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Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I would like to try and discuss religious beliefs with all of you. I've wanted to do this for some time, since this seems to be what I can only describe as a magical safe haven of tolerance among the millions of other forums out there, and I've never truly found a group of people I can safely talk about religion with. So, if you could,  talk about the following things, and hopefully others will follow suit.

- Why you believe in it, or why you don't.

- How it makes you feel.

- Your feelings towards people who do not think the same way as you. 

- Your feelings towards people who agree with your religious viewpoint.

- Why you picked your religious belief among so many others.

- If you used to believe in god or whatever deity your religion follows, and then you lost faith in him- or vice versa (atheist to religious believer) then why did you change your beliefs? Was the transition hard?

- What do you think is the most important thing in most religions out there?

- How do you think religion came to be? 

(To the mods: Yes I am aware that this is a touchy topic, so if at any point it looks like it's anything but an intelligent conversation between human beings about a major cultural factor in our lives, then by all means, delete the thread)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

1. I don't know whether there is a creator, because there is nothing in science that disproves it nor in religious books.

2. I don't care whether there is god, as whether "he" is there are not, it doesn't make a difference to my life.

3. As long as they don't preach about it, it doesn't matter to me. If they are preachy I'll just avoid them.

4. I feel the same way as too a non-preachy somebody who has a different though about god.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

So, you're an atheist then?

Why do you think that it wouldn't make a difference if he existed or not? (God)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Agnostic.

A person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.

Is he going help me do something because I do x? He's the freaking creator of the universe, hes hardly going to bother with such petty stuff. Or kill me because I do y?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Reasonable view. How do you think most religions were formed then, if you believe that a god is so far above us that it would not bother to question and/or affect us? (as in, how would people come to know of him and worship him? How do you think all of these separate religions were created? Do you think that they all might be religions worshipping the same god, religions that all split apart from each other due to different cultures?)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Because they wanted something to answer the unknowns. How was the universe created. What happens after death. Christianity, Jewism, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions and share roots..

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I am not religious, can't really explain why, I just don't find any religion believable. It doesn't make me feel anything specific, that I could point out. I don't blame people for believing in these ideas, although so far I have yet to understand why they do. I do however tend to trust atheists more than people that are religious, simply because I don't trust the ideas they believe in. As a child, I was supposed to be religious, but I never really cared about it. The transition wasn't hard. I don't know how the transition could be hard, but I suppose there are countries more religious than mine so maybe it would be harder in other countries or with stricter parents. I don't find anything to be important about religion. Once it was a method of preserving order and all that, but right now, the law take care of that far better than religion does.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

When I asked for the most important part, I meant to ask "what is the aspect of religion that you find is the most important factor in the religion itself? (I.E: The after life, how people should behave, how to worship your god, etc, etc)"

 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

As in what is the main people that keeps the religion going? I guess the after-life. People are afraid of death, all life forms are. The belief that there is no death is probably very comforting for some people.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Actually the concept of at least heaven freaks me out. After 9999999999999999999 thousand days, you would be insane and would try to end this tedium.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I like the idea of rebirth, I believe it's mentionned in several religions and cultures, but i'll name it from the one I know the best, it's from greek mythology.

 In the underworld, there was a river called the river lethe, whenever you died and you went to the underworld, you had the option to jump into the river Lethe, have all of your memories erased, and then be re-born into the world as a baby.

I don't believe in it of course, but I find that it's a very nice alternatice.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

(More topics, yay!)

- Tell us about your beliefs, what they entail, what you like about them,

- Do you only believe in certain parts of religion? If so, why, and which parts specifically?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

My beliefs is that until any gods existence is proven, they are, to me, kind of like Superman. They are characters that people can find inspiring and all that, but that doesn't mean they are real.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

And why do you believe that their existence hasn't been proven? (keep in mind that I am an atheist, but I still believe that more than enough "proof" has been presented for a god to exist, I just do not believe in one because I do not find it plausible)
Most of the world believes in some form of deity that watches over all of us. It has been a major part of our culture and heritage for as long as humanity has existed, and it appeared separately into all different races who had no connection with each other whatsoever, which means that the religions tended to not be influenced (or brought into being) by another race doing it. 

The fact that it appeared so naturally within all cultures, and that so many people believe in it and regularly talk about "feeling" a god, would suggest that it is a real being that influences human behavior, no?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Because they want there to be a 'he'. To have all the unknowns fixed up.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Not really. I think it is simply in our nature to fill in the blanks. Back in the time where the blanks were bigger, there was more of "forming religion" in order to fill in those blanks. So in a way, it is part of humanity to create religion.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

The following is my side of a conversation had with Aman this morning.

