# MBTI and (Organized) Religion



## Ardielley (Aug 4, 2013)

So I'm pretty sure this topic has been tackled before, but I want to take it from a different approach by attempting to find a connection between one's primary judging function and religiosity.

I'm an Fi-dom and religious in a more individual sense. My experience in churches hasn't been terrific primarily because it feels like the people in charge want everyone to think uniformly about everything, leaving no room for individual beliefs. I prefer an environment where people don't try to mold my belief system as it's natural for me to come to my own conclusions about things. It's just much less suffocating for me to partake in religion on my own.


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## Ardielley (Aug 4, 2013)

Interesting... this is playing out pretty similarly to how I thought it would even though the sample so far is too small to conclude anything.


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## VinnyCrow (Oct 21, 2014)

Nice poll. A very small vote sample thus far indeed, but I see the predictable pattern here, too. Can't assume things by MBTI, though; there will always be variation on an individual level.

Being INTJ, I voted "Te Dom/Aux - Yes." I am a Christian.


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## Ardielley (Aug 4, 2013)

VinnyCrow said:


> Nice poll. A very small vote sample thus far indeed, but I see the predictable pattern here, too. Can't assume things by MBTI, though; there will always be variation on an individual level.
> 
> Being INTJ, I voted "Te Dom/Aux - Yes." I am a Christian.


Yeah, it's very true that you can't assume. This is more of an experiment for me than anything else to see if there _is_ a correlation - so far, that looks to be the case, but that could definitely change.


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## Aquamarine (Jul 24, 2011)

Organised religion just don't go well with Ti-doms, we strongly value our freedom of mind and beliefs. We may come up with our personal conclusions of spirituality, or find that the lack of factual evidence concludes that religious beliefs are not true.


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## Kebachi (May 27, 2014)

INFJ - I had a hard time voting honestly, but I settled on independently religious as I'm agnostic and not an outright atheist.


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## sin (Jan 11, 2015)

Nice poll. I'm glad you don't have agnostic/atheist split as options since for practical purposes I find the difference to be insignificant and distracting. I would assume Te dom/aux are the least likely to believe in religion due to a lack of convincing facts.


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## Gibbo (Mar 7, 2014)

INTP, not religious at all. Slight belief in God at a much younger age but that all passed at the age of 14


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## GoosePeelings (Nov 10, 2013)

IxTP, I've never been religious and probably will never be. I'm still officially Lutheran, though.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

For some reason some people think that following a religion is strictly an emotional thing, but I have seen first hand many people who aren't emotional - some even extremely limited with emotion - being religious/following a religion/having faith. On the other hand, I've known some heavily emotionally driven people who want nothing to do with God or religion, usually because they had some bad experience (maybe a loved one has died, or they deal with chronic illness, etc.) and they blame God...Logically minded people would be far less likely to be effected in that way. The level of emotion someone is driven by doesn't necessarily relate.


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## Amphoteric (Nov 7, 2014)

INFP, nontheist, and fuck organized religion. 

I've never had a problem with those who have religious beliefs, but the hierarchy of organized religion just acts far too elitist and holier-than-thou for my liking, to the extent that they are completely out of touch with the people they claim to represent.


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## Kate Bishop (Feb 6, 2015)

INTP and agnostic. I was baptized and my parents are both christians, but I always doubted the existence of a god and thought it's pretty stupid to believe in something you can't prove exists.


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## Apolo (Aug 15, 2014)

Ti dom, and for the purpose of your poll I chose yes. Though in my opinion Christianity is more about developing and strengthening a personal relationship with God through prayer and the study of Scripture, I look down on mega churches, etc. 

But I was raised and grew up Atheist, and accepted Christ ad my savior in my early twenties after years of questioning, research, and analysis. At some point it just finally clicked and logically speaking I could no longer deny what all of the research I had done lead me to.


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## cain23_5 (May 23, 2014)

Ti
I went with the "No, I'm not religious at all", but that was with debate. I would say my answer is base mostly on the use of the words religious and spiritual. I have beliefs and I can even say I have faith in some aspects, but I am not sure it would be recognized as spiritual or religious from any other point of view. 

I guess I would define myself as a agnostic theist which translates into:
_There is some greater power out there and I'll be darned if I understand I thing about it._​


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## Consolidated Potato (Feb 2, 2015)

Fi-Aux and no to organized religion. I am independently religious/spiritual though.


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## LucasMull (Feb 13, 2015)

Very intriguing poll.


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## Pippi (Dec 24, 2016)

I deliberately keep my religiosity disorganized so they can't trap me in their BS verbiage.


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## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

Ti dom who doesn't give a fuck about religion, which seems to be the most popular answer by far in this poll.


