Why do you have a religion at all?

[Terra]

Why do you, personally, have a religion? (or faith, or a path...)

Why should you have a religion? Are some reasons better than others?

Religion and faith are both words that I shy away from. I was raised as a very secular Jew in a house where we just didn't discuss it. The only thing I was ever told about being Jewish was that we didn't need a middle man. Being six years old, that really didn't tell me much. So I developed my own belief system, or world view, or whatever you want to call it, and somewhere in my 30s I discovered paganism and found that it fit in perfectly with the beliefs I'd developed.

I believe in "the gods" (as opposed to "Gods"). I guess I think of them as the spirits of things. The weather gods, the hiking gods, the football gods (which were not kind to me this weekend ;p), and such. I don't really "worship" so much as I "revere", and my reverence is mainly for Mother Earth and the natural world. I consider myself spiritual, and I do a bit of ritual, but I do it alone or with my daughter, and I only do ritual when I'm casting a circle for magical work. The times I've attended formal circles, I've felt as uncomfortable and out of place as I did when I was a kid going to church with my friends.

As for faith... Well, I have faith in myself and in my abilities, and sometimes I even have faith in humanity. But as far as spiritual faith goes, I'm not sure I'd recognize it if it bit me.

I suppose this all comes from not having an upbringing in a religious setting. My secular paganism, if that's what you want to call it, works very well for me.

[Phouka]

*mournful voice* My deity says I have to.

Absent

you poor thing you

*sympathetic voice* phouka

[Jabberwock]

I have faith because it's either that or I'm completely batshit - and as it seems to be not-dangerous, I'm gonna go with faith. I'm pretty sure if it was just straight batshittery it would be odder.

I have religion because I find it a useful structure for articulating how to live with other people and how to make the world better.

Reading this entire thread is making me feel not alone, because this is how I feel...I am pretty damn atheist and rather skeptic. I feel like believing in something would help the crippling anxiety and depression issues I have, but the problem is letting myself believe. That's the part I'm struggling with right now.