 

Lol. I have my own tweak on things. I dont believe we have the right to label whatever it is. But I do believe in some higher power at work on the universe. there just too many variables. to much is left in complete chaos and without some sort of guidance I am pretty confident the Universe would have imploded into the 4th dimension by now. To a degree I am a deist/agnostic theist. I also don't believe in Heaven or hell (or at the very least that they are physical places used for reward and punishment). I believe in a soul and reincarnation. I also believe in a cosmic energy that flows through everything and connects the universe "The Force" (not literally but the same concept just without the cool powers). Essentially i believe in reincarnation, you come back til "you get it right." I believe life begins flawed. And that our purpose here is to set things right. I believe that there is inherent evil, I also believe in pure hearts. I believe some souls have gone mad in their time here and have lost their purpose, their way. For instance Hitler.

I believe in being good, doing good things, will in itself be it's own reward and move us closer to our ultimate goal. That goal maybe an existence like the Q from Star Trek. Where they are enlightened beings who are at one with themselves and the infinite cosmos (through multiple dimensions) And that being inherently evil will grant you a punishment of remaining on the mortal plain. Forever to carry out your fate of living and dying, living and dying, the ultimate suffering of coming back again and again just to repeat your torment, and that the only way to break that cycle is to move towards harmony/unity/wholesomeness.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Interesting beliefs, very nice. 

And what do you believe happens once we reach our ultimate goal?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I already stated it up there^

But to be specific. I believe our essence, our energy, becomes one with the universe around us. 

I think of it like this.

When a star dies what happens? Well we know from scientific observation and research that when a star goes Supernova it explodes matter in all directions then implodes and creates a black hole that sucks matter into itself. Well the same happens when a human dies.

When we are dying we try to send off us as many good memories as possible, since all matter is merely energy transmutable into various forms. (thermal kinetic etc.) This makes it easier to understand. Memories are an electronic signature of a physically significant time in a persons life. So a Dying human is expanding their energy into those around them. When they actually die (go supernova) what happens? Well doctors have dumped countless hours of care into them (work/energy) resources have been given never to be gotten back into their care (these resources took energy to collect and to give to that persons needs). Then the final viewing, the funeral. Everyone is gravitating towards this dead being (the implosion/blackhole reaches apex) pouring their emotional energy into the memory of that person, much like the universe pours energy into the blackhole *memory/scar of the supernova*. But because of the transfer of essence/energy the star lives on somewhere else in the universe and begins anew down the road. 

I view reincarnation and the afterlife much in the same way. (as confusing as any of this may seem.) In this explenation think of our souls as the star.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

So once you reach your ultimate goal, you start again? (I thought you meant that we were to achieve our ultimate goal throughout several lifetimes, and once we finally reached it, something special would happen. This seems like a description of most deaths)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

No, your energy just becomes part of the infinite, you reach harmony/unity with the universe and all things that inhabit it. (which is why I said i already stated it up above at the beginning of the post.)

My theory of reincarnation is explained in that post. I should have said "I view reincarnation like this not *it*

 

"I believe in being good, doing good things, will in itself be it's own reward and move us closer to our ultimate goal. That goal maybe an existence like the Q from Star Trek. Where they are enlightened beings who are at one with themselves and the infinite cosmos (through multiple dimensions)"

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

1. I am an agnostic atheist, which means I do not believe that gods exist but I do not claim to know this for a fact. I am not a theist because I have not found or been provided with any evidence (whether it's hard evidence, philosophical evidence or a personal religious experience) to suggest higher powers are at play.

2. My beliefs don't really make me feel anything. I get on with my life, religion rarely plays a part in it.

3 + 4. I tend to respect people if they question things and arrive at their point of view that way, regardless of what they believe. If they are blindly religious, or a gnostic atheist I think they're a little silly. If they are religious after testing their faith and exploring different viewpoints, or they are agnostic atheists like myself I tend to respect them a little more.

5. I didn't really pick a belief, rather I dropped my old beliefs.

6. I was raised Catholic and by the time I was about eleven I was starting to have doubts. I'd figured out Santa and the Easter Bunny weren't real and God was just the next step up for me. The transition was slowish and I felt a little guilty at first but by the time I was thirteen I had become a gnostic atheist. Shortly after I became an agnostic atheist, seeing as there's no way of disproving the existence of a higher power, however unlikely it may seem.

7. I think it depends on the person following the religion rather than the religion itself. For example, look at Christianity at the moment - some Christians are very charitable, some are responsible for alienating homosexual people, some are both, some are neither.

