What's your religion ???

[Bapman]

I just to get a religious perspective on the people here.
I am muslim and I read in "MATT's" post that how ppl trash the Cristian religion and get away with it.
Sooo just thought how many different religion we have here.

OK ENOUGH !!! STOP SAYING STUPID THINGS !!! JUST BE A LITTLE SERIOUS FOR ONCE OK ???

[ImTheWombat]

Why is Ekim not up there?!?!!? What, you don't LIKE Ekim so you don't stick it up there. That hurts man, that hurts REAL bad

[Illchill]

U should add they shouldn't post if they have something offensive to say, that is how these things get the lock.

[black_dust]

Jedi

[Illchill]

Christianity BTW.

[snipe]

I vote independant.

[Bapman]

Originally posted by ImTheWombat
Why is Ekim not up there?!?!!? What, you don't LIKE Ekim so you don't stick it up there. That hurts man, that hurts REAL bad

If it's a joke... then it's not funny...
If you're serious...
then errr... I am sorry ??? I don't know about EKIM ???

[C. Lee]

Christian.....sub heading - Baptist

[ImTheWombat]

Nah, its kinda an inside thing, my friend made a religion that actually makes sense for once. Its not really much of a religion but it only has one major belief that backs all of your other beliefs. I commend him for his intelligence in this idea he has created. Its actually quite simple, other people have probably said it, but he actually truly believes it. And now i do too

[Bapman]

There is actually a RELIGION like that... it's called

"B'ahai"

I didn't think anyone followed that... that's why didn't post it.

[Master Chief]

Originally posted by Illchill
Christianity BTW.

[TheArtist]

Christianity-subtitle: WELS Lutheran

[Clerk]

Christianity: Southern Bapist.

[Jehuty]

Catholic

[Superboy]

Agnostic.

[kypade]

Christianity

[Sandman138]

And once again the Unitarian Universalists are left out of a religious poll...:(

[Morg]

I worship the beer god :)

[SuperDaniel]

No religion. I believe in god and i respect all relgions. However i believe the real religion exists inside all of us.

"Do not follow the name of Christ. Folow his path, his actions."

That's what i do. I fight to be a great and good person everyday. I do the best i can.

[TheAlmightyFuzz]

I'm agnostic, I don't believe in god, but the way I see it, there's no way I can really say that there isn't one. .....but I don't think there is. :p

[Lighthouse]

Originally posted by TheAlmightyFuzz
I'm agnostic, I don't believe in god, but the way I see it, there's no way I can really say that there isn't one. .....but I don't think there is. :p
Same for me.

[Bapman]

Originally posted by Sandman138
Allah is just Arabic for god. Allah is the same G-d as Jehova and Yaweh (sp?). Allah is the same G-d that delivered the Ten Commandments to the prophet Moses, and the only big thing the three Abrahamic traditions dissagree on is whether Jesus was the Messiah and whether Muhammad was Allah's last prophet.

Interesting how most of the RELIGIOUS preacher don't know that.
BTW... by preachers I didn't mean the CHRISTIANS.
I meant JUDISM, CHRISTIAN and ISLAM.

I remember I asked one our preachers that what was wrong with CHRISTIANITY since JESUS is one of the prophets in out religion.
He said CHRISTIANS don't follow the religion properly... I mean what the hell ??? They have the bible... they follow THAT... that's what they are suppose to.
They goes on about bashing the JEWS and I am like wait... isn't MOSES also one of our PROPHETS ???

He comes up with some more bullcrap and I just leave.

Most of the religious people out there ARE like that... 90% don't know that
KRISHNA from HINDU religion is also one of the prophets.







BTW... to the person who said religions don't exsit... please explain... how 3 COMPLETELY seperate religion... found in three seperate places... which had no contact with each other...
Be so damn similar and be what you would call... a continuation of the ones before ???

[ImTheWombat]

Ekim is basically whatever you believe in wil be what is real after you die. Its realtively simple

[Lighthouse]

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had Emperor Constantine not converted to christianity. Would it be the still be dominant religion today?

[Sandman138]

Originally posted by Bapman
Interesting how most of the RELIGIOUS preacher don't know that.
BTW... by preachers I didn't mean the CHRISTIANS.
I meant JUDISM, CHRISTIAN and ISLAM.

I remember I asked one our preachers that what was wrong with CHRISTIANITY since JESUS is one of the prophets in out religion.
He said CHRISTIANS don't follow the religion properly... I mean what the hell ??? They have the bible... they follow THAT... that's what they are suppose to.
They goes on about bashing the JEWS and I am like wait... isn't MOSES also one of our PROPHETS ???

He comes up with some more bullcrap and I just leave.

Most of the religious people out there ARE like that... 90% don't know that
KRISHNA from HINDU religion is also one of the prophets.







BTW... to the person who said religions don't exsit... please explain... how 3 COMPLETELY seperate religion... found in three seperate places... which had no contact with each other...
Be so damn similar and be what you would call... a continuation of the ones before ???


Yeah it's funny. I just got back from an Interfaith camp sponserd by the ADL recently. Everyone up there was able to get it (although two of the Enons (SP?) that came up were a little too close to the Nation of Islam for some people's comfort) I just don't understand why it's so hard for others to grasp. I was reading the Qu'ran last night and I reread the Calf stories. These are useually used to say that Islam is anti-semetic, however while I was reading the story it struck me that the story was not condemmning the isrealites, only the ones who worshipped false idols and thus broke covonant with Allah. It warns Muslims to not try and believe that they know more than Allah and the Qu'ran. It is written in the Qu'ran that all Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sabians, and all who do good go to heaven.

