Are you religious?

simplephysics · 10-06-2009, 01:13 PM

I practice a little Bokononism on the side.

WWWP · 10-06-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreadnaught

i practice a little bokononism on the side.

simplephysics · 10-06-2009, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolverinewolfweiselpigeon

that reminds me, I believe I owe you something.

WWWP · 10-06-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreadnaught

that reminds me, I believe I owe you something.

Oh yeah. No rush though, I'll be here all day.

NumberNineDream · 10-06-2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolverinewolfweiselpigeon

But to get away from ranting more about Mormonism, as I grew older I still considered myself a Christian because, like nonsubmissivewife said, my sole basis for following religion was fear. Not until the last couple of years did I allow myself to really question my beliefs. One day I just kind of realized that I don't believe in god. I don't believe in heaven and hell, and I definitely don't believe that "truth is determined by our feelings" (that's a fundamental Mormon belief for those of you who didn't know).

To summarize, I am an atheist.

The first 7 years of my life I didn't even know there is something called "God", cause I was in a laic school [and I'm not aware of my parent's religious activities in this time].
Then I got transfered to a a Catholic school, and because I wasn't aware of God it made me feel like a sinner. So I made everything a good Christian would do, I even made a praying corner in my room with candles and everything. And it did become this kind of God that won't let me be afraid.

But with time, and being in the middle of the Christian hypocrisy I just noticed how meaningless it is. Maybe if I transfered back from the catholic school I would still be a believer, but being in the middle of it just made me sick.

SATCHMO · 10-06-2009, 01:38 PM

I chose self-defined.

I am a very spiritual person and very knowledgeable in the practices scriptures and beliefs of most of the worlds major religions, both eastern western, as well as New Thought based. I practice my own faith very actively, which includes prayer, meditation, and other practices that I can only collectively describe as shamanic in nature.

The foundation of my belief system is Judeo-christian simply because I believe that the interpersonal dynamic between the self and what is perceived as a guiding higher power, aka a spiritual father, is very conducive to spiritual and personal growth and insight. I did try living a fairly orthodox christian lifestyle for a while, which even included doing missionary work, but I came to find out that Christianity was a religion that I couldn't practice with the degree of intellectual honesty necessary for me to thrive and grow in such a religion.

I also disagree with most of the main tenets of Christianity as they are defined by the Nicene Creed, so I can't rightfully call myself a Christian, or at least i can't in the eyes of mainstream Christianity. Despite this I feel like I have a genuine understanding and relationship with Jesus as being both a prophet and a shaman, and I do try to live my life by his example and teachings.

I think the primary problem that we run into, or at least I do, from both the theistic and atheistic side of the debate is the perception of god being an entity, or an object that exists in time and space outside of our selves. I believe god is essentially the greater whole to which we and everything in existence are a part of. I also believe that god primarily exists as an aspect of our consciousness, our super-consciousness, and it's the practice of prayer, meditation, or whatever ritual or aesthetic lifestyle one may happen to be engaged in that allows us to tap into that part of our consciousness and develop as human beings.

I don't particularly entertain the big questions such as "Who created the universe?", "why is there evil/suffering?" "Is there a heaven/hell?", because I don't believe there will ever be adequate answers to these questions and I also believe these questions depict god as being an autonomous and independently judgmental entity. "He" is, in fact, only a greater extension of our selves and the universe at large, not that there's any difference between the two.

adidasss · 10-06-2009, 01:49 PM

Born and raised into Catholicism, went to church regularly on my mother's insistence 'till I was about 21-22. Seeing as how I realized I was gay when I was about 17 this means I went through some 5 years of intense personal struggle: God vs. sexuality. I did what every good little Christian boy should and tried ever so hard to suppress my nature, failed miserably and wasted a whole lotta time. Then finally came to the conclusion that God couldn't possibly hate me just because I'm gay since I considered myself a pretty decent person "otherwise" and if he really did, this is not a God I want to worship. This meant I could no longer call myself a Catholic because I no longer followed one of its tenets. So I stopped going to church and wouldn't you believe it, started feeling increasingly better about myself with each passing day. Then I started thinking how if the Bible is wrong on this one thing, who says it isn't wrong about a whole lotta things...and then it just all started to sound pretty fishy to me so I stopped paying it much attention.

I still believe in a (benevolent) God or what have you and an afterlife, just not sure that the only way to get there is by believing in JC or that the Bible has very much to do with his Word. I believe I'm here to learn something and I'm trying to let the "invisible force" lead me to that knowledge. And I strongly believe everything happens for a reason. I guess I'd fall under agnostic?..:\

Astronomer · 10-06-2009, 03:37 PM

I chose 'self-defined' because I think I'm spiritual on some (small) level and I have certain beliefs about the world and life which don't really fit into any religion. But then again I'm not sure if I would fall under self-defined or agnostic or something else.

As a child I was raised as a Catholic but never really believed any of it, and my parents aren't overly religious anyway. I don't really know what I think about the meaning of life and religion and all that - I think that there is some kind-of God or superior force out there which explains why we're all here and what we're doing, and believe that there is some kind-of afterlife. But that's pretty much as far as my thoughts go and according to me we will never truly know and it will always be a mystery.

boo boo · 10-06-2009, 03:48 PM

Somewhere between agnostic and deist.

As in I believe that there's some kind of spirtual force out there, but I refuse to associate it with what other religions believe in, and I acknowledge that I don't truly know the answer to anything.

