What religion do people here belong to?

[downgrade]

That isn't personally why I am agnostic (or before that, atheist). I have a mindset that I cannot believe anything unless it is proven visibly (I can't believe in a god unless s/he comes down and shows me their power, whatever that is and I can visibly see the results).

Hi Downgrade, but I think that there are so many evidences of a God in this world. For example, look at butterflies. Colorful tropical birds. Flowers. Coral reef fish. There is really NO reason for them to be so beautiful, to make us feel so good, and yet they are and they do. There are so many beautiful and wonderful things in this world.

But those things have no effect on me. Sure, it's a colorful bird that you probably won't see again in your lifetime. But to me it is just an animal. It's just something else on this world with us. I've scuba dived before, I've seen amazing things under the water (dove in the Bahamas before, on a coral reef). But it made no impression on me whatsoever.

Creatures or scenes don't make me happy; it's actions of people and the presence of certain people in my life that make me happy, sometimes just from them being there I have joy.

 

[jales]

I'm an infidel!
And 2 answer Kavii
i think most of us here are agnostic bcus if we are lonely that means we have time, since we have time we explore or doubts and we therefore end up not believing what we are taught.

 

[lonelygirl]

Okay, then look at the kind or beautiful people you've met, then.

I look at it this way: Do you believe there is evil in this world? Injustice? Cruelty?

Well in order for evil to exist good has to exist too. Two sides of the coin, yin and yang.

So if there is good in this world why? I think because of God.

That is my personal theory. I do believe in God but I don't know if I really can follow one particular religion. I like aspects of both Christian and Buddhism so I guess I'm a open minded person who does believe in God, mostly. Though not all the time!

 

[Krossknife]

i was christain for a while know I am actually gaining a lot of interest in Buddism

 

[lonely2beeme]

Kaviii most of us will put down agnostic or atheist because we don't have anyone here for us. People always talk about a god watching over you and protecting you, but with the loneliness and depression, etc, faith usually changes into a belief of nothing or a belief of no god because the god was not here for you.

Hmmm. I definitely don't feel that way. I was never raised to believe in God, and I spent quite a bit of time in college (both in and out of classes) thinking very hard about religion etc. For me, being agnostic has nothing to do with feeling alone or ignored by God. Instead it's a believe I hold based on academic and philosophical logic. My own loneliness is about my inability to connect with other people. With billions of humans around and not a single solid relationship with any of them, I don't need to feel neglected by a deity to feel alone.

I'm curious though, how many people who consider themselves agnostics once belonged to some other religion? It seems like a couple of the other posters agree with you.

i love your responses on religion,i started out catholic on my fathers italian side,then after my ma got a divorce married pentacostal lol
then i married a buddist but actually practice a form of Confucianism
iits very interesting and not like being in a formal relgion and can be practiced or believed alongside other religions

The fundamental concern of the Confucian tradition is learning to be human.

Beliefs:
Confucian ethical teachings include the following values:

Li: includes ritual, propriety, etiquette, etc.
Hsiao: love within the family: love of parents for their children and of children for their parents
Yi: righteousness
Xin: honesty and trustworthiness
Jen: benevolence, humaneness towards others; the highest Confucian virtue
Chung: loyalty to the state, etc.

lol so i am only ok with half of it lol same as most christians ,most just arent very fanatical neither am i

interesting reads tho

http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Confucianism/confuci.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/confuciu.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism

http://www.thespiritualsanctuary.org/Confucianism/Confucianism.html

http://confucianism.freehostingguru.com/

 

[Maui_Waui]

No religion for me. Just reality aka Atheism.

 

[Nyktimos]

In every practical sense I'm an atheist. I'll accept that it cannot be proven God doesn't exist but I think it so likely he doesn't that I assume so.

I'm not one of those Richard Dawkins 'down with religion' type atheists though. One of the most distressing things I see in the world today is that some atheist groups feel the need to fight against religious belief the way religions have fought with each other for millenia. I don't think it is a step forward.

I don't need a belief in the divine to make sense of why things are the way they are in the world.

I don't need to have a creator to praise for all the beautiful things in the world; the thought that physical laws and natural selection have conspired to create this world makes those things all the more wondrous than if they could be explained away by the invention of a single superbeing who simply waved his hand.

I am happy (even excited) that there are still mysteries in the universe, without having to turn to religion for answers.

I need something I'm not getting in my life to feel fulfilled. But I won't find it in religion.

 

[sly]

I'll just say unorganized. I don't have a set religion. I use what I like/think is true from various religions. Everything is subject to change. I don't consider anything to be the set truth.

 

[TheLonelySkeptic]

That isn't personally why I am agnostic (or before that, atheist). I have a mindset that I cannot believe anything unless it is proven visibly (I can't believe in a god unless s/he comes down and shows me their power, whatever that is and I can visibly see the results).

Hi Downgrade, but I think that there are so many evidences of a God in this world. For example, look at butterflies. Colorful tropical birds. Flowers. Coral reef fish. There is really NO reason for them to be so beautiful, to make us feel so good, and yet they are and they do. There are so many beautiful and wonderful things in this world.

