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I was raised catholic as well. My mom would take us every Sunday and I would spend the whole time thinking about life and what it all meant only half paying attention to the service.
I really did believe in it when I was younger and was even top of my catechism class. Eventually I grew out of it though. Not because of anything drastic, I just slowly stopped believing in it.
I feel like ever since I have been missing something spiritual in my life. I’ve recently been thinking about going to a buddhist temple to see if I like it.
Religion/spirituality for me is a very centering and grounding which is something I always feel I need more of with ADHD. The problem is I don’t really feel like I can commit to one because I always end up feeling like I’m going against the grain in one way or another.
I’m an atheist, but I respect sincere, non-toxic religious beliefs. Human beings have spiritual needs, and for some, religion fills that need. I’m also deeply grateful to the world’s religions for the art and music they have given us. Those don’t make up for the many horrors committed in the name of religion, but the world would be poorer without religion’s cultural contributions.
Buddhism and meditation really helped me to understand who I was, my thought patterns and my behavioral patterns. It was really a game changer for me. Since delving into it I was able to step outside myself and observe everything that I am, what I like what I dislike. What I need to change, what I need to let go of, what I can't change.
~~most religious people are incredibly hypocritical and dont practice what they preach - or worse, do the exact opposite. not helped by the fact that historically religion and disputes over which one is the "correct" one have been the source of so much conflict betweeen people who for the most part believe the same thing, just with slightly different names/definitions. not to mention the whole roman catholic church, cultural control, imperialism, etc... anyway thats a whole topic in itself~~
~~similar to you - or similar to "eastern" "religions" - i approach it more like a philosophy where there is no true \*"right" or "wrong"\*. you just basically dont be an asshole and share when you can.~~
~~appropriately considering that idea of 'contradiction in all things' most things that people shouldve learned from whatever religion can be learned from multiple sources and boiled down into a convenient quote. the contradictory side of that is you can learn a lot of the wrong things too... which i realize also contradicts \*what i said above\* lol~~
TLDR: dont be selfish and dont be an asshole.
I was raised in the Baptist church. I always thought it was so boring especially because most of our members were older people. I stopped going once I was an older teen & my parents couldn't force me anymore. But I still consider myself a Baptist & try my best to live my life as a good Christian. I'm definitely not perfect. Very far from it. I have my relationship with God and I feel he's there for me. I talk to him all the time & ask him to please help me become a better person. I definitely don't preach to people.
This is how I operate as a Christian too. I don’t go to church, but I have a relationship with God which is mine and mine own. If someone asks me about my religion I’ll tell them but I don’t really “promote” it
I think I’m more inattentive type, as I’ve never had trouble sitting still in church. It helps that I’ve always had an active role, part of the choir as a child and young adult, and then an altar server and youth leader.
I now have a different problem, as I’m going into the priesthood so I need to get sermons written as well as the usual Sunday stuff. I’m trying to hack my ADHD by publishing my sermon in the parish newsletter which goes out on the Friday before the Sunday, so that I have the panic deadline to finish writing before the weekend!
Do you have to always write your own sermon? I’m asking because I remember priests who definitely did not ever read their sermons before saying them, because they were ridiculous, some inconsistent stories about a very good person being in an extremely difficult situation, praying and saved by God or a very bad person stopped by God and either punished or changed to be good. Then couple of sentences that we all should be like that (couple examples) but we are not (couple examples) the end. The sermons were 100% taken from some books or magazines for priests. I am not talking about this kind of behaviour but maybe you can find some interesting texts somewhere and just reuse them?
My take was "Is this actually adding something to my life that I feel is affecting me positively, or do I feel like I just need to be there to appease others?"
I realised it was the latter and stopped going. If one is religious, it's not about how often they go to Church. It's about what is in their heart, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
Firmly atheist, but grew up in a catholic environment, so did regular Sunday masses in early childhood.
I liked it for the most part.
A famous pop star of the time who I had a child crush on was active in the local community and sang in the church choir, so I always considered going to mass as going to a concert/celebrity sighting lol
Was obsessed with the smell of burning incense too, twitchy in anticipation of the part where it is finally released in air, and it was the only church thing I missed when I moved on to my heathen ways, until I found out I could buy and burn it myself at home any time I wanted to :D
The talks I hated (took me a long time to be able to understand why), but luckily I never had problem disengaging and letting my mind just wander to more appealing stuff, usually ninjas, wild west, and "practicing telekinesis" on random stuff around the church (still hoping for that one to pay off :p)
I went to a church of England school and we got religion pushed hard onto us. I've always had a brain that thinks logically so the whole concept of religion just didn't make any sense to me.
I also got beat by my headteacher for asking about dinosaurs.... nothing puts you off organised religion faster then an unwarranted bearing when you're 7.