[Bapman]

Originally posted by Sandman138
Yeah it's funny. I just got back from an Interfaith camp sponserd by the ADL recently. Everyone up there was able to get it (although two of the Enons (SP?) that came up were a little too close to the Nation of Islam for some people's comfort) I just don't understand why it's so hard for others to grasp. I was reading the Qu'ran last night and I reread the Calf stories. These are useually used to say that Islam is anti-semetic, however while I was reading the story it struck me that the story was not condemmning the isrealites, only the ones who worshipped false idols and thus broke covonant with Allah. It warns Muslims to not try and believe that they know more than Allah and the Qu'ran. It is written in the Qu'ran that all Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sabians, and all who do good go to heaven.

EXACTLY !!!... and if you read the books that are written about MOSES, JESUS and MOHAMMAD... you'll see they themselves also said that any good person will go to heaven.

Sooo is it just me or does it seem like most of the PREACHERS teach th wrong things ???

[Bapman]

................... I get the distinct feeling that you have no idea how the religions where spread through people

All of them... had books... in the books... were the all the incidents that took place.

Now... how did the incidents from JUDISM... end up in the BIBLE... and how did THOSE 2... end up in the Q`ran... when non of them had any contact with each other.

The JEWS didn't get rid of JESUS... it was the people who didn't believe in him... and it wasn't NOAH's people who tried to kill MOSES... again... these are the people who worshipped IDOLS
Same with MOHAMMAD.

Sooo how do they have the same stories ???

Let me put it to you simply...
STAN LEE wrote spider-man...
How can the place where the people never heard or read it.... get a book that has the exact descriptions that of STAN LEE's writing... but a continuation.

[Doomed_hero]

I have tried every reilgion, but found not truth, so i dont belive.

[Bapman]

WOW !!! It's a tie between the TRUE BELIEVERS and THE NON-BELIEVERS...
HA! HA!... I so wanted to say this for a while !!! :D

[Dorian Gray]

I have independent beliefs

[TheArtist]

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him."
James 1:12

[~†~§iX~†~]

Yet another one of these threads, whose polls negate the classification of Satanism as a religion I see!......

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Originally posted by Lighthouse
I'm not godless, I just plain don't know. thats way they call it faith my friend thats why they call it faith.;)

[I SEE SPIDEY]

damn typos

[ILuvCyclops]

christainity :cyclops:

[Sandman138]

Originally posted by ~†~§iX~†~
Yet another one of these threads, whose polls negate the classification of Satanism as a religion I see!......

I'm interested, I have found so many different definitions of Satanism, I was wondering what you practice.

[Amalgamax]

Originally posted by ImtheWombat
Its not really much of a religion but it only has one major belief that backs all of your other beliefs.

Originally posted by Bapman
There is actually a RELIGION like that... it's called

"B'ahai"

I didn't think anyone followed that... that's why didn't post it.

Hiya, Bapman. I'm a Baha'i.
I'm not really sure how Wombat's statement describes our teachings, though. What is the one major belief we Baha'is have that backs all of our other beliefs?

[Alonsovich]

I worship myself...:)

[Captain Dumas]

Catholic.

i'm not gonna argue any points or preach or criticize anyone or their beliefs or lack of, but, man, some of you are so ignorant and have such little knowledge about other faiths and beliefs that you trash it's incredible.

[MC-117]

Im Roman Catholic.

[spiderrasmon]

a lot of the people who responded above really worship Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion.

don't fall for her trap.

"Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

[the defenders]

1)Buddhism is not a religion,It's a philosophy, and yes I am buddhist
2) I am a deist, I beleive there is a god but I also beleive organized religion is a massive brainwashing tool
3) Sandman, what do you have against commie pinkos, and.....I wanna move to Canada possibly, if bush is re-elected.

[spiderrasmon]

what is organized religion?

[the defenders]

Well, deism started after Luther separated from the catholic church.

[~†~§iX~†~]

Originally posted by Sandman138
I'm interested, I have found so many different definitions of Satanism, I was wondering what you practice. I made up my own belief system which takes the majority of which from the Church of Satanism, which if you search online you'll be able to find many webasites, including the official one, detailing the exact beliefs of that religion.

It's funny in a sick kind of way. I just found that a friend of mine has died, and there is no religion on this world that makes that any easier to deal with!......

[spiderrasmon]

there is only one God. yes, I know that's considered monotheism.

Oh, the Bible does mention other "gods", but mainly in the reference of false idols (wooden 'gods' made by man), angels and demons (worshipped with a reverence similar to God, and considered 'god' by man... again), and even Jesus Christ, God's only-begotten son, come to Earth as a man, was called a 'god' (unbeknownst to the one calling him such, an inaccurate assessment).

But there is only one God, he has a name, and it would really pain much of this world to find out the truth the hard way.

[the defenders]

I think people use "god" as a way to explain what they can't. Humanity has been doing it for years. No one knows what happens after death so we use god t make us feel better.

[Max Shrek]

I am Christain(though not a demonination, because I have my own beliefs, and no Bible expert who thinks he's God's chosen one is gonna tell me different). Though if there's one thing I hate more than far-right insane Christains, it's Athiests who think that our religion is stupid, and we are stupid believing in it. I respect yours, why don't you respect mine(then again, with Christains like Jerry Faldwell and Mindworm, who could blame you?).

