbed and someone asked me if I wanted a priest, I'd say yes please, and hurry. I struggle with doubt every day (agnostics can be very convincing), but I've long since gone back to going to Mass on Sundays and I don't itch to run for the exits as much as I did for awhile. Being Catholic is in the very core of me and I've made my peace with it and I'm happy with where I'm at, and where I'm going.