My amazing family:

My dad, his family is from Poland, was raised Jewish. Once he was old enough to not follow every rule my grandparents set forth, he began to think outside of his religion and embrace those thoughts. Now, he doesn't practice any religion. He has never taught us about any religion unless we asked him questions about being raised Jewish.

My grandmother. My father's mother. Jewish, jewish, jewish. Remember that Saturday Night Live skit? The one with Mike Myers who played the host of "Coffee Talk"? That's my grandmother. My Barbara Streisand loving, Matzoh ball making, "don't talk to me about chutzpah", bubbe. My grandfather died when my dad was little. He changed his name during World War II because he didn't want to be known as a Jew.

My mom, her family was from Ireland, was given the ideas of Catholicism. I wouldn't say she was "raised" Catholic, as she never attended church, and did not practice the teachings exclusively. However, her family had Catholic ideas and beliefs. Now, she doesn't practice any religion.

My other grandparents. My mom's parents. Same as my mom. Had Catholic backgrounds, but did not practice the religion. 

This is how I was raised: My brother, my sister, and I: We were always taught to think for ourselves. If you have a question, ask. Read, ask, learn, form your own opinion and live. If you don't ask questions you are just assuming the answer. That is no way to live your life.

We went to church for weddings, funerals, and baptisms. We went to Temple for bar and bat-mitzvahs.  I also went to church for midnight mass Christmas Eve with my friends. I lit the Hanukkah candles with my grandmother, and attended Passover seder. Beautiful traditions, however the religious aspect of all of them I never related to. 

My brother has chosen to not believe in God. His choice. My parents support it.

My sister believes in God. However, she does not practice any one religion. She studied Buddhism for a while.

Myself. I have been to a Catholic church, an Episcopal church, a non-denominational church, and a Temple. I have decided that religion is not for me. I enjoy reading about it and don't mind hearing other people talk about their own religion. It isn't that I haven't found one that matches me and my beliefs. It is that I do not believe in religion at all.

I had a friend once take me to his church. Our freshman year of high school he was an atheist, he lectured others about his beliefs and tried to convince them to believe the same. Five years later he is born again. He now lectures others about his beliefs and tries to convince them to believe the same. I don't get it.

I read a lot. I read everything. Fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, novels, magazines, books, articles, a lot. I know that I am going to be smacked in the face with comments when I say this, ready? I could never base my life on only one thing I have read. Take that whatever way you would like. 

Every time I hear someone bring up God or religion as the basis for their argument... I cringe. There are too many people in this world to use religion as your reasoning. If religion is how you explain something to yourself, fine. But don't use it to explain something to the rest of the world. There are so many arguments about religion because people refuse to believe they could be wrong. That what they base their life on, teach their children, live for, die for, just isn't perfect. Leave the teaching to priests, preachers, rabbis etc. 

In my opinion, believe in God, don't believe in God, it doesn't matter to me personally. Just don't lecture me with proof, or quotes from the Bible. You aren't going to convince me either way. There are too many religions for only one to be right. Rather than limiting myself to the beliefs of one religion, I would rather think for myself and do what I think is right. Most of those who practice a religion do not believe ALL of the beliefs and ideas from that religion. It's pretty hard to agree with something fully. And if someone truly does believe in all that their religion preaches then kudos to you, because I am honestly too indecisive and too unsure to do so.

I choose to live my life as a good person. Of course I make mistakes. I do something everyday for myself, and then for someone else. Even if it is something small, it doesn't matter. That is how I choose to live my life.