Opinions on religion

My religion has multiple branches, and I was raised in the most... ah, I don't know what to call it. Loose version, I suppose? My branch adheres the least strictly to traditional laws of our sacred text, open to more interpretations, and tend to be much more assimilated with society at large. I have always viewed it as the most logical option - I get to practice my religion in a manner that doesn't isolate me to a small community and apply its values to my everyday life, whether it is in my family, friendships, activism, or more. However, some more conservative people view my branch as too assimilationist, or in a light that condemns us for deviating from tradition too much. I'm not a huge fan of that point of view, but I understand why keeping more to the laws of our sacred text would appeal to people, and I try to respect that.

1. I have a complicated relationship with the concept of God, and religion itself. I would consider myself more religious than my family - I come from an interfaith household and was raised culturally but not necessarily religiously according to my father's beliefs, but it matters more to me than it does to him. I try to celebrate more holidays, keep practices more, attend more services, etc. Thankfully, my religion (or at least my branch of it) is more open to being a part of the religion but not believing in a God, which is why I like it so much. There are other ways to practice that do not involve blind obedience to a higher power. We are actually encouraged to question stuff like that!

2. I have no issue at all with atheists! I don't believe in attempting to convert people to your religion - I find it abhorrent, actually. Like I said earlier, I also don't necessarily believe in a capital g God, so it's no trouble for me to understand the point of view of atheism. However, I don't like it when atheists start being rude to religious people or belittling religion. On the flip side, I don't like it when people are rude to atheists because they don't believe in a God. Respect each other's opinions, as long as those opinions don't do harm to people.

3. I would never be angry at my child for not believing in my religion or exploring other faiths. Sure, I might be a little sad if they wanted to convert, because I would likely raise them in the culture and practices of my religion, but ultimately I would want them to belong to a belief system that makes them happy, not what makes /me/ happy. I take mental health very seriously so if practicing my religion was making them depressed, I would talk to them immediately to see what we could do to make sure they were happier.

4. I'm bisexual and in my branch of religion, LGBT people tend to have a much easier time finding acceptance. However, I definitely see what you mean with regards to BL/GL readers being weird about LGBT people in real life. I've seen girls who squeal over m/m relationships turn around and treat lesbians poorly, and boy, that shit makes me real mad. I think some people are better about understanding and differentiating fiction from reality, but I have a hard time trusting cishets who claim to love "yaoi" (always a red flag in my experience!) because they typically don't actually care about the lives or struggles of real LGBT people. They only care about seeing their ~uwu smol bean gays~ and can't actually conceptualize us in same sex relationships in realistic manners.