<p>^Sorry for the misspelling, but I can't edit ithe title. Anyway...</p>
<ol>
<li>At what age did you lose your faith, if you had any and why?</li>
<li>What do your parents feel about it (how did they react when they found out)?</li>
<li>And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? (depresses me)</li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry if I sound like a weirdo, I'm just curious. This kind of thing interests me.</p>
<p>“And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? (depresses me)”
And always look on the bright side of life…</p>
<p>1) I believed in some sort of god until when I was about 10, around when I stopped believing in Santa Claus and the like.
2) My parents had me contact many religions: I was born in Japan where most people believe in both Shintoism and Buddhism, I attended a Jewish preschool, I had many Islamic friends in elementary school, and I now live in a suburb where almost everybody is a devout Christian. My mother believes I am too closed-minded in the topic of religion because I usually keep my distance with anything religious.
3) Because I have no idea of what happens after death, I really don’t care about when or why I will die. It will happen and when it does, I will learn what happens.</p>
<ol>
<li>At what age did you lose your faith, if you had any and why?-I never had any, i was raised atheist</li>
<li>What do your parents feel about it (how did they react when they found out)?-I was raised atheist</li>
<li>And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? (depresses me)-It will happen eventually so theres no use fearing it.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am agnostic. To answer your questions,</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I was born agnostic. I have not chosen to follow any religion is because I guess I think in a more scientific way, with evidence, logic, reasoning, etc, though I realize that many great scientists are religious. However, for myself, if I HAD to “pick” a religion at this age to follow, all the religions seem equally convincing, or in my personal opinion, equally unconvincing. I do believe that there is an external force that started the universe or that keeps it running, but I think that it is not something humans can comprehend.</p></li>
<li><p>My parents are not religious.</p></li>
<li><p>You said it, it is inevitable, for everyone. I am still a teenager, so right now when I think about the fact that I will die, yes it is depressing, because I have just started venturing into the wonders of life. I think that the life experience of a kid (being in school and under parenthood) will be very different than that of an adult, so really I have not even started to explore the real feeling of life.
I think I will ultimately accept the fact that since everyone will die, and it is inevitable, then it should not be depressing, since there’s nothing one can do about it. For me being agnostic, I believe that everything I do or choose to do should be directly based on/in relations to this life, the one that I’m certain I’m going to live. Being agnostic I believe allows me to look at religion from a neutral perspective and I see it and study it specifically as another aspect of human society.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you have more questions feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Also, in reply, I’d ask a question of my own,</p>
<p>If you follow a certain faith, what is your view on other religions? That they’re wrong and yours is the right explanation of how the world started/works? Just curious.</p>
<p>^ I’m an atheist so your question does not apply to me. However, I was a Christian until I was 13 years old and at that time I thought that all religions were merely different ways of understanding one eternal God. It was a vague notion, and like I mentioned before, after an extensive “spiritual investigation” I became an atheist.</p>
<p>I think most people deal with the inevitability of death by simply not thinking about it very much. If you mean “how do you deal with not really knowing what happens after someone dies?” then consider it this way: When you die, either your consciousness still exists or it does not. If it does not, then it is like an eternal sleep; you never experienced existence before you were born, you won’t experience it after you die. Consciousness still existing is more problematic though, since we cannot know in what form it exists, do you retain personality or merely awareness; if awareness, awareness of what? What capabilities does a bodyless consciousness have, etc.</p>
<p>How do you deal with the inevitability of anything?</p>
<ol>
<li>At what age did you lose your faith, if you had any and why? Didn’t really have much, but I am raised under Jewish Faith, celebrate Passover/Hanukkah/Yom Kippur/Purim etc, but don’t really believe/know a god exists. I’d like to say that any faith that exists comes back during holidays, but it’s not very much at all.</li>
<li>What do your parents feel about it (how did they react when they found out)? They kind of already knew I would sway this way, I’ve never been bar-mitzvahed or anything so it’s really not a big deal. </li>
<li>And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? It’s like any other thing, everyone will eventually die whether it be in 2012 or 2072 or whenever. I like to think there’s a phase where you are born again quickly after you die, but I don’t know what happens next. It’ll probably be like you in the womb of your mother’s stomach, but with more control. I don’t know if that made any sense at all.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>I lost it sometime in high school but I’m not exactly sure specifically when. I just started thinking about God and everything rationally. I looked at it in terms of mythology. I read a myth that the turtle has cracks in its shell because it was dropped on a rock by a hawk. And I realized that maybe that’s religion. A bunch of people coming up with an ultimate myth for everything and the reason it is still around today is because it’s uplifting. Of course, it’s much better to believe that there is a God and a heaven where good people are rewarded rather than a sea of blackness after you die. But I’m agnostic. I have no idea if there’s a God or not. The more I try to rationalize his existence or lack thereof, the more confused I get. So I just don’t think about it much.</p></li>
