I have never had serious thoughts about religion till now.

I am a little confused if I should ever take it seriously - i like the serenity religious institutions provide - the artwork - the quiet comfort - but dislike the brainwashing and scams.

Would love to know how the community got started with this.

  • ladybugs@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    OK, so Lemmy (or at least this corner of it) skews pretty hard toward atheism. That doesn’t match a typical IRL sample of people. OP, I think you should try to find some online spaces dedicated to different religions and see what people there have to say.

    As for me, I was also non-religious at 25. A close friend, on the other hand, decided to join a church singles group, mostly for the community. I think a lot of people get into a religion for the community aspect. Some religious institutions have special groups for new/questioning people or young adults, and virtually all of them have volunteering groups of some sort.

    You can also read books about different religions and see if anything resonates with you. I’ve done a little of this. It didn’t really lead my anywhere, but I’ve met people who got started that way.

    You could also explore a particular religion for the heritage aspect. If your grandma was Catholic or your family came from a historically Buddhist part of the world, you could explore that. You might not end up believing in any of it, but at least you’ll know a little more about your heritage.

    edit: also, make sure you get perspectives from people who are actually part of the religion when you’re exploring. I was raised Catholic, and it was ridiculous how many silly things the Protestants thought about us. A lot of the criticisms were outdated or straight up inaccurate, which was funny because there were plenty of current things to criticize (hello, scandals in the news?) I’m not trying to scare you away from Catholicism, most priests are normal non-abusers and it works for some people.