faith, religion, spirituality

[guids]

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Just say what your personal beliefs are and why. Ask others about their's if you want.

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Absolutely no bickering.


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Diablo, please remove all the [censored](?)

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no one is bickering, at least Im not. Im confused and just wanted some things cleared up that maybe I dont understand.

[chcheers]

I grew up roman catholic, now I am agnostic I guess, but an atheist at heart. I believe religion is the belief in a higher power that set the wheels in motion to create the universe whether or not they cared about it afterwards. I highly doubt this happened. I believe sasquatch, the loch ness monster, and santa have a better chance of existing than any type of god, but I can't say for certain there is no such thing because I know [censored] about [censored].

Like traz, I consider myself spiritual. I take an interest in zen and buddhism (but do not devote myself to them). I am in awe of the complexity of nature and the universe. I feel good and realize I feel good when I abide by certain moral philosophies. I am tempted to say harmony, but I know that's not the case because I feel good when I stand up for what I believe is right. Vague, I know.

I don't believe in any of the major religous gods or the judgemental practices they teach (which is probably why I consider myself an atheist). I do believe in some of the morals they preach, but I don't think that you need religion to have good morals. I also don't believe that religion should be put up on such a high pedestal. The major religions are very intolerant, yet it is shamed upon if you are intolerant of their beliefs. Atheists, who I've just realized I'm not a part of [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img], can get kicked to the dirt without anyone supporting them, yet you can't say a word about any major religion (which guids has pointed out atheism technically is) without getting ridculed or having people hushing up and trying to change the subject.

Sorry if I got off track with the bittering towards the end there Ja. El D can move the last paragraph to OOT if he wants.

[Rearden]

Raised Catholic... once I was old enough to find out Santa was bunk I began to think critically about god and didn't like the lack of evidence and the control present in the Catholic faith.... going to church in a standard high middle class holier-and-richer-than-thou environment (I grew up in PA and sat in church every sunday near the Casey family [former PA gov. who's son took Santorum's seat]) also didn't help matters. Once I was told I no longer had to go I stopped (with the sole exception of my grandmother's funeral in the past few years).

I would now consider myself a strong atheist and perhaps something of an anti-theist. That being said I think most religious people aren't evil or committed to destroying humanity... I just think their beliefs are a bit quaint and they often are cover for the true fanatics out there on all sides.

I think it's a mistake for one to focus their lives on the prospect of some great here after when no evidence exists for said here after.

I think however the greatest mistake any individual can make is not having an arguement for their stance or at the very least have examined the issue in such depth that they can handle the arguements against what they believe. It's got to be pretty easy to have faith when you wall yourself off from outside ideas and from challenging concepts.

With respect to spirituality I'd say I'm not the least bit superstitious but that science has a lot to explore with respect to the power of meditation as far as exploiting the mind-body connection.

[tpir]

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Also, arguing about the exact technical definition of atheism is the biggest waste of time that human beings have yet devised.

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agreed, it was not my intention to argue a technical definition. i felt like his post warranted a response, maybe i'm wrong.

[tpir]

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Amplify,

I'm pretty sure the sea otters have that all straightened out.

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I just wanted to point out that EmoBustoTardo was the one who called me into this thread to respond to guids (I guess he was too big of a pussy to post himself?) And then he uses me for happy fun joke time. lol. Classic.

[tpir]

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you guys are at odds here, one guy says that there is no dogma to atheism, the other guy says there is. What is the standard practice?

fwiw, the dictionary says a doctrine of beliefs there is no god. tpir, what abotu agnostic? is that the same thing you are describing?

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Without dragging this into semanticville, an agnostic position would be that God's existence/non-existence is unknowable.

Amplify was right though. After looking at the Wikipedia entry there is like strong and weak and this and that kind of atheism. It's stupid. The only thing I wanted to clear up is that the core position is not a rigid one. i.e. God (or anything for that matter) is not ruled out entirely, they simply feel the evidence is *currently* insufficient.