<li><p>I never really sat them down and told them. My mom asked me if I believed in God and I said I don’t know. She said that I should believe in Him and that was basically the end of that.</p></li>
<li><p>I never think about death. I’m too young to realize my mortality.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@Thatsonebamf: If you believe in a higher being, I don’t think your agnostic. Unless you have doubts. But if you believe in a higher being, even one that humans can’t comprehend, you’re a theist. At least i’m pretty sure.</p>
<p>^You can be a theistic or an atheistic agnostic.</p>
<p>I think Thatsonebamf’s views are more compatable with deism or pantheism than straight agnosticism.</p>
<p>EDIT: Or, yes, agnostic theism.</p>
<p>I would call myself an agnostic, and to clear that up I neither believe in nor deny the existence of a god. </p>
<ol>
<li>At what age did you lose your faith, if you had any and why?</li>
</ol>
<p>Within the last year, so 16. I was baptized and confirmed into a protestant church, and I will say that the church I was (am) in is a very liberal church with liberal interpretations of the Bible, and I like that. I started to question my faith because I found it very difficult to believe in something that there is no evidence of, and in fact evidence to the contrary. More importantly, however, I began to find religion as a cause of intolerance, and that frustrates me. I can’t support a church that wants to impose its will upon others and force everyone to live by the rules of Christianity. </p>
<ol>
<li>What do your parents feel about it (how did they react when they found out)?</li>
</ol>
<p>My parents also consider themselves to be agnostic. My mom attends church every once in a while, but my parents, to my surprise, were in agreement with what I was saying. </p>
<ol>
<li>And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? (depresses me)</li>
</ol>
<p>To me, it is what it is. I could die at any moment (and so can you), so I don’t think it’s really something to worry about. This probably won’t come out right, but I like to think that every day should be a good day to die.</p>
<p>To further explain myself, I guess I believe scientifically that there is “something” that started the universe/keeps it running. I don’t think that it is a “being”, in fact this is the part that’s muddy, in that I don’t think I can comprehend even guesses to what the “something” is. If anyone can point me in the direction I possibly fall under religiously that’d be good, because I always stutter when someone asks me what faith I follow.</p>
<p>Not to start a flaming religious war on a forum, but I personally do not believe in any of the major religions practiced and followed today, though I do believe that some people can benefit from believing in a faith and prayers solely from a helping their mind point of view. Also, I approve of the good morals and ethics taught in religions to kids, though at the same time I can point to many horrible things religions have caused. At school we are required to go to two chapel services a term, not a lot at all, under any faith. I personally like these just to study different religions and how religious people think. Also, though I may not follow a certain religion, just by going to chapel and reflecting on myself helps.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is a very good way to sum up what I believe. I can tolerate religion and I think it is good for some people, just not me.</p>
<p>^^take a look at deism
[Deism</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism]Deism”>Deism - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I consider myself a deist currently. Also, unofficial tenets of deism for those interested: </p>
<p>
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Source: <a href=“http://www.moderndeism.com/html/deism_defined.html[/url]”>http://www.moderndeism.com/html/deism_defined.html</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I never had any. I did attend a fun church social group for a few years in late elementary school; that solidified my lack of religion. It’s just not convincing, and I have a hard time totally blindly believing in anything.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My mom is not particularly religious but was raised with some church, so she has decided that I’m going to hell but it isn’t a big deal and we don’t talk about it. She doesn’t understand how I can “not believe in God” and yet know infinitely more about religion, especially Christianity, than she does.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You just deal. It isn’t something I think about that often. Dying is like falling asleep (well, obviously this is an assumption). You won’t even know it happened. Thinking about it, I imagine, is far worse than actually doing it (unless it’s awful like burning).</p>
<ol>
<li>At what age did you lose your faith, if you had any and why?
I never believed in a faith.</li>
<li>What do your parents feel about it (how did they react when they found out)?
My parents are agnostic and they don’t care.</li>
<li>And how do you deal with the inevitability of death? (depresses me)
I just don’t think about it, and I try and live life to its fullest.</li>
</ol>