8. Animals are scared of danger and wish to survive. Humans became aware of their mortality and in order to "survive" their eventual death they created the idea of an afterlife. I don't know for sure but yeah, I imagine it would have been someone making up a story to explain something or whatever.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

*6

Same thing for me, except I was raised Orthodox. didn't really feel so guilty at first as I felt scared- extremely scared of what would happen after death. I think i was about 10 though.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

1) God has proven himself to me through Jesus' stories and miracles the lives around me.

2) My religion makes me happy. I dont always the rules though cause its hard and sometimes I'm in a bad mood but if I take the time to pray I normally feel better.

3) I dont mind what others say or think. Actually, I usually want to hear their reasoning and learn more, but that doesnt change my beliefs.

4) I find those who believe what I believe are....less troublesome. Usually they show they are to be trusted more. Im not saying i dont trust others. It just seems the people I trust the best have similiar beliefs.

5) I walk by faith and not sight.

yes i know i didnt answer the last ones.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Well, I'm not going to answer each question, but I'll try and explain my beliefs:

Firstly, I don't believe this world is real. Now, what do I mean by that? 

I, (and this isn't a view shared by all Jews) believe that this world, the seventh world God created, isn't an actual plain of existence. Anything that happens here, never actually happened. Now, firstly, this explains why evil can exist in this world (aside from just saying that God gave use free will) if nothing is real, no real pain occured to anyone. 

Judaism has the statement that in the end of days, many people will be erased. Sent to the abyss (not hell. Hel, is correctional facility, abyss is the garbage bin). And it will be like they never existed. Now, how can that be? If they never existed, what about the halocaust and such? That was all in our 'minds'. That's also the reason why some sins are punishable by thinking about doing the sin. It's all in our 'mind' anyways. 

Secondly, I believe that there is a creator of all things. This creator is neither male nor female, and yet both but not both. 'He' (andI use he since its generally how we refer to god, but inJudaism, God is also referred to as a female) has no physical form, and is just the embodiment of both make and female characteristics. (and, if you ask, why don't we refer to God as 'it', A) Hebrew has no 'it' in its language. A table, uses male adjectives, while a backyard uses female adjectives B) Calling something 'it' doesn't really seem respectful, considering how we use 'it' when referring to a creature as something disgusting)

I also believe that there are clear black and white stuff. Rape, is never good, saving a wounded animal from being crushed by a car is never bad for example. There is good and bad in the world, and I believe that there are no 'good' people in the world, nor any 'bad' people. (as in, no perfect person, no 100% evil person). All people have flaws, and all struggle with them, 

Now, why do I believe in god? Since I feel god exists. It makes sense to me. I look at my people, the jewish nation, and I feel that without a god, this religion should not be here right now. I've had life and death experiences, and I feel that the only way I survived was with God's intervention. 

Ill be honest though, I started to be more religious when I saw how horrible the non-religious I knew were, so I wanted to be as different from them as possible. 

Now, I have a very odd view of my fellow religious jews. There are some I respect greatly, and others I consider to be the slime of the earth. And, the same with those who don't share my belief. I was good friends with a Wiccan on this site,when she was here, and here belief is something most Jews would consider vile and evil. (of course, I disagree with that analysis.) I've discussed religion with atheists (Bo, my old history teacher) Cathlics (My old English teacher) that I've found to be one of my Favriote conversations, and I used their thoughts to improve on my own. 

Ive also experienced slime of the eart atheists as well. These are the types who don't back up what they say. Consider religious people barbaric, ignore the other side of the arguement. Don't know anything about the religion they are debating, but act like they do, are disrespectful to any religious person they meet, and are complete douchebags. Unfortunatley, these types of atheists seem to be more prevalent. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

If I may ask, what were these life and death experiences, and how do you think god intervened for you?

Also, your belief about all of this not being real, what then do you think happens when we die? What happens when we're born? Do you believe that this planet is simply our minds, and that our bodies exist on a separate planet? What do our bodies do?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

No interest in telling. Very, very, very personal events. (I'd sooner tell you who I am then discuss those events.)

I don't think there is such a thing as our physical bodies. They are made of the 'physical' in this world, not really something that exists in the other worlds. When we die, we 'awaken' and find ourselves judged by god's council. We then are either put into hell to burn off our sins, or we are sent back into this world. We don't have 'bodies' as we'd think of them. We are all 'souls' in my opinion, which are judged by our sins intake fake world,and then are sent into hell or back to earth. After a while in hell (depending on the amount of sins) we are then sent into heaven. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Hopefully our convos about the topic haven't been thrown into the negative category up there :)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

- I don't because I don't see any need to, why pray and put faith in an deity that (probably) doesn't exist? I rather put faith in my fellow man or myself since I know those do exist.

