The "Religious Free Agent" Tour

[webmonarch]

So, this is a serious plan, and I'm looking for suggestions.

I'm a religious free-agent. I was raised by a Protestant Father, Catholic Mother, but they both had their ups and downs with each of their faiths. I doubt I would be sold on any particular religious espoused by my parents anyway.

What I want to do is have a "tour" of religions. I contemplate something along the line of learning about a particular religion's teachings, background, etc. during the week, and then attending the respective service at the end of the week.

I plan to do this in a "block," Religion #1 in Week One, Religion #2 in Week Two, etc.

So, the questions are as follows:

1. What religions should I schedule? Right now, I am contemplating Muslim, Jewish, Scientology, Unitarian, Catholic, Mormon, Atheism, and various other flavors of Christianity? I could use some guidance on this list.

2. Where are some good places to get "baseline" information on each of these religions? Any resources that are relatively objective and informative are preferred over others.

3. Anything else? Is there something obvious I am missing?

I'll let a few responses flow, and I'll check back in with some additional thoughts.

Thanks!

[EYEWHITES]

depends what your looking for i guess. Im christian, believe the choice i made was the correct one, so im a little biased.
On a purely personel level i would say try a black pentacostal church, and the mormon church, usually the nicest people i have met. nothing to do with beliefes

[BigBadBabar]

are you doing this for kicks, or because you want to choose a religion? i'm not sure i'd classify scientology or atheism as religions really [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[LionelHutz00]

LDS FTW Holla!

[Rearden]

"3. Anything else? Is there something obvious I am missing?"

Logic

Including Atheism as a religion was probably one of the larger errors you could have made in logic. Besides, what do you plan on attending to count as a church service that weekend? A Dawkins lecture? Read some Ayn Rand in a coffee shop?

I'm also kind of shocked by your attitude toward this. If right now you aren't serious about having a religious or philosophical guide thats just fine. Realize there is no one pushing you to do so and you in fact do not have to make a choice with respect to this issue (which I think would be preferable than making a choice after a week). I think that would be preferable to maintain the status quo of you not being serious on this issue as opposed to making a significant personal decision based on a mere sampling. Why not date a chick for a week and then marry her? etc. under your logic that would make sense. Youre talking about issues of logic, faith, tradition, etc that play into peoples lives and give them different answers to the big questions of being human. Most people grapple with the finer points of their faith or nonfaith for a significant part of their life... trying to evaluate a single belief system in a week is pretty dumb.

There are beautiful and significant aspects to many of the faiths you can list. To suggest that you can absorb those aspects in a single week is retarded. If you planned on doing this to expose yourself to other cultures and ways of thinking I would tell you to go for it... I think more people should try such a thing. But if after a week of exposure to the Mormon faith you become "sold" on Mormonism and end your time as a "free-agent" I think you only expose severe faults in your plan and insult actual members of whatever religious denomination you choose to "sign" with.

Oh, and discounting certain Christian branches because your parents had ups and downs... wow... They had issues with their faith and questioned their beliefs... orly? no wai! that never happens to anyone and youre corrct... its enough to discount a whole faith while somehow including scientology (Xenu for the win!). Intelligent thoughtful people have throughout history devoted their lives to understand and grappling with issues you plan on surveying in a week... IMO you wont get nearly the depth you need to make a decision... and this whole concept is an insult of sorts to individuals who think out their decision and who have made choices with respect to faith.

Cliff Notes:

If youre not serious about the God or religion question thats fine. But, I think you make a mockery of the whole question by trying to find answers in religions in a single week is overall one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Take a step back and think about what youre saying.... What religions do you leave out? Are you really sure you can understand a single religion in a week... I suggest that even if you devoted 40 hours each week to the religion for that week you would still not understand it as fully as the devote members of that faith. More importantly though in just a week you dont learn how such a faith would impact your life, attitudes, relationships, your handling of loss, etc.

Good Luck... if you work this out in just a few months write a book on it... there would be thousands of jealous philo/theo students

[amplify]

[ QUOTE ]
Muslim, Jewish, Scientology, Unitarian, Catholic, Mormon, Atheism

[/ QUOTE ]

Tao, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Bahá'í, Shaker, Quaker, Rastafarian, Wicca, Confucianism, Jain, Druidism, Voodoo, Gnosticism, Native American Beliefs, Zoroastrianism, Satanism, Pentecostal.

That should get you started. Just studying the various Christian denominations is teh boring.

[illeagle]

Though they really aren't religions, I suggest learning about Taoism and shamanism.

[pokergrader]

It is much more interesting to learn about religions and their histories than it is to belong to them.

[Bicycles_Biatch]

I would definately spend more than one week... definately more like one month per each major religion / train of thought.

I would spend two weeks at one church and then two weeks at a different church of the same faith. Having grown up protestant... it's amazing how different preacher A vs preacher B and change the vibe of an entire faith.

I know it sounds stupid, but everytime I get into a new hobbie like finding out about history or playing pool... I always buy one of the ridiculous yellow books "_____ for dummies". It's a good baseline of information, good reference source, and will usually direct you to some expanded sources of reading / studies.

[firstyearclay]

Pick a superstition and go with it!