Originally Posted by
shantiseeker
As a born & raised American, it is beyond hard to escape Abrahimistic everything, but quite in particular with Christianity as a whole being the predominant religion most Americans "identify" themselves as. I think something like 22% of the US population is Roman Catholic, but I believe more Americans are Protestant Christians, or call themselves as such. Judaism however is still a presence. Christianity though permeates everything. Even people who don't claim Christianity celebrate Christmas as a holiday. I personally was baptized Roman Catholic, but not raised it. (too long a story as to why); I actually chose to practice it as a teen during my own spiritual quest-so started at the place I was "born into", but by very early adulthood, I was done with it. So we did not attend church as a family, but still-Christmas and Easter were celebrated in the generic sense. We all ended up then attending main line Protestant churches later as adults (again-too long a story on that one as well), but suffice it to say, my parents were hardly "true" believers of Christianity. Doesn't matter, because it permeates the US culture. I have only attended church services in the last 8 years for one reason: funerals. I "technically" am still on the roll books of the Protestant church I last attended for about 1 1/2 years before I found it even more devoid of the previous one I attended. (two different denominations, though not terribly different really). But everyone around me is either some sort of Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic, or Jewish. I can't escape that environment-although I have never agreed with a punitive, vengeful God. And while America may be Abrahamic, just in my area alone, there are several Hindu temples, a Buddhist temple, and an ISKCON one. (these are just the ones I'm personally aware of-there are probably more). So thank goodness there are other options for an American who is besieged with everything else. But I still struggle with the occasional thought that when something bad happens, could it be God punishing me for not being a Christian, or for not being the nicest person in the world at whatever particular time, etc. Then with that thinking, I merge it with kharma and say, well I must deserve this bad circumstance because I was not nice, not right in this behavior, on insert whatever else negative aspect of myself. I still view it as PUNITIVE. So even I who wasn't raised up attending church, STILL have some of this nonsense worry! I am finding chants and mantras very comforting though and starting to feel more purely loved by the Divine.
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