“I am not sure if God exists or not. These things cannot be proven and will always be a matter of faith, whether or not I believe in a higher power. I used to. But, I lost my faith in a god, because to me, it did not make sense in light of the fact […]

“I grew up in a Christian household, so pretty much from day 1 I understood the basics of what it meant to be a Christian. I remember “asking Jesus into my heart” every day when I was 4 years old, in case it “didn’t work” the time before. But it was not until the summer […]

As baby, her parents used marijuana to sedate her. Her father was shot during a drug deal. Her mother abandoned her and her sister. As an adult, her infant son endured heart surgery. It would be understandable if LaDonna were upset with God. “But God is good”, asserts the 24-year-old Texan. This is her extraordinary journey, guided by tragedy and faith.

“There is a situation in my life that I have yet to mention to my closest family members. I’m afraid of their reaction; I fear that it’ll crush their dreams and expectation of me.  I ask God to forgive me for not being true with my close ones
I came to Florida in 2003; I was […]

“I grew up in a Christian family and at 12, my parents divorce crushed me. I began a journey on a downward spiral and wishy-washy relationship with God culminated in an unplanned pregnancy - I was 23, and not married.
I hit a bottom emotionally and spiritually. After all of my sin and mistakes […]

“There have been major ups and downs in my life, and the only time I’ve been ‘up’ is when my relationship with God was strong. He has always picked me up when I’ve fallen; and when I was down for a long time, He allowed me to recover and come back stronger. I am where […]

I was so upset. I knew what was coming so I ran from the house fighting the emotion welling up in my chest and throat. I jumped into the car with one of my aunts and said, “Please take me with you. I can’t stay”

I do believe that gods or higher beings exist. I believe in Odin and all of the Norse deities. It is hard for those around me to accept the fact that I am a pagan. I was raised Catholic and most Catholics are against polytheistic religions. I bet people around me would think that I […]

My mother was breastfeeding me, and she was often high or drunk. She didn’t realize until it was almost too late that I had lost a lot of weight and was very ill.

My parents would want to party or do something. And if I started crying and became a nuisance, they would inhale Marijuana and cup their hands around my face and exhale the smoke until I breathed in enough to pass out. You do that long enough to a baby, instead of feeding it, and you will kill it. Not to mention, the brain damage that could cause.

“No one would think I had a belief set just by observing me. I was raised Christian, and say that I am one, but I really don’t think I am at all. I’m not agnostic and I never do organized prayer. Don’t get me wrong - there is a higher being. I […]

“I am going to be a Rabbi, and I don’t believe in G-d. I believe in Judaism, in our shared history, culture, and experience, but I don’t believe in a creator, in sins and repercussions. I believe that G-d is what binds people together, positive energy, inner morality and goodness. I want to be a Rabbi to connect the community together in a positive way, but I feel like a hypocrite[…]”

“I was not raised to believe in God; there was no mention of deities in my house. But I spoke/prayed even when very little (I had no idea of WHO in my head) and in middle school, was strongly drawn to explore religion. I felt strongly that Jesus was a psychopath, not God and Son […]

“My stepmother used to beat my sister and me and starve us. She called me stupid constantly and always made sure I knew I was worthless. She stuck my sister and me in the basement for days on end while her own kids were well fed […]”

“I think that I just have faith.”
Tien, 21/F, Boston, Pentecostal
PROFILE:
I am a devout follower of my religion
Services: at least twice a week
Congregation: yes
Heaven/Hell/Reincarnation: yes/yes/yes
Pray: every day, sometimes twice a day
One true belief: ?
Plan: yes

Is your religion the one true belief? “I would say yes, but when you classify it as a religion, then I would say no.”
“Many people know about a Jesus, but surely not the Jesus revealed through the apostles & the bible.”
“Prayer is many things, but it is mainly just conversation with Jesus about what he […]

“I know God exists. It’s not a feeling, it’s a knowledge. He instantly healed my body more than once. He healed my son’s heart condition; the doctors were amazed. So I know God.
As a child, I believed in God at the time He healed me of a horrible disease, but I didn’t know God. […]

