I am not religious but I have or have had friends that are. I have one friend who is very religious (when she talks about it) but then she constantly lives a life that is completely counter to much of what she says she believes. I see it as a bit lazy/or easy to just recite from the bible or use generally accepted statements of belief to support a position. She even wanted me to get baptized so she could be my godmother. This was way back in high school. I was flattered but I had to tell her and her family that I would be doing a great disservice to accept religion without truly believing it. It would be hypocrisy at its worst... and I would not be willing to go into it half hearted let alone completely without belief. They actually understood this very well and were very grateful that I was honest with them. I never thought I gave them any reason to think I would become a religious person but I guess since I listened to them and asked questions they thought I was interested. It wasn't the first time I encountered an interesting religious moment.
I went to a private catholic high school after attending public school. My parents wanted a better education for me. I do not come from a religious family with the exception of one member.....so I was in for a real treat when I went to this school. It actually freaked me out. I was not too thrilled by all of the rituals. However, in my Bible study class I kept asking about all of the contridictions in the bible and how religious people square away what people say when their actions are the opposite. At one point the kids in the class got angry and were starting to pile on when the teacher/nun stopped them and said that I was raising important questions and that it makes people think.... which can in turn give a better understanding of how to interpret the bible and even can strenghthen ones convictions.
I never again had any problems in that class and even made many friends shortly after. No one tried to convert me either.
I am not a fan of organized religion, people should be able to have a personal relationship with whomever they want but the lack of thinking is not helping these people so I find the best way to appeal to them is to ask them to explore other views "from within". That can be from within their family, friends, church, denomination or other religious bodies - all should be explored in my opinion before trying to push their arguments onto those who are on the opposite side of the issues.
That is what I did without being raised in a religious family and I started this before I went to a religious school. I was trying to figure out how people have faith and/or "believe". I remember wanting so bad to believe in fairies and ufo's when I was a kid but I just couldn't get there. I couldn't say okay.... I believe.... and now I will defend that belief and see those who don't as uninformed or crazy or whatever. Couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it.
I feel like some people truly do not know that they can have a moral compass without religion. Some even know that you can have/develope a moral compass without religion and yet still be religious and/or spiritual mainly because some ideas naturally sync up.
= new reply since forum marked as read