Religious survey

Sweetheart

New member
Someone recently said to me that he thought all poly people were pagans or athiests.

Is he right?

Personally, I am neither pagan nor atheist. My origins are in Christianity, but I am now more of a Buddhist/New Age/Philosopher. My wife also grew up as a Christian, and flirted with paganism & wicca before settling into a kind of New Age thing.

What about you?
 
I'm Roman Catholic...not practicing but oddly protective of an establishment that I don't participate in. Definitely Christian but accepting of many views and dabble in other beliefs. I'm not poly but I think it stands to reason that people with different approaches to loving and bonding would not embrace traditionally monogamous systems of religion.

I think most of the people in my local poly community are either pagan/atheist or just non-religeous. As a sidenote, a lot are also techy, rpg game players as well.
 
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I'm not sure I agree with the pagan/atheist part, but I would suspect that many/most poly folk are not actively Christian. A practicing Christian would, by definition, be against poly in any form as a sin against God and man.

Personally I grew up Catholic/Baptist (yeah, I know) but I don't really believe in the Christian God/Trinity. I am not entirely sure I believe in any god or gods for that matter. I think there are things out there that are "more" than we are as humans ... but whether or not it's something divine is open to interpretation, I think.
 
I'm not sure I agree with the pagan/atheist part, but I would suspect that many/most poly folk are not actively Christian. A practicing Christian would, by definition, be against poly in any form as a sin against God and man.

I guess that depends on how you define "actively/practising Christian", if you're defining it as church-going Christians, I'd be inclined to agree... but most of the poly folk that I've known that identified as Christian weren't the conventional church-going type.

I do think that it's probably more typical to find poly folk who are pagan or atheist... but I wouldn't say that all are.

Personally, I identify as a spiritual agnostic with a history with Christianity.
 
I was baptized Catholic and have a very Catholic extended family, but my immediate family is mostly agnostic or atheist. I am a Unitarian Universalist and very active in the UU church. My personal theology would best be described as an atheistic agnostic. And I define the word agnostic not as being unsure about whether there is a god, but as the belief that humans cannot fully comprehend the ultimate nature of reality.
 
I guess that depends on how you define "actively/practising Christian", if you're defining it as church-going Christians, I'd be inclined to agree
Well yes .. because if you're a practicing Christian, the Bible says you must gather in fellowship. :) So isn't an actively practicing Christian one who goes to a church by definition?
 
However, the Christian bible technically doesn't restrict polyamorous relationships either, which is why there are some sects of Christianity that still practice it. And different Christians have different definitions for fellowship, which aren't always synonymous with church.
 
However, the Christian bible technically doesn't restrict polyamorous relationships either, which is why there are some sects of Christianity that still practice it. And different Christians have different definitions for fellowship, which aren't always synonymous with church.
True and true. :)
 
Well yes .. because if you're a practicing Christian, the Bible says you must gather in fellowship. :) So isn't an actively practicing Christian one who goes to a church by definition?

But what does "gathering in fellowship" mean? Does "gathering in fellowship" necessarily imply that you have to go down to your local white building with a steeple and sit in pews and sing some songs and listen to some guy talk for an hour? I don't think it necessarily does. "Gathering in fellowship" is a lot more fluid than that. It could include just sitting down once a week and gathering with similar believing people in your living room and having a discussion and a check-in about life... or inviting people over to have a meal.

I know a lot of Christians (poly and not...) who don't do institutionalized church anymore because they feel that what their local churches are teaching isn't Christian.
 
Was raised roman catholic....

Now I am a scientist and I approach everything under this umbrella.

I don't Identify with paganism, etc. Or atheism.

I think I am spiritual agnostic.
 
Well yes .. because if you're a practicing Christian, the Bible says you must gather in fellowship. :) So isn't an actively practicing Christian one who goes to a church by definition?


One of my pet peeves: "The Bible says."

The Bible says a lot of things.

Where was it said, and by whom, and is it contradicted elsewhere, and what does that (gather in fellowship) mean? Are solitary hermit monks not Xtian b/c of that one line?

I searched "fellowship" in the RSV version here and didnt come up with any demands for it to be a True Christian TM.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=fellowship&t=RSV&sf=5
 
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I'm an atheist for lack of a better term. I've heard someone toss out pantheism before, but that just strikes me as off.