[the defenders]

max shrek
i beleive the same as you
i think its official name is deism but im not 100% sure

[Max Shrek]

Originally posted by the defenders
max shrek
i beleive the same as you
i think its official name is deism but im not 100% sure

Really? Okay.

[Orko Is King]

Originally posted by Max Shrek
I am Christain(though not a demonination, because I have my own beliefs, and no Bible expert who thinks he's God's chosen one is gonna tell me different). Though if there's one thing I hate more than far-right insane Christains, it's Athiests who think that our religion is stupid, and we are stupid believing in it. I respect yours, why don't you respect mine(then again, with Christains like Jerry Faldwell and Mindworm, who could blame you?).

[Silent Knight]

Originally posted by Max Shrek
I am Christain(though not a demonination, because I have my own beliefs, and no Bible expert who thinks he's God's chosen one is gonna tell me different). Though if there's one thing I hate more than far-right insane Christains, it's Athiests who think that our religion is stupid, and we are stupid believing in it. I respect yours, why don't you respect mine(then again, with Christains like Jerry Faldwell and Mindworm, who could blame you?).

100% Agreed.

I am a Christian and I won't attack others beliefs because they don't match mine.I have my own interpretation of God.

[Dr. Manhatten]

From that list, I'd say a christian, but I'm more of a half-christian, an Agnostic

[Lazarus440]

John Lennon
Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven,It's easy if you try,No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the peopleliving for today...Imagine there's no countries, It isnt hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too, Imagine all the people living life in peace...You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will be as one Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, imagine all the people Sharing all the world...You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one.

[Sandman138]

My church sings that song alot.

[Lazarus440]

Originally posted by Sandman138
My church sings that song alot. why? its about a world that doesn't have them in it.

[Sandman138]

We're Unitarian Universalists...

[Lazarus440]

Originally posted by Sandman138
We're Unitarian Universalists... and you do what?

[Slang - J'C]

Hmmm yes... I wanna shout out to Mr White.

I pity you brother. I see the influence of oppression in your words and clueless ideals, as clearly as your souless 'agent' avatar. Its all too fitting, though I'm sure labelling your mechanical and blatantly non-spiritual nature escaped your intentions. One of the countless ironies in this world that have put a brief smile on my face, all of which I thank god for.
How can you and yours say we believers merely jump at a simple answer? I see reason where you see 'coinsidence', and I see creativity where you see fluke or 'evolution'. Our beliefs are the ones truely complicating pysical understanding... an understanding that has consumed you Mr White.

For the record, Im one of the 'no religion and I like it that way' votes. Which couldnt be true enough. I respect every religion for the grounds of which it began and thrives to this day, but I do not support any man made system of control. Or character regulation of any kind.
But those among us who blame religion for man's faults, or see any form of 'ignorance' in its ways should take a few perspective steps backwards. Those of you who live purely for pysical existence are the true fools, you have seleceted your god. And it is man's own blind advancements or 'government' for whom you have happily bent over and had your asses pumped full of lies, money, laws and all of your non-believing obsenities. You've been defiled and raped by a system that reaks of a demon's craftings.

Forgive any disrespect you may have interpreted, but its really my pity you have earned. Your minds have not opened yet, and may never until YOU -free of religion or influence- choose to see gods origional will in every aspect of the remaining gifts around us. I'm a tree hugging hippy and I'm ****in proud of it. What!

[Sandman138]

Lazarus440 and anybody else who's interested.

These are the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism

We affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.


Basically other than these principals (and even these are loosly based, some of the anarchists don't like the one on democratic process in society at large) you can beleive whatever you believe to find your own spiritual meaning.

[Captain Skeptic]

I am an atheist and I also have no religious convictions.I am sure this thread is probably full of existential debates and whatnot which I would love to partake in but I am have not read through it yet.

[Captain Skeptic]

Adddendum:I am an AGNOSTIC atheist, according to the Huxlian usage.For those unfamiliar, agnosticism is NOT "I am unsure", agnosticism is the conviction that the question of God's existence is an insoluable one(re:unfalsifiable hypothesis in scientific terms).

[Captain Skeptic]

Originally posted by spiderrasmon
there is only one God. yes, I know that's considered monotheism.

Oh, the Bible does mention other "gods", but mainly in the reference of false idols (wooden 'gods' made by man), angels and demons (worshipped with a reverence similar to God, and considered 'god' by man... again), and even Jesus Christ, God's only-begotten son, come to Earth as a man, was called a 'god' (unbeknownst to the one calling him such, an inaccurate assessment).

But there is only one God, he has a name, and it would really pain much of this world to find out the truth the hard way.


You are simply regurgitating Pascal's wager here.PW has been thoroughly refuted a hundred thousand times but still the fallacious argument persists.
Without rational justification to support YOUR particular god-claim then your god is no more likely than ANY god to exist.Therefore, if it turns out that the God of Islamic terrorists IS the one true God or that Satan or some other trickster is the supreme ruler of the universe, then you are in at least as much trouble as any atheist and your choice to worship Yahweh will cost you as dearly as if you had chosen Vishnu, Odin or Eric Clapton.


Technically there are MANY gods that DO exist.Unfortunately none of them are supernatural.They are wooden idols, deified mad emperors and natural phenomenoae(i.e. the sun).In this context I am an atheist because I do not willingly worship anything as a god.
In the scientific sense I am an atheist becasue I do not believe in the existence of things which cannot be demonstrated to exist or whose existence is not rationally inferred.