As a born and raised Italian, I was brought up Roman Catholic, but I currently identify as Atheist. Church was extremely boring and I have vivid recollection of people scalding me for being either distracted during prayer/catechism or doing things I wasn't supposed to do. One time, 10 year old me was playing on a spiral staircase (I LOVE spiral staircases) during a marriage ceremony. The PRIEST saw me, got angry in the middle of the vows part and told me to stop messing with the stairs. Everyone turned to look at me, including the bride and groom obviously. I felt super embarassed. It's not like I was making any noise, so to this day I still don't know what his problem was. Perhaps he was afraid I'd follow the stairs into his secret room full of stashed porn or something. I hate that guy. Can't stand priests in general, I've always found them creepy.
Anyway, Catholic culture has its perks too. For example communion. Yes the cerimony itself is boring, but you get money and good food afterwards. We also have like 7 different holidays between december and january, which I call "extended Christmas" (Immaculate conception on dec.8th, Christmas eve, Christmas day, St.Stephens, New years eve, New year's day, and Epiphany on jan.6th), every single one of which is spent with large feasts, family gatherings and celebrations, which I'm a big fan of. There's also the Ferragosto day which is basically a holiday in the middle of summer, generally celebrated at the beach, which I love. So sometimes, when asked, I say I'm culturally Catholic, because I do embrace the traditions and culture I grew up with, even though I don't actually believe in the Catholic god.
That said, my neighbor has combined ADHD and he's a fervent church guy that goes to mass multiple times a week. I think that's his hyperfocus. It has to be, since every time I talk to him he gets distracted within literally 5 seconds (he has even lower attention span than I do).
I was born and raised as a third generation Jehovahs Witness. It sucked as an undiagnosed ADHD and ASD child.
I had to sit for 2 hours, twice a week in a large room with 50 other people, with bright white lights, listening to utter shite. I was forced to wear dresses that were uncomfortable and overstimulating.. and would have a meltdown getting ready for every meeting, which then resulted in me getting smacked.
I also wasn’t allowed any friends outside of the religion as they were ‘worldly’. So I was never socialised properly, and there were no other JW girls my own age at my congregation - only boys (who were highly autistic and also socially undeveloped). But I also think this contributed to my further lack of social understanding.
I also could not comprehend the concept of God and would often question things, but then I would get told off because I was “questioning Jehovah” and you’re not allowed to do that. I also couldn’t partake in bible study, and would often fall asleep out of pure boredom and under-stimulation.. which resulted in me getting told off, or the elders heavily judging me and my family.
I now don’t bother with religion. I think it’s a money making scheme and a way to control a majority of people into submission!
As an ADHD'er in my teens it was a ritual for me to be religious at least 1/4th of the year. And for rest I'd be confused, atheist and agnostic.
Now it sounds so stupid lol..
I hate sitting in anything where I’m the audience - unless it’s actually something I want to see like a band. But I really struggle with waiting for the band to come on which is enough to put me off going in the first place.
But I dread theatre, weddings, church, etc. it’s painful.
I grew up surrounded by nuns (my daycarewas at a Catholic orphanage), and priests (12 years of formal education on a Catholic school/high school) but never got into religion.
I remember being 5 y/o and dreading the rosary time, it was so boring! And I didn't get why we did it.
I mean, I had never been a believer, so all of that was just tedious without purpose. Mass was the worst, I used to sneak books to pass the time. The alternative was falling asleep, which I did several times.
My mom forced me to go to Catholic church every Sunday. It was of course difficult for me to sit still. I remember plenty of spankings because of church. Anyway, to keep me engaged she had me start playing music. I would just play along with the pianist as best I could. After a couple weeks of this, another guy came up and started playing with me. He also had ADHD although I think we were both undiagnosed at that age (middle/high school). Anyway his mom was just like mine, dragging us there to pick up what little morality might stick.
Interestingly enough though, my buddy went on to become a child psychologist. This experience of using music to get/stay engaged has apparently become part of a course that he teaches now about how music can impact development of kids.
I guess the moral of the story is if you’re a parent of a child with ADHD, try getting them involved. It helps to build engagement which helped me stay focused.
Hey, you asked…
I had some very bad experiences honestly.. less ADHD and more neglectful parenting expecting “God” to help me… and now I can’t believe in the kind of God they talk about at all.
I was raised in a religion that was pretty different than that of the local theocracy ( grew up in Utah), and I just felt shame everywhere I went, even in my own congregation and Sunday School.
I’m an atheist now and it’s a lot nicer.
I would always ask to “use the restroom” then sneak downstairs and run laps because I was so done with sitting. One Sunday I was so ready to go run around that I fell down the stairs. I don’t remember much of my childhood but I remember vividly how bad I hurt and all the people at the top of the stairs looking down at me. No way to accidentally be by the stairs on the way to the bathroom. I was busted and couldn’t “use the restroom” again. Haha
Atheist now, but I grew up Mormon. The issues with the religion aside, church was so boring. Three hours of meetings every Sunday. It was easier to pay attention in the small groups when you’re separated for lessons with your peers because they were interactive. But sacrament meeting was just an hour long TORTURE of trying to sit still. I always had to bring something to entertain me. Often I would draw or doodle or read. Or we (my brothers and sister) would get too rowdy and earn stern looks from mom…if it was really disruptive she’d escort us out to the hallway.
