Personal Narrative: My Value Of Religion

I grew up in the Christian faith, where at a young age I probably accepted Christ, but it wasn’t until my twelfth birthday when I decided to rededicate my life to Him after a friend wrote in a birthday card, “Remember what Jesus was doing when He was twelve?”

I am an atheist, but it wasn't always that way. My entire life there was a constant pressure on me to accept that there was a supreme being that created all. Even at a young age I couldn’t bring myself to fully believe this. I continued grasping for straws because, just like every other religious person, I was scared of the “consequences” that would come with not believing. My Non-Denominational Christian Church promoted telling this to everyone, even children.

The last value that I have chosen to do was equality. I chose this one because equality in America is big. America to me is like a big mixing pot. We have the people who were born here in America, and the ones who live here from that are from other countries. In 2010, there was a record breaking 40 million immigrants in the United States, legal and illegal. The total population in the United States was about 308.7 million people in 2010. America is a place filled with different people who believe in different things, a land of absolute diversity. So who is to say that only one group of people should be given certain privileges because of the color of their skin, who they pray to, or where they were born. Here in America equality is probably one of the most important things we try to pursue as a nation. In the past people have fought to be treated equal and even today in

My highest ideal, in terms of ranking, is my relationship with God. My relationship with God is fostered through Biblical teachings and God sponsored life events. Those events that are clearly orchestrated by God. My value system is therefore, fostered through my relationship with God and Biblical teachings.

Religion never crept its way into my life like it has for others, i was never indoctrinated into the cult of religion not out of my own choice but because of the choice of my mother and father. Even though children have the freedom of choice to not believe in a deity it can be more difficult than putting a giraffe through the eye of a needle to not accept religion when your parents are so religious and they ram it down your throat until you can't breath anymore and promise the idea of you burning in hell as a threat even though pascal's wager is ridiculous and illogical but it still makes it so hard to not accept god not even out of fear of “god” but from the very real punishment of your parents.I however was given a choice and my parents never

Religious/Spiritual Identity(R): On any given day my own religious/spiritual identity hovers somewhere between atheist and agnostic. However, I was baptized and raised Catholic for the first eight years of my life and I went to church and Sunday school weekly. I made my first confession and communion through this church. When I was a little bit older my Mom decided to start taking us to a Presbyterian church. We went to this church less frequently than we used to go to the Catholic one, but my sister and I still attended a children’s bible study on Wednesday nights and went to services on Sundays with our mom. In addition to these religions, I am also fairly aware of how the Southern Baptist churches operate. In other words, I am familiar with

When it comes to my religious beliefs, I am Catholic and after taking this class Religious Imagination class with Professor Martin. I can say that I have gained new insight to the different religions that we have learned throughout the course of the class. This class really opened and broadened my perspective on different religions because never experience or even learned about these different religions before taking this class. The specific religions that I have gained insight on were Hinduism, Buddhism and Primal religion. Before taking this class I heard of these religions but I did not actually know what they were. Each Religion that we learned helped me is the amazing ways people believe in God. I found the Primal religion extremely interesting

After years of being under religious manipulation and control, I a rerouted myself into a path of new adventures and learned to have an authentic relationship with God. My life changed, I found a new identity. I obtained the courage to break through the binding religious chains and experienced a new life. My experience stirred a new vision to voice messages that shine light to those blind spots- things or people that become a blockage for living our life with purpose. In my case, the constant condemnations, the judgement, the control of my emotions and thoughts I allowed others to have over my life, robbed me from living to my full potential. I no longer had a unique identity, I had become a religious puppet at a very young age. Fortunately,

The first time I learned about religion was in third grade. One day I came home, and started to tell my parents about how everyone at school goes to church on Sunday. Even though I had no idea what church was, I still wanted to go because I didn’t like being left out. My parents tried to explain to me what it was. I didn’t really understand it, so I decided to let it go.

“Mommy, why?” I asked as children from every century have asked. At the age of 5, I had just attended a birthday party for a friend from a Muslim family. Colorful balloons meant a fun celebration, but I did not understand colorful hijab. This is my first memory of encountering a practice of religion different from my families’ practice. Innocent observations prompted my questions. My mother explained how people of the world choose different belief systems to live by. We live in an increasingly diverse and global population. I expect these conversations occur more frequently today. Whether, in hush tones or epic monologues, their words affect the future generation’s worldview. Ancient ancestors of Sweden first told their children epic tales about many gods, until Christian themes altered their story.

My earliest memories are of my best friend, my mother, reading with her, drawing with her, sleeping on her, and cooking with her. She used to read The Cat in the Hat everyday to me- so much that she memorized it. When I got older, it became The Magic Treehouse, and then Harry Potter. She had an eternal patience, and even when I made her reread a book twenty times without letting her progress past page twenty, she would oblige. She was my sole entertainer, and she took the job seriously. My mother was the one that taught me Tamil, the language that my family spoke in India. She opened the doors of religion and culture by explaining the basis of Hinduism, what each god metaphorically stood for, and spoke to me as if I were her friend, not her child. Being the inquisitive child I was, I frequently asked questions, and amazingly enough, my mother answered all of them without giving me a senseless answer

Growing up in a religious community, I witnessed individuals who could not tolerate faith and notions dissimilar to their own. These individuals would instigate arguments that were often designed to render their victims uncomfortable. My first true eye opening experience to these hate driven conversations was when I was returning home from church. I was pulled aside from my family by a neighbor to question my religious affiliation. She attempted to make me feel ashamed of my religion and told me I should stop going to church. She then continued the insults by telling me my parents were raising me wrong and should join the “right religion.” Never before have I experienced such ferocious dislike, during this conversation, it was difficult to

Losing my religion began when I questioned it for the first time. I did not have a devout upbringing and my family never practiced anything other than lighting the menorah or the Christmas tree. Faith wasn't apart of me; I relied on myself to get through my internal struggles and teenage angst; which, in hindsight, was probably not such a brilliant method of self-help. Even though I loved fiction and magical stories, science explained the workings of the world. Logic and reason didn’t fail me until my grandfather died. His death wasn’t a shock, he had two types of cancer and was struggling with his illnesses for years. But as painful as it was that he was no longer with us on Earth, what was most haunting was the fact that I had no explanation as to where he had gone. Science

Prayer can be a sincere and compelling way of fostering and enhancing a faith community. Just as Jesus did with his disciples, “ he taught them how to pray,” we must do the same. (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2008, p. 59) Prayer life is a component of our Catholic faith that should be a foremost priority. It’s a unique way to communicate with God personally or with a group. Praying is that free gift from God, which can bond and inspire others with few words. After reading this assignment, the first thing I thought of was an experience with prayer, but since prayer is such a considerable part of being a Catholic, I had a difficult time settling on a single prayerful experience, so I prayed upon it and there it was. For me, the simple idea of praying for others and including the faith community, can be seen in my experience at a local diocesan

“FLY IT LIKE A MUSTANG!” he shouted, so I shoved the stick all the way over and a view of the earth completely filled my right window as we came around. Oh man!