Religion and Psychology

In one of my classes today, it was mentioned that the school cancelled a class called the "Psychology of Religion." Damn. Wishing that would have been an option....

That would make a good subject for a research project. It got me thinking about what would I want to study regarding religion. There are few things that interest me:

1. Why people choose the religion they embrace.
2. How religious they say they are vs. their practice of their religion.
3. Their reasoning of why that religion is the right one for them.
4. How the practice of that religion improves their life or in other words, what do they find beneficial about practicing that religion.
5. If they have a feeling of spirituality along with the feeling of religion. Or if they feel one more than the other.

Then I got to thinking, "What would my answers be?" Well, here they are:

1. I choose not to embrace any particular religion at the present moment, although I do lean towards UU. I have a problem with how religious "communities" present themselves, but then don't practice what they preach. I don't need to be involved with snarky people, as I don't need the stress that it would cause. I also think that all religions have some validity, even if I don't agree with everything they have to say. Most seem to have the same values and moral structure, it's just that dogmas are different.

2. I am not religious, but I do occasionally go to different religious services including Pagan, UU, any brand of Christian, and I've even been to a commune worship service that was somewhere between Judaism and Christianity. I guess I am interested more in the practice of other's religious beliefs then developing my own.

3. I feel that this is the right path for me to take as I like having a high tolerence of many different beliefs. I like to have discussions about religion and the why, what, where, when, who and how. Maybe that is why I am heading towards a life of research. I like to be objective.

4. As I don't practice any particular religion myself, I do find it beneficial to know what others believe and the how of their practice. It helps me to understand where people are coming from when they say they are involved with X, Y or Z religion.

5. I have subscribe to more of a spiritual basis then a religious one. I feel that it is not necessary to be religious to have a relationship with ones higher power. I like to experience the Gods in my way, my interpretation rather then someone telling me what to believe. Even though I tend to be a more fact based person, I tend to like the feeling that goes along with spirituality and don't want to ruin it by adding dogmas into it.


So, here's my idea with these questions. I would like to start a meme, as I would like to know more about your beliefs. Here are they are again in more of a question rather than statement form.

1. Why do you choose the religion you embrace?
2. How religious are you? How often do you practice your religion?
3.Why is this religion the right one for you?
4. How does the practice of this religion improve your life or what benefit do you recieve from its practice?
5. Are you spiritual as well as religious? or is one more prevalent then the other?

To start this meme, I tag:

Andy
Turtleheart
NYPaganChick
Paul (if you are still reading my blog)
And anybody else that wants to participate!

Please let everyone know when you've posted your answers so we can check them out!