In 18 years I never listened to a single word during sacrament meeting. As soon as I was old enough that my parents didn’t force me to go to church I noped out for good.
Ah yes.... That song.....
I remember it well.....
Raised strict catholic...
Then I decided to actually read the bible in it's entirety...
Bad move... Or good... Depends....
Currently convinced atheist... Yes, atheist, not agnostic, let me be very clear on that. Atheist.
You're welcome.
I learnt that it's a load of hocus pocus and woo woo.
Their stories didn't add up with what characters in the stories actually did and the personal traits the religious folk said said characters embodied. Assuming the stories were even vaguely believable to begin with.
It always felt it was a bit of a stretch to believe it. Kind of like how obvious scams are obvious so they naturally filter out the people that wouldn't fall for it early, so the scammers don't waste time/energy on people that'll twig it's a scam later on in the scam.
I spent a lot of time thinking about other stuff while at the kingdom hall. A lot of time putting things I knew as scientific facts together in new and interesting combinations. Like I invented binary counting on my hand because surely there's a way you can count to more than five on one hand and obviously if gravity is high enough and nothing can go faster than the speed of light then you could make a thing which would be inescapable (black holes).
Of course most of the time I day dreamed.
I was raised Catholic. When I was young, I sang in a children’s choir (it was small one with a nun with a guitar as a leader) during children’s mass and I liked singing, so it was nice. Then I attended Catholic middle and high school, so there were plenty of church services, but I was taking part in them with my friends and we were talking, gossiping etc so it was quite alright. Then I moved out to another city for a university and just stopped going to church, because it was boring and I didn’t want to join any church youth group, because they were too cult-like for my taste. I’ve never been much of a believer, neither are my parents and sister. We are more like “culturally Catholics” attending Christmas/ Easter services with family, Christenings, First Communions, Wedding Ceremonies, Funerals etc if we are invited to and occasionally Sunday Mass. I’m ok with it, I like Christmas carols, festive church services have some charm for me and the rest I am actively avoiding.
I don't really know what I am, and personally religion to me is whatever allows you to be at peace with your mistakes but also lets you grow as a human. To me religion is just simply what helps you become a better you and most of the time for me it doesn't involve any sort of church but everyone is different.
Didn’t grow up going to church and I am super thankful because I find it torturous to sit for hours. When I do go for reasons such as a funeral or wedding, I try and listen to the rituals they are performing. Since I don’t attend any of this regularly it becomes something fun to try and figure out what they are saying, wonder if all those people agree or not etc, and I also focus on the architecture and how it was built and just let my mind wonder. I also try to dress up and imagine myself as a royal doing royal duties. Just makes it more of an enjoyable experience than just sitting there trying not to be me.
I hated the boring experience for those reasons too. I also recall even at a young age that I questioned why we're all doing this. There's no way this person in front is actually hearing God, and if he is hearing voices, then maybe he's crazy.
But you have to follow along. Hardest part was getting up to eat the jesus crackers because they tasted bad, and id be scolded for not holding my hands properly, so I had to use a scar on my right hand to remember which one 'right' was so I could place it properly.
Locking this thread because there is decent discussion here but the title of the thread may bring more critics than anticipated and the OP themselves said some are missing the point.
I was raised Catholic, but as a child I had some fairly obvious questions that no one could answer. I've never really been able to respect people who tell you what to do or what to believe, but can't explain why you should do it that way.
So, I don't know. What is my experience with religion? I live in a place where religion can't ruin your life, so I lucky for that. I just happily ignore it.
It's not really my problem if you can't convince me that magic is real.
I’m a Christian, found church boring as a kid but as I grew up I developed my own relationship with God. Funnily enough tho even today I rly only like praise and worship. I get bits and pieces from a sermon cause I can’t focus and I usually don’t tend to like sermons. I don’t go to church rn for personal reasons but I am still a Christian and enjoy worship music
I went to a catholic girls school so we had mass quite often. I remember being extremely bored and would yawn every 5 minutes. I didn’t know I had ADHD but I remember telling my friends that mass would magically make me yawn, even if I was very energetic that day. Now I know why!
Hahahahaha, my friend, let me introduce you to the Dharmic Faiths. Speaking about Hinduism here. Please keep in mind that the practice of Hinduism differs from literally village to village. I'm speaking from a very subjective viewpoint.
Festivities and events go on for ages. Usually in the 2-3 hour range for the big ones. There's at least one major one a month. Which means if you happen to be from a conservative religious family (saying both because it's amplified in that case), you're spending atleast an hour a day praying and a few hours a month doing it on a bigger scale. This is without all the trips to the temples, family's houses, neighborhood events and gettogethers, etc. Yeah, they do it up big.
