From Roman Catholicism, my father, who first converted, converted my mother, my grandmother, and my cousin to Baptist Protestants. I was in high school; I believed in science and did not convert. My little brother started in the kiddy section of the Protestant church. Such is why he is different from me and my elder brother who both had nominal Catholicism for at least a decade. My elder brother, who also believed in science, stayed away from the religious strife that my family was having. I went to Protestant church with my parents, but felt alien in there. Such is my confession. Statuettes of Buddha from my Philippine and Canadian childhood attracted me to Buddhism. My interest in biology was my natural inclination towards Animism since childhood.

Shintō and Dào are Animisms, with ideas tending towards panpsychism or pantheism, respectively the mind-like aspect or the god-like aspect, at some level, in everything.

What's your religion, Cassandra?" "Sheela, I think I tend towards Animism, like Shinto or Daoism."

In Animism, there is credence in ubiquitous spirit entities pervading the totality of Nature.

Islam supplanted Christianity and animism in North Africa.

I do not dismiss the many forms of Animism, including Shinto and Dao, as well as other Native around this world.

Some people think that I am more of an Animist-Buddhist. Animism may be more scientific, and Buddhism more artistic, they might categorize.