What is your religion and why?

[zen]

For bonus points: how active are you within your faith ?
As long as people are civil, why not also use this thread as a place to ask people of faith questions about their faith and practice.

I am a Theravada Buddhist with secular/zen/EBT tendencies. After reading the Bible, Quran, various works of mythology, etc and getting into philosophy, I came to read Dhammapada and just decided, "yeah, this is good stuff." The only aspect of my faith I am at odds with is that I appreciate mind altering substances to the point of operating a clandestine brewery and distillery, while also running a private medicinal garden. Aside from that I largely agree with the tenets of the faith and I appreciate that it is less dogmatic than Abrahamic faiths. That being said, I am not an orthodox Theravadin

A key part of what sells Buddhism for me: they say, "test the faith. The parts you find are false or nonessential you can discard." (ehipassiko) I consider meditation to be a form of mental discipline that can benefit many people, which academic studies seem to support. Meditation definitely benefits me and the people I know who practice it.

I attend Sunday service most weeks, feed monks when they come to visit, sometimes teach Sunday school or give sermons at the Sunday service for adults. Volunteer when we host events. Getting too close to the inner circle of my temple's organization made me depressed about the drama and dysfunction among the "leaders" so I try to give what I can without flying too close to the sun, as it were.

[Deoster]

I was a complete atheist for the vast majority of my life, and have only really started getting into more "spiritual" stuff recently, and am very novice in that regard. I'm currently attracted to Buddhism for similar reasons to you in terms of testing the faith and the benefit of meditation. I'm nowhere near far enough in any kind of "practice" to consider myself properly a Buddhist or figure out whether I'm a Theravada or a Mahayana or whatever else, but intuitively I think I'm more drawn to Mahayana Buddhism because of its focus on emptiness, experience, and compassion.

I need to read a lot more and do a lot more research, and meditate and practice a lot more, and probably join a sangha down the line if I want to get serious with it. To some extent I'm hesitant about that last part because of what you touched on in regards to the people involved having human issues that don't really live up to the teachings, but at the same time that's probably also just an excuse for me to be lazy lol.

I'm also adjacently becoming a bit interested in Hinduism recently, but again, these things are things I will need to spend a bit more time with and read a lot more about.

In terms of spirituality broadly I have some difficulty with this because I don't think I've ever really had any spiritual experiences. The most I've had was maybe awe of nature but I guess I've never felt anything that really "touched me" or felt truly "transcendental" in the spiritual direction that made me compelled to follow it in my life and lifestyle. Buddhism doesn't seem to necessitate that as much as it is about just understanding yourself and your mind and experience and everything, but I do wonder at times about the traditionally "spiritual" experiences people have with religions like Christianity or just generally in their lives.

[Amlux]

I am a Theravada Buddhist with secular/zen/EBT tendencies. After reading the Bible, Quran, various works of mythology, etc and getting into philosophy, I came to read Dhammapada and just decided, "yeah, this is good stuff." The only aspect of my faith I am at odds with is that I appreciate mind altering substances to the point of operating a clandestine brewery and distillery, while also running a private medicinal garden. Aside from that I largely agree with the tenets of the faith and I appreciate that it is less dogmatic than Abrahamic faiths. That being said, I am not an orthodox Theravadin

I appreciate your perspective here (though "zen" is an interesting username for a Theravadin ). I made a video about this subject a while back: External vs. Internal Conceptions of Religion. TL;DR: I think we in the west prioritize "belief" as the foundation of religion far too much, when it is really an aberration primarily attributed to Abrahamic religions to center "belief" first and foremost (and really, even here it is mostly Christianity and especially Protestantism). But I think a more original and primal conception of religion is based on ritual, rites, and community at first and belief second. With that in mind, I always try to define my religion based primarily around what I DO before entertaining questions of what I BELIEVE (although both can be important).

With that in mind, I am a Buddhist as well, but in the Zen tradition, because I attend a temple and meditate. However, I have not gone to the temple for some time as I'm getting ready to move. Once I move, I might not have regular access to a temple, so I could be considered religiously homeless in a sense. But as long as I'm close to nature I would call myself a pagan or animist first and foremost. When in Japan, I am a Shintouist. When not in proximity to shrines, I try to entertain a polytheistic faith to the best of my abilities. How do you bring back an ancient religion? LARP your way into it being real!

I too appreciate the experiences I've had on mind-altering substances. (I have done Psilocybin mushrooms LEGALLY on a few occasions in states where it is legal for recreational purposes.) Though I have to be honest: I don"t feel like they ever gave me super grand "insights." Nothing on them massively shook my worldview. Then again I never did a heroic enough dose to experience the most extreme effects. They were still worth experiencing, I thought. Though coming down off of them sometimes feels like a really bad hangover.

