If you're willing to identify your denominational or religious affiliation or lack of one...

[MercyA]

The "teens in church thread" made me realize I've been vaguely thinking a couple of you belong to denominations that you don't. And I know a lot of us have made some changes in these areas in recent years. If you're willing, please share your religion or denomination or lack of one in whatever terms you would like to use. 

Zero judgment, pure curiosity! I know we are a diverse group.

I'll start. I identify as a Christian and I'm a member of a Wesleyan church. I've also attended the following churches: UCC (as a child), Bible, non-denominational, Baptist, and Reformed Baptist. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by MercyA

[Frances]

Raised Catholic and practiced until college graduation. Attended United Methodist church on and off until about 18 years ago. Now nothing.

[Arcadia]

Agnostic and raised as Buddhist/Taoist. Went to catholic schools from preK to 6th grade (1st to 6th grade was at a convent). My husband is atheist and raised as a Taoist. He went to an all boys catholic school from 7th to 10th grade. We donate regularly rather small amounts to a local Buddhist temple which serves free lunches every Sunday. 

[Melissa Louise]

Lapsed Catholic, current agnostic with non-specific theistic leanings, via hard atheism. 

[forty-two]

Lifelong LCMS Lutheran.  My childhood church was kind of evangelical-adjacent, but I became interested in theology in college and more serious about Lutheran distinctives.  Was influenced by Radical Lutherans in my 20s (kind of postmodern Lutherans, serious about Lutheranism but not too concerned about continuity with tradition), went through a crisis of everything-but-faith in my mid-30s when I realized I was 95% secularized without meaning to be and didn't understand hardly anything about the faith or how to live life, delved into more historical sources for theology and overall tried to understand and grasp a more pre-modern sacramental Christian approach to the faith.  Succeeded enough to build enough of a foundation to not feel like I was flailing in the void, and that I could actually explain most of the fundamentals to myself and others, and even know how to apply some of it to living life.

Edited September 5, 2022 by forty-two

[JustEm]

Raised Catholic, practiced as an adult up until 2 years ago. Struggling to give a s* now. 

[busymama7]

I am Christian.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, often referred to as LDS or Mormon although we don't prefer those titles.   I was born and raised in this church and am raising my children in the church as well. I have four adult children who are faithful and attend church etc.  Three of them have spent two years on a mission (one is still out).  None have ever expressed any desire not to go to church.   I'm not sure how we would handle it exactly but when things come up we always strive to maintain the relationship so I'm sure we would handle it the same.  

[rebcoola]

Raised agnostic, non denominational Christian who was attending a Baptist church. Since covid and a new statement of faith searching for a new more liberal home.

[kbutton]

I have attended a nondenominational Bible church, a GARB Baptist church, and two SBC churches. I'm looking outside the SBC at the moment. I am sure there are great SBC churches, but I see too much on the horizon that I don't like (things seminaries are doing), and I don't like what I see when churches become SBC or hire pastors educated at SBC seminaries, or hire college presidents from SBC seminaries, especially when unrelated churches/situations demonstrate a similar pattern over and over. 

We tried an evangelical covenant church this morning that seemed really nice. We'd like to branch out more before deciding on anything in particular. If I can find a Christian Missionary Alliance church around here that isn't huge and into dark auditoriums with light shows, I think we're likely to try it out as well. 

[Loowit]

I have always just considered myself as a Protestant.  I was raised in a non-denominational church, and visited my grandparents Nazarene church several times a year.  Since getting married I have been part of several non-denominational churches, a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, Free Methodist church, Inter-denominational church, and a house church.  We are currently churchless, but looking at possibilities again cautiously.  My parents just started attending church again after all the covid fiasco, and have found a place they are happy.  It is non-denominational, but associated with a Free Methodist church.  I am thinking about trying the associated church which is close to us.

My middle kid asked me recently what he should put for his denomination on his paperwork for the military.  I wasn't sure what to tell him.  He couldn't just put Protestant, which is what we usually say.  I mentioned a few of the denominations we have attended, but I am not sure what he ended up putting.  He has been attending church services at the bases he as been at.  Most of them have been Southern Baptist, but I am not sure what the current one is.

[Laura Corin]

I was brought up by atheist but not anti-theist parents. I went to a mildly Church of England primary school and a mildly non-denominational protestant senior school.  

