Name your religion.

[Never]

What do you believe? What do you not believe? And why?

I'm an agnostic at the moment.
I was raised Christian but then I realized that if God was that petty I shouldn't be worshiping him anyway.
The whole philosophy behind seeking Nirvana never appealed to me, life should be filled with both pleasure and pain, why would you want 'release' from that?
Most New Age religions seem nothing more than idealisms trafficking in superstition.
I'd be an atheist but I lack the arrogance.

If you tell me you're 100% sure of anything that doesn't pertain to what they feel, think, say or do then you must be acting on faith. At least that's my perspective of things, and lacking any faith (I've not even 100% sure of what I think, feel, say and do) I must be agnostic.

You?

 

[TygerEyez]

Pagan.

To ask me to explain why,... I couldn't tell ya. That's what faith is.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I'd be an atheist but I lack the arrogance.

I don't, and I'm an atheist. But it has nothing to do with arrogance, and everything to do with personal conviction in certain truths about the nature of things. Arrogance implies that there is a force one must be arrogant to. I don't believe that force exists in the first place. Nothing to deny. No one to get arrogant with.

I was raised Roman Catholic, and the moral teachings and sense of spirituality and mystery the faith gave me are with me still.

 

[Never]

Lucci-Nicci

I've known several 'pagans' and they have very different, sometimes conflicting, beliefs.
What do you believe?

 

[willywanker]

With all the cutting up I do here, you may not believe it but...

I'm a Southern Baptist.

I do believe in one true Lord and God, in heaven and hell and that the only way to get into heaven is to accept Jesus Christ.

I'm not really fully accepting of Baptist beliefs against alchol and some other issues on the edges but on the whole accept the doctrinal believes of the Baptist faith. I was raised in a strong christian home, still attend church almost every week, have been a Deacon, the minister of music and a Sunday school teacher.

I don't think I could get thru life if I didn't believe there was a force greater than ourselves in control. And I've had to many prayers answered to believe it all just luck.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Never]

Dixon Carter Lee:
" Arrogance implies that there is a force one must be arrogant to. I don't believe that force exists in the first place."
Arrogance has nothing to do with other forces, nor does it imply other forces are involved.

Atheism is a faith based on science which claims not to be a faith - that's arrogant in my viewpoint.

 

[Never]

Re: With all the cutting up I do here, you may not believe it but...

I'm a Southern Baptist.

I do believe in one true Lord and God, in heaven and hell and that the only way to get into heaven is to accept Jesus Christ.

I'm not really fully accepting of Baptist beliefs against alchol and some other issues on the edges but on the whole accept the doctrinal believes of the Baptist faith. I was raised in a strong christian home, still attend church almost every week, have been a Deacon, the minister of music and a Sunday school teacher.

I don't think I could get thru life if I didn't believe there was a force greater than ourselves in control. And I've had to many prayers answered to believe it all just luck.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

Do you believe that the Bible is the word of God?

 

[Demian]

I'm Agnostic, Too!!!

But that's to Cover up that I'm Gnostic...For real...I most deeply wonder about the King of Salem...For real

I know alot of You think I'm fuckin' around alwayz...but this iz for Real...

 

[Laurel]

Atheism is a faith based on science which claims not to be a faith - that's arrogant in my viewpoint.

No, no...people of a faith have a set of beliefs, views, and values in common. While all Catholics agree on a certain set of principles, atheists have only one thing in common - the disbelief in a god. (Note: not the belief that there IS no god necessarily, but the LACK of belief in one. Subtle, but important.) Some lack belief for personal reasons, others for scientific reasons, others for other reasons. Some may vigorously deny the existence of a god, while others say there's no evidence currently but if some comes around then they'll change their mind.

Atheists are NON believers, that's it. A-Theism. Non-Belief. You can't round up all people who dislike mushrooms and make generalizations about them based on that one fact, nor can they be considered a "faith" (unless they start up a Mushroom Hating Cult, and even then they'd have to set up tenets & principles and all that jazz).

 

[sexy-girl]

i was brought up a catholic and one of the biggist influneces on my life and me was my nan she was the most kind and forgiving person ive ever known she went to church every sunday


i dont considor myself catholic now though and i never goto church but i do believe in god

 

[Darowyn]

Brought up between an anti church socialism and Church of England. Deeply involved in paganism at one time, now almost purely atheistic, except for a remaining conviction that reincarnation and something close to Karma makes a good starting point for moral behaviour.
Confused? --that's ok then!

 

[Always]

i'm pagan - NOT neopagan, with those Silverfluffyravenwolf books.

if you know your Greek pantheology (it's not mythology, damnit, i've talked to them myself, they just jump in my head without bothering to knock!) then you've heard of the Moon Maiden, Artemis. i follow her. i'm a nymph and this time around, when i die, i finally get to go back.... Apollo cursed me (long story, and one you won't believe anyway)

sooo... in a word... I'm Artemisian.

 

[willywanker]

Re: Re: With all the cutting up I do here, you may not believe it but...

Do you believe that the Bible is the word of God?

Yes, I do.

But unlike some, and Baptist are having problems with this, I do not believe that the earth was created in a literal seven days as the Genesis story explains it. I do believe God was in control of creation and still is today. The account given just shows that, it is not meant to argue with science.

But the Bible was given to us as a guide book, if you will, to help us to understand Gods plan for each of us.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Atheism is a faith based on science which claims not to be a faith

You can't do that. You can't say that every conviction is a "faith". You have a conviction that rain comes from clouds, but since you can't actually see that happening this belief must be a faith.