- Pretty Indifferent to it..

- They can believe whatever they want I mean it's their life not mine, just bother me with it.

- See previous answer

- N/A

- Unity as in unity in believers unity in life, the afterlife. Entering the heavenly plane, the kindom of God is basically unifying your existence with God's.

- Personally I'm unsure how it came to be, I think it's a way for mankind to cope with all randomness within the world and explaining it at the same time.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Agnostic atheist.

Religion was just never a part of my life.

As long as people are nice I don't care what their religious beliefs are.

I'd see most people who believe similar to me as rational individuals.

No one really picks their religious beliefs. It generally just comes down to what they're exposed to the most, and if they can believe it.

Teaching to be kind to your fellow man is a pretty important thing that most religions have.

Religion came to be to answer the meaning of life and sooth people concerned about death. Or if you're a pessimist, it came to be to better control people...

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I basically oppose all religion.  It's only benefit is perhaps morality, but do you really need a magical being in the sky to tell you murder and rape are not conducive to a functioning society? 

Let's take a look at the harm it has done.  Thirty Years' War: Protestants vs Catholics (3-11 million casualties).  French Wars of Religion: Protestants vs Catholics (2-4 million deaths).  Nigerian Civil War: Islam vs Christianity (1-3 million deaths).  Second Sudanese Civil War: Islam vs Christianity (1-2M dead).  The Crusades: Islam vs Christianity (1-3M dead). 

Religion tends to be the last to support equality.  The KKK is a Christian organization wanting to base rights on skin color.  Islam and Christianity don't support rights for homosexual couples.  Christianity and Islam discriminate and suppress women. 

A few examples of what the Christian bible has to say about women:
 
1 Corinthians 14:34-36 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
 
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

1 Timothy 2:11-15 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing.

Christians throw such fight over evolution that many schools in the United States just skim the subject or actually teach it as an equally plausible 'theory' as intelligent design.  My mind is blown by this.  We have proof of evolution! What do you call dogs?  Were there dogs on Noah's boat of incest?  Even if anyone didn't believe dogs evolved from wolves,  Dmitri Belyaev did us a favor by domesticating foxes starting in 1959 just to prove it all over again. Grey Wolves 'evolved' (I know selective breeding was responsible but it's the same process) into  toy poodles in only 30-40 thousand years, and there has been life on earth for 3,500,000,000 years.

Christianity believes the earth is much younger, I've heard surprisingly intelligent people argue that it is only 6,000 years old.  A long estimate in Christianity is 15,000 years.  Yes.  Many people really believe the planet Earth was created in 6 days by a magical man 6,000 years ago.  Suppression of science and technological advancement is another reason I feel humanity would be better off without religion.

I normally don't call myself an atheist because of the negative connotation.  I've actually had people ask if that means I am a Satanist.  Er.. no... I feel that I arrived at this belief fairly, having read and contemplated the Christian bible in its entirety and compared its teaching to what I know of our planet scientifically, from biology to physics.  I have looked for proof or even reasonable suggestion of the existence of a higher being and have found none.

(hehe, I'm in a novel writing mood today.  Stop posting such interesting topics in the forums so I can get back to work on my actual story!)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Don't know of you'd say that for all religions though. I mean, it's a rather big statement when you are mostly attacking Christianity and Islam. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Most atheists are woefully uninformed about other religions lol.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I certainly did not intend to attack Christianity/Islam/Judaism.  As I pointed out, they are the religions I am most familiar with and thus the only ones I can confidently say I find useless in society.  If there are any Buddists or Hindus who wish to explain their thoughts on the subject, I would be more than happy to listen and make a decision on those as well.  As far as attacking, I am merely pointing out how that I arrived at the decision that there is no god and that the belief there of is more harmful than helpful.  I feel the same way when discussing any other sociological issue like welfare, drug abuse, censorship, environment, or poverty.  I feel it is best to consider all sides to the issue before coming to a conclusion.  Religion is a bit more touchy, but an opinion is an opinion.  

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Of course not, I meant nothing about that. I was just pointing out that the blanket statement 'I basically oppose all religions' isnt the right statement when you know mostly only about 2 religions. Some religions are harmful, but opposing ALL religions is too big of a statement. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Let's take a look at the harm it has done.  Thirty Years' War: Protestants vs Catholics (3-11 million casualties).  French Wars of Religion: Protestants vs Catholics (2-4 million deaths).  Nigerian Civil War: Islam vs Christianity (1-3 million deaths).  Second Sudanese Civil War: Islam vs Christianity (1-2M dead).  The Crusades: Islam vs Christianity (1-3M dead). 

