Public Research: Religion - What Confession Do You Belong to?

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Protestant (Lutheran), and married to Protestant (Plymouth Brethren) fellow who was raised in India, by a Scottish missionary. My siblings and I all like LotR, but my husband has shown no interest in it.

[Lalaith]

Considering the non-existance of an Agnostic option, I'll vote for the closest thing, Atheist

Ah, tgwbs, Heren did give us blundering, woolly agnostic types a category, look...(although I'm not sure I'd describe myself as 'merely' anything...!)

propose, therefore, that members who view themselves as merely secular/irreligious people or are agnostics, or adhere to theosophy, list themselves in option ‘other’ rather than in Atheism, but that is not mandatory prescription – be free in your choice.

[Lindolirian]

Having been born to a Methodist mother and a very German Lutheran father, I was brought up on the good old Sunday school, but have really found new ways to embrace my faith in the past few years. In my earlier days, they were just cool stories, but after having worked at a Christian camp and now attending a Christian college, I'm learning so much more about my faith and why I believe it. I'll admit, in my youth I believed only because my parents did: the faith of a child. And now retaining that, I can verify and confirm what I believe through what I have learned.
When I first read the Lord of the Rings, I noticed the underlying religious symbolism right away, but I didn't pay much attention until I became a member of this site and read over topics like The Trilogy and the Bible and others of that sort. As for CS Lewis's work, I think it's obvious that The Chronicles of Narnia are purposely meant to be an allegory for the Christian story and that the Lord of the Rings was merely an epic based on European myths which are tied to Christian belief. Lewis is, of course, a prominent theological writer and no one should take his allegory as his sly attempt to sneak us some religion in what we were supposed to take as a normal story. Anyone who reads Mere Chistianity would immediately recognize the similarities between it and the Chronicles. But Lord of the Rings does, undeniably, have a foundation of Christian qualities, so it is expected to appeal to a large number from that group, but as has been said previously, it also draws form many other sources, making its following rather diverse.

Amanduial- I recently returned from Ireland where I was studying it's history and politics. Your story is amazing!

[piosenniel]

Raised a Catholic in a largish hispanic barrio - back when the Mass was still traditional - in Latin . . .

Accendat in nobis Dominus ignem sui amoris, et flammam aeternae caritatis. Amen

~*~

Attended a Protestant College and then Protestant seminary for undergrad and grad studies . . .

Spirit of God, that moved of old
Upon the waters’ darkened face,
Come, when our faithless hearts are cold,
And stir them with an inward grace.

~*~

Zen Buddhist, lo these many years . . .

What did Buddha say to the hot dog vendor?

Make me one with everything.

I find that being an athiest actually made me more open to the messages in Tolkien's work. (I mean, considering that I first read the books at a very young age, before my religious affectations had developed.)

Possibly because he wasn't professing a God or a belief, but simply morals, ethics, and a whole bunch of other awesome things humans can do, with or without religion.

[Elu Ancalime]

I am a Protestant Methodist, but I am not so close-minded; I belive that the Abrahamic religions worship the same God(not intentionally promoting anything here).
And guy who be short, not all religions are 'religions of salvation' stating the struggle between good and evil. The Greek Pantheon for example, has no heaven or hell, hades is a neutral place for the dead. There is no right or wrong, because the greek gods themselves are no rolemodel. As long as you pay liabations and sacrifices to the gods, they will leave you alone.

I found a major problem with the ballot. Confusionism is not a religion, it is a teaching that was used to try and end the Warring States period. Confusous (dang, how do you spell it?) never touched on religion. When asked about that, he quickly replied with a bit of annoyance, "How can you know death, if you do know life?" Not that anyone voted it, but.....

I advise to avoid any problems or conflicts, religion should be avoided, it's an awkward topic when speaking of it directly, and others might not be comfertable with it.
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[tar-ancalime]

When I used the word nonsence, I was refering to the more spiritual aspects of the faith. All the metaphysical stuff does cannot in anyway be proved by empirical means , it is all about your faith and faith is often highly irrational.