[Captain Skeptic]

Originally posted by Max Shrek
I am Christain(though not a demonination, because I have my own beliefs, and no Bible expert who thinks he's God's chosen one is gonna tell me different). Though if there's one thing I hate more than far-right insane Christains, it's Athiests who think that our religion is stupid, and we are stupid believing in it. I respect yours, why don't you respect mine(then again, with Christains like Jerry Faldwell and Mindworm, who could blame you?).



If it is one thing I have learned it is that resorting to name calling/ad hominems is no way to advance a position.However, i have also come to realise that if an atheist dares to point out fallacies in the logic/reasoning of a thesit's particular argument, they immediately begin jumping up and down screaming about how they have been slandered and abused.

You are right to say that attacks on the person are a no-no.However critical analysis of an argument or line of reasoning is completely fair game and you should not assume you are being called "stupid".I am not saying this is what you are doing.Maybe the atheists here ARE(unlike the overwhelming majority) abusive and unecessarilly disrespectful.

Again, no one is obligated to respect someone's beliefs in a debate about said beliefs/lack of beliefs.If someone comes here and tells me "God exists and he loves you" then I am fully within my rights to ask "WHy do you believe this?" and if they respond with logical fallacies and vaccuous, bald assertions about "the promise of Heaven" and whatnot then I am again within my rights to point out that their claim is not rationally justified.

If they attempt to convert me through threats of damnation I am right to say "Bollocks!".

[Captain Skeptic]

Originally posted by Slang - J'C
Wow everybody wanna piece of slang eh Skeptic? Yeah I do kinda associate government with lack of spirituality... seeing as how its the biggest step of development away from any divine influence. No I aint no bigot. I'm a broke ass drug addict who raps and makes art to feed myself... I dont see much room for any more inferiority. My pity is completely bonafide, and I do feel you are missing a valuable part of life, the only part that has kept me going all these years.


I could care less how you feel about the relationship of government to spirituality.What I am concerned about is that you seem to equate lack of spirituality with inferiority(or worse?).To do so, you must embark on a series of presuppositions...

1)You must presuppose that "spirit" or "spiritual things" exist.(here I am assuming by "spiritual" you are meaning the non-physical/supernatural usage).

2)You must presuppose the ultimate source of that spirituality to be "good" and that "goodness" to be some objectively definable quality.

3)Finally you must presuppose that lack of conviction in "spirituality" is equivalent to "not good" and deserving of "bad karma" adn such.

An awful lot of presupposition.

[BlackSymbiote]

I'm semi religious. I believe there is a God, but I don't like organzied religion. I mean seriously, Jesus was a poor man, he lived simply. God, for all his immense power, isn't a wealthy man either... so why do we have to worship in these expensive churches full of false idols (man's interpretation of what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and Angels would look like), especially when we are constantly told to pray for the less fortunate. You know, the amount of money that went into and still goes into the building and maintence of the church could probably feed a good amount the hungry, clothe the naked, and give shelter to the homeless.

Anyway, I'd thought I'd stir the pot a bit with a speech from a script I just wrote. In fact, I think this is a completely original thought because I've never heard anyone speak of it this way. This has been edited:

"Imagine if you, your life, your fantasies, your dreams, your desires, everything you chose to be, and everything you want to become were nothing more than lies? What if your status in life was permanent and there would be no breaking from it? In the beginning, God only created the Heavens. He created us, the Angels, and we lived in a paradise. But there was one power that God has no control over. That power of absolute opposites. For every good, there must be an evil. Before your history even began, an angel named Lucifer decided he didn’t want to be a citizen under God anymore. He decided that he was going to usurp power and take the throne. He even raised an army. They failed, and God banished him into what is called Hell. Absolute opposites. The ultimate good versus the ultimate evil. Lucifer was so enraged at being cast out of paradise that he continued to wage a war with Heaven. Unfortunately, both our sides were limited and both sides suffered heavy casualties. When God and Lucifer began to realize that their once vast numbers were now dwindling, the two met, for the first and only time. They decided that in order to continue the war, for each wanted absolute victory, they would need to build a plane of existence where they could harvest, at certain times, more and more souls for their armies. So they created Earth."

[Mr Sinister]

HMPH! I'm orthodox, and am absolutely furious that it wasn't included! :D

[sithgoblin]

Originally posted by Bapman
JUDISM was founded in EGYPT... CHRISTISNITY in ROME
and ISLAM in ARAB...
and do you know non of them had contact with each other ??? Originally posted by Bapman
................... I get the distinct feeling that you have no idea how the religions where spread through people

All of them... had books... in the books... were the all the incidents that took place.

Now... how did the incidents from JUDISM... end up in the BIBLE... and how did THOSE 2... end up in the Q`ran... when non of them had any contact with each other.

The JEWS didn't get rid of JESUS... it was the people who didn't believe in him... and it wasn't NOAH's people who tried to kill MOSES... again... these are the people who worshipped IDOLS
Same with MOHAMMAD.

Sooo how do they have the same stories ??? I don't know much about Islam, but I can explain the Christianity/Judism thing.

