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Obviously in the world there are many different religions and beliefs. Some of which actual clash in beliefs. Personally im Agnostic I dont believe in any one god nor do I follow and one religion. Although I do hold respect and practice things from many religions. I do meditation in belief that it brings the soul and mind another step closer to total enlightment through the practices of Buddhism, the religion is a very interesting one at that, believing that human desire towards anything causes suffering and that this suffering stops when desire stops, that this enlightenment through being good of heart, wisdom, and meditation will release the soul from suffering and allow rebirth.

Even some of the lesser practiced religions such as Pagan or Wicca are also very interesting. In fact i have friends who follow those religions. It follows the belief that there is not just 1 god, but multiple gods. Belief in herbal magic and ritual practice. Apart from what Christianity has poisoned the worlds mind about the religion, its not an evil religion.

Now being who I am i dont nessicarly believe in a god or gods but I do respect the though and belief of them. Some will probably say religion and the belief in a higher being are for people who feel the need to look up to something greater, which maybe true, but we are talking about a vast majority of the earth population and their beliefs. I basically believe in the practices of most of them, not because they may worship a god, but because they help yourself get more intouch with your soul and spirituality.

Heres the question I ask to all of you. Post what religion(s) you follow or believe in, if you dont believe in any and think religion is nonsense then please lets hear why you believe that.

I believe there are no god(s), we were all a cosmic accident. Everything we do is random and our world is essentially chaotic.
Not a very comforting thought, but I believe it.

Well, I would classify myself as an... well I don't know... Take a look.

I am born Catholic, and I practiced Catholicism for most my entire life(minus the 5 past years). Then one day, my mother passed away 5 years ago. It was after that day I stopped believing in God(in any way/in the Catholic God), because that night she died I prayed like hell. Needless to say though, I just couldn't think there was no God. Too many questions were unanswered when I did not believe. But I did not return to any religion. I just have my own beliefs.

I would say I, however, follow more closely Catholism than any other religion. I believe there is __A__ God, I believe in reincarnation, I believe there is a Devil, but there is no such thing as Hell(it says God forgives all, so why would there be a hell?), I believe in Fate, I believe in Purgatory, I do not believe in church "IE: Give god 1 hour of your life a week" because God is always around us.

Those are just some of my beliefs. I do not go to church, I do not ask for forgiveness, I only ask to be understood by God.

So... what am I? I'm not Aetheist, and not Agnostic. .:: Shrug ::.
I only carve my own path in life, not follow someone elses.

Its an interesting path to follow, as believed in Buddhism, when the body dies the soul lives on. So like you I too believe in riencarnation. But differently from the religion i dont pray, nor do i actually believe in there only being One god...

Well more specifically, I believe you have a choice in your reincarnation.

There is certainly life after death, and there is certainly a soul in each of us. We are released from the physical world when our bodies die. Death is only the beginning... to quote... alot of other people.

Aye... I think in most religions that believe in riencarnation believe it is a choice of the soul, weither or not your life and lives have lead you to total enlightenment. If you have reached that, then you join with your god or gods in the life beyond, if not then you may choose to reborn into another life.

I think everyone should be free to belive what they want to, but noone should ever force anyone to belive something.

anyway i dont really know what to belive, sometimes i think there is a good sometimes i dont.

When I die, the neurons in my brain will stop firing. The network of electrical impulses that we humans so arrogantly call sentience will have vanished. Eventually, I'll be decomposing with worms in my brain.

That's a fancy way of saying I'm an atheist .

Religion is an effort to explain the unexplainable (at least to us at this point). I believe that there is no God. I believe that there is not supernatural concept that you are set on completing; I believe that there is a life goal and you must follow it in any way you can. You can't stop anger/any other of your feelings. Anger/other strong feelings blind your normal thoughts and cause you to do something you wouldn't do when you're calm. A calm mind thinks clearly.

Therefore: live life. Don't care about what anyone else who can't explain him/herself says. Only look at objective and unbiased facts. Then, do whatever you want based on those facts. Also, take care of your mental and physical health.

Pretty complicated, eh? I've thought up even more details on this topic, but I can't seem to remember them since I thought of them in school.

As for set religions, I agree with Buddhism the most. But I do not believe on most things it teaches.

In some religions yes, you can say there main purpose is to explain the unexplained. But those arnt the ones I tend to follow... Thats why I prefer buddhism... its not as much praying to your god for answers but more about self enlightenment. The purpose is to be better minded and truer to yourself and soul. Thats the main reason I follow it the most.

dude all religions explain stuff yet keep things unexplain, every things a mystery, and i think we should not try to solve it. somethings are better left unsolved

dimensia, sometimes I wondered that in the past. But that's taking the easy way out. If you want to become a mindless drone and not achieve anything, then yes, but understanding some of the things we can't understand today will help us survive later.

