Does it really matter if you choose not to believe in a religion?

I have a problem, I think that being part of a religion is too restricting, is there a religion where you can have a choice?? I mean like, you know how theres a bible, is there a religion out there where you can believe in somethings in the bible rather...

than all??

I have a great mind and I want to use it...I had these people come and try to threatern me to believe in a particular faith, or I was going to be dammed or sent to hell or some crap like that, I hacve a strong will to do what I believe but I would never try to change someone elses mind to believe in what I think is right, its wrong people were born with the gift of choice geez...but I want to find a religion based of these things

Choice
Freedom of speech
Intelligence
Love and compassion
I dont like the thught of having a religion based on a book alone, especially if its been translated

I think I'd just like to know, where people that have simillar beliefs like me are???
Seems we are a rare race, I'm not lonely, just wondering

If you're looking for a religion that offers those kinds of things, you might want to look into the Unitarian Universalists, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Mennonites, or to Eastern religions like Sikhism or Taoism.

Your other option is to seek answers outside the boundaries of organized religion, by exploring the possibility that there are no gods or spirits, but rather laws of nature and human thought.

LETS PUT THIS SIMPLE. VISIT JEHOVAS WITNESS!! LOOK FOR THERE KINGDOM HALL!! THERE LOVING AND COMPASSIONING

its called the relgion of the usa

option is to seek answers outside the boundaries of organized religion, by exploring the possibility that there are no gods or spirits, but rather laws of nature and human thought.

I like that

Sure you or anyone can choose not to believe - whether you believe or don't believe, both come with consequences.

Have you read about buddhism? Buddhists believe in karma and reincarnation and self power and enlightenment. This religion teaches you that love and compassion is a good quality to have as well as being self powering. It also teaches tolerance, forgiveness and empathy.

I don't practice a religion myself, but I like your ideals in a religion.

Good luck, with finding your true path.

Im not going to give you any religion to look at or anything all you need is god!! I am a very religious person but I don't follow any particular belief-- I just believe that god sent his son to die on the cross for us so that we could one day have eternal life if we tried our best repented when we sinned loved him and told everybody the good news!! and I believe that he rose three days later! I feel that religion is what gets in the way most of the time usually its just consumed wiht pointless rituals and meaningless words and it just puts your relationship with god in a box. God wants you to explore him. All that matters is you and god and building your relationship and building others relationships with him!! If you really want to visit a church I go to a non-denominational church- one that believes all these things wihtout having it be a specific religion that you have to follow. I hope this helps!!

god bless

jehovas witness is a load of junk. im Christian (baptist), dont be mad, but I think you should believe in everything the Bible says, and yes, even I question whaat the Bible says sometimes. but, I dont judge pple, just b yourself:D

Why don't you take a college course in comparative religion. That way you will get a taste of many different ones.
And there is also the possibility of NONE. As in Atheist.

I agree with mjax1979 and bimjob.

Understanding and knowledge...
ALWAYS the best way...

To tell you the truth, there is no particular religion where you can agree on parts of the bible.
Its really your choice if you want to believe in the bible or any religion at all. I don't know of anyone who would have an organized religion without parts of the bible missing. You won't be damned or go to hell as whomever said that to you. God loves us all, and our savior Jesus Christ died for us, and sacraficed his life for us also.
If you believe in the lord, and savior, you still have free speech and inteligence. Like I'm saying to you, its your choice whether you choose to believe in a religion or not. In my opinion, all religions have the bible and can't take pieces out of it. It would be hard to find a church with missing scriptures.
Anyway, god bless and my prayers are with you. Just remember, choose the right!! which means, choose what's right for you! not for anyone else.

well sweetie...my religion is presbiterian, catholic, orthodox and baptist... yes I have 4 religions...
every one of the religions Cristian , lytheran and others like maybe roman catholic... EVERY RELIGION is based on the bible.. anywhere you go. so you can't avoid the book of god. but I understand what you're saying.. you are wanting to express your self a little more and not face some restrictions which some churches have based on their beliefs. but you see we all share 4 beliefs. which are God, Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and The word of God, which every christian of any religion is supposed to study if you want to be accepted by god into his holy Book of Life or in other words heaven. Choosing a religion is a hard decision to make because of the way in churches.. like for EXAMPLE I go to prespeterian church because they accept, believe and pray on the holy spirit. but if I go to the baptist church they will look at me like im crazy when I start praying on a nother language.. but the bible says that you can't be accepted into the Holy book of life (heaven) if you Confess all of your sins that you've ever done... big or small. And pray about you being given the holy spirit which will bring you joy and happiness for eternity. And I've been happy for a year now. not a single day of depression or sadness. =] so may may be lord jesus the savior be with you and pray about it and in time god will answer your prayer and help you choose a church to become part of... =]