To put it simply, Judism and Christianity are the same religion, except the Jews didn't accept Jesus as the son of God. Both Jews and Christians worship the same God, which is why Christians have the Old Testimant (the Jewish holy text) as part of their own holy text. It is the New Testimant that sets the religions apart and makes them different. Christians and Jews both believe in the Old Testimant, and that part of their religion is the same. It is just the New Testimant that sets them apart. :)

[sithgoblin]

Originally posted by the defenders
1)Buddhism is not a religion,It's a philosophy, and yes I am buddhist Yes, it started off as a philosophy, and Buddha stressed that he was not to be worshiped as a god, that he was simply a wise man who had been enlightened, and had shared his knowledge. However nowadays he is more or less seen as a god. In many of the Buddhist temples around the world (I've been to several in China, I can't speak for elsewhere) they have big statues of Buddha, and people go and pray and worship him.

[Kent]

Agnostic.

[LadyVader]

Wait a sec... Unitarian Universalism, at least that's what emode says my religon should be.

[Sandman138]

Originally posted by LadyVader
Wait a sec... Unitarian Universalism, at least that's what emode says my religon should be.

What religion are you?

[Transcended]

Christian.

[sithgoblin]

Athiest/Agnostic, btw.

[LadyVader]

Originally posted by Sandman138
What religion are you?

Jedi. :D
I believe in the force.
BTW, did you know that the whole Force concept is based on taoism, an asian religion?

[Sava]

Hinduism

[Super_Ludacris]

can't we all just get along

[Bacchus009]

I'm Agnostic

[QuiGonJosh]

Originally posted by spiderrasmon
you worship movies?

kinda...

[Sandman138]

Originally posted by ~†~§iX~†~
I made up my own belief system which takes the majority of which from the Church of Satanism, which if you search online you'll be able to find many webasites, including the official one, detailing the exact beliefs of that religion.

It's funny in a sick kind of way. I just found that a friend of mine has died, and there is no religion on this world that makes that any easier to deal with!......

Okay, so you work off Anton Levay's (sp?) religion most people don't understand what real Satanism is. I have a few friends who, while they don't actually practice it or belong to the church, are very interested in Satanism and the energy (use the term loosly) rules around it. I must say that I do find it refreshing to find a religion whose cardinal sin is stupidity.

[~†~§iX~†~]

Originally posted by Sandman138
Okay, so you work off Anton Levay's (sp?) religion most people don't understand what real Satanism is. I have a few friends who, while they don't actually practice it or belong to the church, are very interested in Satanism and the energy (use the term loosly) rules around it. I must say that I do find it refreshing to find a religion whose cardinal sin is stupidity.
I don't, however, agree with their be;iefs on afterlife, as it just seems like hopeless existence, and hedonism, of sorts, for no point whatsoever!......

[~†~§iX~†~]

Originally posted by spiderrasmon
word?
Which one?!......

[Asteroid-Man]

There is actually a RELIGION like that... it's called

"B'ahai"

I didn't think anyone followed that... that's why didn't post it.
I'm a Baha'i and obviously you don't know much about it.
http://www.bahai.org
theres a couple hundred million of us ;)

[The Chairman]

By blood, I'm a Catholic, so I voted Christianity. However, these days I don't know what to consider myself.

I believe in God very strongly (I pray every night), and I believe in most of the stories of The Bible, and I'm proud of receiving Communion and Confirmation, but at this point, I don't really claim a religion. I feel God and religion are two separate entities. I'm a follower of God and his word, but not religion.

Overall, I don't have a problem with organized religion, though there are some flaws. I have very liberal beliefs when it comes to God that I'd discuss if brought up. I do support gay marriage and I don't believe in Adam & Eve, for starters.

[Dangerous]

Satanist.

[El Payaso]

No religion and lovin' it.

[Taiwarriorz21]

Christianity: Southern Bapist.

Same here dude!!! Where you from? I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Go to Greenwell Springs Baptist Church..... Dang the majority of the voters are Christians!!! That's awesome!!! Good for yall...Amen! Born-again and Happy about it!

[The_Dark_Knight]

haha I voted Scientology lol

But I really dont have a religion.

[unstoppable]

christianity

[unstoppable]

Satanist.
that would explain a lot :woot:

[Fran]

Same here, Christian.

[CConn]

My family's Irish Catholic, but I don't follow any particular religion myself. I'm not atheist, though.

[Cyrusbales]

Aetheist, parents are atheists too. I didn't follow in thier footsteps though, just came to make my own descision after my own investigation etc. Especially after getting into philosophy, my belief in god totally vanished, making me anti-religion now

[Taiwarriorz21]

Aetheist, parents are atheists too. I didn't follow in thier footsteps though, just came to make my own descision after my own investigation etc. Especially after getting into philosophy, my belief in god totally vanished, making me anti-religion now

sad to hear it...but everyone is entitled to free will.

[muertevilla]

i worship my guitar.

[Cyrusbales]

sad to hear it...but everyone is entitled to free will.

I'm quite happy, I love the way I don't need god, it scares me that some people NEED god to be nice to each other and stuff, but each to their own, just don't get me started on it:)

[Speedball]

Christian. Which type of Christianity is still up in the air.

[Warhammer]

Christian. Which type of Christianity is still up in the air.

I used to be Baptist, then a Presbyterian, without knowing what it meant.
I am also a no denomination guy.

[Speedball]

I used to be Baptist, then a Presbyterian, without knowing what it meant.
I am also a no denomination guy.
I'm Catholic, but I don't agree with some of the things they believe.
Such as confession.
I don't need to go through a person to ask for forgiveness from God.

[Eddie Brock]

I'm Catholic, but I don't agree with some of the things they believe.
Such as confession.
I don't need to go through a person to ask for forgiveness from God.
:up:

i completely agree (i am also Catholic)
i also disagree with the anti-gay thing
i think God would much rather have his people happy and gay than lonely and straight

[Arkady Rossovich]

Christanity.