Aetheist. It's not that I don't believe in a higher power, it's just that I don't subscribe to any current version.

In some ways I could that I am Deistic, meaning there is this one "great architect" that created the universe. But I sure dont belive he/she/it is doing any miracles or any special favors for anyone.

I like some of the ideas behind Buddism but I far too desire certain things to every
fully practise any of them.

But on a whole I dont practice/belive in any one religon, nor do I say that any one "wrong" I like to keep an open mind about these things because after all we dont really know if they are or not. Some things a human could just never comprehend. As for looking for awnsers, Imo thats what science is for.

Areneous thats not exactly Atheist, Atheism is not beliving in any higher power whether you subscribe or not. Like I could go to sunday mass (Catholicism) and give confesions and all the sort but at the same time not believe any of it.

The mindless drones are the ones who never even consider other points of view. You know, the ultra-religious types who think that free thought and new ideas are evil? I'm always willing to listen to what someone else has to say, even if I don't necessarily agree with it. But I sort of agree with dimensia as well - nothing will change even if we do figure out how the universe works. We'll still be the same people, and other people will still reject the truth, even if there is absolute proof.

alright. these are my beliefs on religon...

I am a Christian. some people think I screwed up christianity completely because I follow it a bit differently then the rest of the christian world. screw them.

first off, christianity is NOT meant to be a religon, it is meant to be a faith. there is a difference, and one that is pretty hard to explain, but I'll try. sorry if this confuses you...
a religon is something that is to be followed perfectly. However, Jesus says that no one is perfect, so why the hell should christianity be a religon? To put your faith in something is to not know necessarily where you are going, but knowing that the thing you put your faith in will lead you somewhere eventually. I put my faith in Jesus two summers ago. Wow, its only been that long? Anyways, back to what I believe.

Unlike some christians, I could care less about going to church to learn about God and stuff. Church is there for fellowship; I can learn the other stuff on my own, then turn to the fellowship when I need help. However, it is important to me to retain relationships within that fellowship so that I have friends that I can turn to whenever I need them. Going to church doesn't make you a christian.

Like I said before, I have been a christian for almost two years. Before for that, I tried out Paganism, and quite a few ideals I agreed with. Meh, but times change and I like christianity a lot more. I just thought that I should interject this so that ya'll don't think I was brainwashed at a young age.

I am a christian because after looking at what Jesus did, I decided I would like to become more like him. He gave selflessly for everyone. I hope one day I can say that I can make that big of a commitment. Also, a lot of his teachings are very positive, even though there are some I do not fully understand.

Also, the Bible is a very nice tool...sometimes. Somethings I don't relate to, so I don't read about them. Somethings are pretty interesting to think about or to read, so I read them. There are two passages I remember, one is about love, and one is about time...I should find those again.

On top of that, I don't like this idea of evangalizing. I'll tell others about christianity if they ask about it, or if I give them warning. I don't hold religons or sexual preference or any of that against people. That's kind of contradictory in my mind.

However, I have one thing to stress; christianity is following christ, therefore, I am a christian. I guess that is what I've been trying to say in those boring paragraphs.

yeah so, if I said something that made no sense, tell me. I'll try to fix it.

That pretty much sums up my religious views.

But I will elaborate more upon my views:

I believe that the existance of a god/God or gods cannot be proven. However, I also believe that the existance of a god/God or gods cannot be disproven. I believe that any religion could be true, but since nothing can be proven, it is best to trust your intuition and conscience.

I have more info on my religious views on my website (link in sig).

b.d

Hell, I agree with all that stuff Christ taught. If everyone loved their enemies there would be no more war. But I don't think that Christ was "divine", I just think that he was a man with different ideas. No magic. No supernatural or metaphysical crap. Just a person who thought differently. Apparently, this means I'm going to Hell (or so I've been told by many, many Christians). Tell me, do you have to believe that Christ is the savior to be a Christian, or do you just have to follow his teachings? What if I want to follow other people, too, at the same time? Christ wasn't the only man with bright ideas. The Bhuddist teachings of self-enlightenment are just as valid. They share many of the same concepts, except they focus on the individual, and not the whole. What if I don't want to follow anybody, and want to just live my life loving other people without the need of a savior or higher power? Just because Christ thought of it before me doesn't mean I should prostrate myself and beg forgiveness for something I never did.

sorry, I think you are going to hell.



I believe he is my savior, yes.



