I was reading a great thread about atheist morality and the influence of a religion on the morality of its practitioners, and I realized it might be good to clarify who believes what. The tradition (or the lack of one) that I was raised in heavily impacted the way that I think about religions today.

Hopefully this thread will serve to get us to know one another better. And to possibly give clues on what our individual goals are in having this forum, to maybe better shape the way RGT will develop.

Name:

Childhood tradition:

Current belief system:

I visit this forum because:

Name: Drew

Childhood tradition:

My mom was a lapsed Catholic and my dad was Jewish. Basically I got some presents at Christmas and celebrated 4 nights of Hanukkah. We did very little in terms of religion. My parents never took me to a church or temple service, I didn't have a Bar Mitzvah, wasn't confirmed or anything. Freshman year in college I took a class on Eastern Religions, then one on Comparative Religions. A religion degree was only 10 classes so I decided to double major in religion and math. Last month I went to a church service for one of my classes, and it wasn't nearly as horrible as The Simpsons made it out to be.

Current belief system:

I consider myself agnostic. I lived in a Buddhist monastery for a month over the summer and I still meditate from time to time. I also admire their doctrine on the creation of the world. But I don't consider myself a Buddhist, and I don't practice. I'm also casual about my beliefs; I don't really talk about them unless someone asks.

I visit this forum because:

In this forum, I feel like I can contribute content about Eastern traditions and comparative theory. I think I got into religious studies because I thought there was a single, universal human desire that religion satisfied. Now I'm not sure. I like interacting with religious people and hearing what their beliefs are. Finally, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding based in religious interaction. Through reading posts and posting, I hope to understand other traditions better.

I expect to be an outlier here in a few ways, but hopefully that won't discourage anyone from posting.

Name: RoundGuy, duh?

Childhood tradition: Calvinism

Current belief system: Agnostic, Deist, Humanist w/ Christian tendancies.

I visit this forum because: I play poker, and seeking spriritual truth is a pleasant and worthwhile diversion

Name: Malcolm X

Childhood tradition: Christianity

Current belief system: Agnostic/Atheist

I visit this forum because: I like reading some of the ridiculous arguments theists put forward when they clearly don't have a clue what they are talking about. I enjoy mixing religion and science but there doesn't seem to be much off that here unfortunately.

Childhood tradition: Atheist

Current belief system: Theist (heretical christian at best by US standards, christian by Australian)

I visit this forum because: I used to post in SMP. To me, debating the logical consequences of religious beliefs is the only valid way to test them.

Name: madnak
Childhood tradition: Sikh.
Current belief system: Shinto.
I visit this forum because: I hope to someday learn who the girl in Mayo's avatar is.

don't you have any respect for your own privacy? stop using your real name for your 2p2 account.

Name: Luke

Childhood tradition: Was taken to church by my parents until I was ~16 years old. Went to church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday. (met a lot of my ex-girlfriends there, so that's a plus)

Current belief system: Atheist.

I visit this forum because: It's extremely entertaining.

in before "atheism is not a belief system"

Childhood tradition: My Parents

Current belief system: LDS

I visit this forum because: I keep forgetting all the time I have previously wasted.

Childhood tradition: i was raised pentecostal. my grandfather and father are both pentecostal.

Current belief system: it doesn't bother me to be called a christian, but what i believe is in salvation in the new covenant. i don't go to church because i haven't found one where i totally agreed with those that are teaching in it.

I visit this forum because: it please me to discuss this subject with others