Of course it's fine if you choose no religion. Many us of have chosen to opt out. However, if you are looking for a religion like what you've described above, I'd recommend the Unitarian Universalists. You can read about them at http://www.uua.org/

Oh!! I forgot to add something to my previous answer, you mentioned that religions have strict rules, and, yes, some religions have strict rules where you don't feel freedom but, just think of it this way, you still are free to choose your religion or beliefs.
I can tell you, I was Lutheran, but, my family never practiced the religion but, as I grew older, and now that I'm 23, I did some searching for the truth since I was hungry for scripture and so, I'm in a religion that half of the population despises and criticizes and I happen to be LDS/Mormon and LDS stands for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have some strict rules but, they are helpful for those who either choose to abide by them or choose to break them.
I'm trying my best to abide the church standards and to be a good Latter-Day Saint Sister. If, I do something and I feel guilty, I can either choose to confess or continue to be naughty. So, in every religion such as my own, we all have freedom of speech and decisions to make on our own without our church leaders choosing. Yes, even though the rules might be strict in certain religions like mine, at least we have freedom to choose for ourselves.
I thought I would add tihs extra answer.

I think every religion has its up an down but I think you should investigate learn more about evry religion and choose the right one I read what kylin15 said about Jehovas Witness I think they are nice people Im not much of a religious guy. I hear people criticized this rligion a lot but these people can never prove what they siad they rather believe from other people rather then see it fo themselves. So dont criticized any religion Only the person actually in the religion can tell you whats good and bad.

Well, if you're in the US, Canada, UK, Australia or NZ, there's no law that you have to have a religion at all.

There's nothing wrong with using your own reasoning skills to figure out what's right and wrong, rather than cherry picking the things you like from an ancient book of superstition and propaganda.

But if you just want the 'religious experience' without all the dogma, you could check out a Unitarian church.

Believing in a book isnt the problem...the problem is which book you should believe in. Do you know of every book of every religion? maybe youve only heard f the bible. there are many books and religions out there. go try islam. our book is the quran but not at all like the bible.

I think perhaps you should look into a lot of different faiths. Despite what anaka says, everry religion is not based on the bible, only Christianity.

I suggest you read the Bhagavad Gita, if you want to have a different understanding of God. My favorite one is Bhagavad Gita As It Is, by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is a very academic translation that includes the original text, a step by step translation, and a commentary on each verse, as well as some pretty cool pictures. Interestingly, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to 'abandon all varieties of religion and surrender solely unto me'.

If you find that kind of thing too strong, you might want to look into Buddhism or Taoism. A good book for Taoism would be the Tao Te Ching, especially in the Stephen Addis/Stanley Lombardo translation.

I think the best thing you can do is just search, including on the internet.

P.S you like Einstein, he also had a lot of good things to say about Bhagavad Gita!

You want to look at the liberal sects of the religions... I actually go to a church where you believe what you want to believe... The bible serves as a teaching tool, but is interpreted based on time and place, and he is a little iffy on the whole Son of God thing, apparently that wasnt mentioned in texts till hundreds of years later, and so he doesnt believe in it. He also pretty much says you can be any religion and still attend the church... my point is, not everyone confines you...

if you want some thing really liberal, just become born-again christian. believe in Jesus, say a quick prayer, and the all powerful Jesus-love will take care of the rest. you don't have to be good, you don't have to feels sorry for sinning, or anything like that. just say the prayer and live the dream on Jesus' tab. what a great way to be...

You could try being a liberal Catholic.A friend of mine was this and his believes were very open.Very different from what you might think of Catholic as.I haven't done a lot of research on this denomination,but from the little I've read and what he told me this might be what you are looking for.