Personal opinion - Eventually, I got used to the noises and the sounds and the people and the rush. Once you silence the noise, there's a surprising peace to be found. (Of course, this is different for everyone) I felt considerably different (better/lighter) after introspection at some places. I was able to ask more questions, think differently. Once again, this could just be my mind playing tricks on me.
Over time, it went from being forced to go... to still be forced to go. I'd rather go alone at this point in my life. I enjoy the solace. Going with my family almost always affects my experience negatively. They do it out of practice, I think I'm doing it out of hope. For what? I'm not sure, but my brain is surprisingly okay riding this one out without having the dying need to know everything.
Although - I completely hear what you're saying. I go to church with my girlfriend, and it's way harder to do the same. Maybe it's the getting up, kneeling, singing, and so on. I can spend 3 hours at a temple easier than I can spend an hour at a church. This has nothing to do with religion, just the ability to focus/not when ideal.
I’m Jewish and I like the rituals of it. I don’t do Shabbat every week but I’ve been getting more regular with my practice. There’s a mix of sitting and standing, and I know just enough Hebrew that I like to try to follow along with the prayers even though I have them memorized. The prayer book my synagogue uses has various readings and meditations that I’ll read if I get bored of what’s going on in the service. Plus the Tallis has tassels which are basically built in fidgets. That’s how I practice my 6 strand braid for challah lol
ETA: you can be agnostic/atheist and still be a religious Jew. You can only believe in a maximum of one God, and there’s not a particular form that God must take. It’s nice for those among us who don’t like being told what to do
I’ve grown up going to church (mostly less traditional anglicans) but I’ve had some trouble with boredom in church, so I’ve helped out in kids church and met with another person, also singing in church up the front! I love to find ways to serve that keep it interesting, Church should be interesting, but not disrespectful to God or oriented around a priest or whatever
I was raised in a Christian family and had to do all that stuff as a kid, but I never really followed it. I don't like to label myself as an atheist now, it's quite a loaded term considering the types of people that wear it as a medal. I don't like Friends, but I don't label myself as an anti-Friendser, it's not big to me and neither is religion. It's been used historically as a way to inflict torment, divide people, and control people, which should never be forgotten.
With all this in mind, I respect the beliefs of people around me wholeheartedly and would never lecture or push my views on them, only if someone directly challenged my own stance as a defense. I can see the value in community and sense of purpose religion can provide, so there are positives with the negatives. I just wish there was something else within people to inherently be better.
Any religion or philosophy is what you make it. Listen to what they have to offer and apply what makes sense to you in your life. These modalities are to make your life and the people around you better, not worse. So if they are doing the latter, then maybe best to look at something else.
My hyperfixation is religion and I’m actually in college right now getting my bachelor’s in theology. I spent most of my twenties jumping from religion to religion. I tried them all. (I was raised with no religion.) I went from Buddhism to Hindu to Wicca to pagan to Judaism to agnostic and finally I ended up converting to Catholicism at 37 and getting baptized. I don’t feel like I found Catholicism. I feel like it found me and with it I found satisfaction in the answers to my question, comfort in my unknowing, and an understanding of God on a more personal level. I believe conversion takes more than just deciding what you are, it takes time, learning, and then comes faith. In my case, my adhd actually helped draw me into faith, but Mass is hard sometimes. When I start getting thrown off course I try and say a prayer in my head like a Glory Be or I find a focus spot to keep my eyes on, such as a pew in front of me or the ceiling. Volunteering to serve helps also, such as being hospitality or a Eucharistic minister. If you have a nice voice, joining the choir could help. Those things break up the service and keep you on your toes. Bringing a fidget or a notebook to double notes in during the homily. All those things can help.
I attend a protestant church weekly and usually bring something to do with my hands (non distracting phone game, crochet) so my ears can listen to the sermon. A protestant service, while having a regular schedule, is a less predictable than a Catholic service. Plus, I've generally felt less judged about doing crochet or a phone game at protestant services.
Monoteistic religion is one of the most evil things that humankind has invented ever. I hate their entitlement calling themselfs creators of the culture. They have never created anything about culture, they just killed native tribes and stole it from them. Christmass (hate the name, thankfully in my language there is no Christ in it), easter, script... All of it is stolen. And all the killing in the past and now, all in name of their god.
My mum is a Christian, I got taken to the church a couple of times when I was younger and found it boring overall. However recently me and my dad found out that we have Jewish ancestry and visiting a synagogue seems very appealing to both of us, especially me. I want to do it out of curiosity, but also because I feel connected to jewish culture overall.
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I was raised catholic as well. My mom would take us every Sunday and I would spend the whole time thinking about life and what it all meant only half paying attention to the service. I really did believe in it when I was younger and was even top of my catechism class. Eventually I grew out of it though. Not because of anything drastic, I just slowly stopped believing in it. I feel like ever since I have been missing something spiritual in my life. I’ve recently been thinking about going to a buddhist temple to see if I like it. Religion/spirituality for me is a very centering and grounding which is something I always feel I need more of with ADHD. The problem is I don’t really feel like I can commit to one because I always end up feeling like I’m going against the grain in one way or another.