[sithgoblin]

Athiest/Agnostic, btw.

3 and a half years later, I'd like to update my stance to strait out Atheist.

NO RELIGION and I LIKE IT THAT WAY !!! :cmad: :oldrazz:

[El ASESINO]

I'm a Christian

[Spider-Bite]

I'm an atheist. But wow am I surprised at the results of this poll. 30 atheists. that's way different from the proportions present in society. In America we make up less than 5% of the country and less than 15% of people under the age of 35.

worldwide though I think we are the fourth or fifth largest group now.

[Spider-Bite]

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

Man we are growing in large numbers fast. Just two years ago we were the fourth biggest and now were the third.


Christianity (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christianity): 2.1 billion
Islam (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Islam): 1.3 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious): 1.1 billion
Hinduism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Hinduism): 900 million
Chinese traditional religion (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Chinese): 394 million
Buddhism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Buddhism): 376 million
primal-indigenous (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#primal): 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#African): 100 million
Sikhism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Sikhism): 23 million
Juche (http://www.adherents.com/largecom/Juche.html): 19 million
Spiritism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Spiritism): 15 million
Judaism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Judaism): 14 million
Baha'i (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Baha'i): 7 million
Jainism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Jainism): 4.2 million
Shinto (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Shinto): 4 million
Cao Dai (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#CaoDai): 4 million
Zoroastrianism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Zoroastrianism): 2.6 million
Tenrikyo (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Tenrikyo): 2 million
Neo-Paganism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Neo-Paganism): 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Unitarian): 800 thousand
Rastafarianism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Rastafarianism): 600 thousand
Scientology (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Scientology): 500 thousand

[Super Kal]

Christianity

[Spider-Kid]

It had to happen, so I'll start of with a poll...which religion do you guys practice?

[Spider-Kid]

I'm Catholic Christian.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Oh boy. Here we go.

http://fiatopen.rollins.edu/wordpressmu/e-journals/files/2009/12/johnny_carson_as_karnak_feature.jpg

In this thread's future.... I see flame wars that go on for pages.... and people not accepting beliefs that are different from their own...

[Spider-Kid]

I respect all beliefs, no matter what. What people do is up to them, but hey...there's plenty of threads out there that have flaming for pages and pages... let's try to make this a flame-free thread and openly discuss our beliefs. :yay:

[Bat-Mite]

Oh boy. Here we go.

http://fiatopen.rollins.edu/wordpressmu/e-journals/files/2009/12/johnny_carson_as_karnak_feature.jpg

In this thread's future.... I see flame wars that go on for pages.... and people not accepting beliefs that are different from their own...:funny:

Well, that's the way these things have gone in the past, but if the atheism topic can exist for so long without exploding, then I think this topic might deserve another chance.

Also, there's really no need for any huge debates about whether there is or isn't a God here, since those could be carried out in the atheism topic. I seem to remember that being a big source of the arguments in the previous topics.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I am an atheist by belief, a Jew by birth. I'm sure someone somewhere finds that offensive for God knows what reasons. I tend to shy away from discussing religion much more than I do even politics, because for something that's supposed to be borne out of love it brings out the worst hate and prejudice in some people.

Personally speaking, I don't care what people believe, as long as they don't care what I believe. But the moment they try to convert me or tell me I'm wrong and I'm going to hell, that's the moment I shut that person out in the rudest and most dismissive way possible.

[Pink Ranger]

I'm an atheist, but I belong to a mainline Protestant Christian church, and go there every Sunday. Go figure.

[Master Chief]

I think all Religion is f**ked in some way but I don't mind Buddhism. I was raised Christian though and I still go to church occasionally. It's relaxing sometimes despite the lack of magic it holds nowadays hahah.

[Spider-Kid]

I am an atheist by belief, a Jew by birth. I'm sure someone somewhere finds that offensive for God knows what reasons. I tend to shy away from discussing religion much more than I do even politics, because for something that's supposed to be borne out of love it brings out the worst hate and prejudice in some people.

Personally speaking, I don't care what people believe, as long as they don't care what I believe. But the moment they try to convert me or tell me I'm wrong and I'm going to hell, that's the moment I shut that person out in the rudest and most dismissive way possible.

Those Evangelicals...:cmad: They make Christianity look stupid :( No one will go to hell, we all deserve a second chance. There's plenty of proof for religion anyway...but I won't start shoving stuff into peoples face.

[Lighthouse]

Atheist or "Temporary Agnostic in Practice".

[enterthemadness]

Those Evangelicals...:cmad: They make Christianity look stupid :( No one will go to hell, we all deserve a second chance. There's plenty of proof for religion anyway...but I won't start shoving stuff into peoples face.

No one--dude, people go to hell. Not all, but clearing some deserve to. Hitler..Stalin...etc. Granted if they had the guts to do that hail mary forgive my sins prayer...

[Pink Ranger]

:huh:

Why?

I don't believe there's a magical man in the sky who cares about what we do, or whether two men can get married or not. I believe Jesus was just a Jewish guy with no superpowers trying to point out corruption and hypocrisy in his own faith. But the lessons of Christianity are still valuable, whether I believe that the people in the Bible ever existed or not, or whether what the extremist Christians choose to believe are right or wrong.

