Welcome, Student. You have had a fair number of predecessors and some of them have soured many of us on the 'my teacher or professor gave me this assignment to ask you these questions' thing; but you seem okay, so I'll take a crack at it. If you want even more answers, you can search our forum for similar threads from the past.
•How would you describe your own religious background and church involvement?
I was raised Pentecostal, my parents divorce when I was five, my dad is UPC (United Pentecostal Church) and my mom was Assembly of God, they were both Pentecostal denominations that emphasized a personal relationship with God signified by things like speaking in tongues; but the UPC was 'Oneness' and the AoG was trinitarian. I'm pretty sure that most members of those denominations are convinced that most members of the other denomination are going to hell over that difference. My first step-mother was Catholic but converted to UPC after a few years of being married to my dad, and converted back when she divorced him. My second step-mother is UPC and still is after her divorce, AFAIK. I was very devout myself until I read the Bible cover-to-cover twice and found little reason to think the Hebrews were getting any direction from an all-knowing benevolent being and significant reason to think they were making things up to meet the political aims of their priesthood and other leadership. The nature of their deity changed along with the tribe. Perhaps if I had been raised in a more liberal sect that didn't take the Bible so literally, I might not have been so shocked by what I found in it; but the Bible left me unable to reconcile Christianity or Judaism with good common or moral sense. I remained an 'agnostic' theist for a couple more decades after that.
•How would you describe God?
A 'capital G' god is an aware and conscious being that intentionally created the universe by an act of will.
•What do you think is important in life?
Integrity, which includes following the evidence where it leads when you are able to; the bonds of affection that we are able to form with each other; and the other things that make life worth living; like doing good in the world, health, art, and the beauty of nature.
•What do you think it takes to be straightened out (or made right) with God?
Even the people who believe in God can't reach a consensus on that. If it were to turn out that there is a real God, I would hope it feels some obligation to compensate us for what we go through and what we do given that it hides from us.
•How would you describe Jesus?
If he really existed, he was a Middle Eastern Jew who claimed to be or was taken for the Messiah, probably followed John the Baptist for a time and was baptized by him, had teachings that formed at least part of the basis for Christianity although it's likely some of the words attributed to him were put in his mouth, got on the wrong side of the Jewish ecclesiastical establishment, and got executed by the Romans. Like some other religious figures who died in a way their followers had trouble reconciling with their supposed divinity, rumors started that he was still alive or rose from the dead, and his former disciples ran with that story to preserve the new religion. I rather like peace and love Jesus, and I think wrath and hell and smite innocent fig trees Jesus was a dick.
•What are your thoughts about churches today?
Can't help but notice that Christians keep splintering into more and more factions; which means they need a lot of churches to represent each denomination's take on God, Jesus, and scripture. The ubiquity of churches (particularly in evangelical heavy states like the one I live in, South Carolina) is a symptom of that. I've also noticed many of them closing down or consolidating. Since the religious right has disproportionate power in the USA as a voting block to be courted by political and economic conservatives, I think that decline is a good sign that the desire of many of them to impose an American theocracy will fail.
•How would you describe your own religious background and church involvement?
I was raised Pentecostal, my parents divorce when I was five, my dad is UPC (United Pentecostal Church) and my mom was Assembly of God, they were both Pentecostal denominations that emphasized a personal relationship with God signified by things like speaking in tongues; but the UPC was 'Oneness' and the AoG was trinitarian. I'm pretty sure that most members of those denominations are convinced that most members of the other denomination are going to hell over that difference. My first step-mother was Catholic but converted to UPC after a few years of being married to my dad, and converted back when she divorced him. My second step-mother is UPC and still is after her divorce, AFAIK. I was very devout myself until I read the Bible cover-to-cover twice and found little reason to think the Hebrews were getting any direction from an all-knowing benevolent being and significant reason to think they were making things up to meet the political aims of their priesthood and other leadership. The nature of their deity changed along with the tribe. Perhaps if I had been raised in a more liberal sect that didn't take the Bible so literally, I might not have been so shocked by what I found in it; but the Bible left me unable to reconcile Christianity or Judaism with good common or moral sense. I remained an 'agnostic' theist for a couple more decades after that.
•How would you describe God?
A 'capital G' god is an aware and conscious being that intentionally created the universe by an act of will.
•What do you think is important in life?
Integrity, which includes following the evidence where it leads when you are able to; the bonds of affection that we are able to form with each other; and the other things that make life worth living; like doing good in the world, health, art, and the beauty of nature.
•What do you think it takes to be straightened out (or made right) with God?
Even the people who believe in God can't reach a consensus on that. If it were to turn out that there is a real God, I would hope it feels some obligation to compensate us for what we go through and what we do given that it hides from us.
•How would you describe Jesus?
If he really existed, he was a Middle Eastern Jew who claimed to be or was taken for the Messiah, probably followed John the Baptist for a time and was baptized by him, had teachings that formed at least part of the basis for Christianity although it's likely some of the words attributed to him were put in his mouth, got on the wrong side of the Jewish ecclesiastical establishment, and got executed by the Romans. Like some other religious figures who died in a way their followers had trouble reconciling with their supposed divinity, rumors started that he was still alive or rose from the dead, and his former disciples ran with that story to preserve the new religion. I rather like peace and love Jesus, and I think wrath and hell and smite innocent fig trees Jesus was a dick.
•What are your thoughts about churches today?
Can't help but notice that Christians keep splintering into more and more factions; which means they need a lot of churches to represent each denomination's take on God, Jesus, and scripture. The ubiquity of churches (particularly in evangelical heavy states like the one I live in, South Carolina) is a symptom of that. I've also noticed many of them closing down or consolidating. Since the religious right has disproportionate power in the USA as a voting block to be courted by political and economic conservatives, I think that decline is a good sign that the desire of many of them to impose an American theocracy will fail.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