[Hans Sepp]

My religion is devotion as the irreducible structure of meaning, instantiated through the dynamic relationship between the individual and the object of devotion. This dynamic structure manifests in various forms across traditions: as the bond between producer and talent in entertainment, and as the communion between worshiper and deity in organized religion. The tension between projection and independent agency creates a space where meaning is constantly negotiated and renewed through genuine interaction.

[MeisterJohann]

I am Roman Catholic. It is difficult to quickly summarize my reasons, but it has to do with a mixture of growing up with it, taking the Gospels at face value (i.e. It is written that "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name," (John 20:31), and I have chosen to respond to the text in the way that it intended for me to respond), and finding different parts of the concomitant philosophy to be interesting and compelling. In general I loosely consider myself to be an Aristotelian/Thomist, though (as my intro post can attest) I have other significant influences as well. Other, more particular contributing factors to me being Catholic include the fact that I had to take some philosophy classes in high school and the fact that Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard were two authors that I read a lot when I first started taking reading seriously. Concerning how much I practice, I would say that I am pretty active. I go to Mass on Sundays and sometimes on other days as well, I attend other church events, and I pray every day. If you have any thoughts or questions concerning this I am happy to answer! (and in case anyone is worried, I am not some internet theologian who tries to debate people the first chance he gets)

[AsaFromNasa]

I am Roman Catholic. It is difficult to quickly summarize my reasons, but it has to do with a mixture of growing up with it, taking the Gospels at face value (i.e. It is written that "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name," (John 20:31), and I have chosen to respond to the text in the way that it intended for me to respond), and finding different parts of the concomitant philosophy to be interesting and compelling. In general I loosely consider myself to be an Aristotelian/Thomist, though (as my intro post can attest) I have other significant influences as well. Other, more particular contributing factors to me being Catholic include the fact that I had to take some philosophy classes in high school and the fact that Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard were two authors that I read a lot when I first started taking reading seriously. Concerning how much I practice, I would say that I am pretty active. I go to Mass on Sundays and sometimes on other days as well, I attend other church events, and I pray every day. If you have any thoughts or questions concerning this I am happy to answer! (and in case anyone is worried, I am not some internet theologian who tries to debate people the first chance he gets)

I also grew up catholic (I was even an alter boy lol) but I am no longer practicing. I don't have any particular animosity to it, I just kinda stopped thinking about it. I'm planning on reading the bible for the first time sometime this year albeit from a mostly atheistic perspective. I'm mostly reading it to enrich the other things I read and to make me a more well rounded person. Do you have any recommendations? Do you have a favorite bible? I got the St. Joseph New American Bible for confirmation, but I've seen mixed reviews for it and want to have the best version if I'm going to spend a lot of time with it. Would you recommend reading it from start to finish all the way through or only reading the important books for the time being? Everyone is welcome to chime in.

[MeisterJohann]

I also grew up catholic (I was even an alter boy lol) but I am no longer practicing. I don't have any particular animosity to it, I just kinda stopped thinking about it. I'm planning on reading the bible for the first time sometime this year albeit from a mostly atheistic perspective. I'm mostly reading it to enrich the other things I read and to make me a more well rounded person. Do you have any recommendations? Do you have a favorite bible? I got the St. Joseph New American Bible for confirmation, but I've seen mixed reviews for it and want to have the best version if I'm going to spend a lot of time with it. Would you recommend reading it from start to finish all the way through or only reading the important books for the time being? Everyone is welcome to chime in.

Depending on whatever is closer I tend to either use my copy of the Revised Standard Version: Second Catholic Edition or my copy of The New American Bible: Revised Edition that has lines in the margins for taking notes, and those have served me well. Concerning how much to read, I think it really just depends on your endurance and/or patience. I certainly think it is ideal to have read the whole thing, but in order to do so one must either read a lot each day or work through it slowly for a long period of time. For context, when I read it cover to cover I read nine chapters a day, and it took me almost five months. Some days were pretty easy (e.g. when I was on the Psalms), but other days took a lot more effort.

Hope this helps, and I hope your read through of the Bible goes well (regardless of how much you end up reading). I would love to hear your thoughts once you start reading it.

[adikarmika]

The only aspect of my faith I am at odds with is that I appreciate mind altering substances to the point of operating a clandestine brewery and distillery, while also running a private medicinal garden.

I don't see mind-altering substances as being at odds with Buddhism. Recently, I had the opportunity to quiz some Western Theravadin monks in Thailand about their meditative experiences. All (five) of them admitted that psilocybin had been a part of their spiritual journey. And if I speak personally, I found that mescaline transformed what used to be a conceptual understanding of non-duality into an actual lived experience. Real, unforgettable, and as recallable as any other experience,