What would it take for you to switch to a different religion?

[DetlefK]

You have your faith.

What kind of event, what kind of argument, would it take that would make you abandon your current faith and adopt a new faith?

What would it take to convince you that that other faith is "better" than your faith?




Me?
I used to be Catholic. When a teacher tried to explain to us that worshipping God makes you a better Christian than merely helping others (as Jesus did!), that's when it began to dawn on me that something is wrong with Christianity.

[rzemanfl]

1. Having one, for starters. n/t

[Cartoonist]

2. A beautiful and rich woman

Nothing less.

[DetlefK]

4. "Hey there, sugar. Wanna live a life of celibacy and poverty?"

[In_The_Wind]

3. I have an open mind but I don't think it's possible.

Forty years ago I began a solitary pathway of do no harm.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. How much of a switch? I grew up as a Lutheran, but...

while I went through a number of changes, I can't imagine completely leaving the Christian tradition.

After years of happy non-belief, I joined a Quaker meeting for the spiritual light without dogma. I later joined a UU church for the same reason.

I suppose I could have become an Ethical Culturist, or followed some Eastern religion, but the point is to get away from dogma, not learn an entirely new perspective. I spent years in the Christian tradition, so why make a radical change if I can get what I want within it?

I do know some who have made such changes for various reasons, and they are comfortable with their choices.

[ollie10]

6. One event would be getting married

Maybe you are a Methodist and marry a Lutheran. The churches are more similar than different, so you decide to go to the Lutheran church.

Or maybe you move. And you are a Lutheran and you don't find the Lutheran churches in your new area to be a good fit, so you seek out alternatives and find a Catholic church with a better fit. Again the churches aren't that different.

In my experience, the biggest difference between churches is the pastor/priest/minister. I have been a member of several different churches, of different denominations. Also, I am a musician so I have contributed to music for many more churches than I have attended. There are more similarities than differences in the basic structure....what makes the biggest difference is the pastor.

Or it could be a negative experience. I have been a member of 2 UU churches and I like their ideas. However, when one was finding a new leader, they rejected her because her partner they thought was trans-gender. They said they believed all are welcome, but the dominant message was "not in my back yard!". Oh, and others didn't like it that she was overweight. So I quit going, and that was sad for me because I would have loved it if they were not so hypocritical and practiced what they preached. The other UU church was not that way, but the one where I live now....oh well.

[Mariana]

14. Does picking another flavor of Christianity really count

as switching to a different religion?

[TNLib]

7. I use to be an agnostic/aithiest

When my late husband passed away my daughter, who was 9 at the time, asked to start attending church. I found a progressive episcopal church and we started attending. My daughter and I found peace and grace through our new found Christian faith during a very dark time in our lives.

I don't think I'll ever give that up.

[samnsara]

8. well it was religion that made me atheist....

[guillaumeb]

9. An interesting question. Recommended.

My faith has evolved over the years.

[Igel]

10. There's a serious claim Jesus "merely helped others"?

And didn't worship God?

That would be the Jeffersonian kind of New Testament narrative, where first you decide what is true and dispose of everything else--then add whatever's not there as "tradition" or "inspiration". You'd get to the same place without the first step, of course, but you'd have to come up with your own name and build the brand.

[DetlefK]

12. You misunderstood.

If you have
* a hypothetical person who goes to church but doesn't help others
* a hypothetical person who helps others but doesn't go to church

Then the church-goer is supposedly the better person/Christian.

[MineralMan]

11. As a youngster, I bought into Christianity.

When I became an adult, I reasoned as an adult, and put away childish beliefs. It was similar to understanding that Santa Claus was a fictional character at age five.

Reason was all I needed.

[struggle4progress]

13. For me, Christianity is a foundational teaching, somewhat along the following lines:

We have all been and continue to be badly deluded about what is "real." What is really "real" is "love" (in the sense of agape); and we ourselves only become "real" in our efforts to live lives that recognize agape as the "source of everything for us." This is not just a matter of "feelings" nor is it merely a question of "ethics." Rather it is a choice, which immediately requires us to struggle constantly with our own inevitable hypocritical failures to live according to this principle that we say should govern all our lives. Faith is involved, because the notion is foundational: whatever is "proved" must be proved from something else; we cannot successfully follow the infinite regression to any logical certainty; and our lives are finite; so we must somewhere make choices on the basis of our incomplete understanding

If you convinced me you might have a better approach, I'd consider it, but this view lights a path rather well

[Major Nikon]

15. Two clif bars and a 4 pack of La Fin Du Monde

Must be blueberry clif bars.

If you throw in a bottle of Paddy I’ll even sign my soul over.

[NeoGreen]

16. Score! (nt)