I grew up going to a Catholic church every Sunday. I went through CCD every Tuesday as well and was confirmed in eighth grade. Unfortunately, I never really got anything out of it. I always believed in God; believing in nothing never really made much sense to me. But the way it was presented to me was so dry and solemn that I couldn't really relate to it and get into it. If there is a God, He is something to rejoice over. If He loves us like I am told, there is no sense in beating myself up and feeling guilt for my sins, like I was told growing up. As soon as I was old enough to drive, I started going to a church separate from my parents, and from there my beliefs really expanded and evolved. (It should be stated that I have nothing against my parents, I actually have a wonderful relationship with them, and I also have nothing against Catholics; everyone has their own way of worshiping God, but the Catholic way is simply not mine.)
Technically, you could say my beliefs were taught to me, because I do take the sermons at my current church to heart. My favorite principle that I have ever been taught is, first, to love regardless of circumstance. And second, that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather selfishness; every hateful action is always driven by a selfish motive. Once we realize that we are all equal, and give up the idea of "I am better than you," then we will never act with hate again. That is the most prominent principle that I live by, and I have to say, it works. However, I am not always in agreement with everything my church says, and I think that it is perfectly normal and healthy for anyone's faith to be questioning, and it is necessary to look at religion through a secular lens (if that makes any sense... I know the two are complete opposites and never really used together). I believe in Jesus Christ but I also understand what organized religion does to people, and I believe certain things have been distorted over time. For instance, I don't believe Adam and Eve actually existed, and I believe that the theory of evolution can co-exist just fine with Christianity. That is something that I certainly did not learn in church. Therefore you could say that my beliefs were taught to me but some aspects were influenced by my own reasoning.
The readings in class have not (yet) influenced my beliefs very much, but I think the closest thing to doing so was Taoism. I had previously learned about Taoism because I do like to educate myself on the religious beliefs of other people or cultures, so I have done research on my own and also took a religion course in high school in which Taoism was discussed. I think the reason I can relate to Taoism is that it kind of just matches with my personality. I am extremely easy-going and level headed, and I don't really remember the last time I was legitimately angry. Without actually verbalizing it, my grandmother, before she passed, taught me that you aren't able to control what happens to you but you are able to control how you handle it, and that seems to pretty much be the aim of Taoism.
I commented on Marshay Monet's blog.
