Asklemmy

Zen Buddhist. I grew up Christian, realized I was believing out of obligation rather than genuine conviction, but also I'm pan and Christians have made it very clear that's not okay with them.

I was areligious for awhile. Which I use because I am still an atheist; I don't see much evidence for gods, but that isn't important to Buddhism.

I appreciate the Buddha's teachings and find them incredibly helpful. I'm calmer, more focused, and over all, happier for my practice. It gives me a spiritual outlet that doesn't make me feel "dirty" the way Christianity did.

There are aspects to Buddhism that I have to take on faith even though I am otherwise a skeptical individual. But ultimately, those things don't change how I would have had to live my life. And I believe that a true practitioner needs a balance of logic anf faith: too much logic, and you kill your faith. Too much faith and you wind up in a cult. You need enough logic to stay grounded, and enough faith to believe. But you have to acknowledge that you can rarely prove the things you take on faith and because of that, there will always be non-belivers, and that has to be okay.