But those things have no effect on me. Sure, it's a colorful bird that you probably won't see again in your lifetime. But to me it is just an animal. It's just something else on this world with us. I've scuba dived before, I've seen amazing things under the water (dove in the Bahamas before, on a coral reef). But it made no impression on me whatsoever.

Creatures or scenes don't make me happy; it's actions of people and the presence of certain people in my life that make me happy, sometimes just from them being there I have joy.

"Why is the grass green? Because God knew that was the color most pleasing to our eyes." Bullocks.

We evolved and adapted to find the color green soothing; the color green wasn't created soothing for us. To believe so is a complete lack of imagination.

 

[TheLonelySkeptic]

In every practical sense I'm an atheist. I'll accept that it cannot be proven God doesn't exist but I think it so likely he doesn't that I assume so.

I'm not one of those Richard Dawkins 'down with religion' type atheists though. One of the most distressing things I see in the world today is that some atheist groups feel the need to fight against religious belief the way religions have fought with each other for millenia. I don't think it is a step forward.

I don't need a belief in the divine to make sense of why things are the way they are in the world.

I don't need to have a creator to praise for all the beautiful things in the world; the thought that physical laws and natural selection have conspired to create this world makes those things all the more wondrous than if they could be explained away by the invention of a single superbeing who simply waved his hand.

I am happy (even excited) that there are still mysteries in the universe, without having to turn to religion for answers.

I need something I'm not getting in my life to feel fulfilled. But I won't find it in religion.

"Richard Dawkins type Atheists" don't want to force religion into non-existence. Being a fan of RD myself, I can say that most Atheists I know simply want Religion out of the public sphere (in other words, we don't want laws passed in our legislatures that are based on religion). Keep your batshit beliefs a private matter, is all.

 

[Punisher]

Richard Dawkins? nah...

Alister McGrath ftw

 

[The Hermit]

In Israel, where I live, the authorities see me as christian, in the rest of the world I considered as a jew, but actually i am an Atheist. I think that religion is unnecessary thing that has no place in the 21st century.
The world would be a better place without religions and gods.

 

[Oceanmist23]

I don't want to categorize my beliefs into any religion.
Like Sly said, I use what I like/think is true from various religions, and everything is subject to change.

I respect other people's beliefs as long as their beliefs won't result in hateful thinking or criminal/immoral behaviour.

I also respect other people's beliefs as long as they don't try to convert me into joining their religion, or are under the illusion that their beliefs are the "only right ones, and anyone who doesn't agree with them will burn in hell".

And I also truly respect people who are able to make fun of their own beliefs. This shows that they are truly confident in what they believe in.


Was that a mini-rant? lol

 

[SophiaGrace]

Christian, nondenominational.

I find it interesting most people on here are atheists/agnostics.

 

[TheLonelySkeptic]

In Israel, where I live, the authorities see me as christian, in the rest of the world I considered as a jew, but actually i am an Atheist. I think that religion is unnecessary thing that has no place in the 21st century.
The world would be a better place without religions and gods.

"In Israel, where I live, the authorities see me as christian, in the rest of the world I considered as a jew, but actually i am an Atheist."

This should be a famous quote. xD

 

[TheLonelySkeptic]

Christian, nondenominational.

I find it interesting most people on here are atheists/agnostics.

The fact gives me most hope in humanity.

 

[Terminus]

I have my own beliefs whice I've gathered from all kinds of sources, most are very abstract, and nothing is really "set in stone", so to speak. Personally, I find modern organized religion to be very boring and uninspired (and very much alike). I try to learn as much as possible about all kinds of beliefs though, but mostly ancient religion (ancient Egyptian and Sumerian for example) and pagan beliefs (especially Old Norse). I find much more depth, complexity and inspiration in those things.

 

[SenjiiDragon]

I'm an atheist/agnostic.

Every culture on the planet has spirituality in one way or another. Its universal. The only thing that changes is how people go about getting their spiritual fix. Some people pray and go to church. Others meditate or sing. Some read or go on hikes. All these are different methods of reaching the same spiritual feeling.

I feel spirituality is built into us. It’s biological. Everyone can feel it and it’s the same for all of us.

It’s kinda like feeling happy. Everyone does different things to feel happy, but the feeling of happiness is the same for all of us.

As cultures and civilizations developed, we developed protocols and rituals to invoke our biological spirituality. The protocols and rituals were formalized into religion. Eventually, we started fighting each other over who has the better spiritual feelings or better mythology.

It’s madness. We all feel the same spirituality in the same way. There is no reason to be fighting each other over it!

I favor doing away with religion. Instead, we should nurture our spiritual-selves in the absence of crazy mythology. Spirituality is required for long-lasting happiness. Mythology is not.

 

[Zak]

Cultural Hindu but Atheist or Agnostic lol Well, in my view, all religions "including mine" are pure Bullshit, like just another reason to form a more rigid community, where people cant get out easily because they are born in it and so they are forced to believe in what others in the same community believes. If there is really God, seriously, he/she will definitely want us to do things on our own other than calling him/her into our pathetic lives to help us. Anyway I dont think there is such a thing called God, atleast not in the way we all believe coz the universe and all is too great to be created from nothing.

 

[TheLonelySkeptic]

Right on Zak. You tell 'em how it is.