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## Shilo (Jan 2, 2019)

Religious Ti dom. I question things enough to drive most people crazy and will sometimes apply my own interpretations, but I'm a believer. I'm very interested in mysticism and trying to understand the whys. I honestly believe that removing a higher power from the equation leaves me with many more unanswered questions.


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## Suntide (Dec 22, 2018)

Fe-dom, not religious, not spiritual.

I don't consider myself to be agnostic or atheist, either. My response to religion would just be N/A or "I literally don't care it all bores me to tears"


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## Aelthwyn (Oct 27, 2010)

I'm an INFP Christian. I have a lot of issues with what I call 'church culture', but that's different from Christianity in the sense of the beliefs and actions the Bible says we should follow (which boils down to Love God, Love other people, ask God to forgive you and help you be a better person). I did like the one church I grew up in for the most part, but since moving away from that area I haven't found another one. I'm not really one for structured religious traditions and rituals. Christianity is really about having a relationship with God, it's not all the cultural trappings that happen to be tacked onto the beliefs - in many ways those change over time and in different places. 

My issues with Church in America are:
- I dislike the pressure to be at church every time the doors are open with the underlying judgemental attitude that you must not love God as much if you're not there all the time. Prioritizing God is different from prioritizing Church Functions. And can I say that the trend to have in-home "small groups" during the week has just added another scheduled obligation, but hasn't (for me) resulted in the intended comfortable-for-shy-people, family setting, it's just been a lot of extra feeling awkward. 

- I have the same problems connecting with people at church as I do connecting with people anywhere else - I'm not 'normal', I dress odd, I'm really into fantasy and sci-fi but am out of touch with modern culture in many ways (even geek culture). And sadly, church culture tends to be pretty uncomfortable with people who aren't 'normal'. 

- I really really cannot stand guitar & drums band style music, it grates on me and makes me feel tense. Soooo the prevalence of Worship Bands is a problem for me. It is painful to sit through, it doesn't inspire a feeling of worshipfullness, and makes me want to come late so I can miss it (which can be a problem finding a place to sit then, and sometimes people think you're being rude coming late, or worse think it's a reflection of your relationship with God. :dry: ) Some churches do have 'traditional' services with old hymns like I like, but they are usually the earliest possible service, which brings me to my next issue with church....

- I am not a morning person, I'm not lively and cheerful until well into the day (like dinner time), so getting up early for church every weekend is a big chore and I'm just not going to be up for gregarious greetings from others and singing enthusiastically with a noisy worship band - it's just not a good worshipful experience or good time to connect socially for me. I'd enjoy it more if it wasn't at a bad time for me. And yes, there are some churches that do have evening services, but they are always the most raucous worship band version geared towards the trendy teenage crowd, which is sooo not me. 

- sermons are often looooong, and while I don't generally have trouble with paying attention to long things, church chairs are usually not very comfortable resulting in fidgeting and back strain. And they tend to add more things before and after the sermon too. I find myself often feeling like I'd really get more out of it most of the time if they could make a short to the point message to walk out with at the forefront of your mind - one that doesn't get lost amidst a bunch of side-tracks and unrelated songs at the end etc. 

- On the other hand, there are also some churches that seem to just have the same few sermon topics over and over, which gets old.

- Unfortunately it's true that church culture has a tendency to feel overly judgemental and suspicious of others, which is quite contrary to how God wants His people to be. While of course God doesn't want Christians to approve of sinful actions, they often forget the lesson about not "throwing stones" when you yourself are not blameless. It's sad how often people are turned off from church by the self-righteous and judgemental attitudes of Christians who still need to work on that area of their life. It is of course important to remember that all Christians are still flawed human beings who struggle to be the kind of people God wants them to be, and that we are all at different points in spiritual growth. I know this, but it can still feel very uncomfortable and un-encouraging to go to church. 

Things I do appreciate about church are: 
- theological teaching, though I may not always be sure I agree about some things
- the wonderful feeling of praising God along with others (when that actually happens, which is much less so for me with my early morning praise band issues) 
- the prayer and other friendly support of people in a church - but some churches are more welcoming and family-like than others
- pot lucks and holiday celebrations


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## Sybow (Feb 1, 2016)

I have my own beliefs. Religion of self. I am the god of my own life.


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## Pippi (Dec 24, 2016)

The same applies to religion:


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## Janna (Aug 31, 2018)

Intp, not religious at all. I'd like to be if I could, but I haven't been successful.


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## isaac_a15 (Feb 14, 2018)

INTJ. I am a Christian although I don't regularly attend church. I have a few issues with the Western church, so I'm a bit skeptical to denominations in general. What @Aelthwyn hits the nail on the head for me as well.

