Religion: N/A

It irritates me when there is no option to opt out of choosing a religion on those "for the purposes of data" sections of whatever paper you just filled out.

I certainly can't be the only single person on this Earth to simply say (when there is no bubble-circling involved) Not-Applicable to the: "What is your religious denomination?" question.


But really. I don't see the big deal with having to choose your religion. I suppose I could be called agnostic, but, frankly, that assumes I've given conscious thought to whether or not God exists, and, while I have, it doesn't necessarily mean that I give distinction to the relevance of whether or not such deities exist.


I was born Christian.
I started attacking Christianity when I became Atheist.
I stopped defending Atheism when I became Agnostic.
I've quit trying to consider the existence of a God, and simply assumed that it is one of life's axioms that man is not meant to know such things.

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While one of the purposes of this writeup is to test the E2 waters (yet again), and, hopefully, see if this writeup lasts, I also am interested in what people actually think of a N/A religious preference.
Feedback, please?

Just because there is no "N/A" option on the forms you've encountered where you hang out (USA, right?) that doesn't mean it's universally so. Think globally, act locally!

One new data point for you and our esteemed readers:

In Germany, where I live, "official" forms, when they ask for your religion, give you a handful of "major brand" religions to choose from. After those, the final choice is: verschieden denkend.

Literally, this means "differently thinking," which hits close to freethought, which is an ideology fairly well aligned with Atheism.

However, the meaning in legal and practical terms is this: "I'm not an adherent of any of the above mentioned religions, and thus I claim exemption from Church Tax." Unless you're deep in Bavaria, German officialdom doesn't give a rat's ass about your religious alignment except insofar as it affects your taxation status. In a hospital setting, your religion becomes significant for dietary reasons. They're considerate enough not to serve pork to Muslims. Presumably, if things go very wrong with your treatment and you have no next of kin showing up, this option may also determine the denomination of the cleric brought in to give you the Last Rites or whatever else clerics do with dying or dead patients.