Superman isn't real, but I'm sure we can all learn a thing or two from his actions. I guess Christianity to me is like those PSAs that came at the end of the GI Joe cartoons: Duke and Flint aren't real, but it's still useful to know you're not supposed to touch downed wires on the street.

[Dr.]

Interesting idea for a thread.

What's your religion??? (http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=74515)

:cwink:

[Spider-Kid]

No one--dude, people go to hell. Not all, but clearing some deserve to. Hitler..Stalin...etc. Granted if they had the guts to do that hail mary forgive my sins prayer...

Yes, good correction. If Hitler was to go to Heaven, he would have had to spend a HELL of a long time in Purgatory for what he had done to the world.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Interesting idea for a thread.

What's your religion??? (http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=74515)

:cwink:

Threads on decade-old forums are a bit like comicbook storylines. Eventually everything's been done before... or several times.

A digression, but I like looking at ancient threads. It's like going back in time.

[Spider-Kid]

Threads on decade-old forums are a bit like comicbook storylines. Eventually everything's been done before... or several times.

A digression, but I like looking at ancient threads. It's like going back in time.

The feeling of nostalgia. :yay:

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Those Evangelicals...:cmad: They make Christianity look stupid :( No one will go to hell, we all deserve a second chance. There's plenty of proof for religion anyway...but I won't start shoving stuff into peoples face.

What do you mean by "second chance"? Second chance about what? :huh:

[The Squirrel]

It had to happen, so I'll start of with a poll...which religion do you guys practice?

It's happened before. They just don't last that long.

[Kurosawa]

Regardless of religion or not, everyone should read the Bible as it is the basis of so much of the culture and history of western civilization.

[DoomsdayApex]

Regardless of religion or not, everyone should read the Bible as it is the basis of so much of the culture and history of western civilization.

I have, not necessarily for personal reasons but academically.

In my opinion, the Bible should be taken lightly or with a grain of salt in terms of history. It's a widely known fact among historians that the Bible got a facelift when it came time to assemble/compile and distribute it.

Personally, I would never read the Bible for moral guidance.

[enterthemadness]

Yes, good correction. If Hitler was to go to Heaven, he would have had to spend a HELL of a long time in Purgatory for what he had done to the world.

Yea.

I think JJJ posted it, but IMO I believe in Heaven, Purgatory, Hell. To me Hell ain't a myth.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Regardless of religion or not, everyone should read the Bible as it is the basis of so much of the culture and history of western civilization.

I'll agree with reading it for its historical* and philisophical value, but only if one reads other religious texts like the Koran, the Talmud and others with equally enthusiastic academic fervor.

My friend read the Koran for one of his college classes and said it was actually an interesting and engaging read. I hate how the book's been so stigmatized by anti-intellectual bigots who think you must hate America or be a terrorist in waiting if you read the Koran.

*= historical in terms of the stories themselves holding cultural weight about how adherents to that religion think, not because they're true accounts.

[enterthemadness]

Yes, I do. And I believe in ghosts, shadow people, and Aliens.

Heaven- You go there if you good or something.

Hell- go there if you really bad. I guess I dunno.

Purgatory- lol. Godless region.

I honestly don't care where I end up at...just put me on a tree branch so I can laugh down on people. Read me....oh and since I'm dead, I want smokes and weed. I dunno, I just find it fun thinking about the afterlife and where I'll end up at. Maybe I'll end up in hell and use the flames to light a smoke or joint, I kinda doubt Satan would care if I did, but may question how I got them.

[Metamorpho1977]

I don't believe there's a magical man in the sky who cares about what we do, or whether two men can get married or not. I believe Jesus was just a Jewish guy with no superpowers trying to point out corruption and hypocrisy in his own faith. But the lessons of Christianity are still valuable, whether I believe that the people in the Bible ever existed or not, or whether what the extremist Christians choose to believe are right or wrong.

Superman isn't real, but I'm sure we can all learn a thing or two from his actions. I guess Christianity to me is like those PSAs that came at the end of the GI Joe cartoons: Duke and Flint aren't real, but it's still useful to know you're not supposed to touch downed wires on the street.

I have this cool Bible study book called The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero. It points a lot of similarities between Superman and Jesus.

[Shemtov]

I'm 99.9% sure we already have a religion thread.....
I'm an orthodox Jew, BTW.
Edit:The thread I was thinking of is closed.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I'm 99.9% sure we already have a religion thread.....
I'm an orthodox Jew, BTW.

Are you Hasidic? What's your opinion (if any) about reformed Jews?

[Shemtov]

Are you Hasidic?
Nope.
Most Chassidim wouldn't be on the Internet-and most of those that would use the internet use it only for business.

Also,Check out this thread:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=155113
Only problem I have with belief-o-matic is that I believe in both reincarnation AND heaven and Hell, but it wont acommidate that. :csad:

[moviedoors]

No religion, no spirituality, not even superstitious. Agnostic atheist.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

No religion, no spirituality, not even superstitious. Agnostic atheist.

You know "agnostic" and "atheist" actually mean two different things, right?

[Bill]

You know "agnostic" and "atheist" actually mean two different things, right?

Wrong. They are complimentary terms.

[enterthemadness]

Whoa, I took that belief o matic test...just saying...#3 at 93%...Neo Pagan. Muahahaha.

Number 1 was U-something Universliam, 2nd was Mainline something Liberal Christian.

[moviedoors]

You know "agnostic" and "atheist" actually mean two different things, right?

You should have a read in the atheism thread. It most certainly is a term with a specific meaning.