I try to be as respectful of religion as I can, because I can understand the idea. But it's really hard, so many fundies anger me beyond belief and can really bring out the worst in me.

stormjh · 10-06-2009, 04:46 PM

I'm an atheist, and tbh, alot of atheists piss me off, not all, just the ones who go out of their way to prove to religious people they're wrong and why they're wrong. In my book, that makes them just as bad as pushy religious people, except the religious ones don't have the same annoying smug attitude about them.

I think some people need to believe in something higher than what we are, and I think we should let them without giving them any **** about it.

View Poll Results: What religion do you follow?
Christianity	38	20.32%
Buddhism	3	1.60%
Hinduism	1	0.53%
Islam	2	1.07%
Judaism	4	2.14%
Wiccanism	1	0.53%
Other established religion (feel free to post about it)	6	3.21%
Self-defined	25	13.37%
Don't follow any religion & don't believe in deities (atheist)	68	36.36%
Not Sure, undecided, don't know or don't care	39	20.86%
Sikhism	0	0%
Voters: 187. You may not vote on this poll

10-06-2009, 01:49 PM	#27 (permalink)
adidasss Slavic gay sauce Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Abu Dhabi Posts: 7,993	Born and raised into Catholicism, went to church regularly on my mother's insistence 'till I was about 21-22. Seeing as how I realized I was gay when I was about 17 this means I went through some 5 years of intense personal struggle: God vs. sexuality. I did what every good little Christian boy should and tried ever so hard to suppress my nature, failed miserably and wasted a whole lotta time. Then finally came to the conclusion that God couldn't possibly hate me just because I'm gay since I considered myself a pretty decent person "otherwise" and if he really did, this is not a God I want to worship. This meant I could no longer call myself a Catholic because I no longer followed one of its tenets. So I stopped going to church and wouldn't you believe it, started feeling increasingly better about myself with each passing day. Then I started thinking how if the Bible is wrong on this one thing, who says it isn't wrong about a whole lotta things...and then it just all started to sound pretty fishy to me so I stopped paying it much attention. I still believe in a (benevolent) God or what have you and an afterlife, just not sure that the only way to get there is by believing in JC or that the Bible has very much to do with his Word. I believe I'm here to learn something and I'm trying to let the "invisible force" lead me to that knowledge. And I strongly believe everything happens for a reason. I guess I'd fall under agnostic?..:\ __________________ “Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle. Last.fm

10-06-2009, 03:37 PM	#28 (permalink)
Astronomer we are stardust Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 2,894	I chose 'self-defined' because I think I'm spiritual on some (small) level and I have certain beliefs about the world and life which don't really fit into any religion. But then again I'm not sure if I would fall under self-defined or agnostic or something else. As a child I was raised as a Catholic but never really believed any of it, and my parents aren't overly religious anyway. I don't really know what I think about the meaning of life and religion and all that - I think that there is some kind-of God or superior force out there which explains why we're all here and what we're doing, and believe that there is some kind-of afterlife. But that's pretty much as far as my thoughts go and according to me we will never truly know and it will always be a mystery. __________________

10-06-2009, 01:38 PM	#26 (permalink)
SATCHMO Al Dente Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Texas Posts: 4,708	I chose self-defined. I am a very spiritual person and very knowledgeable in the practices scriptures and beliefs of most of the worlds major religions, both eastern western, as well as New Thought based. I practice my own faith very actively, which includes prayer, meditation, and other practices that I can only collectively describe as shamanic in nature. The foundation of my belief system is Judeo-christian simply because I believe that the interpersonal dynamic between the self and what is perceived as a guiding higher power, aka a spiritual father, is very conducive to spiritual and personal growth and insight. I did try living a fairly orthodox christian lifestyle for a while, which even included doing missionary work, but I came to find out that Christianity was a religion that I couldn't practice with the degree of intellectual honesty necessary for me to thrive and grow in such a religion. I also disagree with most of the main tenets of Christianity as they are defined by the Nicene Creed, so I can't rightfully call myself a Christian, or at least i can't in the eyes of mainstream Christianity. Despite this I feel like I have a genuine understanding and relationship with Jesus as being both a prophet and a shaman, and I do try to live my life by his example and teachings. I think the primary problem that we run into, or at least I do, from both the theistic and atheistic side of the debate is the perception of god being an entity, or an object that exists in time and space outside of our selves. I believe god is essentially the greater whole to which we and everything in existence are a part of. I also believe that god primarily exists as an aspect of our consciousness, our super-consciousness, and it's the practice of prayer, meditation, or whatever ritual or aesthetic lifestyle one may happen to be engaged in that allows us to tap into that part of our consciousness and develop as human beings. I don't particularly entertain the big questions such as "Who created the universe?", "why is there evil/suffering?" "Is there a heaven/hell?", because I don't believe there will ever be adequate answers to these questions and I also believe these questions depict god as being an autonomous and independently judgmental entity. "He" is, in fact, only a greater extension of our selves and the universe at large, not that there's any difference between the two.

10-06-2009, 04:46 PM	#30 (permalink)
stormjh Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 161	I'm an atheist, and tbh, alot of atheists piss me off, not all, just the ones who go out of their way to prove to religious people they're wrong and why they're wrong. In my book, that makes them just as bad as pushy religious people, except the religious ones don't have the same annoying smug attitude about them. I think some people need to believe in something higher than what we are, and I think we should let them without giving them any **** about it.