First religion you'd convert to?

[Santander]

Very curious.

Within Christianity, obviously Eastern Orthodox. Outside of Christianity, obviously Judaism. For atheists, just choose what your "favorite" religion is.

This is how I've traditionally felt, but now I lean Southern Baptist.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

None, lol.

[Mr. Smith]

None, lol.

[RFayette]

Very curious.

Within Christianity, obviously Eastern Orthodox. Outside of Christianity, obviously Judaism. For atheists, just choose what your "favorite" religion is.

This is how I've traditionally felt, but now I lean Southern Baptist.

Yeah, I'm non-denominational Protestant, but Southern Baptists are great - definitely the best major Protestant denomination in the USA.  Far better than all the Catholic-worship circlejerk we see on Atlas and AAD.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Very curious.

Within Christianity, obviously Eastern Orthodox. Outside of Christianity, obviously Judaism. For atheists, just choose what your "favorite" religion is.

This is how I've traditionally felt, but now I lean Southern Baptist.

Yeah, I'm non-denominational Protestant, but Southern Baptists are great - definitely the best major Protestant denomination in the USA.  Far better than all the Catholic-worship circlejerk we see on Atlas and AAD.

Boo! (to the first part, not the second, I'd put them about equal.) Southern Baptists are one of the worst denominations.

I'm not really comfortable with denominations in general or associating with one. A church should about the shared faith in Christ, not one's ethnic or regional background or whatever they happened to be raised in.

[Green Line]

Mormon, but I would be a bad Mormon because I refuse to give up booze.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh yeah that's another thing, I'd never join a religion or church that's primarily rules and legalism-based and about following orders that some other people have decided is the way of God. I'd probably excommunicated if I was a Mormon, thank God.

[Santander]

Oh yeah that's another thing, I'd never join a religion or church that's primarily rules and legalism-based and about following orders that some other people have decided is the way of God. I'd probably excommunicated if I was a Mormon, thank God.

Please... just stop.

[RI]

1) An Eastern Rite Catholic Church
2) Greek Orthodox Church
3) Anglicanism
4) Lutheranism
5) Some non-denominational evangelical church
6) Methodism
7) Presbyterianism
8) Mormonism
9) Baptist
10) Calvinism

Outside Christianity:
1) Sufi Islam
2) Shia Islam
3) Orthodox Judaism
4) Zoroastrianism
5) Druze
6) Sunni Islam
7) Reform Judaism
8) Mahayana Buddhism
9) Theraveda Buddhism
10) Hinduism

[Xing]

Probably Buddhism.

[Goldwater]

If I were to join a religion, the only possible reason I could think to do so would be for the social interaction. So whatever is most common where I happen to be, I guess.

[RFayette]

1) An Eastern Rite Catholic Church
2) Greek Orthodox Church
3) Anglicanism
4) Lutheranism
5) Some non-denominational evangelical church
6) Methodism
7) Presbyterianism
8) Mormonism
9) Baptist
10) Calvinism

Boo.

[Bojack Horseman]

Humanism.

[Tender Branson]

I wouldn't convert to any religion.

Religion is dangerous. I believe in my own opinions and not be indoctrinated by others.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

maybe mohism, if that counts?

[Sir Mohamed]

From islam to Christianity. However, I’m not a very religious person.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I wouldn't convert to any religion.

Religion is dangerous. I believe in my own opinions and not be indoctrinated by others.

Obviously, your opinions and the preferences that lead to them were created in a vacuum. Are you trying to paraphrase Ferris Bueller's armchair humanism?

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Liberal Quaker or Buddhist

[Illiniwek]

Same as Cathcon and Higgs, Eastern Orthodox, then maybe Judaism. But I'm not looking to drop Catholicism any time soon.

[dax00]

None. I'm an atheist who believes that spiritual energy is recycled.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, actually. I don't really know the answer yet, but I'm very interested in figuring it out. Having only ever lived in countries and social groups of Christian culture and tradition, I have to assume that, if I returned to faith, it would most likely be a Christian faith. Sorry BRTD, but socialization isn't something you just shrug off. Maybe I'm wrong, though - I'm also very interested in learning more about non-Christian theologies, and if I actually manage to get to it, I might end up changing my mind. Still, I'll go with this default assumption.

I was raised Catholic (Italian normal), but even if I've recently grown to appreciate many aspects of Catholic theology and aesthetics, the issues I have with Catholicism are insurmountable. It's not just the fact that the Church as it exists strikes me - despite the best efforts of many wonderful people in it, including Francis - as a deeply corrupt, self-serving, and oppressive institution that is usually as lenient and accommodating to the powerful as it is ruthless and intransigent in enforcing its reactionary ideology on the powerless. Even if, as I very strongly hope, the Church could reform itself and become a force for good, the fact that a Church can turn into this suggests, in my opinion, a more fundamental problem. I'm not comfortable with such a strongly hierarchical Church. I'd argue that divine authority is something too great, too pure, too absolute to be vested, even if only for specific purposes and in a specific sense, in fallible men (because yeah, as it happens, they're all men - that's a big part of the problem actually). This is also a problem in Orthodox Churches, even if my understanding is that their hierarchy is somewhat less strict.