Religion tends to be the last to support equality.  The KKK is a Christian organization wanting to base rights on skin color.  Islam and Christianity don't support rights for homosexual couples.  Christianity and Islam discriminate and suppress women. 

The wars:

War is a part of human history, people enjoy killing each other, taking each other's stuff and conquering. the religious wars you named (and i'm surprised you didn't mention the inquisition, which enjoyed frequent heretic burnings) would likely have happened over other differences in beliefs or desire for territory regardless of the existence of religion. In many cases it was just one country wanting another's territory (happens all the time for non-religious purposes) or someone wanting more rights or freedom (protestant vs catholics, too many examples that do not involve religion for me to name).

Disagreements in opinions result in war because humans are stupid, petty, intolerant creatures, the fact that a few of these were caused by religion doesn't mean that religion is the worst possible thing to come to mankind- it just proves that mankind is intolerant of other people.

Religion was merely man's excuse to be brutal and violent, not the cause.

As for the KKK:
You have to realize that Christianity contains, what, a billion? More followers? You take a billion people and examine each and every one of them, you'll find a hell of a lot of fucking assholes. The KKK are a white supremacy group that tries and hangs on to religion in order to draw in more supporters, but that doesn't mean they are acting with the approval of religion in itself. Just because something is done in the name of god, does not mean that the god in question or his followers would approve of it (If you have a stalker who is obsessed with you, and he cuts off animal genitalia and mails them to you in admiration, it doesn't mean you like it, pretty much the same thing with the KKK). (I think that if there is a god, he would be shaking his head at all of us, and then just annihilate the world out of exasperation and start over)

The KKK is an extremely small percentage of the total christian population, and it was formed in a country in a time that was noted for it's extreme racism. it's a minority, and not a well liked one, it is not an accurate depiction of most of them.

As for women, keep in mind that religion was formed in a time where men dominated women (and no, not in the hot way), and sexism was rampant, it would naturally influence the religious beliefs of the time. Now, you might argue that religion is something that should have changed with time to fit new cultural beliefs and tolerance, but I believe that would defeat the purpose of the religion in the first place.

Religion cannot be blamed for the flaws it presents, that's just how shit was back then. People made the religion agree with the typical cultural beliefs in order to draw in more followers.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

"...but that doesn't mean they are acting with the approval of religion in itself."

 

Definitely not.

And may I point out Christianity is more than one religion?

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

It's more than one sect, I believe, but the definition of "God" to Christians is similar enough so that Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, etc. get lumped up together.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

You forgot Baptist and Protestant. And yeah theyre similiar but they arent the same.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

And the Mormons. lol

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

The parts that people complain/disagree about tend to remain the same in most of them. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Christianity actually is just one 'religion', it just has more than one denomination (Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, etc).  As far as saying those wars cannot be blamed on religion.. yes humans probably would have gone to war with each other anyway.  But that's like saying the reason you're not a vegetarian is that someone else will eat the hamburger.  It's just a way of justifying things.  Maybe we would have gone to war, but not that war.  And maybe if humanity had one less thing to disagree on, there would be less war.

Man you guys are picking my brain today.  I'm an atheist because I don't want to deal with religion!  I'm not posting any further on the topic for that reason, but it was lovely debating theology with all of you and I applaud all of your wonderful points and counter-arguements.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Just to clarify, i'm an atheist myself, I just felt like debating theology today. ^_^

And I completely agreed with the rest of your argument.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I respect your point but can you list all the wars started in history that were not religious, cos they will dwarf the religious ones.

The main issue is regardless of belief humans are pretty screwed up and in every society in recorded history there have been the worst crimes imaginable. We have basically proved that with our without religion as an excuse we are going to keep screwing ourselves over. Yes some people with false believe will ignore the tennants of their faith and go to war or do horrible acts, or even atheists using it as a tool to gain a following, but so will people without that belief- the problem is we hold up the religious person as worse because 'they should know better'.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I believe in god because...there's gotta be a why to physics.  If the Big Bang Theory is true, how and why did those elements get together in the first place?  Someone / something has done it.  Not to mention the coincidence that the Big Bang Theory has with a couple of Abrahamic religions in terms of how the universe started.  But if people don't believe, so be it.

It makes me inspired to do more good...

Depending on how strongly they disagree.  If I meet an atheist who thinks God does not exist for a fact, I take a more neutral stance (tell them about Agnostic people) before I talk any more about religion in general.  If it's a disagreement among different sects, such as Catholics and Protestants, everybody mostly agrees to disagree, and we move on.

