Are you religious?

[JedExodus]

Well, are you? Just interested in seeing how everyone round these parts is inclined.

Personally, I dunno what the story is myself, caught in a game of Pascals wager and open minded specticism.

So vote and discuss, it goes without saying that if you disagree with someone's views you don't have to stamp your feet and bore us to death about how you're right and others are wrong

[coolsome]

I'm an Athiest I just don't belive there can be a god watching and judging us.

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by coolsome

I'm an Athiest I just don't belive there can be a god watching and judging us.

If he was you'd be going straight to hell bucko

[coolsome]

Originally Posted by JedExodus

If he was you'd be going straight to hell bucko

Id gladly go to hell rather then change...well probably not gladly.

[coolguy721]

thread being locked up in 3.....2.......

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by coolguy721

thread being locked up in 3.....2.......

There have been several religion threads that have prospered for quite some time. I think this one has a chance. Especially, since it's a poll, which limits interaction.

[RetroVortex]

No. I am not religious.

I don't believe in God.

In fact, I believe moreso in the idea that everything just happens randomly.
Something randomly becomes something else, which randomly becomes somthing else.
Why couldn't we just pop into existance (if we actually exist in that sense).

As for Religion (which even though is linked to the belief in god, though is mostly a seperate concept), I have never felt the need to pick any up.

Don't think of it as ignorance or offensive though, after all I spent most of my childhood in a church of England school, I went to choirs, assemblys (which always involved praying and a story from the bible), and have been in church.
I just never really absorbed any of it. Most of the morals just seemed like common sense, and those that didn't I just ignored anyway.

I guess I'm one of those odd type of people who prefer to define their own way of life, their own morals and routines.

[GuruGuru214]

No, there's not a knee-jerk policy to lock religion threads. That said, they almost inevitably turn bad, and if/when they do, that's when they get locked.

As for myself, I'd say I fall somewhere between agnostic and confused, but I voted agnostic.

[DAISHI]

At some level I always will be. Was agnostic into my college years until, for lack of better words, I had a divine experience.

I don't believe in a God who watches waiting to judge, but I do believe there are general principles of right and wrong.

[Alcoremortis]

I, personally, like Pascal's view on the issue, which I quote from Wikipedia.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

[Even] though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

Of course, Sir Terry Pratchett has an equally valid opinion.

Originally Posted by Terry Pratchett

This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If its all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isnt then you've lost nothing right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, "We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts...".

So...maybe that isn't the best way to go about things.

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by GuruGuru214

No, there's not a knee-jerk policy to lock religion threads. That said, they almost inevitably turn bad, and if/when they do, that's when they get locked.

It is my fond hope that people will see how tedious it is to argue over something that's been argued over for a long long time by greater minds than the rabble that we are still haven't gotten anywhere.

I mean what're we gonna do, start a new age of enlightenment

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

I, personally, like Pascal's view on the issue, which I quote from Wikipedia.

I already name-dropped Pascal, boom! However I did not name-drop Pratchett. I tip my hat to you My hat is not a Ushanka, Pants. Ushankas are shit

[Armakuni]

I'm not at all religious, actually I'm the only one out of four siblings that never bothered much with religion... despite having quite religious parents as well.

Of course, back in my single digits, I was 'religious' in the same way any kid with religious parents is likely to be... at such a young age, one tends to just accept whatever your parents tell you.

Then, in my early teens, I still called myself a Christian (protestant) for a few years... mostly because I never gave it much thought, it was just how things were.
However, eventually I started thinking more and more about these things... mostly because once I started pondering it, and realized it all seemed really dumb (to me, I'm not trying to offend any religious forum members here - just explaining how this was for me) and that resulted in really thinking about death seriously for the first time in my life, basically.
At first it terrified me, which had me really wanting to be a Christian, so for a year or so I tried my best to really become one... to actually seriously believe in the things you find in the Bible, and to go to Christian meetings and actually enjoy it instead of being bored out of my mind... but I failed miserable on all accounts.

At that point, though... I had gotten used to the idea of death and it didn't really scare me much anymore. Also, I was so sick of anything related to Christianity after spending so much time trying to convince myself it was actually true... that just giving up on it and not having to bother with any of that anymore - that was a huge relief.

I haven't looked back ever since, and now I can say it would literally take a miracle for me to become religious.
I suspect my brain in some strange way was never 'disposed' to the idea of religion in the first place, seeing as I was raised in such a religious home and all my three brothers turned out very religious (to the point where two of them have chosen to go to religious schools and they're both heavily active in their churches... giving speeches and all... and one of them is going to become a missionary as well)... while I was never able to really believe in any of it.

well my dads a pastor but that does not make me religeous

[coolguy721]

Originally Posted by seibert999

well my dads a pastor but that does not make me religeous

arent you like 11?

[jwalker30]

Atheism ftw!!!

[Hayden]

I'm actually a Christian. I believe in the God described in the Bible, I believe in the afterlife, I believe Jesus actually walked the earth, etc. I follow it because I think that the morals and values of the religion are positive, and I believe it because, quite frankly, if it all turns out to be true, I get life eternal. And if it's not true, then hey, I haven't exactly lost out or destroyed my life in any drastic way.

I wouldn't consider myself a fundamentalist, though. I don't believe Genesis or Revelation passage-for-passage. When it comes to creation, I don't believe it entirely; I believe that evolution took place, God intended for evolution to take place, but there was a guiding hand over the whole evolution process (His). As for Revelation, I don't believe that entirely either; I think the world's going to end as a result of humanity's raping of the planet which will trigger runaway climate change. And I think "the Earth burning" works as a pretty good metaphor for global warming.

Anyway, those are my general beliefs in a nutshell.

[Armakuni]

Originally Posted by jwalker30

Atheism ftw!!!

The term is sadly often misunderstood - Christians, and even plenty of non-religious people, often take the term to mean the belief that there is no god.
However, the more common way to be an atheist is to have a lack of belief in a god, due to lack of evidence.
In other words, it's not a positive belief there is no god, but rather simply a lack of belief.
Which are two quite different positions!

Christians (not ALL Christians, not even close... so don't take offence anyway) will often use this to try and shift the burden of proof over on the atheists - which is something they can only do as long as they insist on defining atheism as a positive belief there is no god.
The reason, obviously, is that such a belief is something you cannot prove and being a positive claim, it's something people would be justified in asking for evidence for.

However, this tactic usually fails as most atheists (in my experience anyway) does not have a positive belief like that, but rather simply a lack of belief in anything supernatural, as I pointed out earlier.
So seeing how holding this position does not absolutely rule out the possibility of a god, or anything supernatural... it simply means one hasn't seen convincing evidence for the existence of anything like that and thus one lacks belief... this means holding this position does not put the burden of proof on you.

Originally Posted by coolguy721

arent you like 11?

1.close, 12
2.nevermind, i meant my family is not religeous

[Trenchfoot]

I believe that there's something superior than us than controls the beggining and ending of things, but not their course.

[coolguy721]

Originally Posted by seibert999

1.close, 12
2.nevermind, i meant my family is not religeous

i wasn't on forums when i was 12.