That leaves the wide, wide world of Protestantism. I wish I knew more about the myriad of Protestant denominations, to get a good sense of which ones would appeal to me the most. At this stage, I only know that I can exclude Evangelicalism and the most typically American forms of Protestantism - because Biblical literalism strikes me as utterly sterile intellectually - Calvinism - because some aspects of its theology are unacceptable to me - Mormonism - again, too hierarchical, and some of its beliefs and rites would be too heterodox to me - or a BRTD-style hipster Church - because what's even the point of a Church if it's functionally equivalent to a music fandom or a tumblr? Of the sects I'm somewhat familiar with, Lutheranism is the one I find most interesting, but I don't know it nearly well enough to tell if it would really be a good fit. I'd be very interested if some of our Lutheran posters (both Germans/Scandinavians and Americans) could share a bit of their religious life.

Generally speaking, the denomination I'd like best would be non-hierarchical Church with a strong sense of community, distinctive cultural practices, and historical depth, that would also be conducive to these basic tenets:
- Believing in universal salvation.
- Believing in free will.
- Believing in the absolute equality of all human beings in worth, dignity, and ability to receive God's grace.
- Paying more than lip service to the "hate the sin, not the sinner" maxim (which entails a particular view of what sin is and how it can be expunged).
- Never taking "because God wants it" as the final trump card in a moral debate - instead inquiring why God wants it, and not limiting us to a literal reading of the Bible to answer the question.
- Not requiring too many beliefs pertaining to the material realm.

I realize I might be asking a bit too much. And I also realize that, for someone who doesn't strictly speaking believe in God, I seem to have a lot of thoughts on how He should be worshiped.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As a Christian Daoist Universalist, I think I'm in the right spot. I could see leaving my current UU church for an ELCA or a UCC church if the need arose and I couldn't find another UU nearby that I liked. Definitely not Buddhist tho. I have no interest in checking in at the Darshana Hotel.

Antonio, while not a Lutheran, I attend Lutheran churches often enuf to say you'd probably be best off with an ELCA congregation if you go that path, but it is possible to find theologically liberal churches in any of the main branches of Protestantism, tho obviously not in all denominations. (There's even a liberal Baptist church nearby that I attend occasionally.) Of the major denominations, the UCC is the most liberal and because of its congregational governance each church will be different.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Humanism.

"Humanism" is just a fancy word for people who are afraid to admit point blank they're atheists.

[sparkey]

Liberal Quaker or Buddhist

Same here. Perhaps lean Quakerism because I have some old family ties to the religion.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Sorry BRTD, but socialization isn't something you just shrug off.

Uh, I never said it was. And I don't think any church that organizes pub crawls would think so.

What I'm rejecting is the notion that some sort of shared ethnic identity should matter in a church.

or a BRTD-style hipster Church - because what's even the point of a Church if it's functionally equivalent to a music fandom or a tumblr?

Because it's not. I understand where people might get that impression from my postings, but remember it's all out of context. What's happening instead is people who are generally casual and more open-minded trying to make Christianity more appealing to those who don't find it as such now. And honestly why does anyone find anything wrong with that? It's not like there isn't hordes of traditionalist churches if that's not your thing.

Also some of the casual attitudes and the notion that "this doesn't belong in church" are just instilled things that are being rejected because in truth those ideas are nonsense. When one of my pastors is preaching wearing flip-flops, she's not doing it specifically to be casual but probably because she finds them comfortable (and she's pregnant so of course comfort should be her top concern) and the notion church should have any type of strict dress code is quite silly and not based on the teachings of Jesus at all. Same with the (multiple people) who have preached in band shirts, it's because that's what they normally wear, so why not? The lighting that looks like a strip club isn't specifically to look like a strip club, it's because that style of lighting is aesthetically pleasing which is why also many dance places and raves and night clubs use it. No it's not stereotypically "churchy". So what? The worship of God and message of Jesus Christ is what matters, and we have that.

Of the sects I'm somewhat familiar with, Lutheranism is the one I find most interesting, but I don't know it nearly well enough to tell if it would really be a good fit. I'd be very interested if some of our Lutheran posters (both Germans/Scandinavians and Americans) could share a bit of their religious life.

You'd probably like the ELCA.

Generally speaking, the denomination I'd like best would be non-hierarchical Church with a strong sense of community, distinctive cultural practices, and historical depth, that would also be conducive to these basic tenets:
- Believing in universal salvation.
- Believing in free will.
- Believing in the absolute equality of all human beings in worth, dignity, and ability to receive God's grace.
- Paying more than lip service to the "hate the sin, not the sinner" maxim (which entails a particular view of what sin is and how it can be expunged).
- Never taking "because God wants it" as the final trump card in a moral debate - instead inquiring why God wants it, and not limiting us to a literal reading of the Bible to answer the question.
- Not requiring too many beliefs pertaining to the material realm.

I realize I might be asking a bit too much. And I also realize that, for someone who doesn't strictly speaking believe in God, I seem to have a lot of thoughts on how He should be worshiped.

Yeah, the most liberal ELCA churches would definitely be open to that. Although what I consider a strong point of them and you probably wouldn't is that despite that they tend to stay away from "Bishop" Spong-style theological liberalism and quasi-Unitarianism, (actually your average Unitarian is probably more Christian than Spong) and things like "Hey lets say the virgin birth and resurrection were just metaphorical and oh please don't be close minded and refuse to consider it." that a good chunk of the UCC and most theologically liberal wing of the Episcopalian church are prone to.