I was raised in a small, Southern Baptist church in rural Virginia. My church congregation took a fairly conservative approach to interpreting the Bible, so my upbringing was primarily based in this tradition. During the summer before I started the sixth grade, I was baptized and joined the Church after attending a session of Vacation Bible School and hearing a testimony from a member of my church earlier that year. I should also mention that while I was raised in a fairly conservative congregation, my parents had done their best to raise me to be open-minded and non-judgmental (but we can all admit that we often judge one another despite our best, or worst, intentions) especially concerning the beliefs of others.
Like many others, I started to have doubts around my teenage years. Sometime during high school, I came close to separating myself from Christianity, because I didn’t agree with the way that many people who called themselves Christians treated others who didn’t agree with them. I was also apprehensive about the origins of the faith that surrounded me as I was growing up. So started researching other faiths and I read texts from other religions. But a few years later, slowly and with God’s help, I began to look past my doubts, even though I knew that they would always continue to reoccur, and use them as a way to rebuild my faith and make it stronger. (I know this sounds a tad dramatic and clichéd, but this is essentially what happened.)
My religious beliefs today primarily lend themselves to the Progressive Christian tradition, but I don’t feel the need to identify with any particular denomination within the Christian faith.
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