Are your religious views based on where you were born and who your parents are?

Everything we think is based on the people around us and where we are in this world. Sorry if you want to think otherwise. Even if I was (which I wasn't) raised catholic and I decided to become atheist (which I'm not) then that decision would still be based on finding out that I didn't like being catholic and that I disagreed with their views. Your opinions didn't come from your head they're just someone else's ideas that you prefer.

My parents are Muslims.

I am still searching what 'spirituality' means to me, on the other hand, I do believe in God(its just not the same God people "imagine"). Yeah, I know religious discussions are complicated, personal and hard to delve into without ending in an argument.

Feel free to chat with me if you wanna talk more about this.

My mom was raised in a church her whole life

Raised catholic. Came to US and mother tried Christian. Mother is now trying Jehova's Witnesses. Believe none of it, but still gotta go along with it. Whatever. They're my own, shaped NOT by my parents.

My parents are Roman Catholic. I'm a Pagan.

All those who answered no,don't know the nature,nurture rule!Or,"they where raised by a pack of wolves!"LOL

My real mom (died) was a devout Lutheran... My step-mom was a strong Methodist.

My ex-wife was a devout Catholic.

From all of that - - I learned that religions are pretty much bogus.

Somewhat, I grew up with an atheist father and a Catholic mother so there was some semblance of choice to it, my sister ended up being very new age spiritual whereas I took the more traditional Catholic route. My parents both advocated their views on us and in the end I made my choice about which is the truth.

My parents believe in God, heaven, hell, etc. Most of the people I know believe in 6-day creationism and stuff like that.

I, on the other hand, have gotten to the point where I really don't care much about religion. I believe in a God and Jesus, but I don't believe in all this heaven/hell nonsense. Or that the Earth is under 6,000 years old.

I grew up in a Lutheran household, going to Sunday school and ultimately regular church most Sundays with my family and never regretted it. However, I left for college and began to go to an interfaith protestant service on campus led by Methodists which I also liked very much. Over time however, and perhaps due to the fact that I live most of the time in Moscow I have been doing research into Russian Orthodoxy which I feel really close to at this point and am considering converting. Ultimately I feel that all Christians in all branches are part of the same family due to the fact that the most basic and important parts of faith we all have in common. I don't have problems attending services in different branches. I just feel that my place might be in the orthodox church at this point.

My parents introduced me to religion, but over time , my own life experiences and research have allowed me to grow and explore further.

My parents let me pick my own religion.

I don't think so. I am an atheist who was raised by Catholic parents. I'm not sure if growing up in the north east had anything to do with it. Probably not.

I think that certainly has a lot to do with it, but as you age you have to examine your life and ask, "Am I really living up to the standards of my religion?" I think none, or very few can say yes. That is why I choose to be Christian, it is really not a religion. It is a belief in something greater than yourself that sets you free from religion. Becasue if I am honest with myself I am a pretty poor example of a righteous person.

Not at all =D I believe in whatever I want to

As a kid they were and then as I got older I have my own views

For the first 16 years of my life my parents and location had everything to do with my religious beliefs

On my life experiences

I was born in an area which is predominantly Baptist and Catholic, both of my parents are Christians... I am not religious and I do not believe that the word of the Bible is completely true.

I think most are born into a faith.

It's just what I beleve and my sister beleves the same. It's just how we see the world

Mine are based on what I have studied and learned and what I feel in my heart

I was born with a Christian mother and an agnostic father in a basically Christian community. I am Agnostic like my father was. I would say though that my religious views are the result of discussion and in the end coming to the conclusion that the religions all have one thing on common and that is that they need to pull the wool over your eyes to make you blindly believe in concepts that have no foundation in reality.

No.

To a point, I was raised in in area where a lot of Dutch immigrants settled, they came from the Dutch Reformed Church, it became The Christian Reformed Church. It is heavily Bible based. Most Denominations came from different countries who followed different reformers. that is why there are so many different protestant denominations. others just sprang up in different parts of the country.

almost my whole family believes in "God", my father doesn't care though.... where I live has nothing to do with it either
I'm an atheist

its base on everything i have seen and came to a conclusion

I live the us and my parents are Christian by they never forced me into it and I always considered yself atheist unti I became an Asatruar as it fits my beleifs a little better.

I'm Christian. My entire family are atheist and I was an atheist for the first 26 years of my life. I also live in New Zealand, which is a largely non-religious country. I have a few Christian friends now, but didn't when I was an atheist, for no reason other than the fact that I've met most of my friends through work, and my career seems to attract more atheists. At age 26 I began to believe in some form of afterlife, due to some research I was doing for a story, and at 27 I became a Christian.

Good story! I am happy you came to believe!

:-)

:) Really happy to hear it ! :)

Thanks :-)

Of course they are. If you're never exposed to a religion and you've got another one forcefed down your throat by your family, your friends, your friends families, and the community, well, peer pressure is pretty damn powerful.

The influence was there, but my adult views are mine and very different than my parents.

I am a Christian,Jesus is my savior

raised christian, but through philisophical research I whent from fundamintalist christian to spiritual but not religious and now Im a Deist and doubt I will ever move from that

I'm an atheist. Always have been, always will be.
My parents are christians.... church most weekends ones. My grandparents who are local are strictly religious..... church all the time, prayer before meals, etc. Most of my relatives are as well. Around here, where it's kind of a rural area, most are religious.
I just chose not to believe in man-made stories, and stick to science. Even as a child I thought that a supernatural being was a bit ridiculous and couldn't understand why so many adults actually believed it.

My religious views are very different now from what my parents believe so I wouldn't say they are determined by how I was raised.