I feel happy for them, and wish him / her to keep God in their minds at all times.

I stuck with being a Catholic because I was raised in a Catholic community (except for the fact that my pre-K years were spent in a Lutheran preschool).  I took a liking to it.

I think the most important thing is the promotion of peace in each religion.  I'm not appealed by bringing peace mostly to yourself like Buddhists, but I'm not inclined to think that peace should be spread out forcefully.

Religion came to be because of whatever bad times people were facing.  Buddhism began in India when the prince saw how much poverty were affecting the people outside his palace, and spread mostly during times of famine and war.  Abrahamic religions may have started off some time back then, and may have been treated a bit lightly, but their faith gets stronger and stronger after more and more hardships are faced and overcame.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

- I am a Christian, and I believe it after many many years of thinking about it and weighing up the options and how I felt about it.

- Easiest thing to say would be comfortable and happy. I don't have the same worries in life and don't get stressed anymore.

-Same as to anyone, I believe that anyone can believe anything they want so long as they are tolerant and respect other humans.

- See above.

- I've only studied 4 religions but  to me personally it made more sense and felt right. I know thats a fluffy answer but its all I can really say.

-I grew up with the idea I was Christian but clearly wasn't, then I went to agnostic and atheist for a few years and finally back to Christian. It was very hard and required years of thought and study. I did the thought and study due to clearly feeling my life was lackign and searching in many different ways for an answer to why.

- Almost all religions  preach some form of mutual respect and some form of morale code to live by. As a westerner I/we don't always understand that code but there usually is one that aims to improve lives for everyone. (I know some religions don't.)

- I obviously believe it came from God so I'll have to go with that. on the scientific side though there is alot of very interesting research into the subject of belief formation in cultures and how now a lot of westerners hold 'religious belief' in other things like money or even evolution and how it develops.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I am a atheist, because god does not affect my life at all, to me Christanity ( Yes Im bashing Christanity :P) doesnt really make sense. When you did something bad, they tell you to repent and pray, not say sorry or amend the person you wronged. And it says all you need to do to get into heaven is to believe in jesus, so basicly the atheist charity workers will burn in hell forever.       Kind of indifferent really.                                                                                                                                                                          I don't really care about other people's religious beliefs, unless they start making hateful comments on forums. Search up Landover baptist church.                                                                                                                                                                          In terms of people who do not believe in a god, I find myself tending to agree with them more

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

You must be around some pretty bad role models for Christians, if they're not apologizing to you AND going to confession for whatever wrong they've done.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Did you guys see land over baptist church forums? The website is a troll but the forums are taken seriously by the people there

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

They're batshit insane :P

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N25/normandin.html and http://acidrayn.com/2011/05/18/comparing-similarities-between-science-and-religion/

^ Those two articles kind of explain my beliefs. Overall I have come to believe that Science and Religion are essentially two different sects of the same belief. They each search for truth and knowledge in their own way and can easily blend in you mix them correctly. 

- I'd have to say it acts as a kind of fall-back for me. I search for similar things in science and religion(and there is a lot.) because a teacher of mine in the school I go to discussed religion with me. He showed me a lot of similar things in modern science and several other religious myths.

-No reason to be angry or disappointed with them. They have their beliefs and I have mine. As long as they respect other people and don't be violent fanatics then I'm okay with them.

- I can relate to a lot of people but it's hard to find people with similar beliefs to me.

- I have studied several religions before meeting ^above and he introduced me to a few more. I've been called a Christian before so I guess that would count. 

- Personal beliefs so N/A. ^.^ The transition was not noticed until long after I had left behind my original beliefs. It was hard at times.

- The Morality and sense of community that the majority of religions teach. 

- Basically because (for simplicity*) God* created science to create the physical universe. He* eventually formed us and allowed us to think. He also leaves a part of himself within us so that we may think. By doing so he allowed Good&Evil* to exist. We created morality to explain our actions. Said morality is just choices and because we can think independently we perceive different things to be a good or bad choice.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I didn't for a long time until after a death of a close family member. I asked for a sign to understand why these kind of things happen to people. I don't like to share the story but it made me truly believe that their has to be something more to this world than just what we can see and prove "scientifically"

It makes me feel encouraged when I am having a bad day and grateful when I am having a good one.

As long as they don't try to throw their views in my face I let everyone have their own beliefs and I don't argue with it.

honestly it doesn't make that much of a difference.

I was born into catholicism and while I disagree with many of their beliefs about gays and abortion and the such it's the message itself that I stand by of love and helping your neighbor.

