Hey all. One thing I like about this forum is how incredibly diverse the religious opinions/beliefs are here. I’m curious to know how you would describe your religious journey, or how you came to believe the things you do now? What do you believe and why? Have your beliefs changed often, or stayed pretty stable?
I’ll go first. I think I mentioned this somewhere else on the forums, but I was raised irreligious. I’ve always had a keen interest in the supernatural, though, from a very young age. I was obsessed with ghosts as a child, dabbled in Wicca as a preteen, and created my own religion at 12 (which is a source of eternal embarrassment haha). In my teens I become convinced of monotheism, and I eventually converted to Christianity and was baptized in my early twenties. I was generic Protestant at first, then Anglo-Catholic, and then intensely Catholic. I should note that I can’t properly call myself an ex-Catholic because I was never officially received into the Church.
However, while I was waiting to do so, I prayed the rosary every day (I was even part of the Confraternity), went to mass diligently, read the saints and had a fervent devotion to them, prayed chaplets galore, believed the Church had the fullness of salvation, was the one and only church of Jesus Christ, etc. etc. My entire social circle was Catholic, as was my ex-fiancé. So I feel comfortable calling myself an “ex believer in Catholicism”. I ended up having a mental breakdown due to scrupulosity and dropped out of RCIA. I respect Catholicism, but traditional Catholicism definitely gave me religious trauma (no disrespect to any Catholics here!). Anyways, since then, I’ve been on the search for a new faith. Beyond the older Abrahamic religions, I’ve tried Baha’i, Eckankar, Tenrikyo. All are interesting, but none seem like the truth I’m looking for.
I’d love to hear about your journey!
Visit thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20747/