To be honest I think that's most Christians. They all engage in cafeteria Christianity where they pick and choose what they want to do and what they want to believe.

I find it difficult to understand them. I have a good friend who talks about sin and is a 12 stepper who really believes that god is the 'higher power'. I've confronted him about it and he says it's entirely possible to believe in god and not be religious. I disagree with him.

Said another way, can you be religious, and not believe? Perhaps the person just can't find a discipline that agrees with their idea. ....but doesn't want to piss god off by saying they don't believe.

It depends on what you mean by “Jesus.” A god who came to earth and rose again? I would question why you would believe that if you’re not spiritual. But a Jesus who hand an interesting take on Judaism, flirted with messianic ideologies, and who apparently impacted someone who would eventually deify him, well, we’re pretty sure that guy existed, we just don’t know much about him.

As to sin, well, that would depend upon the creation story, which is incompatible with what we know about earth’s evolution. And here I would ask, “Why do you need sin?” We all ask the bigger questions about “right and wrong,” but at our everyday level, we know to “do no harm.”

God, heaven, afterlife... it all depends on how you define them. Do you do so against the backdrop of Christianity? That would put you back in the religious camp. But to consider the bigger questions, and use the term “god,” “heaven,” all that, as long as you’re not using those terms to bring harm, I see nothing wrong with it.

It sounds feasible to me that some people may feel that human organized religion is BS but they still want to believe there is something superior somewhere somehow

Those people annoy my nut hair. It's worse when they say Atheism is a religion. Oh, Jesus.

Define “religious”? I disagree with this site’s definition, which is that it’s a belief there is a god or gods who must be worshipped. I’m a non-theist lifelong Unitarian Universalist. I consider myself religious because of my commitment to and participation in the faith tradition.

I don’t think you can be not religious and still believe in jebus. I don’t think he ever existed and there isn’t any god, PERIOD!
There isn’t any proof of a god, none!
The more I studied religion the more I came to see that it is all myths and folk tales that never occurred.
I found that the Bible borrowed from Persian, Egyptian, and Babylonian myths.
The bible was written, re written, translated, added to, subtracted from. Some books were lost and later found.
None of the bible was written before 1500BCE. It has over 40 different authors and some events have two or more versions.
The bible is a poorly written book that most Christians haven’t even read.

Well I believe some people aren't religious. But they believe in god or whatever. I think those people are alike agnostics. But they believe in god out of fear. Cause being an atheist can be scary

here is what I think,

Religious: Practicing Worshipper, Regular Church Goer
Non-Religious Christian: Believer, but Doesn't regularly attend church and doesn't trust the New Testament as Cannonized, views Jesus as more of a individualized personal savior without a lot of details other than to be a good person and ask for forgiveness when one has done wrong (sinned).

I think there are a lot of people who were raised to have faith but who don't practice by belonging to a church or going to services every Sunday. Life is busy and sleeping in on Sunday is good but that belief system is still ingrained in them.

Liars?

Many people shun organized religion, or don't identify with a specific faith, and have beliefs in higher powers or what have you.

Dumb...

Too me religion is a construct created by people for control. Now control like all things has a wide expanse of intent and result. Not all bad. Humans need controls to exist in a healthy way. Automatic controls like breathing, metabolism etc. Voluntary controls like not attacking people, social mores to allow for positive interactions and protection for the least among us. Too me religion has two sides; community and exclusion. The first is good but the second that is were it all goes wrong. Humans need contrast to find meaning and the most vile form of contrast is the various ways we alter our perception of other humans as non or less then human. Right now in America many of us have chosen to do this in relation to immigrants from various Central American nations. Some use religion as a justification, other Nationalism. Can you believe in a God, Jesus, Buddah, Allah and not be religious? For me the more accurate question is can you believe in such things and not require others to share your belief? I think yes. Many ground level believers use it as a personal way to find meaning in a world that for the most part does not care about them. Religion requires a community of like minded people. Belief can and is quite often personal and exclusive to a person. Interestingly I have encountered what to me is the same level of contempt from both the religious and the anti-religious in relation to a singular believer. One insists their belief trumps yours, the other insists their reality does the same. Both I feel are wrong. Too me the real question is the result of ones belief. If you use it too inflict pain and seek control over others for personal gain then I think that is wrong. If you use it to construct a mental state to deal in a positive way with the world and ones self then I think it can be positive. A woman asked me if I believed in God and I replied, Who's? At the end of the day what you do matters. Why you do it is quite often very personal and if its based on belief in a God/Goddess etc. more power to you if you act with reason, thought and care and accomplish positive things. Saying you cannot believe without being dogmatic is like saying you cannot be proud of ones Nation without being a fascist or rabid Nationalist. Or you cannot take pride in ones heritage without being racist.

I do chuckle at those people who say "I'm not religious, I just have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

I believe that I am no longer religious. I take nothing in the bible book as real.

In my reading of the NT I see a man who preaches a more loving aspect of god than that which was orthodox at the time. When I look at modern day day religions which are supposed to follow the teachings of this man, I see deviations from his teachings, and bits and pieces added on.
So if I were to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ to the letter, I could still call myself a Christian, but would find it hard to identify with any religion. I would be able to call myself a believer but claim not to be religious. I would be interested to know if anyone knows of a religion, cult etc that could truly call themselves Christian.

Why not. Some folks don’t care for the organized kind of thing whose hands reach into their pockets while spouting hypocrisy. I can see people believing without being religulous. However, at that point, why bother? Know thy self.

As we are not born religious-we are taught the precepts.
And like a journey, one isn't there in 1 step. Individuals
are all differently affected to different depths/the same with
free thought. First you loose the building(affirmation of beliefs); then you clarify some facts - one way or the other.
People should NOT fear knowledge, so by learning about
religion and over time getting more understanding of how it
effected ourselves,we remove it's impact. I didn't have a choice in my early years- when I did ,I acted upon it.
And I still am.,,,good post
Thanks

Either way they are crazy as cut snakes.

Where exactly are you finding these extremely weird/confused people?

As they are both man made constructs I stopped giving this much thought a long time ago.

I believe in God but am not in an organized religion.

There are lots of non-denominational Christians out there. A lot of them perhaps, have had unpleasant experiences with the traditional churches?