Tricky question, what does “practice religion” actually mean? In my mind, it’s attending church regularly, saying grace before a meal and saying prayers at night when you go to sleep. That’s how I envision it because that was a part of my life when I was growing up. My grandparents, parents and all my aunts and uncles belonged to the Lutheran Church and took an active part in it.
We rarely missed a Sunday. We always said grace before a meal, my parents still do. And I was taught at a young age to say my prayers every night before bed. When I look back, I see that religion was very much enmeshed in our lives but maybe that’s easy to see because it’s a stark contrast to the present, where I now don’t do those things.
It’s not that I stopped believing, had a disagreement with god or just decided to rebel, it’s just that I haven’t made religion a priority in my life. I used to think that the kids who didn’t have to go to church every Sunday morning like I did, were so much cooler than I was. I don’t equate being cool with be unreligious now, in fact at times I’m a little ashamed that I didn’t expose my own kids to religion more.
But I also don’t equate practicing religion with BEING a good person. I feel the two are unrelated. Bad people can appear so pious and really good humans may have never stepped foot in a church or folded their hands in prayer.
I was married in a church and took the vows seriously, ended up divorced however, and will never ever do that again. The get married part. I had my kids baptized in church. I still believe in god and the very odd time I still remember to say a prayer at night but it’s usually when I desperately need something or if I feel I need to ask for forgiveness over something I’ve done. I can see why non-believers think religion is hokey but you’ve got to believe in something right?
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