Its hard to serve two masters. Theres a parable somewhere about that...



okay, you can do that. but you'll go to hell. or maybe limbo, I haven't decided yet if that's real or not.

edit: eh, this is what I think. The ideas are offensive, sorry. I try not to offend people, but its hard...

Heh. You fanatic you. I find it easier to believe in inherent chaoticness and lawlessness, rather than making up doctrine and dogma about some supposedly-Allmighty God.

What if we consider the fact that Hell was invented during the Dark Ages as a tool to threaten people into being religious? Since people all of the sudden started believing it, it immediately becomes fact?

I wouldn't want to worship a God who would be willing to bribe me (with Heaven) or threaten me (with Hell) into believing in Him. I'd rather make my choice based on the values He represents.

But what does that mean? What does your God represent?

Nozomu:



the concept of hell didn't originate during the dark ages, as the idea itself originated earlier. There is a hell because there is a heaven. Kind of like "all actions have an equal and opposite reaction." or ying and yang.



then screw the bribes and look at the values. But I don't see it as a bribe, I see it as an invitation...kind of like why would you go to someone's house when you've never stood up for him before?

Aster:



w00t! JESUS FREAK! I'd hardly qualify myself as a fanatic though.



My God represents everything. He is loving at times, but he also is wrathful if you piss him off too bad. He is like my second father

btw, anyone else think its ironic that I cuss a lot yet I'm a christian? I think its funny...but its a habit I can't break...

Haha FireKame! I'm christian, or... whatever, read my post. And the rest of my family is christian/whatever their views are. We all cuss. Cussing isn't a sin in my book. Haha, I have a book! Anyways, I cuss alot. Doesn't mean I'm evil, or that you're evil and will go to hell because you cuss.

If God threw me out of heaven because I cuss too much, I'd cuss him out! Screw that, cussing doesn't define my spirituality or how pure I am. Man, took alot of effort not to put some cusses in those last 2 sentences!

And things like "cussing means you go to hell, being a glutton means you're going to hell" are all crap. I mean, the people who say that are stupid. How about helping that person from being a glutton because of depression(usually)?

Man does not help it's fellow man(often or very well), though they should(all the time and very well).

Okay, you don't consider that to be jumping to conclusions? And how can someone who preaches a philosophy that denies science's explanations for many things quote Albert Einstein? That's pretty hypocritical.



What do you mean, look at the values? I've told you that I accept the values and try to live my life in accordance to them. My question is, in what way does an appreciation for values imply that some omniscient force created the world? Those are completely unrelated ideas. People can be nice to each other and have selfless thoughts (give me a minute, I'll explain the truth behind selfless thoughts in a second) without bringing the supernatural into it. What if Jesus was just a man who had new, different ideas that I just happen to agree with? But this in no way implies that he was divine. Assuming that he is divine because someone who we know nothing about wrote that he rose from the dead in another, difficultly translated language two thousand years ago doesn't sound like faith to me. It just sounds like wishful thinking.

Selfless thoughts - the idea that one person would give something to another person in exchange for absolutely nothing in return. Well, I personally believe that there is no such thing. I'll give you an example. Say I was to do something nice for a friend of mine. Say I gave a girl some flowers (wholesome, Christian, etc.). Am I doing it just to be nice? No, I'm doing it because I get a little rush of endorphins from glands in my brain, a conditioned instinctual response to making a girl happy. Any "selfless" act can be broken down into these base terms. If I do chores for my parents without them asking, am I being selfless? No, I'm doing it for the endorphin rush I get when I think that they won't be yelling at me later that day.

Here's where Jesus comes in - with his completely selfless sacrifice. Well, maybe he was doing it because he liked helping people. For some reason (possibly a circumstance of his environment, possibly an experience he had, or possibly some other reason that we know nothing about), he received a rush of "joy" from helping people and stopping their pain. Of course, back in those days there was no concept of endorphins (the chemical that makes us feel pleasure, for those who don't know. An orgasm is a rush of endorphin, by the way). Either way, he sacrificed his life to help others. Can you tell me, with absolute certainty, that he was getting nothing on his end of the bargain? Do you think that the thought of going to Heaven never crossed his mind?

I hope that made some sense. Or it could be the hastily constructed ramblings of an overtired human being, who tightened up his argument so he could go to bed a few minutes earlier. You decide. I'm not trying to start a fight, here. I'm just trying to play Devil's Advocate by reasoning things out as logically as possible. It just seems that logic has nothing to do with your arguments. How can you just accept that the Bible holds the truth when there is no way to tell who the people who wrote it were, how soon after the event they witnessed they actually sat down to write, and how many ideas may be referred to that mean completely different things than what they meant two thousand years ago? It's not like people have always had the sameway of interpreting the same words.