What religion are you? And what does it mean?

[chigbee 0]

Reading all of these posts on politics is starting to give me a headache, so let's talk about something we can all agree on, like religion.

As required by Utah law I spent a few years being active in the Mormm church but have since left. I am pretty sure i believe in God but what form he takes and what interest he has in us I don't know. I wonder if i believ in God to make me feel better about the thought of losing family and friends.

So what religion are you and why do you believe what you do?

p.s. I am sure I left out numerous religions and I apologize

[Frenchy68 0]

Atheist if meant as the simple absence of belief in deities.
Or none of the above if atheist is meant as the explicit, positive rejection and denial of theism.

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[Nightingale 0]

Agnostic. I don't have a clue whether or not there's a supreme being, and I don't think anyone else does either.

Logic tells me that there's not much evidence of a supreme being, and what evidence there is is very subjective, easily fabricated, and not at all conclusive. I think that making an absolute statement of "there is no god" is almost as illogical as believing, because, while there's no credible evidence to support the existance of a deity, there's no conclusive evidence against it either.

[Royd 0]

Christian is the religion, Baptist, Lutheran, etc. are denominations.

[jcd11235 0]

God is like a mountain summit. Religion is like a path up the mountain. All the paths lead to the same summit. Which path is personal preference, and does not affect the ultimate destination.

I voted Other.

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[SimpleOne 0]

My beliefs are similar to yours. I think it's important to remember that not much effort has been made to prove any type of spiritual existence, at least not by reputable scientific research institutes. I understand why; and I too would much rather see money go to curing horrible diseases, not proving that humans have souls which may or may not continue to exist beyond our death. All I'm saying is I think there's a big hole in the argument that it's never been proven to exist or not.

[ExAFO 0]

I enjoy Samuel Adams beer.

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[SimpleOne 0]

I thought you were a Jack Daniels man.

[ExAFO 0]

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I thought you were a Jack Daniels man.

Uhhghh! I'm a beer manslut. I don't do hard liquor at all.

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[SimpleOne 0]

What about Religion? You wandered into this thread, you have to have an opinion

[ExAFO 0]

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What about Religion? You wandered into this thread, you have to have an opinion

Recovering Catholic. (See "Recovering Alcoholic," substitute "religion" for "alcohol.")

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[Nightingale 0]

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All I'm saying is I think there's a big hole in the argument that it's never been proven to exist or not.

That's exactly why I think it's silly for someone to make up their mind at this point. There's no conclusive evidence either way, so I figure keeping an open mind is the most logical course of action. Sometimes, it seems like anybody with a strong opinion one way or another just plugs their ears and sings "la la la" when being presented with evidence or opinions contrary to their position, whether it's "the shroud of turin is fake," "the indians aren't related to the hebrews" or "we think noah's ark is on top of a mountain."

I think the biggest problem with belief or non-belief is that people make up their minds before they hear the evidence, and promptly ignore anything that doesn't fit their preconceived ideas. Too many people use spirituality as an excuse to stop using their brain.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Are you also ambivalent about the existence or non existence of the Easter Bunny? After all there is no real evidence that he doesn't exist. The same is true for Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Occam's razor is not the be all and end all for determining truth, but accept the possibility of something for which there is no clear evidence as being more than one over infinity makes no sense to me.

[shropshire 0]

Nowt.....

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Now, don't be affraid,
Man is manmade.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Nightingale 0]

While Occam's Razor may be a good logic tool, it is a tool meant to differentiate between competing hypotheses, not a tool to simply hand you the correct conclusion. The simplest solution with the fewest assumptions is often correct, but not always.

There is a significant amount of evidence that the santa, easter bunny, and tooth fairy myths are false. Ask any parent who's ever put presents under a tree. They're myths that we know are false but deliberately perpetuate for the purpose of amusing children. The same cannot be said for belief in a supreme being. There is simply no reliable evidence one way or the other.

Even you admit that there is a possibility of a supreme being (although I have no idea how you managed to calculate your odds). Therefore, logic dictates that if you make an absolute conclusion of the lack of a supreme being... you might be wrong.