On a separate note, I'm surprised at people saying that Te users would be the least likely to be a part of a religion. I would think it would be Ti due to Ti's not liking authority figures, individuality in beliefs, etc.


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## TricoFeathers (Jan 13, 2019)

Fi-dom and independently spiritual. The closest organized religion I know of to my beliefs (more or less) are Sikhs, love them to bits and their faith.


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

I’m a lezboterian, I attend st Lucifer’s 
Their version of the Eucharist consists of 8 balls and jack


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## JennyJukes (Jun 29, 2012)

Fe aux, grew up in a catholic family. Not religious. Enjoyed the whole going to mass/church and attending charity events and the whole general positive vibe but that's it. I prayed to a God when I was young but it was never indoctrinated into me, just a lonely kid with no-one else to talk to. I don't know if there is a God but if there is, it's not the one I envisioned when I was young.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Pippi said:


> The same applies to religion:


Except Paine never said this. Edward Abbey did. Thomas Paine was a staunch Federalist, so him saying this would be kind of odd.


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## Pippi (Dec 24, 2016)

tanstaafl28 said:


> Except Paine never said this. Edward Abbey did. Thomas Paine was a staunch Federalist, so him saying this would be kind of odd.


Damn, want to edit my post and add your quote to it, but too late to edit.


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## Pippi (Dec 24, 2016)

Anyway, I don't like religion being used to manipulate me, and I'm not clever enough to use a theological argument to defend against a manipulative claim, so if someone asks, I give them a smart ass answer.

I like some things about the religion I was raised with, but I'm never going to buy in wholesale now that I've let go of the fear of hell as a punishment for _not_ buying in.

I've also heard people say things to me like, "You were wrong to refuse to make out with me in line at the grocery store, because the Bible says women should be submissive to their husbands." First of all, dude wasn't even my husband, but moreover, I'd already told that jackass that I didn't believe in the Bible because I didn't like it being used to manipulate me.

Another person used to use variations of "What would Jesus do?" to try to get me to skip my college classes and babysit her kids, so that she could go indulge herself at the art supply store and thrift shops for the day. I fell for it at least once. :livid:

Then another time there was that woman at the grocery store who wanted to be where I was in the aisle, so I moved for her. But when I figured out which product I wanted, I reached over to get it, and she yelled at me, "You need to find Jesus!" LOL Hypocrite.

I even got some of it from my Muslim ex-fiance, even though I had zero heritage with regard to the religion and he was aware that I wasn't going to convert. He would try to use verses and sayings on me to get his way about whatever. But in his case, it was more fun to argue with him, using other verses and sayings from his own religion, because he's an INFP, and he enjoyed theological debate for the fun of it.


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## The Veteran (Oct 24, 2018)

I am an INTJ and I am a Muslim.


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## Folsom (Jun 20, 2018)

Fi dom, I don't believe in a God or anything supernatural, but I do like certain aspects of theism, specifically Christian theism.

I love the stories, the art, the archetypes, the choral music. The architecture of Churches can be awe inspiring as well. Walking into an old Church is like walking into history, a place where so much has happened. So many small details waiting to be found, created over hundreds of years.

But of course, there are other non-religious buildings like this, and religion isn't required to create buildings like this.


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## ImminentThunder (May 15, 2011)

INFP/Fi-dom, and I'm religious in the organized sense. I go to church every Sunday. I am Christian, part of the gospel formerly known as the Mormons. We're not supposed to use that term anymore, I guess. I had both atheist and Christian friends while growing up. All of us were cool with each other's beliefs, though, and nobody looked down on anyone. 

Sure there's stuff about church that grates on me. I wasn't raised in Utah, but I'm up here at school, and I hate the constant pressure from people to hurry up, get married to someone I barely even know, and pump out a bunch of babies. It's irritating, and for whatever reason I also hate watching other people do it. My long-term plan is to get out of here, although the mountains are positively beautiful. 

I'm sure that at least some see me as a black sheep of sorts. I have few qualms about swearing in my music, I listen to a bit of black metal, I'm not a particularly positive or upbeat person (apparently we are supposed to be), and I roll my eyes when people say crap like "if a girl wears tank tops I'm not even going to date her". I mean...are we Amish now or something? Come on. 

But judgmental people aside, I love church. Most people there are very kind, and I don't have trouble believing in what I can't see. My faith is an important part of my life. 

I also consider myself a theistic evolutionist - as in, I believe that God was the catalyst for the natural processes that we see at work today. I've gotten ridiculed from both sides for this belief, and it no longer bothers me. Who cares? I love learning about science, but it doesn't explain everything. I feel at peace when I am at church, and God has helped me get through some very dark places. So there's that.


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