To the religious, do you ever find value in examining your beliefs?

I'm a seventh generation Universalist, Unitarian Universalist since the merger in 1961. We are charged with doing just that. We are supposed to be engaged in a continuing search for truth. We are challenged to listen actively and see if what we are hearing or experiencing contains truth. We are to test our beliefs.

This is not an easy spiritual practice as most human beings are creatures of stasis. Despite our protestations, humans like our little ruts and want to stay hunkered down in them. Challenging your spiritual position takes courage and energy. What many religions call a crisis of faith, we recognize as natural maturation as questions and experience show the fallacies of old beliefs.

Alley Cat sounds like he'd fit right in with us.

Yes they do, but only up to a point. As a Christian I decided to evaluate the core tenets of my faith in light of reason and evidence and go wherever it led. I decided that if Jesus really was god then there was no way my search would lead me from faith. However, the more I searched the more I kept coming back to "you just need to have faith". The more I heard that the more and more it came across, in my mind, as a cop-out, a trump card to be laid down against doubt when reason failed me. Within a year I was no longer a Christian. Within another year I was an atheist. I am convinced in my mind that the religious are afraid that they may be wrong and, while they may question things, that this questioning will cease whenever they reach a point where they begin to see that their faith really doesnt hold any water and will then take that easy out of "just have faith".

edit- to the responder who says they know they are right, such a claim is arrogant and ignorant. one who is truly educated is humble enough to know they might be wrong.

Constantly.

Your a religion troll and I want everyone to tag you and bag you. When we find your type, everyone should block you. Basically, you have nothing nice to say, so just go away.

Yes.

there's no value in thinking when it makes me stop believing in jesus' magic.