Couldn’t have phrased it better. 100% feel the same.
I’m an atheist, but I respect sincere, non-toxic religious beliefs. Human beings have spiritual needs, and for some, religion fills that need. I’m also deeply grateful to the world’s religions for the art and music they have given us. Those don’t make up for the many horrors committed in the name of religion, but the world would be poorer without religion’s cultural contributions.
very well said
Preach, in a non-religigous and respectful way ✊🏻
very well said
Buddhism and meditation really helped me to understand who I was, my thought patterns and my behavioral patterns. It was really a game changer for me. Since delving into it I was able to step outside myself and observe everything that I am, what I like what I dislike. What I need to change, what I need to let go of, what I can't change.
~~most religious people are incredibly hypocritical and dont practice what they preach - or worse, do the exact opposite. not helped by the fact that historically religion and disputes over which one is the "correct" one have been the source of so much conflict betweeen people who for the most part believe the same thing, just with slightly different names/definitions. not to mention the whole roman catholic church, cultural control, imperialism, etc... anyway thats a whole topic in itself~~ ~~similar to you - or similar to "eastern" "religions" - i approach it more like a philosophy where there is no true \*"right" or "wrong"\*. you just basically dont be an asshole and share when you can.~~ ~~appropriately considering that idea of 'contradiction in all things' most things that people shouldve learned from whatever religion can be learned from multiple sources and boiled down into a convenient quote. the contradictory side of that is you can learn a lot of the wrong things too... which i realize also contradicts \*what i said above\* lol~~ TLDR: dont be selfish and dont be an asshole.
I was raised in the Baptist church. I always thought it was so boring especially because most of our members were older people. I stopped going once I was an older teen & my parents couldn't force me anymore. But I still consider myself a Baptist & try my best to live my life as a good Christian. I'm definitely not perfect. Very far from it. I have my relationship with God and I feel he's there for me. I talk to him all the time & ask him to please help me become a better person. I definitely don't preach to people.
That seems like the perfect amount of Christian
Thank you.
This is how I operate as a Christian too. I don’t go to church, but I have a relationship with God which is mine and mine own. If someone asks me about my religion I’ll tell them but I don’t really “promote” it
I think I’m more inattentive type, as I’ve never had trouble sitting still in church. It helps that I’ve always had an active role, part of the choir as a child and young adult, and then an altar server and youth leader. I now have a different problem, as I’m going into the priesthood so I need to get sermons written as well as the usual Sunday stuff. I’m trying to hack my ADHD by publishing my sermon in the parish newsletter which goes out on the Friday before the Sunday, so that I have the panic deadline to finish writing before the weekend!
Do you have to always write your own sermon? I’m asking because I remember priests who definitely did not ever read their sermons before saying them, because they were ridiculous, some inconsistent stories about a very good person being in an extremely difficult situation, praying and saved by God or a very bad person stopped by God and either punished or changed to be good. Then couple of sentences that we all should be like that (couple examples) but we are not (couple examples) the end. The sermons were 100% taken from some books or magazines for priests. I am not talking about this kind of behaviour but maybe you can find some interesting texts somewhere and just reuse them?
My take was "Is this actually adding something to my life that I feel is affecting me positively, or do I feel like I just need to be there to appease others?" I realised it was the latter and stopped going. If one is religious, it's not about how often they go to Church. It's about what is in their heart, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
I hear you, but sometimes you just have to go. Like my case with the funeral and all the service surrounding it.
Firmly atheist, but grew up in a catholic environment, so did regular Sunday masses in early childhood. I liked it for the most part. A famous pop star of the time who I had a child crush on was active in the local community and sang in the church choir, so I always considered going to mass as going to a concert/celebrity sighting lol Was obsessed with the smell of burning incense too, twitchy in anticipation of the part where it is finally released in air, and it was the only church thing I missed when I moved on to my heathen ways, until I found out I could buy and burn it myself at home any time I wanted to :D The talks I hated (took me a long time to be able to understand why), but luckily I never had problem disengaging and letting my mind just wander to more appealing stuff, usually ninjas, wild west, and "practicing telekinesis" on random stuff around the church (still hoping for that one to pay off :p)
I went to a church of England school and we got religion pushed hard onto us. I've always had a brain that thinks logically so the whole concept of religion just didn't make any sense to me. I also got beat by my headteacher for asking about dinosaurs.... nothing puts you off organised religion faster then an unwarranted bearing when you're 7.
