Religion Thread

[Czernobog]

Thread for people to talk about any and all religious issues. No trolling, insulting other's beliefs or harassment.

[Allan53]

Well, I know from experience (and research) that the first post is often key in setting the tone of these things, so I'll open with a positive one.

My relationship with religion is...complicated. I don't really want to get into the personal side, so I'll talk about my mental/academic perspective. I enjoy studying religions on a lot of bases: they're new ideas, they tell you a lot about the cultures they're practised in, and there aren't a lot of religions I've studied that I haven't found worthwhile ideas in. Christianity supports the idea of redemption and being kind to one another, Buddhism is about letting go of attachments, Vodoun very much embodies acceptance, and the like. Are some of these ideas mutually exclusive? Sometimes, but often I find it's more a matter of context.

Most religious people I've known have been pretty cool too, and those that weren't I'm pretty sure would have been tools regardless.

[ArcaneArts]

Oh boy, new show.

Hopefully this'll be another one that just putters out.

[Kat]

I'm atheist, but culturally Abrahamic.

^I will wonder when it gets ultimately derailed while watching from the sidelines.

[Kleptomania]

I, personally, believe in the soul more than I believe in God - which is to say, the only thing I really believe in is the persistence of consciousness and self. I do believe to a lesser degree, that the divine is manifest in the structure of the Cosmos itself.
These ideas are the foundation of my own spiritual beliefs.

I study other religions, however. I like to learn about other systems of belief and what makes people believe in them. Hell, my religious studies class was, for a long time, the absolute centre of my social life. I'm thinking I might go further into the study of such things eventually.
I'm deeply interested in this sort of stuff, so I hope this thread can be home to some cordial discussion.

[JimB]

Same here (EDIT: Kleptomania's post did not exist when I began typing mine, so I'm referring to Kat's here). Raised nondemoninationally Christian, became an atheist because I was unable to find either anything particular to believe in or any reluctance not to believe in anything once longstanding habit was taken out of the issue. I do my best not to be one of those prick atheists who rags on others for their faith, and I think I do a good job of it because I genuinely don't want to take anyone's faith from them, but every now and then I slip up when I hear about someone using God as an excuse to be an asshole to people (during discussions of gay rights, more often than not).

I guess that paragraph is a long way of saying I don't expect to have much to contribute to this thread.

[Kat]

I had Jews, Muslims, Catholic and Orthodox Christians (and a Buddhist) in my family line, I think that along with my cousin I'm first generation open atheist.

[Shadowflame]

Hmf...I was born Catholic, and was an altar boy for a good 5-6 years (unmolested thank you) even thought of becoming a priest. (I was 12 years old at the time) Things changed when I was a teenager. I took a more atheistic slant when I got even older but that later didn't make logical sense to me. To my mind pure objectivity demands "possibility," potential, a middle ground. To deny an existence of anything would demand knowledge of what can and cannot exist. That's an arrogance I couldn't accept. Even worse when I added that humanity is barely self-aware...
And I firmly believe in spirituality, it just seems a matter of fact to me that the soul exists.
So I see a 3d axis of neutrality that I'm in the middle of; Agnostic-Gnostic; and Atheist-Theist. And I'm sitting rather comfortably in the middle exploring beliefs here and there. Seeing how beliefs evolve...
I recall an image made in homage to Carl Jung that I find appropriate.
From Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by Carl Jung: (spoilred for size)

[Kat]

Eh, I would refrain from such a joke in this thread like one in your first sentence.

BTW, my high school chaplain was a cool guy but got relocated to Spain.

[Shadowflame]

The monsignor in my church was convicted later of being a pedophile, so it wasn't much a joke. We were just lucky enough that he didn't do any that sort of thing in that particular church.
Regardless, I think of my childhood Catholicism as a positive experience. I sometime wish I could feel that way again today.

[Prophet]

I was born into a Catholic home like most people in latin countries, and thought of myself a believer until I was twelve. I can still remember the day my doubts started, it was by the end of a Science class in the 7th grade at 12 years old, I was saying something about God when a classmate said "Are you stupid or what? Haven't you been studying? Evolution got us where we are, not God.". And that sentence stuck with me and totally transformed. I started questioning everything and with the years a I grew into disbelief.

The problem with religion is they forfeit logic and rationality in favour of Dogma. And I can't abide by that. If you want me to believe in something, show me it is real, give me a logical explanation for whatever you can't show. The more I questioned the less answers I got.

Ironically I love to study religion. I know various and it's funny because most times I know them better than the believers. That's another thing I can't understand, believers don't care about what they believe. Most people follow their family/country religion blindly and have no idea about it's precepts, origins, beliefs, history, etc.

[Pilgrim]

I'm a Christian atheist. Really hard to explain the concept in a few lines that will be satisfactory, but the basic gist is that I believe God is dead existentially and cosmic-historically.

[Shadowflame]

Well, we do have our beliefs...

[Kat]

^^Is there any overlap between your stance and Nietzsche's philosophy?

I think that even if a creator being existed, it would be of such magnitude it would not even notice Solar System.

[Prophet]

I'm a Christian atheist. Really hard to explain the concept in a few lines that will be satisfactory, but the basic gist is that I believe God is dead existentially and cosmic-historically.

I see you take after Prospero with his immortal words "If a god of love and life ever did exist... he is long since dead. Someone... something, rules in his place.".