I briefly chose to pray to a beech tree as a child. I've not had a faith since.

[Kassia]

I'm agnostic and was raised Jewish.

DH is...not even sure - maybe agnostic?   Raised Catholic.

Three of my kids seem agnostic.  One is dating a lapsed Catholic, one is dating a Christian, one is dating a Muslim and he might be considering himself a Muslim now.  I know he observed Ramadan this year but I'm not sure otherwise.  Dd considered herself a Christian for a long time but I think she's done with that.  

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Kassia

[Tanaqui]

Been an atheist my entire life, probably will still be one when I die. Quite aside from this simply being how I was raised, I just see no evidence of supernatural entities, certainly nothing to make me think one faith is right and the others are wrong.

Both my parents were/are atheists, though my mother would occasionally make vague noises about being nominally a lapsed Catholic until we actually pressed her on the subject when she had breast cancer. We needed to know if she needed any arrangements in case of... well, you know.

[Terabith]

Episcopalian but currently attending an ELCA Lutheran church.  I grew up Methodist but kind of a weird strain of one that mostly used the 1928 Book of Common Prayer liturgy but had altar calls and revivals every summer.  I went to a Methodist seminary (but one with an Anglican studies track), but I chose not to get ordained.  I taught Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at the Catholic Church where my kids did the program but we were never Catholic.  

[bookbard]

Raised in a tiny (as in a few thousand worldwide) Christian sect, but have been an atheist since adulthood. The one benefit of the upbringing was the expectation of being a conscientious objector in any war, with a history of conscientious objector ancestors. I feel like having a pacifist worldview is pretty rare and lets you look at things from outside the majority culture. I would not be surprised if the sect disappeared within a generation or two, it's shrinking rapidly, having both the hypocrisy of most organisations (eg, don't drink, but half of them are drunks), along with a real old-fashioned structure. 

[Melissa in Australia]

raised  Jehovah's Witness. no longer practicing, still hold true to the beliefs, but don't  believe in organized religion is the way to go. I think that the Jehovah's Witness beliefs have shifted since I became inactive. I haven't kept up 

[bibiche]

Atheist.  I do find belief systems endlessly fascinating though.

[bibiche]

4 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I briefly chose to pray to a beech tree as a child. I've not had a faith since.

I love this so much.

[Pawz4me]

Raised in both Methodist and Baptist churches. Confirmed and baptized in the Methodist church as a child and in the Baptist church as a young adult. Now mostly identify as agnostic. It was quite a journey to get to this point (which I arrived at a few years ago). I sometimes have a vague hope in some sort of pantheistic type thing. I find the secular teachings of Buddhism the most sensible and far and away the most personally beneficial for me. DH was raised Baptist and is now a staunch atheist.

[sweet2ndchance]

Atheist here. Never taken to church by my parents or even shown a Bible by them but found out in my 30s from my father that I was "raised to be God fearing".... um, yeah. My grandmother took me to her church a few times and I had friends who talked about/shared the Bible with me and took me to their church when I would spend the night but at home it was never talked about one way or the other.

Like @bibiche though, I find belief systems fascinating to study and learn more about. I taught/teach my kids about many belief systems, including atheism, and if they chose religion, I'm fine with that. 

[Hilltopmom]

Raised Lutheran- forced to go to church until I left home for college. Now atheist.

[Pamela H in Texas]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

raised  Jehovah's Witness. no longer practicing, still hold true to the beliefs, but don't  believe in organized religion is the way to go. I think that the Jehovah's Witness beliefs have shifted since I became inactive. I haven't kept up 

Here is the new study book if you're interested: https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&pub=lff&srcid=share 

[Pamela H in Texas]

I'm Christian, one of Jehovah's Witnesses.  

I was raised "Christian" in that my parents had a vague belief
and we went to church once in a blue moon.  As a teen,
I attended a Methodist church with friends. My parents
still hold a general belief in God and Jesus but don't act on it.
My brother believes religion to be a way of man controlling man.

I was searching for what the Bible really said on a number of 
topics, specifically discipline and the trinity.  After those issues
I was moving on to other areas and wanted to start a group to
do that.  Then I started studying with Witnesses after one was
able to help answer certain questions from the Bible, not just
give me what they thought.  

Edited September 5, 2022 by Pamela H in Texas

[fairfarmhand]

I was raised independent fundamentalist baptist. Now we attend a freewill baptist and have drifted away from the more rigid strident And unkind parts of our raising (thank you Jesus) I really do love our new denomination. 

