Nameless Slob

Day 04 - Your views on religion.

I don’t care if you worship Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Shiva, Tom Cruise, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, as long as you don’t shove your beliefs down other peoples’ throats or expect them to abide by your rules or commandments.

Fun thing I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about (with anyone)…my religious history.

Birth-2007 (9th grade) - Craaaazzzyyy Christian. Honestly, I don’t feel bad about this time because I was only following how I was raised to act. Went to a Pentecostal church and loved all the crazy shit. Homophobia, “speaking in tongues,” and all that. 

2007-2008 (9th-10th) - First step into sanity. Made my first gay friend and realized that gay didn’t mean stiletto-wearing child-molestor. Soon I became pretty vocal about equality. 

2009 (11th) - “Liberal Christian” phase. My best friend, at the time, was an Atheist, and he’s pretty much the only person I obnoxiously tried to force to attend church and “save.” I’d pretty much decided I didn’t agree with most “Christian” doctrine and believed that all I needed was a “personal relationship” THEN………

2010 (12th) - Jonathan renounces Christianity altogether. Tiny stint of looking into Wicca/Neo-Paganism, but I found most people in this crowd tended to be angry ex-Christians or they’d been hurt by Christians and were just as bad, simply on the opposite end of the spectrum. (As always, there are exceptions.)

And so, Jonathan leaves all religion and belief in God behind and we enter my current state.

I do not believe there is a god nor do I think there are any “divine beings.” When it comes to a life after this, I do not pretend I have any knowledge as to its existence or lack thereof. I simply try to live as though this is the only one I have. I do have an interest in basic Buddhism and Hinduism, and I would say that if I had to pick a common “afterlife” belief, it would be reincarnation.

I like discussions on this specific topic. So if anyone would like to chat or ask questions, ask me.