Sydney AUSTRAILA I am not conventionally religious. I am an ethical humanist. In my terms a religious person tries to live in harmony with the universe in both the natural and the social spheres; to protect the innocent and the helpless;and to eschew and oppose evil in all of its forms. If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be.
Jill, 60
Saylorsburg, PA USA
To adhere to the teachings of your particular religion to best of your ability.
Laura, 35
Lowell, MA
USA
To practice or believe in the values of a religion.
Karen, 21
Marshelltown/Ames, IA USA
IIt means that you need mythology to tell you to treat others like human beings.
Alias Irrelevante
People who are truly religious have a close, internal relationship with a supreme being that leads to their life being centered on something greater than themselves. Others who claim to be religious are often more concerned with outward manifestations and public proclamations designed to prove that they are completely right in whatever form of religion they adopt, and more importantly to them that everyone else is completely wrong.
Jane, 60
West Linn, OR
USA
Hmm... to believe in something that, in most cases, you cannot see or prove even exists, but still follow that something and take refuge in it.
Jeremy, 13
Highlands Ranch, CO USA
To follow the dictates of a specific set of spiritual beleifs. Note, a religious person is not necessary a spiritual person or a good person. They are dedicated, however.
Felicia, 34
Lowell, MA
USA
I think that someone can be considered 'religious' when they follow a religion, although some people might disagree. There are some people who believe in God, but do not follow any religion, and yet they might consider themselves religious. They also might not consider themselves religious. Personally, I believe in something, but I don't follow a religion, and therefore consider myself non-religious, but I am not an atheist.
Gavin, 15
Sydney AUSTRAILA
To believe in your religion's God and to follow its rules, I suppose.
Shanna, 15
Cardiff ENGLAND
To spiritually trust 100% in a god, and then to be content with anything that results from doing so.
Fisch, 45
Preston, CT
USA
Give all my heart, body, soul and mind to the Lord Jesus Christ and do whatever he tells me to do
Melodi, 19
Hlliard, OH
USA
To believe in some sort of supreme being: Like, even the ancient Greeks who believed in Zeus, Hercules, and all of those Gods, who are probably considered pagans, I would consider them religious.
Bruno, 31
Denver, CO
USA
To believe in a higher power that is unseen and unimaginable to anyone.
Stephanie, 25
TX USA
Religious to me is that you believe in God and abide by his laws which are the 10 commandments. There are also other things in the Bible that we are to follow as in Romans as we must ask for forgiveness and accept Him as our Lord and Savior and also in other books of the Bible we have other instructions on how we should live our lives and how we should be an example of what Jesus would want us to be.
Marci, 55
Diamond, OH
USA
Funny you should choose today to ask this question, as today my own mother tried her best to throw me out of her house because I did not attend church this morning. Apparantly, to be religious, is to reject the knowledge that one's own child, whose future seems promising with college just eight months away, would have his life smashed to bits by being evicted from his home with no job, no place to stay and nothing to eat. Just to survive, he would be forced to drop school and a bright future, to find a means of income. To be religious seems to be to cease to care for one's child because he does not believe in the same way. To be religious is to arrest mental development and wait for death. To be religious means to care for nothing but the God of one's own invention. To be religious is to cease to exist.
A-Dog, 18
McMinnville, OR USA
To me, (no offence to any religious people out there) to be religious means that you are incredibly gullible and obviously are not a very obvious or rational thinker.
Dianne, 16
Oshawa, Ontario CANADA
after a little over a year of being homeless and holding down jobs off and on, my boyfriend, we'll call him chris to keep some anonymity, might be getting a job as a bartender. it's about damn time. the relationship is fine now, but it wasn't before-we'd get into fights over petty petty things and he'd want to break up over something stupid. so before i left to go home for christmas, i started talking to an ex boyfriend from way back. we'll call him chas for anonymity's sake. i went out with chas when i was 15. he lived an hour and a half away, so i didn't get to see him that often. he was 19. at the time, he was painfully shy and almost never said anything to me, so i figured he didn't like me and sooner of later, he broke it off. we've kept in loose contact all this time, but recently, he's gotten a lot more serious about seeing me again. he sends me incredibly romantic emails and when we talk on the phone, we TALK on the phone. for an average of 5 or 6 hours at a time. thats one hell of a phone bill, chas lives in utah, i in nyc. after one of the first conversations i've had with him recently, i hung up with the feeling i just had a mental orgasm. he's just an amazing guy to talk to. we've made plans for me to fly out there to see him in may. i'll be home for the summer anyway. chris doesn't know about chas. i don't plan to tell him either.