[Carrie12345]

Atheist, raised ELCA Lutheran. 

[Indigo Blue]

I wasn’t  brought up in any church. Though, as a child, I got on the bus that came through my neighborhood to take me to Bible school in the summer. 
 

Married Dh and have attended his Southern Baptist church ever since, up until before Covid. 
 

We have gone back and forth between not attending, attending our church, and visiting other churches since then. Dh has come to the point of wanting to leave his church. I would be fine with not going at all ever because of my experiences in his church during all those years, but I’m willing to go with Dh to try to find a place where I’m comfortable if we ever completely leave his church. 
 

Since first going to his church, it’s just been a cycle of getting a new pastor, people becoming dissatisfied, bickerings, pastors leaving, and then hiring another new pastor. I’m just burned out. Our current pastor preaches long (45 min) gloom and doom messages  every week.  That is not good for one’s mental and emotional health. I’m glad Dh is now willing to step away from that. He was just dragged to church by an “absent” mother and plopped down there his whole life. 
 

I’m honestly not completely at peace with going because there is so much I can’t reconcile in my mind and things I don’t agree with. 

[Insertcreativenamehere]

Raised in an Evangelical Free church, attended various similar denominations during college, grad school and early adulthood. Now attending an Evangelical Covenant church. 

[purpleowl]

Raised Southern Baptist, but went to Presbyterian (PCA) high school. Stayed Baptist as an adult for a few years, and then dh and I joined a Presbyterian (OPC) church, where we stayed for 15+ years. We left that church a few months ago and are now attending a non-denominational reformed church.

[scholastica]

I was raised in the Episcopal church, fell away as a teen. Wandered around being spiritual but not religious for a while. Dabbled in Buddhism and meditation for a few years. Met my dh who was Roman Catholic and started attending with him. It took a long time and a lot of study but I eventually converted to Roman Catholic. 

[alisoncooks]

Raised in a nondenominational, independent Christian church/Church of Christ. This is a pretty accurate description  (but not the a cappella part…that’s only some). https://www.christianity.com/church/denominations/churches-of-christ-10-things-to-know-about-their-history-and-beliefs.html?amp=1

I’ve always attended similar churches within the denomination-that’s-not-a-denomination. 😉 (they’re fairly common on the east coast in this area)

[PronghornD]

6 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

Raised in a nondenominational, independent Christian church/Church of Christ. This is a pretty accurate description  (but not the a cappella part…that’s only some). https://www.christianity.com/church/denominations/churches-of-christ-10-things-to-know-about-their-history-and-beliefs.html?amp=1

I’ve always attended similar churches within the denomination-that’s-not-a-denomination. 😉 (they’re fairly common on the east coast in this area)

I assume this is different from the United Church of Christ? That's what we've been attending for the last year, and it seems very different from your description.

[Xahm]

I grew up in a small conservative Presbyterian denomination and we're now Methodist (UMC). I grew to strongly dislike several things about my birth-denomination, like the emphasis on being theologically correct, that the Westminster confession had all the correct interpretations of every aspect of the Bible. There's a lot I could say about that, but I'll leave it at saying that I like the humility of the UMC position of saying there are many possible ways of viewing things. My parents are not happy and will be less happy when they realize we aren't going to leave the church if/when they open to allow gay marriage.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

Wesleyan is what I consider myself.  My husband was raised independent(but not necessarily fundamentalist) Baptist—women wore pants, they didn’t use the King James Version, they have a worship team instead of hymns.  My younger two kids attend an independent Baptist church now.

How I was raised depended on my parents whims.  They were incredibly religious until my teens, but my mom fell more and more into fundamental homeschool-ism and the family integrated church nonsense, and along with that she started bouncing from church to church because none met her ever growing standards. We barely attended church after I was 14, though I really wanted to go.  My mom was hostile towards Christians who didn’t live the way she thought they should, so attending on my own wasn’t an option(and a lot of it was a really weird time in my family following my brother’s death). strangely, she’s never gone back to church despite dropping all of those beliefs.  