“At 16, I had the choice to work or go to church.  I chose work because it seemed that, in my church, no one understood what they were saying or believing in.  That turned me off from organized religion.
I lean towards atheism, yet I tend to think about Karma and reincarnation.  I believe science has […]

“Everything has to have a start; if not a start, a reason or source to exist. Something cannot come out of nothing.”
bullcallspread, 22/M, Saint Paul, apathetic

PROFILE:
I have mixed feelings on my religion/spiritual path; there is much I have yet to reconcile.
Services: Easter, Christmas, weddings
Congregation: yes
Heaven/Hell/Reincarnation: Yes
Pray: often
One true belief: no
Plan: yes

Surprising aspect of your beliefs? “I don’t bother to tell most people I don’t believe in God; it does not go over well in Texas.
I’m a scientist. Science requires empirical proof. Belief in a god requires faith  (”life is too complex for there not to be a creator”). With my current understanding of the universe, […]

“I do not really believe God exists, but I will not say for sure one way or the other. I really don’t care. Either way, it would not effect how I go about living life.
In my teen years, I was forced to go to see a famous religious speaker. I knew then that religion […]

One true belief?  “At its core, yes…but I am sure I have some things wrong. I believe that my faith itself is a gift from God.  I know God exists everyday when I look at creation and they way He knit us together.
Reading the bible and learning what Jesus was about changed my view of […]

“A ‘creative force’ must certainly exist, and I base that on the fact that I am conscious of my physical surroundings. I have prophetic dreams that make my life interesting. And why wouldn’t ‘God’ make this playground for us to enjoy/suffer through? My current beliefs are based upon a lifetime of observing organized religion. […]

“My beliefs are a compilation of a piece of most religions, or, as I like to say, understandings. My purpose is to be love and give love. My spiritual life became so real and wonderful after a serious car accident I was in and I had an amazing heavenly experience (otherwise known as […]

“It is impossible to be absolutely sure if God exists, there would be no need for faith otherwise. However, there are three ways I can tell God exists. Experiential: I have felt a feeling that some call a “link with God” where I felt like I was connected to a higher being. […]

“I am sure God exists because He has proven himself to me. Through minor, extremely ironic miracles, and answered prayers, I have come to believe Him. In reading His word in the Bible, I have seen that not a single one of His promises has failed me. I wasn’t a believer until […]

“I believe in the infinite, personal God who is there. I believe in Heaven & Hell, but not Milton’s heaven and hell, and not the kind most people imagine. What is important to me is consistent time with like minded individuals, similar to that of a marriage relationship (people have to be together in […]

“It’s not my place to decide the existence of God and also irrelevant. I believe that all of creation’s actions directly or indirectly affect everyone, which leads me to believe that everything is God. God is a communitive energy that is the space in which we exist.Experience that defined my beliefs? When […]

When I chant, meditate, practice Kundalini kriyas, etc, I am accessing the part of my frontal lobe that science calls the ‘God Center’. It’s where activity gets going when I am experiencing a sense of the WOW/GOD, the ultimate. The God Center is within me. I am God, God is me. […]

There are too many things that cannot be explained by scientific reasoning. I can see the effects of something even if I cannot prove its existence (I cannot see the wind, but I can feel it and see how it moves things around me).
I had a very bad childhood and it came to head when […]

“I believe in god because: I do not use the word ‘god’; I choose the force ’supreme essence’. Things are in a state of order. Nature at mico/nanoscopic level appears to have been engineered.
Men are gods.
Surprising aspect of your spirituality? Self inflicted violence.”
ELB, 26/M, Washington, DC, Buddhist

PROFILE:

I am a devout follower of my religion
Services: 1 […]

“Simply put, there is no physical proof. [I believe] religion was created to keep people in fear, so we can maintain order. In my late teens, I tossed away all beliefs of a god. In that same time I gained a bit of respect for most religions. Anything that can help you get […]

“Yes I know there is a God or a deity, a creator, well…. there’s something out there and in us. I was born already knowing [my beliefs]. The conditioning of modern culture forced me to disbelieve my own thoughts. It wasn’t until I let go, and gave in to the need for true knowledge I […]