I would consider myself an atheist and I am very open-minded as to what higher forces/powers (or maybe even Gods!) could be out there.

[ejay]

religion is an issue that i have been struggling with a lot this summer. its not something that i ever thought about much before but i had a discussion with some friends that are christians that really made me evaluate my faith.

I am originally from a muslim family from Bosnia. Bosnian muslims are for the most part not at all like most of the muslim population. They generally are less religous, most of them drink and do other things that many muslims would never do. Both of my parents would consider themselves muslim, but neither prays 5 times a day or has been to mecca. We celebrate muslim holidays, and my mom and i fast the month of ramadan every year. I always thought of myself as a muslim even though many muslims would probably say that i am not or that i am a bad example.

After the talk with my friends i was suprised how much faith they had in their religion and how closely they tried to follow the bible ( some of them are still virgins and in college) and i realized that i didnt have as much blind faith as they seem to have. I cant convince myself that just because something is written in a holy book that it must be the absolute truth.

I have been thinking about this all summer long and i still dont know if i am much closer to finding an answer then i was before, but i am really more focused now on being a better person in general. I dont agree with everything in religion but i will continue to fast ramadan a) because i feel lucky to be living in canada after growing up in a war torn country- and the fasting is my expression of gradtitude
b) it makes me more desciplined and conscious as a person.

Sorry if this is rambling, but i felt that this was a perfect thread to try to get some of my thoughts out.

[king_of_drafts]

I got disillusioned with Christianity and Judaism early on (just from various incidents, people, and negative stereotypes) but I have an intuition that I will find some footholds religion once I study some of them in depth. I can also see myself turning to religion if something really tragic happens in my life, which, up to this point, hasn't had any real speed bumps. I guess I'm agnostic, but I hate calling myself that because it seems to have a pretty negative connotation.

Don't really know how I feel about spirituality.

[kyleb]

I am a weak atheist/agnostic.

There are two types of atheism: Strong atheism and weak atheism. Strong atheism seeks to discredit the existence of a higher power, it is a positive stance towards god not existing. Weak atheists do not believe that god exists, but does not seek to discredit a higher power.

Strong atheists are usually the nutjobs that resemble nutso Christians/Muslims/Jews/whatever. Weak atheists often label themselves as strictly agnostic, though that is completely different as well. Agnosticism posits that the afterlife is unknown or possibly unknowable due to the subjective experiences we all deal with on a daily basis.

For more information on the differences between atheistic beliefs, check out this short blurb here on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist#Strong_vs._weak

[Taraz]

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I believe in the tenets of the Baha'i Faith (see surprisingly informative wiki article here ) as well as in the divinity of their origin / character. Since I started gambling for a living and otherwise doing frownable stuff I have distanced myself from my co-religionists and do not take much active part in the Faith, but I have never lost my belief. I converted as a teenager; before that I was raised as nothing-in-particular and made the same kind of standard smart-kid 'religion-is-bunk' arguments that everyone else does. I regard the Faith as a step beyond that.

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I never thought I'd see this when I opened up this thread.

I grew up in a Baha'i family. I believe in all the principles of the religion, but the Baha'i administration has gotten pretty fundamentalist and a little nuts. I don't really consider myself religious at all and I would classify myself as an atheist/agnostic who "has Baha'i parents".

I don't believe in a meddling, omnipotent, omniscient God. Deism appeals to me, but I don't think there is any evidence for it at all. I think meditation and 'spirituality' have lots of positive benefits and can be very fulfilling. So I guess lots of Buddhist teachings are pretty appealing to me

I tend to see religion as an attitude toward the unknowable and as a way for people describe their spiritual experiences. When people have an extraordinary experience or encounter something which they can't explain, they usually invoke some sort of deity or religious language to convey what has happened to them. "I felt God's presence" or "I was comforted in knowing that God was looking after me" are common remarks when other words just won't do. Obviously religions also often contain prescriptions for a 'good life', but these always seem to be add-ons rather than the meat of the religion.