I went to a Wesleyan college and generally align with their beliefs. Of course I then married a man who became hostile towards church after we married so I still don’t go.  He wouldn’t say anything and is clear that I’m welcome to go, but I work two Sundays a month and I’m shy and have social anxiety, so finding a church without him going with me seems daunting.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Mrs Tiggywinkle

[Danae]

13 minutes ago, PronghornD said:

I assume this is different from the United Church of Christ? That's what we've been attending for the last year, and it seems very different from your description.

Very different.

[QueenCat]

23 minutes ago, PronghornD said:

I assume this is different from the United Church of Christ? That's what we've been attending for the last year, and it seems very different from your description.

United Church of Christ and Church of Christ are almost polar opposites. UCC is more liberal and CC is very strict/conservative.

[Lady Florida.]

Cradle Catholic from a non devout family. We weren't Christmas/Easter Catholics but it wasn't really part of life at home. It was mostly cultural Catholic with Sunday church attendance. Practiced on and off as an adult. When I married dh I switched to United Methodist and practiced for about 10 years.

Around 2004 I started questioning my beliefs. I briefly flirted with some new agey stuff and neo paganism before deciding all faiths and deities are man made. I wasn't sad to let go but then my social life didn't revolve around my church so I wasn't leaving friends behind.

Most days I'm simply atheist but sometimes I'm anti-theist. It depends on how theists (general, in the US) are acting. 

Dh is agnostic but leans more atheist. Dss, ddil, and ds are like me, staunch atheists. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Lady Florida.

[elegantlion]

Raised Chrisitian, although church attendance was sporadic because my dad did not attend and my mom didn't drive. My mom walked away from a very legalistic church when I was a kid because they gave her so much grief about my dad not attending and I wasn't allowed to sit in the "big church" for service. I hated children's church because it was horribly loud. 

Practicing Christian as young adult, attended mostly non-denominational Protestant churches. 

Currently agnostic. Never planning on attending church services again. 

[Janeway]

I am ELCA Lutheran, or was anyway. There are no good ELCA churches near us. ELCA is the liberal branch, the one where it is okay to be female clergy. We attend a United Methodist church now and have for many years.  I was raised Catholic and Lutheran, my husband was raised Catholic. None of our children are being raised Catholic. One of my older adult children is consider converting to Judaism.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Janeway

[73349]

[long story]

Edited September 5, 2022 by 73349

[Wheres Toto]

1 hour ago, Xahm said:

There's a lot I could say about that, but I'll leave it at saying that I like the humility of the UMC position of saying there are many possible ways of viewing things. 

This is basically the only reason I was able to stay with the UMC for so long.  They basically don't expect you to believe everything and are okay with people taking what works for them and leaving the rest.  I'm also in a super liberal area and the UMC churches do perform gay marriages and we have a few gay ministers.   

So, I grew up UMC, attending church weekly, baptized, confirmed, etc.   Went to Catholic church briefly with exh but definitely didn't believe a lot of stuff there and never converted.   Returned to UMC with dh, visited sporadically when the kids were little.  Actually attended the same very small, very historic church I grew up going to but they had very little in the way of children's activities so it was hard with little kids.  Switched to a bigger UMC that had Sunday School and lots of children's programs.   We stopped attending when the minister retired and dh didn't like the new young, female minister.   We probably would have stopped attending anyway soon, or at least not made the kids attend once they were teened.   I went for dh's sake, he's much more of a believer than any of the rest of us.  

Oldest dd was baptized Catholic and did First Communion.  Ds was baptized as a baby at the same UMC I was, younger dd was baptized at 8 years old at our new UMC.   All three kids are somewhere on the atheist, agnostic, theist (maybe something out there but doesn't resemble the Christian idea of god) spectrum, as am I these days.    

Edited September 5, 2022 by Wheres Toto
clarified some stuff

[Kalmia]

Attended Congregationalist church with my family until I was 11. However, it was later revealed to me that my father is an atheist and while my mother (raised strict southern Baptist) believes in God, she didn't believe anything her family's church taught, and brought us to church to keep up appearances with her parents and because she wanted a place she could sing in the choir (which she did in a very lovely manner for years). We all quit going to church, except the church ladies always managed to convince my mom to make pies for their big church suppers for years after we stopped going! From about 9-10 on, I was too into geology and evolutionary biology to accept any literal interpretation of the Bible. I generally call myself an atheist, but I suspect I have slight animist tendencies due to being a naturalist by profession and very much suspecting all living beings, plant and animal, have spirits that exist while they are alive, but that there is no afterlife.

