Simple question, I'll make it a poll although I doubt Christians will approach it or this question legitimately.

The premise is easy, you believe in god because your parents believed in god. If you believe in something else, it's probably the same story, your parents believe it. I'm sure there are outliers, but I have a feeling a vast majority of the religious are of the same religion of their parents. Probably, because you believe what you're parents say, not something you thought about on your own and decided out of the thousands of religions to choose from.

Really, if you don't believe in the same religion, odds are you believe in one that some friend of yours believes in. Either way, religion is almost always not a choice as much as a happenstance situation you fell into. That's the point I want to drive home with this simple poll. Lie if it makes you feel better, I don't think the poll will change my opinion on these things unless people actually post their stories along with their vote.

Oddly enough, I think (based on the how did you lose your religion thread) that the atheists here hold this weird belief that every christian apologist here was raised in a fundamentalist household, because... they themselves were raised in fundamentalist households! Just because your parents and their dead churches are major factors why you don't believe in God, does not neccesitate that the fervent apologists here are guys like you who just jumped back into the nest.

My parents are not at all related to why I don't believe in god. Going to church, reading the bible, that's why I don't believe in god. I would venture to say I know more than the majority of Christians about their religion, probably not yourself, but most. Being paid 5 bucks a chapter will do that to a person. Either way, my parents were the slackest religious people out there.

In my life, I've only known Christians who were Christian because their parents are Christian. Maybe I've just got a small sample bias or something. But that's how my experience has been.

You didn't address his question.

For what it's worth, I know a number of atheists and I've never heard a single one who would describe his family as fundamentalists.

Re: his question - his point stands. I believe stats have been posted here before. The vast majority of religious people share the religious beliefs of their families religious community. My anecdotal. Experience matches these results.

Most people think they're so lucky to have the right religion which luckily just happens to be the one they were raised in.

More bad assumptions.

Ill make one of my own. There are vary few fundamentalists who post here. At least what i would consider fundamentalists. Most seem like non denominational more to the liberal side of things.

To the person who voted no- what religion are you and what are your parents?

Lol at there being 4 votes already, with like 3 active theist posters on RGT. You guys are too much.

I didn't assume anything. I just read this thread.

Let me give you some quotes off of the first page. If I went through the whole thread, I would have an army of quotations.

That's three of out of the first four testimonies.

I bet i could find more Catholics on the first page (100 posts per page for the win).

Edit: Ok just skimmed the thread and only found one more raised under fundamentalists.

I grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist household, bought into Christianity for a long time too. I wouldn't use the word "fundamentalist" when describing my family, but they do believe in many things I currently do not--creationism (some are young earth creationists, others believe in evolution guided by god), an afterlife that they can reliably predict based on some old scriptures, and that asking an omnipotent god to intercede in the petty affairs of the common man makes any sense at all.

I would have to say that if a parent really focuses on the philosophy and ideas of Jesus, it's not a terrible place to start as far as a parenting plan for your kids to have a foundation for morals and ethics.

Unfortunately the religion Christianity is pretty far from what Christ actually preached and talked about.

I am the sole 'yes' vote at the moment. Here's part of a post I made in another thread several months ago. I think it addresses the question here and saves me from having to think of how to word a response:

I believe there is a God that created all. To go from there to the Jewish God, it was simply my upbringing. But it's not so bad -- since I believe in a God, I need a way to understand Him. Judaism provides an avenue for this. It may be wrong, but it still provides me some way to understand and deal with what I believe.

Sage advice for Christian parents right there. Fundamentalism ftw!

Completely reasonable and respectable approach to religion. Kudos.

I don't know about the fundamentalist thing, but the religion of one's parents is a huge predictor of one's religion later in life. So, it's not a bad assumption that a Christian was raised in a Christian household.

No. My biological father is still an atheist and my mother never spoke about "G-d".

In many situations, it's best to believe what your parents say; however, after maturing, it's normal to think for oneself or at least consult expert opinion.

Obviously, it's very likely someone who believes in some religion will have at least one friend that believes in the "same religion", but in my case, I don't think the religion I believe in ( encapsulated by 1) the Shema and 2) that Yeshua HaMashiach is the Incarnate Logos and the Unique B'nai Elohim; close to but not exactly Messianic Judaism ) corresponds to the "same religion" of any of my friends.

The point he's making is that the vast majority of dogmatic peoples arrived at their religion through their environment. If your parents are Christian, there's a damn good chance you'll be Christian, etc. etc. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but there's something to be said in the fact that specific religions are(were) directly influenced by surrounding cultures.