No. Faith needs nothing but itself. Faith requires no proofs, no experiments, no discussion. Faith is belief unto itself.

That is NOT the case with my convictions about life and the universe. You can't stretch the word "faith" here to also mean "trust". I trust the process of science. I don't have "faith" in it.

No arrogance whatsoever. I had this argument with Todd once. He kept trying to define my atheism in terms of his faith. "There is a God, thereofre you are denying, therefore you are arrogant." But I reject the initial premise that there is a God. Therefore I'm not denying God any more than I'm denying that the Moon is made out of Milk. I just don't think it's true, based on my own convictions and trust in certain evidence. That is exploration and critical thinking -- something "faith" cannot (and should not) endure.

But I sure do miss the candles and the statues and the feeling I had as a kid when I stepped into a church.

 

[april-wine]

i was raised catholic, and though i do believe in god, i don't really know what my religion now would be.......i find myself more and more embarrassed in the catholic church, sad but true

 

[shadowsource]

god's not dead; he's not

I'm an atheist who never attacks others for believing in whatever, sits quietly and politely during interminable religious ceremonies (like a 2-hour pagan wedding Saturday), and once had rooftop sex with a women I'd just met who had attended Falwell's University and promptly denounced me as an unbeliever after she dressed and discovered my lack of belief.

I will never cease to be offended by the fact that Americans would rather elect anything (even a gay black Mormon) president, than a provably hard-working, intelligent person who doesn't believe in a ruling or coordinating force.

I believe all life is accidental - everything - and I try to enjoy it without harming others. Why is that so unacceptable?

NOTE: I think gay black Mormons are the best!

 

[Demian]

How Did They Build Stonehenge? The Pyramids?

And Laurel iz still One of my Godz...

 

[Never]

"No, no...people of a faith have a set of beliefs, views, and values in common. While all Catholics agree on a certain set of principles, atheists have only one thing in common - the disbelief in a god. (Note: not the belief that there IS no god necessarily, but the LACK of belief in one. Subtle, but important.)"
Laurel, your subtle note is important and that's what I disagree with.
For example, if I don't believe in marshmallows it's the same as believing marshmallows don't exist.
If I don't believe in Santa Claus, it's the same as believing Santa Claus does not exist.
If I don't believe in God, it's the same as beliving God doesn't exist.
Atheist all have that belief.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

It's unacceptable because the need for God is stronger than our convictions about God. Even an atheist feels a longing for a higher power who will one day judge the wicked, re-unite families after death, rationalize horror and console us in grief. When you tell a believer in God (98% of the populace) that you don't accept that any of the above is possible, you are, whether you like it or not, attacking them on a Foundation level, and people respond with much more vehemence than they intend, and often don't understand why they're doing it.

God is wired into our brain, our culture, our evolution, and becoming an atheist doesn't mean that goes away, though it's buried a bit. Atheists can forget what it's like to have faith daily, to take it for granted. It's not easy to hear someone tell you that something so intrinsic, so a part of you, is hog wash. It must feel very, very insulting.

So people tell you "Oh you just have faith in science, that's the same thing", or "If you just read the Bible you'd come around" or "I couldn't live in a world without God, how can you?" Whatever they say, it generally isn't something they can leave alone, and I understand that perfectly.

 

[shadowsource]

Jesus Fucking Christ!

Never - Laurel said that she didn't believe in a god, NOT that she believed that there was no god. Get it straight! I don't believe in pedophilia, which doesn't mean that I don't think it exists. Wanna play more semantic games?

Why are you people so fucking intolerant of others who quietly and politely disagree with you? Laurel didn't say you were stupid; she merely stated that she did not SHARE your faith.

I'm personally quite certain that there is no god, but that's NOT what Laurel said. Bring on the bonfires and pitchforks, folks - there's unbelievers in the house!

 

[Demian]

The King of Salem...

Melchizedek...The Temple Mount

 

[Never]

Now, I commented on several faiths in the first paragraph, does anyone else want to disagree with me before I dive into the entire 'Athiestism is a faith' debate?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

If I don't believe in God, it's the same as beliving God doesn't exist.
Atheist all have that belief.

Sorry to press a point, and I promise not to continue hijacking your thread with this, but you're interchanging two terms here, "faith" and "belief". They're not the same thing.

I believe God doesn't exist. I don't have "faith" that God doesn't exist. There's a difference. And my atheism is not a faith. I know very well what faith is, and what conviction is, and they are not the same thing, no matter how much you'd like to believe that.

Well, some might argue that this is semantics, but I have great respect for "faith", which is acceptance without doubt or need for proof (see the Gospels and the story of the Doubting Thomas.)If I said "I don't believe in God, and I have not done any research for this, or asked any hard quetitons, or engaged in debate with wiser men, or immersed myself in the study of the question", then you could say my atheism was based on faith. But that is far, far from the case.

As I inferred above, Faith is a deeper thing than belief. Faith is not arrived at by study. Faith is something you have before belief. Faith is something you have before God. First have faith, and then, as the good book says, it will be given to you.

 

[Always]

i believe that any god any person believes in exists, because belief is power, but until you give your soul up to that other being it is yours, and they have no control over you.

it's that simple.

 

[SunnyGirl]

Another atheist ringing in here. I don't believe in God, never have, even as a small child.

To each their own, it's whatever makes you happy that counts.