A few recent topics have surfaced issues of religion, and they've piqued my curiosity about the approach of the Invictae to faith. As such, I've made this poll to try to ascertain where we all fall with regard to issues of religion.
I have not asked questions specifically regarding what religious affiliations people hold, because there's a lot of variation not only in what terms people may identify with, but what those terms mean to those who identify with them. Instead, questions are about religion in a broader sense, and I've done my best to provide a wide range of options for questions to allow people to select that which best reflects their beliefs.
Ever conscious that these sorts of issues may be sensitive for some people, votes are anonymous; as the questions themselves obviously can't paint perfect pictures, though, I encourage you, if you're comfortable doing so, discussing your responses and what they mean to you. I also strongly encourage everyone to be on their most polite behavior. We will certainly not agree with everyone else's beliefs, but I hope we can at least maintain the decorum necessary to respect each other's personal touchstones of faith (regardless of religion), and not be utter cunts to one another. 'Kay?
I consider myself an agnostic theist. I believe in the existence of a god—the Abrahamic God common to Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bahá'ís, and Rastafari—but I fully accept that my belief is very much that: a belief. I consider the question of the existence of God to be unknown and likely unknowable.
This Abrahamism is certainly related to those beliefs I was raised with, but also certainly very much distinct from them. Indeed, pinning down exactly what beliefs I was raised with is in itself a rather difficult task; I consider my upbringing to be Christian, having attended numerous churches as a child with friends and extended family, as well as a Catholic school, but my home life was not particularly religious, and I doubt my mother would consider herself a Christian. Also of note is that the myriad churches I attended in my youth—Roman Catholic, Seventh-Day Adventist, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and others—all had variously incompatible theological positions, and I fully believe that my exposure to this wide range of beliefs, which were still all ostensibly Christian, has influenced my current religious syncretism and my firm belief that what are today often termed the 'Abrahamic faiths' are more properly sects or denominations of an overriding religion of Abrahamism.
In junior high school, I converted to Theravāda Buddhism, but never considered myself to be practicing. My gradual return to Western religious tradition occurred sometime between 2013 and 2014. I'm still not really practicing; I don't attend religious services, though this is more of an issue of my nonconformity to Christianity specifically, which is really the only religion going around these parts. Within the umbrella of Abrahamism, I'd say I lean more towards Islamic traditions than Christian ones, and might be convinced to get out of my house for congregation if I had a mosque to attend.
Perhaps the most difficult parts to answer of my own poll are related to prayer and intervention. While I certainly believe I can communicate with God through prayer, and certainly do ask for His intervention, my agnosticism does invariably get the better of me when I stop to ask myself whether or not I believe those prayers to be answered, or answerable. My response to the poll ended up being that yes, I believe God may answer prayers, but I somehow feel as though this is an even stronger affirmation of faith than my belief in God itself.