[Faith-manor]

Raised United Methodist, married a Free Methodist, and spent most of our married years bouncing between the two as we moved around the country. I was even eligible for ordination in the F.M. due to extensive theological training in college, but wasn't interested. I have since deconverted and am best described as agnostic. Dh is best described as extremely progressive christian, but anti-organized religion as it exists in America with all of its meddling in politics. We make it work very well. On Sundays, he streams a little ELCA church service from a rural hamlet in Kansas whose pastor is  down to earth, loving, non-divisive, anti-political, and very Jesus like. I actually find her to be a bit of fresh air so to speak so sometimes I join him which makes him happy.

We raised all our kids in church, it was central to our lives, but once high school aged they were never required to participate, and there was zero change in the way we treated them if they chose not to do so. Eldest is a deist, next oldest is atheist, middle of the three boys and youngest are just like their dad, think organized religion is pretty evil, but still believe in the teachings of Jesus and have podcasts they watch on a variety of theological topics and occasionally meet with like minded colleagues for discussions. Neither of the two that remain progressive Christians are willing to attend a church or give money to one. They do have a list of non-profit organizations that they support.

My last job was as a director of community fine arts, and the program was hosted and housed by the UMC in the county seat though it was largely secularly supported, and my office and all the classes, art shows, musicals, plays, and concerts occurred in their church. My office was next to the pastor's. We got along great! I appreciated his very inclusive, non judgmental mindset. Sadly, the foundation closed the program due to covid, and opted not to re-open. 😭

My sister who is 14 years younger than me was raised much more strictly. My parents left the UMC and went to an independent, very fundamentalist church. It had a profound, negative effect on her. She eventually deconverted, became agnostic, and is now atheist. Our older brother is still a christian but does not hold most of our parents' beliefs and attends an independent, fully inclusive, very progressive church. Of his five children, two are deists, two are atheists, and one is wiccan. Three attended a conservative, Baptist school K-12, and the youngest two were home schooled with Christian curriculum until 7th grade and then attended public school.

I think my mom struggles some with the fact that non of children or grandchildren believe what she believes. 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Faith-manor

[ScoutTN]

Grew up Episcopalian. PCA, Presbyterian Church in America, since college. 

[Junie]

I was raised in a hodge-podge of protestant church denominations (Church of the Nazarene, Christian Missionary Alliance, Assembly of God, and a few others) and as a young adult I chose to attend a Baptist church.  I have been a Baptist ever since.

[DinCO]

I was raised in a very devout RC family and was part of the Charismatic Catholic movement in the 80’s.  Attended a small female only Catholic college and continued to practice.   Attended church regularly and both of my children have received sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.  Stopped attending when eldest came out as Trans and I had difficulty sorting my feelings and support of DD and teachings of the church.  I still feel Catholic and believe but am not currently attending church.

[Tiberia]

Grew up non-denom evangelical. Am now a deconstructed ex-vangelical Christ-follower. Fortunately, my church deconstructed together, so "services" usually consist of meals together and talking about how to receive and give God's love in our lives, families, and communities.  

[AmandaVT]

Raised by a lapsed Catholic and a staunch atheist. Have landed at UCC church and am very happy there!

[livetoread]

Was raised Seventh-day Adventist and attended SDA schools through college. I was a practicing SDA (though rough around the edges as I got older) until I went to public graduate school. Started questioning, went through a decade or so of study and reflection, gradually worked my way from SDA to a progressive Presbyterian congregation, to more progressive theism, to non belief. Husband (also raised SDA) reached that conclusion more quickly. One young adult kid is a sort of maybe God exists but isn't religiously affiliated, and one is a non believer leaning Buddhist. I, too, find some parts of Buddhism to be very helpful in my life but would not call myself practicing. We started raising our kids in the SDA church because we were still believers (though already had qualms about many beliefs and ended up leaving while they were still young elementary) and we went to the Presbyterian church until they were teens. It didn't really stick for them.

[Scarlett]

One of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  My mom began studying with Witnesses when I was 4. She was baptized when I was 8. I was baptized at 17 almost 18.  

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, PronghornD said:

I assume this is different from the United Church of Christ? That's what we've been attending for the last year, and it seems very different from your description.

United Church of Christ (UCC) could not be more different from Church of Christ.  UCC is a very liberal denomination. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Matryoshka