Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

What's your religion?

1356789

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    go_away wrote: »
    second only to learning how to peel bananas :d

    WOOOOAAAAHHH :shocking: :crazyeyes
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's pretty much why I'm in the 'I believe in something, even if it's not a specific God' camp. Evolution and stuff, yeah, fine, but I can't get my head around the whole Big Bang thing or that everything just HAPPENS to work the way it does without some other involvement from SOMEWHERE.

    Plus it's nice to think that I'm not just going to be worm-food when I'm dead.

    That's an argument from ignorance - and I mean that in the logical fallacy sense, not an insult! You're postulating based on your (our perhaps our) lack of understanding of a subject. Why not stop at saying "I don't know"?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    WOOOOAAAAHHH :shocking: :crazyeyes

    Welcome to the new way, my friend :cool:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's an argument from ignorance - and I mean that in the logical fallacy sense, not an insult! You're postulating based on your (our perhaps our) lack of understanding of a subject. Why not stop at saying "I don't know"?
    Because I quite like the idea that there's something else. I should say that this is only like a little fleeting thought every now and again, it's not something that massively affects how I behave or what I do, but I just like the thought that death isn't the end and that life isn't as pointless as that would make it. It makes me feel a bit happier about carrying on when I feel like banging my head against a wall in frustration.

    P.S. GO_AWAY! :heart:.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i dont especially care if there is a god or not.
    it isnt going to change the way I behave. It makes absolutely no difference, so i dont really spend much time pondering it
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    On the general subject of religion, Kevin Smith might not be a prophet but I agree with this:
    Dogma wrote:
    Rufus: [Jesus] still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.
    Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?
    Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    id like to have that inner peace that a lot of religious people seem to have, but just none of it rings true to me
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Perhaps you will not believe until it happens ?

    It's a very iffy subject because there's a lot of theories out there and it's very hard to disprove even one of them. Revelation, therefore, does not necessarily have to be predictions of the future. There are a few things I know for certain such as there will be no "anti-christ".
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's kind of like a midway point between Judaism and Christianity. The Nazarenes were the very first congregation that accepted Yeshua ben Yosef, but were eradicated by Pauline Catholicism. So, as far as I know, I'm the only living Nazarene. :x

    No genuine god would ever have allowed himself to be eradicated. He must have been pretty weak and powerless. ;)

    I grew up Christian, dabbled in investigating other religions (such as Islam, Hinduism etc), slowly developed into an agnostic .... and now, as I have become more and more interested and convinced in natural sciences (such as the formation of the universe and evolution), I am pretty much atheist. Although, how the initial touch paper for the (more than one?) Big Bang was lit, keeps me from being totally atheist. However, I do not believe that there is a caring god that is involved in our day-to-day lives or listens to our prayers.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The original message is still there and believing in Pauline canonicism is not necessarily detrimental to an individual. There's elements of truth in Pauline and Lukan sources anyway. They're just not inspired.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    go_away wrote: »
    I remember the exact moment I stopped believing in God (I was 6) and it was one of the most mind-blowing experiences of my life, second only to learning how to peel bananas :d

    awesome!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Voodoo.

    Who do? You do?
    :hyper:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I find Buddhism is for me... I spent ten years serving the Presbytarian Church of Wales and used to be a devout Christian, but I no longer follow this.

    However, I don't view Buddhism as a religion, but a system of ethics, or a way of life. I believe that the existence of higher beings or the supernatural is improbable, but Buddhism does not require the belief of a deity, or the lack thereof.

    I spent so much time with the church, probably because it was what made me feel close to my father, who I otherwise hardly saw. Some things did not feel comfortable to me though...

    I have tried Christianity and have real problems with the way in which some churches operate. I don't have an issue with whether or not people believe in God, but I do believe that it has been abused as a religion, as much as it has been a force for compassion.

    I also like how Buddhism does not require blind faith, it is all about experience, seeing how stuff works out...

    Could write a lot on what I like about Buddhism. It has likely been abused, like anything else gets abused... But right now, I enjoy reading and practicing it (when I can lol)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I believe in Doomism.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't believe in what I do because "I don't like the alternative", I don't think there is an alternative. I think it is a fact that there is a God and that He created the World. I don't think Genesis is literal, I think it is more allegorical using "a day" to imply a period of development, but I don't for one second think that nothing, literally nothing, magically exploded and became something without involvement from a higher being. Stuff works too well in this world for it to have happened by chance, regardless of what obnoxious oafs like Dawkins try and (abusively) argue.

    Except that your argument is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what modern physics claims. Firstly, the big bang explains how the universe came to exist in its current form. And secondly, it claims nothing before the big bang, because unlike religion, science makes no claims for things unless the data is there. Before the big bang comes the statement "we don't know."

    As for stuff working too well in this world, I'd certainly question that. Certainly if you take the perspective of a lot of religions that this whole experiment was created for our benefit, which would suggest a terribly wasteful and careless god. Putting us on a collision course with another galaxy was particularly negligent, as was giving our sun a shelf life after which it will incinerate us all. On a more personal level, the pain in my wisdom teeth today hardly points to a well-designed mouth. This of course, all assumes that the god is as perfect as his followers claim, when in fact, he might just not be as good at his job as they like to claim. In that case, I'd give him a bit of slack for trying his best, because he did a better job than I could do.