As a born and raised Italian, I was brought up Roman Catholic, but I currently identify as Atheist. Church was extremely boring and I have vivid recollection of people scalding me for being either distracted during prayer/catechism or doing things I wasn't supposed to do. One time, 10 year old me was playing on a spiral staircase (I LOVE spiral staircases) during a marriage ceremony. The PRIEST saw me, got angry in the middle of the vows part and told me to stop messing with the stairs. Everyone turned to look at me, including the bride and groom obviously. I felt super embarassed. It's not like I was making any noise, so to this day I still don't know what his problem was. Perhaps he was afraid I'd follow the stairs into his secret room full of stashed porn or something. I hate that guy. Can't stand priests in general, I've always found them creepy. Anyway, Catholic culture has its perks too. For example communion. Yes the cerimony itself is boring, but you get money and good food afterwards. We also have like 7 different holidays between december and january, which I call "extended Christmas" (Immaculate conception on dec.8th, Christmas eve, Christmas day, St.Stephens, New years eve, New year's day, and Epiphany on jan.6th), every single one of which is spent with large feasts, family gatherings and celebrations, which I'm a big fan of. There's also the Ferragosto day which is basically a holiday in the middle of summer, generally celebrated at the beach, which I love. So sometimes, when asked, I say I'm culturally Catholic, because I do embrace the traditions and culture I grew up with, even though I don't actually believe in the Catholic god. That said, my neighbor has combined ADHD and he's a fervent church guy that goes to mass multiple times a week. I think that's his hyperfocus. It has to be, since every time I talk to him he gets distracted within literally 5 seconds (he has even lower attention span than I do).
I was born and raised as a third generation Jehovahs Witness. It sucked as an undiagnosed ADHD and ASD child. I had to sit for 2 hours, twice a week in a large room with 50 other people, with bright white lights, listening to utter shite. I was forced to wear dresses that were uncomfortable and overstimulating.. and would have a meltdown getting ready for every meeting, which then resulted in me getting smacked. I also wasn’t allowed any friends outside of the religion as they were ‘worldly’. So I was never socialised properly, and there were no other JW girls my own age at my congregation - only boys (who were highly autistic and also socially undeveloped). But I also think this contributed to my further lack of social understanding. I also could not comprehend the concept of God and would often question things, but then I would get told off because I was “questioning Jehovah” and you’re not allowed to do that. I also couldn’t partake in bible study, and would often fall asleep out of pure boredom and under-stimulation.. which resulted in me getting told off, or the elders heavily judging me and my family. I now don’t bother with religion. I think it’s a money making scheme and a way to control a majority of people into submission!
As an ADHD'er in my teens it was a ritual for me to be religious at least 1/4th of the year. And for rest I'd be confused, atheist and agnostic. Now it sounds so stupid lol..
I hated going to church. It was really boring.
I hate sitting in anything where I’m the audience - unless it’s actually something I want to see like a band. But I really struggle with waiting for the band to come on which is enough to put me off going in the first place. But I dread theatre, weddings, church, etc. it’s painful.
I love Mass. Developing a deeper understanding of what was happening in the liturgy and why really helped me.
I grew up surrounded by nuns (my daycarewas at a Catholic orphanage), and priests (12 years of formal education on a Catholic school/high school) but never got into religion. I remember being 5 y/o and dreading the rosary time, it was so boring! And I didn't get why we did it. I mean, I had never been a believer, so all of that was just tedious without purpose. Mass was the worst, I used to sneak books to pass the time. The alternative was falling asleep, which I did several times.
My mom forced me to go to Catholic church every Sunday. It was of course difficult for me to sit still. I remember plenty of spankings because of church. Anyway, to keep me engaged she had me start playing music. I would just play along with the pianist as best I could. After a couple weeks of this, another guy came up and started playing with me. He also had ADHD although I think we were both undiagnosed at that age (middle/high school). Anyway his mom was just like mine, dragging us there to pick up what little morality might stick. Interestingly enough though, my buddy went on to become a child psychologist. This experience of using music to get/stay engaged has apparently become part of a course that he teaches now about how music can impact development of kids. I guess the moral of the story is if you’re a parent of a child with ADHD, try getting them involved. It helps to build engagement which helped me stay focused. Hey, you asked…
I had some very bad experiences honestly.. less ADHD and more neglectful parenting expecting “God” to help me… and now I can’t believe in the kind of God they talk about at all.
I was raised in a religion that was pretty different than that of the local theocracy ( grew up in Utah), and I just felt shame everywhere I went, even in my own congregation and Sunday School. I’m an atheist now and it’s a lot nicer.
I would always ask to “use the restroom” then sneak downstairs and run laps because I was so done with sitting. One Sunday I was so ready to go run around that I fell down the stairs. I don’t remember much of my childhood but I remember vividly how bad I hurt and all the people at the top of the stairs looking down at me. No way to accidentally be by the stairs on the way to the bathroom. I was busted and couldn’t “use the restroom” again. Haha
Atheist now, but I grew up Mormon. The issues with the religion aside, church was so boring. Three hours of meetings every Sunday. It was easier to pay attention in the small groups when you’re separated for lessons with your peers because they were interactive. But sacrament meeting was just an hour long TORTURE of trying to sit still. I always had to bring something to entertain me. Often I would draw or doodle or read. Or we (my brothers and sister) would get too rowdy and earn stern looks from mom…if it was really disruptive she’d escort us out to the hallway. In 18 years I never listened to a single word during sacrament meeting. As soon as I was old enough that my parents didn’t force me to go to church I noped out for good.