Rune, I really think she knew exactly what you were referring to. "Nonsense," however, is an awfully loaded word for what I hope you mean to describe as "nonscientific."

While both may be expressions of the same underlying idea, "Not that I believe in any of that nonsense" has an entirely different tenor than something like "I choose not to believe in things that cannot be scientifically proven."

[The Barrow-Wight]

Let's heed Heren's advice and get back to the scheduled program. This thread does not need to turn into a back and forth debate about religion or a quibbling over semantics.

[Firefoot]

Rune, that is how I figured you meant it, and I will refer you to tar-a's post above. "Nonsense" is an extremely loaded word. But I won't pursue it further here.

So for something a little more... pertinent. As I said earlier, I am a Lutheran, as are my parents and my grandparents and my great-grandparents (you get the picture). I can echo Lindo's statement:

I'll admit, in my youth I believed only because my parents did: the faith of a child. And now retaining that, I can verify and confirm what I believe through what I have learned.

I love being active in my church, and my faith is definitely part of who I am.

However, that didn't really have much to do with LotR when I read it. In origin, it was another book to read, albeit one I was very excited to read after having read the Hobbit. It was only later that I started drawing out some of the ideas and concepts as they relate to Christianity. What LotR did was bring some resonance to concepts and ideas, give them shape. The two that spring most readily to mind are stewardship, especially as represented by Denethor, and the idea of estel vs. amdir (although I still have yet to read that in context). In the same way, my beliefs have brought richness to my readings of LotR.

[Aiwendil]

I hesitated for quite a while over whether to vote "atheist" or "other". I'm probably what most people would call an "atheist", or perhaps a "secular humanist". If I had to pick a term to describe myself, it would either be "rationalist" or simply "non-religious". I favour the formation of opinions based only on reason and empirical evidence. Inasmuch as "atheist" really means "a-theist", "not a theist", it adequately describes me. In fact, one might go so far as to say that I'm an "antitheist" - I am not only not religious; I am opposed to religion as an institution (though of course I'm tolerant of those who practice religion, just as I'm (I hope) tolerant of all those who have different opinions). My hesitation in voting "atheist" arises because, just as I do not blindly believe that there is a God, I do not blindly believe that there is not.

In terms of culture, I'm half Protestant and half Jewish. I suspect that something of the ethos of each of those religions has worked its way into my subconscious. When I was very young I believed in a God, though I never really believed in any of the more particular details of Judeo-Christian theology. Even now, I retain some hope (childish as it sometimes seems to me) that there is a God.

[Child of the 7th Age]

What an interesting melange! (That was directed at the group as a whole, and not one particular poster..... .)

Aman and Formendacil,

Regarding Jews, Formendacil has it basically right. The three main divisions are Orthodox on the right, Reform on the left, and Conservative in the middle. There are other groups like Humanists and Reconstructionist but these are much smaller, and many who are Jewish simply consider themselves "secular". The main religious splits have to do with different views on Jewish law, the Torah, and observence. It's not unusual to go back and forth between these groups from one generation to the next, or even from one year to the next. For example, we once lived in a city where there was only a Reform synagogue so that was where we went.

Concerning Hassidic Jews...this has to do with a split within Orthodoxy. This is perhaps oversimplistic, but the modern orthodox wholeheartedly believe in a secular education and being involved in the modern world. The group to the right of this (sometimes called black hats because of their style of dress) tend to segregate themselves from the secular world a bit more. The Hassidic fall in the latter group (along with many other subgroups) although they definitely use modern technology to reach out to other Jews to a degree that's unusual.

I'm not sure if this counts as an answer to Heren's question about cross cultural appeal and Tolkien, but here goes. My daughter is Hispanic with a definite Latino identity so technically our family is "cross-cultural". She loves LotR and has her room liberally splashed with pictures from the movie (particularly Orlando!). Interestingly, when we read FotR together some years ago, she immediately latched on to the description of Harfoot Hobbits as "nut brown" and wanted to know why PJ hadn't shown that in his movie. Smart gal!