why you joined or belong to your church(religion)?

Hi friend, I don't care for religion. I have no religion, and I don't go to church. I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic faith; however, when I studied this religion in depth, I felt I could not agree with it, and therefore, it was not for me. I call myself an agnostic Pagan now, and I am quite happy about it. Cheers and happy Mylotting

hey mobhomeir =) i am born n raised as a moslem, but thats not just it. i feel lucky for that, n not regret it at all, coz i believe my parents lead me to the right one for my life. n i believe in Islam as the best religion for me. its the parent's duty to teach us a religion since we're a little, n when we're mature enough to decide the rest is our decision. but for me, i will stick to Islam =) n im proud of it tho i was just born n raised with this religion.

I was born and raised as a Christian, specifically Baptist. I was baptized in the Baptist Church when I was 9 - by choice. I remember the preacher thinking I might not be ready and wanting to talk to me and ask me questions about why I felt I was called at that service to come forward. Apparently after talking with me, he felt I was sincere, and I was baptized not long after. More recently, I have come away from organized religion; in the small churches, I felt eyes on me all the time, judging me, and that, to me, was not what God had in mind for a place of worship. I have found a church or two that I do enjoy, where I don't feel judged, and I feel that anyone wanting to attend a service would be welcome, regardless of age, appearance, gender, orientation, etc - which is what I believe God intended. In many cases, I don't agree with a specific church's views on God or the Bible, or with the way they go about teaching God's word. For me, God is love; I think many churches have lost sight of this, and instead focus solely on the scary aspects of the Bible. I will not deny that God can be angry, or that He may punish a sinner in some way or another; however, He never stops loving us, and many churches don't stress that enough. However, in walking away from the church, I did not turn my back on God. I turned my back on those who I felt were using God as a means to their own ends - and that is not to say that all churches or people who attend churches are like this! Just that I have seen it many times. To make a long story short, I still consider myself a Christian, but I have reached this path on my own, and not because of how I was raised, but because of years of inner-self exploration.