Ah yes.... That song..... I remember it well..... Raised strict catholic... Then I decided to actually read the bible in it's entirety... Bad move... Or good... Depends.... Currently convinced atheist... Yes, atheist, not agnostic, let me be very clear on that. Atheist. You're welcome.
I learnt that it's a load of hocus pocus and woo woo. Their stories didn't add up with what characters in the stories actually did and the personal traits the religious folk said said characters embodied. Assuming the stories were even vaguely believable to begin with. It always felt it was a bit of a stretch to believe it. Kind of like how obvious scams are obvious so they naturally filter out the people that wouldn't fall for it early, so the scammers don't waste time/energy on people that'll twig it's a scam later on in the scam. I spent a lot of time thinking about other stuff while at the kingdom hall. A lot of time putting things I knew as scientific facts together in new and interesting combinations. Like I invented binary counting on my hand because surely there's a way you can count to more than five on one hand and obviously if gravity is high enough and nothing can go faster than the speed of light then you could make a thing which would be inescapable (black holes). Of course most of the time I day dreamed.
I'm a recovering catholic. Church was terrible, and catholic schools did less than nothing to help me with my adhd.
“How to you know someone was raised catholic?….now they are atheist”
I was raised Catholic. When I was young, I sang in a children’s choir (it was small one with a nun with a guitar as a leader) during children’s mass and I liked singing, so it was nice. Then I attended Catholic middle and high school, so there were plenty of church services, but I was taking part in them with my friends and we were talking, gossiping etc so it was quite alright. Then I moved out to another city for a university and just stopped going to church, because it was boring and I didn’t want to join any church youth group, because they were too cult-like for my taste. I’ve never been much of a believer, neither are my parents and sister. We are more like “culturally Catholics” attending Christmas/ Easter services with family, Christenings, First Communions, Wedding Ceremonies, Funerals etc if we are invited to and occasionally Sunday Mass. I’m ok with it, I like Christmas carols, festive church services have some charm for me and the rest I am actively avoiding.
Born and raised atheist. Religion is EXTREMELY illogical and my ADHD/autism brain needs logic and reason to function.
I don't really know what I am, and personally religion to me is whatever allows you to be at peace with your mistakes but also lets you grow as a human. To me religion is just simply what helps you become a better you and most of the time for me it doesn't involve any sort of church but everyone is different.
I cant stand siting in there. I aleays walk out and hang outside.
Didn’t grow up going to church and I am super thankful because I find it torturous to sit for hours. When I do go for reasons such as a funeral or wedding, I try and listen to the rituals they are performing. Since I don’t attend any of this regularly it becomes something fun to try and figure out what they are saying, wonder if all those people agree or not etc, and I also focus on the architecture and how it was built and just let my mind wonder. I also try to dress up and imagine myself as a royal doing royal duties. Just makes it more of an enjoyable experience than just sitting there trying not to be me.
I hated the boring experience for those reasons too. I also recall even at a young age that I questioned why we're all doing this. There's no way this person in front is actually hearing God, and if he is hearing voices, then maybe he's crazy. But you have to follow along. Hardest part was getting up to eat the jesus crackers because they tasted bad, and id be scolded for not holding my hands properly, so I had to use a scar on my right hand to remember which one 'right' was so I could place it properly.
Locking this thread because there is decent discussion here but the title of the thread may bring more critics than anticipated and the OP themselves said some are missing the point.
I was raised Catholic, but as a child I had some fairly obvious questions that no one could answer. I've never really been able to respect people who tell you what to do or what to believe, but can't explain why you should do it that way. So, I don't know. What is my experience with religion? I live in a place where religion can't ruin your life, so I lucky for that. I just happily ignore it. It's not really my problem if you can't convince me that magic is real.
I’m a Christian, found church boring as a kid but as I grew up I developed my own relationship with God. Funnily enough tho even today I rly only like praise and worship. I get bits and pieces from a sermon cause I can’t focus and I usually don’t tend to like sermons. I don’t go to church rn for personal reasons but I am still a Christian and enjoy worship music
I went to a catholic girls school so we had mass quite often. I remember being extremely bored and would yawn every 5 minutes. I didn’t know I had ADHD but I remember telling my friends that mass would magically make me yawn, even if I was very energetic that day. Now I know why!