[JackC 0]

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There is a significant amount of evidence that the santa, easter bunny, and tooth fairy myths are false. Ask any parent who's ever put presents under a tree. They're myths that we know are false but deliberately perpetuate for the purpose of amusing children. The same cannot be said for belief in a supreme being. There is simply no reliable evidence one way or the other.

Actually there are some very compelling arguments for the non-existence of god. An omnimax god is illogical, the problem of evil, infinite regress etc.

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Even you admit that there is a possibility of a supreme being (although I have no idea how you managed to calculate your odds). Therefore, logic dictates that if you make an absolute conclusion of the lack of a supreme being... you might be wrong.

Fairies might exist. There may be a purple teapot orbiting saturn. Presumably, you discount these possibilities as absurd but somehow god gets a special pass. Why? What is so special about a supreme being that gives it more credibility than other equally preposterous ideas?

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I think that making an absolute statement of "there is no god" is almost as illogical as believing, because, while there's no credible evidence to support the existance of a deity, there's no conclusive evidence against it either.

I think that making the statement that "for all practical purposes, there is no god" is perfectly logical. So for all practical purposes I'm an atheist and, I suspect, so are you.

[Lindsey 0]

Methodist. For clarification, look to the lightbulb thread.

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[jakee 1,569]

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I think that making an absolute statement of "there is no god" is almost as illogical as believing, because, while there's no credible evidence to support the existance of a deity, there's no conclusive evidence against it either.

How can there be conclusive evidence of something that doesn't exist?

There's no conclusive evidence that gnomes don't live at the bottom of my garden, there's no conclusive evidence that my toys don't talk to each other when no-one's watching, there's no conclusive evidence that there aren't dogs playing poker in the centre of the sun.

So how do we disprove a negative - or will we admit the possibility of the above?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Royd 0]

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God is like a mountain summit. Religion is like a path up the mountain. All the paths lead to the same summit. Which path is personal preference, and does not affect the ultimate destination.

Past history aside, the Christian message is that God loves you enough to get rid of the penalty of sin, and the driving force is love.

The Muslim message is all about submission through fear and intimidation. They don't consider lying and murder a sin.

Same God. I think not.

[kbordson 8]

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Recovering Catholic. (See "Recovering Alcoholic," substitute "religion" for "alcohol.")

I like that one... cuz you can never get rid of all the guilt that was instilled.

So, core foundation Catholic (nonpracticing) with spiritual acceptance of other beliefs.

[crwtom 0]

40% Atheists here?

How is it that atheists are so hopeless as Presidential Material?

Americans are twice as likely to vote a Latter-Day Saint into Power

Cheers, T

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Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

[Stumpy 284]

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Past history aside, the Christian message is that God loves you enough to get rid of the penalty of sin, and the driving force is love.

The Muslim message is all about submission through fear and intimidation. They don't consider lying and murder a sin.

Same God. I think not.

I guess you have studied the Koran to come up with that conclusion?

Hmmmmm....

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[steveorino 7]

I'm a Christian (non denominational -- or better stated inter-denominational) and what that means to me is I have a relationship with my creator, a hope that encourages me, and a peace that passes all understanding.

steveOrino

[ryoder 1,590]

I'm a Pedestrian, but I don't see that option in the list.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[jcd11235 0]

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God is like a mountain summit. Religion is like a path up the mountain. All the paths lead to the same summit. Which path is personal preference, and does not affect the ultimate destination.

Past history aside, the Christian message is that God loves you enough to get rid of the penalty of sin, and the driving force is love.

The Muslim message is all about submission through fear and intimidation. They don't consider lying and murder a sin.

Same God. I think not.

I'm sure if you studied Islam you would find that the Muslim message is not all about submission through fear and intimidation. Talk to a few of them about their beliefs. They are usually quite willing to help dispel common myths of their religion.

Second, Allah and Yahweh are the same entity. Both religions are descended from Judaism.

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