I can see why some people would think that poly folks are pagan though. From the internet, it appears as if most people who are poly are also interested in wicca and other forms of spiritualism/paganism. Check out the Meetup groups and some of the more popular poly writings and you'll see how frequently that connection is true.

In my circle of friends, many of whom are also poly, I find atheism to be the most common.

The internet is a lousy way to make extrapolations about things though. Not all LSD users are Buddhists and Pagans, but browsing the net for people's experiences might tend one to believe it's true.
 
I sometimes joke that I am a born again atheist. (I think we are born with no beliefs and are taught religious beliefs.) I was Christian for most of my youth and lost my beliefs around age 13. Most of the polyamorous people I know are atheist/agnostic, pagan, liberal Christian or Buddhist.

I sometimes lump atheists and agnostics together since they are two different statements. Atheist just mean "not a theist" or someone who is not a believer. Agnostic is just a statement of what can be known. So someone can be a gnostic atheist (knows there are no gods) or an agnostic theist (believes in a god, but can't prove it 100%). Most atheists/agnostics I know are agnostic atheists. (Can't prove 100% that there are no gods, but see no reason to believe in one.) I think agnostic just sounds less controversial, so people pick that as a label over atheist.

I think a Christian can be poly, but I don't think you will find many conservatives ones. I think it depends on how much focus is given to the different parts of the Bible. Focusing more on the love and less on the Old testament rules, and I think you can have Christianity be very compatible with polyamory.
 
I'm still trying to decide where exactly I fit in religious wise, so far I seem to have a hodge podge of ideaologies and beliefs that work for me, some wiccan, some pagan, some buddhist, some from here, a few from there, its very hard to fit myself in any one 'box'

basically i beleive in a higher power, as to what or whom it/he/she/they is/are I have no idea, I beleive in Karma, I beleive in the power of the moon, I beleive in reincarnation, I beleive in some place souls may go when seperated form the body, tho how long they are there or what kind of place it is I am extremely unsure and confused about, I beleive in affirmations, I practice things like using stones and candles to make an environment happy, I beleive in ghosts and spirits, I'm not sure I beleive in a heaven and hell as much as simply an in between place for souls that are between bodies, religion and spirituality get very mixed up and confusing for me, so, no idea where I fit really :(
 
What a great christmas subject!

My sort non-religion is complicated, but more and more simple really all the time as I peel away layers of what I was taught as a child (what was stuffed down my throat) and decide on a more terrestrial level what values are good for me.

I was raised immersed in the world of born-again christians. I was very active in my church as a child, filled with the holy ghost, and had many very emotional experiences related to god, but then again, god was the fabric of my family's connection and love. I respect that, and often wonder what it all means.

As I got to be an adolescent, and have a look at the world a little, I felt the pain of judgment from my church, and realized some of the things I was asked to do- like protest at abortion clinics- was hateful and wrong.

Partly as a result of my ultra-sheltered and myopic upbringing, I went absolutely wild around 15.

These days I am finally comfortable being around my christian family without misrepresenting myself in order not to be judged, and I have spoken to the family members that hurt me as a child with their intolerance and close-minded fantasy world about how they made me feel, and have forgiven them.(for the most part)

I have leveled out from goody two-shoes to hedonist to relatively self-possessed and peaceful woman.

My thoughts on a higher power- I don't have a need to know the name of god. Something I did take with me from my childhood was the feeling of having an absolutely personal relationship with a higher power, which I tend to think of more as a collective unconscious. I have lived long enough to usually be able to tell what is harmful and what is beautiful for me.

I express this through the experiences I take risks to have, my love for others, my art, and my commitment to growth. There are times when I am fully in the presence of this force, in the north woods, at my fireplace with friends, in my studio, in the ocean.

I try to stay in tune with that and drink up that feeling of connection with the divine whenever I can.
 
Curly was reared Episcopalian. She's currently an undifferentiated deist.

I was reared Nazarene (evangelical Christian). I wandered as a deist for many years before landing as Pagan. I'm a Canaanite Reconstructionist.
 
I was baptized Catholic and have a very Catholic extended family, but my immediate family is mostly agnostic or atheist. I am a Unitarian Universalist and very active in the UU church. My personal theology would best be described as an atheistic agnostic. And I define the word agnostic not as being unsure about whether there is a god, but as the belief that humans cannot fully comprehend the ultimate nature of reality.

This, except for the part about the UU church.

Oh, and this, not Roman Catholic:

http://www.pncc.org/
 
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