    But of course, the main thing I find funny about all of this is that even if the natural evidence did point to a designed universe and a god, for many people, it all too often happens to also point to the claims of the religion they are culturally surrounded by being correct too. It's all well and good having a belief in god (or the possibility of god) based on theoretical physics and the beginning of the universe, but it takes a lot more than that to be religious. Being religious is thinking that your god wants something from you. He expects certain behaviours from you. He wants you to follow certain (presumably god-given) instincts, and ignore others. And even if I could accept the idea that a universe was designed, the idea that any human could know the mind of a god in such detail is ludicrous to me. And that's just religion in the broadest possible sense, before we even mention the large numbers of religious people who claim to know what their god wants you to wear, or eat, or any number of other things.

    And while you might not believe in your god because you don't like the alternative, that has been a position put forward several times on this thread. There are undoubtedly people in the world who believe in belief more than they actually believe in god or the particular religion they practice. It's very rare (i.e. I've never seen a single example) to find someone believing in a god who wishes they didn't. Belief in a god and belief in the benefit of belief pretty much always go hand-in-hand.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »

    I love you. :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think people want there to be more to life than eating, breathing and shagging.

    Yes they do, but there isn't - those that can't handle that ignore the ovious scams that pass as religion and follow, calling this abdication of reason "faith"

    As for me, today I shall describe myself as "lapsed humanist"
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Perhaps not, but I do think there's a tendency to drift towards the nihilistic without a faith in something more. If there's nothing after death, no greater purpose, what's the point in life?

    Why does there have to be a 'point' just because the way it is, doesn't suit your agenda? You are merely the humble product of millions of years of miraculous evolution, including the unique evolutionary trait of 'self-awareness' and 'empathy', that has developed our species into becoming the most successful sociable animal on Earth. It's just evolution and natural selection which took us to a place no other animal had reached before.

    So why am I not nihilistic? Because every day, I look at the incredible random 'creation' around me and wonder in awe at how we came to be here. In fact, losing my faith has been liberating and exhilarating beyond belief - surely the most important decision I have ever made. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and it has given me the freedom to really love this life.
    Big Gay wrote: »
    Yes they do, but there isn't - those that can't handle that ignore the ovious scams that pass as religion and follow, calling this abdication of reason "faith"

    I agree. I would also like to think there is more to life than "eating, breathing and shagging" but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So, I suppose that means that you believe in abiogenesis?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    You are my new best friend.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »

    (Do what?)

    Remind me of the babe,


    Love that movie
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Actually, in name I am RC, in practice my beliefs are more Buddhist. In fact, I think AA's simple suggestion of a "higher power" makes sense, hence my sig line. I turned to the Catholic church because I believe I was called to it. I was baptised as a baby in the CofE, but by the time I was a teen, religion didn't mean that much to me and I refused to follow the crowd and be confirmed alongside my classmates. My parents (mother CofE, father RC) never said a word. Years later, long after my father had died, I suddenly felt an urgent need to go to church, Catholic church. You could call me "born again", but I don't view it like that. I consider that I did what I was meant to do. There are aspects of the Catholic doctrine that I don't fully support, e.g. the idea that ghosts and premonitions are the work of the devil (which kind of blows visitations out the window, doesn't it) and there is no such thing as reincarnation. But the Church gives me a code to live by and, in common with most religions, at its root (whatever individual priests may teach) is the idea that all (men) are created equal and one should love thy neighbour. If there is no higher power, then how come so many of the world's religions share the same values? Why do we, as humans, have a sense of moral responsibility?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire wrote: »
    me, I follow the path of pastafariansim of the church of the FSM

    Quickest way to annoy the hell out of me is to bring this up. I don't care if it's a joke and not serious but it's usually used in terms to disrespect any and all religions and to call those who follow them simple minded, stupid, and/or delusional for their beliefs.


    I'm nonreligious atm. There are a few that do stick out to me because of what little I know about their beliefs, for example Buddhism and Wicca, but for the time being I'm not really interested in finding anything.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    His pastafarianism annoys you, perhaps you should analyse why?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katralla wrote: »
    His pastafarianism annoys you, perhaps you should analyse why?

    I believe I have posted why in my post, perhaps you should reread it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In what way is it disrecpectful to other religions, and why would being disrespectful to religions annoy you?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katralla wrote: »
    In what way is it disrecpectful to other religions, and why would being disrespectful to religions annoy you?

    It's obvious now that you need things pointed out for you to see them.

    Quickest way to annoy the hell out of me is to bring this up. I don't care if it's a joke and not serious but it's usually used in terms to disrespect any and all religions and to call those who follow them simple minded, stupid, and/or delusional for their beliefs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does it do that though? The FSM was originally created to attack the idea of intelligent design in response to attempts to teach it in American science classes. It has since expanded to attack other religious and non-religious ideas (climate change denial, for example), but it is still attacking ideas, not people.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well, that's the conclusion you drew for somone being Rastafarian. In the same vein, I could say anyone who purports to be religious is lying, either to themselves, or everyone else. And then I could say that bringing up a stupid (read as any) religion is the quickest way to annoy the hell out of me- as if I want to hear that weirdo-shit.
Sign In or Register to comment.