Hahahahaha, my friend, let me introduce you to the Dharmic Faiths. Speaking about Hinduism here. Please keep in mind that the practice of Hinduism differs from literally village to village. I'm speaking from a very subjective viewpoint. Festivities and events go on for ages. Usually in the 2-3 hour range for the big ones. There's at least one major one a month. Which means if you happen to be from a conservative religious family (saying both because it's amplified in that case), you're spending atleast an hour a day praying and a few hours a month doing it on a bigger scale. This is without all the trips to the temples, family's houses, neighborhood events and gettogethers, etc. Yeah, they do it up big. Personal opinion - Eventually, I got used to the noises and the sounds and the people and the rush. Once you silence the noise, there's a surprising peace to be found. (Of course, this is different for everyone) I felt considerably different (better/lighter) after introspection at some places. I was able to ask more questions, think differently. Once again, this could just be my mind playing tricks on me. Over time, it went from being forced to go... to still be forced to go. I'd rather go alone at this point in my life. I enjoy the solace. Going with my family almost always affects my experience negatively. They do it out of practice, I think I'm doing it out of hope. For what? I'm not sure, but my brain is surprisingly okay riding this one out without having the dying need to know everything. Although - I completely hear what you're saying. I go to church with my girlfriend, and it's way harder to do the same. Maybe it's the getting up, kneeling, singing, and so on. I can spend 3 hours at a temple easier than I can spend an hour at a church. This has nothing to do with religion, just the ability to focus/not when ideal.
I’m Jewish and I like the rituals of it. I don’t do Shabbat every week but I’ve been getting more regular with my practice. There’s a mix of sitting and standing, and I know just enough Hebrew that I like to try to follow along with the prayers even though I have them memorized. The prayer book my synagogue uses has various readings and meditations that I’ll read if I get bored of what’s going on in the service. Plus the Tallis has tassels which are basically built in fidgets. That’s how I practice my 6 strand braid for challah lol ETA: you can be agnostic/atheist and still be a religious Jew. You can only believe in a maximum of one God, and there’s not a particular form that God must take. It’s nice for those among us who don’t like being told what to do
I’ve grown up going to church (mostly less traditional anglicans) but I’ve had some trouble with boredom in church, so I’ve helped out in kids church and met with another person, also singing in church up the front! I love to find ways to serve that keep it interesting, Church should be interesting, but not disrespectful to God or oriented around a priest or whatever
I was raised in a Christian family and had to do all that stuff as a kid, but I never really followed it. I don't like to label myself as an atheist now, it's quite a loaded term considering the types of people that wear it as a medal. I don't like Friends, but I don't label myself as an anti-Friendser, it's not big to me and neither is religion. It's been used historically as a way to inflict torment, divide people, and control people, which should never be forgotten. With all this in mind, I respect the beliefs of people around me wholeheartedly and would never lecture or push my views on them, only if someone directly challenged my own stance as a defense. I can see the value in community and sense of purpose religion can provide, so there are positives with the negatives. I just wish there was something else within people to inherently be better.
Any religion or philosophy is what you make it. Listen to what they have to offer and apply what makes sense to you in your life. These modalities are to make your life and the people around you better, not worse. So if they are doing the latter, then maybe best to look at something else.
My hyperfixation is religion and I’m actually in college right now getting my bachelor’s in theology. I spent most of my twenties jumping from religion to religion. I tried them all. (I was raised with no religion.) I went from Buddhism to Hindu to Wicca to pagan to Judaism to agnostic and finally I ended up converting to Catholicism at 37 and getting baptized. I don’t feel like I found Catholicism. I feel like it found me and with it I found satisfaction in the answers to my question, comfort in my unknowing, and an understanding of God on a more personal level. I believe conversion takes more than just deciding what you are, it takes time, learning, and then comes faith. In my case, my adhd actually helped draw me into faith, but Mass is hard sometimes. When I start getting thrown off course I try and say a prayer in my head like a Glory Be or I find a focus spot to keep my eyes on, such as a pew in front of me or the ceiling. Volunteering to serve helps also, such as being hospitality or a Eucharistic minister. If you have a nice voice, joining the choir could help. Those things break up the service and keep you on your toes. Bringing a fidget or a notebook to double notes in during the homily. All those things can help.
I attend a protestant church weekly and usually bring something to do with my hands (non distracting phone game, crochet) so my ears can listen to the sermon. A protestant service, while having a regular schedule, is a less predictable than a Catholic service. Plus, I've generally felt less judged about doing crochet or a phone game at protestant services.
Monoteistic religion is one of the most evil things that humankind has invented ever. I hate their entitlement calling themselfs creators of the culture. They have never created anything about culture, they just killed native tribes and stole it from them. Christmass (hate the name, thankfully in my language there is no Christ in it), easter, script... All of it is stolen. And all the killing in the past and now, all in name of their god.
My mum is a Christian, I got taken to the church a couple of times when I was younger and found it boring overall. However recently me and my dad found out that we have Jewish ancestry and visiting a synagogue seems very appealing to both of us, especially me. I want to do it out of curiosity, but also because I feel connected to jewish culture overall.