I lost the faith for a bit but for the most part I still lived by the rules because that's just how I was raised. 

I think that pushing acceptance and hopes for peace is important for a religion.

St Peter started the Catholic church based of the bible and the church just grew and grew slowly after that until it became on of the largest in the world. That's not how I think it happened historically a man named Peter was a disciple of a man named Jesus who claimed to be divine and that is how the church was founded. Whether or not you believe he was divine is irrevelant to the history of how it started.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I believe in christanity because it has shown me guidance through my young life.

My feeling for other people who don't think the way i do i really don't care cause everyone has their own opinion.

People who belive the same way i do then yay. But for the some who try to twist the word of god to fit there own agenda well i hate them and history has a lot of them.

The most important thing in religion is judgement. You get what you'll have coming to ya in this life or the next.

I think Religion came to be because we need guidance how to live properly and when i mean be proper is being kind and good human being to another.

 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Atheist, and proud of it. 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

You think we're tolerant? O.o I for one am an asshole who argues everything I don't agree with no matter how trivial XD. Anywho:

1.) Weak Atheism. I simply referred to myself as an Atheist until I read about it and it made sense with what I believe so that's what I call myself now.

2.) Nothing. I honestly don't think about it until someone bring it up, which isn't often. That's the fun little thing about atheism, it's the absence of religion, not the presence of absence of religion ;)

3.) My feeling is basically just "cool beans". I don't really care about what people choose to believe.

4.) See 3.

5.) N/A

6.) It was a gradual change. I came into high school as a non-denominational Christian. Then over time I realized that there are certain things in the Bible I didn't believe in and didn't make sense to me personally, but I didn't yet abandon the notion of a deity. Over time, I abandoned the notion of a deity simply because I realized that I didn't have a reason to believe in it. The whole process took until halfway through my Junior year of high school. That's why I adopted Weak Atheism specifically, because I don't currently have a reason and I accept the fact that I may one day have a reason to believe. If that day comes to pass and I have a reason to believe, then I'll believe. The change itself wasn't hard, but what was hard was the dissaproval from my parents. Over time I came to realize they were just concerned for me, eternal hellfire and all that good stuff, but at the time it hurt pretty badly.

7.) Good question. I wouldn't know about Eastern or Middle Eastern religions simply because I don't have adequate knowledge of the religions, but I believe that Christianity's main goal is salvation. They go about it in different ways, but you can eventually dissect the majority of their actions down to eternal salvation.

8.) A number of reasons. Back in the day they couldn't explain the vast majority of the questions we have answers or at least probable theories of what we have today. The fundamental questions - how we got here, why do we act this way, how did these natural features form, etc. - and they needed an answer. The most convenient answer, and most comforting, was that there was an all-powerful being looking out for us who put us here and who wants us to be happy until the end of time. Various mythologies and variations naturally evolved over the millennia. 

That's how I see it, at least.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Hey, I said mostly somewhere didn't I?

Anyways, arguing over a matter with someone and creating a list of insults long enough to fill in the credits sequence at the end of a movie specifically to use on the person who dared to do something you didn't like are two different things.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

I don't like to have arguments, they just happen.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Because you expect your bullshit to pass through unnoticed ;)

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

:O
Look at this

        • This comment has received too many negative votes

          Like the asshole that I am, I would like to point out that we in fact haven't been able to? measure time. That is all.

           · 
      • Braden Best 

        Measure: (v) Ascertain the size, amount, or degree of? (something) by using an instrument or device marked in standard units or by comparing it with...

        By the very definition WE made for measuring, we can measure time. A second is a unit of time that WE defined. A defined unit is a measurable unit. For example, it took me all of 2 seconds to think of this counterargument to debunk your theory. 2 seconds is a measurement of how long it took me to debunk your argument. See, I just measured time.

         · 70  in reply to iShallSmiteU
    • iShallSmiteU 

      Just to be clear, I'm totally talking out of my ass here and seeing as you make a solid point, I'm totally going to forfeit this game of wits before I can totally embarrass myself with my minuscule knowledge of? physics.

       · 105  in reply to Braden Best
  • yoghurtgames 

    Did.... Did you just admit to losing an argument? on the internet?

    Honor! Honor on your whole family, honor on you, honor on your cow!