i caught chris in a lie that he wasn't cheating on me (we've been together for nearly a year and a half) around november. since then, i haven't been able to trust him or love him quite the same as i had before. i used to be a player--when i started dating chris, i made a promise to myself that i wouldn't cheat on this guy, no matter what. and i haven't--not until this coming may anyway. i feel more mentally and emotionally closer to chas than chris, but chris and i have a history together, we've been through a lot and i can't just tell him i'm leaving him at the drop of a hat. i have to make sure he feels the same first. i did break up with him when i caught him cheating. it was only once, and he just made out with a random girl, but still. that's cheating. shortly afterwards, i pursued another guy, johnny, whom i've had a crush on for a while now. nothing ever came of that and i just kinda dropped it. chris asked me back out a day or two later, and i just couldn't say no. shortly after that, chas came into the picture. i have two email accounts, one for chris and everything else, one specifically for chas. when chris leaves my place at night, i call chas and talk all night to him. chas hinted that he likes silk pjs, i went shopping with chris to get a pair. physically, i'm not cheating on chris, which is probably why i feel fine about this whole thing. my friends want me to break up with chris, chas wants me to break up with chris....it's just not in my nature to do so until i know he feels the same--i've initiated fights and tried to be a bitch, but he just won't play along. i'm not unhappy with him, he's not abusive or anything like that, things are fine between us. he doesn't excite me, he doesn't surprise me, he doesn't put my head in the clouds, whereas chas does all of that all the way from utah. anyway, that's the story up until now, in a nutshell. today was the same as every. chris spent the night last night, we had sex which wasn't exciting or even great, just fine; woke up around 2pm. i woke up with cramps, so i slept them off until 5pm while he watched tv. we went to the grocery store. the people in front of us in line didn't have their savings card, so chris lent them his--that's one thing that i love about him. he's so nice and polite to other people. he cooked me spaghetti and steak and we watched taxi driver. i did the dishes--eveything's 50-50--he cooks, i do the dishes. when i cook, he does the dishes. after taxi driver, he left to sleep on the train (i live in a dorm, so even though my roommates are still out for xmas, he can't stay over but two nights in a row, max 6x a month). about an hour after he left, i called chas, but he wasn't in, his email sd he might be out with his family. i called 2 hrs later and he was still out. i don't feel like i have to make a decision about this an ytime soon.
Trisha
A religious person "follows the rules" of the religion he or she has chosen. They don't necessarily follow the Ten Commandments or the words of Christ. Sometimes they brag about how religious they are and try to let everyone "see" how religious they are. Then they are known as a 'religious nut'. Reba, 51Rockville, MD USA I'm more spiritual than religious but I'm also New Orleans Catholic. That means my religion is an extremely integral part of my life as it is for every other New Orleans Catholic, fallen or not. I also teach at a Catholic school so that plays a big part in my day to day life. Amy, 24
New Orleans, LA USA I don't consider myself religious (doesn't it just irritate the pants off you when somebody says that?), unless you consider a deep respect, admiration, and love for God to be religious. Now, my parents are very religious (meaning that they follow the teachings and commandments of their denomination)and I don't think I would be here if it had not been for their decision to be and to live as Christians. Lisa J., 22
TN USA To follow the teachings and beliefs of God (or whatever higher being you believe in) and practice them. Karen2, 15
Boston, MA USA Being religious is knowing that you are religious. Eric, 18
Beverly Hills, CA USA To me, to be religious means to follow the rules or doctrine. But to be a Christian means to love and have a relationship with God and Christ. Janet, 42
E. Brunswick, NJ USA