     · 114  in reply to iShallSmiteU

 

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Logic is for the weak anyway. Real men just say whatever the hell they want and either yell over or hit whoever disagrees with them.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

those who speak the loudest, seem the most correct. Bitches.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

1. I'm agnostic, I'm not exactly sure whatever entity, being, organism, or whatever incomprehensible thing put the rules in place for existence to have spontaneously sprung forth from the multi-verse, what could have created the strings in string theory, what could have set things in place for all these marvelous science things to be going on, so on and so forth. I sincerely hope it could be a god, an interesting being to meet and relate to probably after death, or something of the like, but I don't really believe it's my right to say what is and isn't. I dabble in Christianity, because I believe, if you focus on the "be nice" part of the faith, it's pretty much a good set of guidelines to follow, and I've studied up on other beliefs, because they're interesting. I've even looked up all of the hells, and many unholy symbols, and I've noted that Illuminati was just originally anyway, a scientific organization based on purely innocent beliefs that the natural human drive to know everything should be endlessly pursued, most of the Christian unholy symbols were simply bits of other religions they deemed unworthy, or, in the case of St. Peter's cross, actually quite holy things that people took the wrong way. I sincerely doubt there is a hell, as a perfect entity like a god that would create a heaven would be so sadistic, if anything, a temporary rehabilitation center. I also don't necessarily believe in evil. I don't even think Hitler, though while he was one of the sickest bastards in history, was evil. To be Evil is to be outwardly for the downfall of everything, to be completely and utterly selfish, to want to destroy everything and anything you can get your hands on. He was selfish, and did want to destroy certain things, but not all things, and not everyone. And even Hitler was capable of caring, albeit barely, for a handful of human beings. Cruelty, lust, wrath, rage, sadism, everything we have wrong with us is inspired by brain chemicals, wants, needs, and senses of morality that we have, nothing is designed to be 'evil' although people that have been twisted the wrong way can get very close to it.

2. Religion makes me feel very assured, positive, and faithful in humanity, that though we are naturally bigoted, as a race built on natural selection, we can feel glad that we are possibly being created or guided by something superior to us, although people can take it the wrong way and be sincerely twisted and creepy, we're always trying to find out what does what, how it came to be, and why, and if there's a god or something behind it, then I'd be glad to know who or what it is, so long as he or she or it does not rain fire and lighting down on my head, or a series of giant woman-headed locusts to bite my sorry ass for being equally skeptical.

3. I don't really care, it's good fodder for intelligent discussions like these if both parties are open minded enough.

4. There's really no such thing as total agreement, unless you've been indoctrinated to one person's belief to the very letter, but then their belief might not be the same as someone else's, we all have slightly different beliefs, different personal thoughts, different preferences, and that's wonderfully interesting, how all these beliefs can intertwine.

5. Because I was raised Christian, I never really felt Christian, (perhaps I'm slightly sociopathic?) and I slowly withdrew from it, though I still go to church and learn about it, because it's interesting, and provides pointers on which way to look to find the sentient being everyone's looking for. I also find scientific theories and such very interesting, because it gives pointers on which way to look to find whatever non-sentient entity it could be, or if it is a sentient entity, just how the heck it's managing to pull it all off. Perhaps it's even just a simulation, like someone behind us is playing the sims and finding us to be immensely simple life forms, and they unimaginably complex, and perhaps there could be another incomprehensible being beyond them, and onward and onward? It's an interesting universe, full of interesting ideas, and I'd like to consider all of them.

6. It was hard for me to accept that I'd lost contact with that faith that I believed in so much, but mainly I realized it was because of my horrendous fear of hell, and my horror any time I realized I was doing something wrong, I didn't believe a perfect deity would have wanted to hold me in his list of followers that way, and I decided I'd take a few steps back and look at everything everywhere, all of the ideas I could find, all of the reasoning behind it, even Satanism, even the Pastafarians, and see what god was, if it was god, or simply a law of physics, or some other thing that put the rules in place for existence to spontaneously begin, if it even knew what it was doing at the time, and knows we exist.

7. the most important thing in religion, or any belief, is the value and meaning you give to things, in the scenario of St. Peter's cross, he died horribly because they hanged him upside down to mean the inverse of christianity, but Catholics or others who follow that particular saint's belief used his cross as a symbol of their role model, or the belief they follow. Then others had in fact taken it to mean the inverse of Christianity despite St. Peter, and used it to invoke ideas of demons, and of other things that Christians mortally feared at the time. The whole of any idea ever, is not what a thing actually is, but the perception that people have of it.

8. With all the things I've listed above, I think it should be perfectly natural to have a religion, even if it's Atheism, and I'd go on longer, but I think you've had enough of my long, babbling text.

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

http://www.cracked.com/article_18606_8-historic-symbols-that-mean-opposite-what-you-think.html

Religious beliefs

10 years ago

Exactly.