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

[8wid]

We should have another option asking those that say the are not religious, but claim to follow Christ and get that number too alone from the agnostics and atheists on here.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

You should have a read in the atheism thread. It most certainly is a term with a specific meaning.

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

Okay, fair enough. I never got that specific. I guess I just assumed all agnostics were like this. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_theist)

[Superman 1265]

I don't really know how to define my position in Religion. For instance, I don't believe that God exists, but I believe ghosts wander the Earth. I'm totally confused.

[moviedoors]

Okay, fair enough. I never got that specific. I guess I just assumed all agnostics were like this. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_theist)

The SHH: entertaining and educational. :woot:

[moviedoors]

I don't really know how to define my position in Religion. For instance, I don't believe that God exists, but I believe ghosts wander the Earth. I'm totally confused.

That depends on what you think ghosts actually are. Are they literally the wandering souls of the deceased? Are they quantum probabilities waves that have yet to collapse? Do you believe they exist, but have no opinion on what they are? Your answer makes a lot of difference.

[Superman 1265]

That depends on what you think ghosts actually are. Are they literally the wandering souls of the deceased? Are they quantum probabilities waves that have yet to collapse? Do you believe they exist, but have no opinion on what they are? Your answer makes a lot of difference.

I believe they exist, but I have no idea what they really are. All I know is that they frighten the **** out of me.

[moviedoors]

I believe they exist, but I have no idea what they really are. All I know is that they frighten the **** out of me.
That's the trickiest answer. I wouldn't know how to classify you either! I'd just embrace it. There's nothing wrong with admitting you just don't know. I actually think it's an admirable trait.

[Spider-Kid]

What do you mean by "second chance"? Second chance about what? :huh:


When you die, God the Father will grant you a chance for forgivness of your sins if you really mean it, although you will have a long time in the fire of purgatory being cleansed from your sins.

[Crazy Quilt]

The poll choices could have been a bit more inclusive. Maybe options for Sikhs, Wiccans and Bahai and an "Other" option.

Anyhow, I'm a Muslim, too. To put it under a subheading I'm neither Sunni or Shia. I consider myself to be a Sufi.

[Pink Ranger]

The poll choices could have been a bit more inclusive. Maybe options for Sikhs, Wiccans and Bahai and an "Other" option.


Better yet: Miscellaneous.

"Hindu! There are 600 million of us!"

"That's super."

[Crazy Quilt]

Better yet: Miscellaneous.

"Hindu! There are 600 billion of us!"

"That's super."

Simpsons? :o

What's hilarious and kind of weird is I was thinking about that quote like 30 seconds ago.

[Superman Prime]

Eastern Orthodox for me.

[Bruce Banner]

My father was a Catholic and my mother is protestant.

I'm nothing but a skeptic who listens to all sides of the argument and tries to be respectful to their views.

[Angry Monkey]

I'm Saved! :)

[Sloth7d]

For now I'm pretty much an Agnostic Nihilist with some slight Objectivist tendancies.

[Asteroid-Man]

Nice to see the Baha'i Faith on there... :dry:

[C. Lee]

We should have another option asking those that say the are not religious, but claim to follow Christ and get that number too alone from the agnostics and atheists on here.

Actually...there is already a thread for athiesm.

[DareDemon]

^From what? Something you can't prove even exists?

Woah. Eye opening. I, along with every other religious person in the world, MUST change our worldview. Your wisdom... it's too much. Seriously though, if you're not religious, why do you feel the need to poo on others? Why do you feel the need to even go into a thread with a subject you don't care about or believe in? I've always thought that atheists would care the least about trying to "convert" others, but I have been proven wrong time and time again. It seems atheists are the MOST militant, at least where I live. I've never even heard (in real life that is, obviously tons of news reports) of a Christian so obsessed with bashing atheists, yet I see atheists all the time bashing the religious.

Anywho....

Christian/Buddhist. Misconception: You don't have to worship Buddha or believe in reincarnation in all forms of Buddhism. I became a Christian when I was about 7 years old. I have become stronger and more educated in my faith since then. I have always been interested in the pagan religions (mostly Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, but the past couple years I've read of Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Japanese). Growing up, all my friends were Catholic or Christian, but now I'm the only Christian in my immediate group of friends, the rest are atheist and one agnostic. My family is all Christian, and as far as I know my entire extended family is too. I adopted Buddhism as a secondary religion in college, because I realized that some forms of it won't interfere with Christianity, and I take it as more of a philosophy.

Recently, I got a Quran and read a bit of it so far. Pretty interesting. I also own the Book of Mormon. I am not a Mormon or a Muslim, though; I am just a very curious person when it comes to religion, history, and anthropology.

One question to fellow followers of the three main Abrahamic religions: When Moses threw down his staff in the pharoh's court, it became a snake. The pharoh's magicians threw down theirs, and they became snakes as well. It doesn't make sense to me that God would allow Pharoh's people to use this magic. My opinion is that it was either Satan/demons, or the gods from pagan religions (in this case, probably Egyptian, although they all shared gods anyway). Now, these gods could be considered demons in some peoples' eyes. What is your opinion? How did Pharoh's magicians do that? Was it Satan? Was it pagan gods? Or maybe it was God afterall (Moses' staff-snake did end up eating the others)

[enterthemadness]

You know what...if I suspect many gods up there, am I pagan?

[DareDemon]

You know what...if I suspect many gods up there, am I pagan?

Yes, should be so. A pagan is someone who is polytheistic. Although pagan is sometimes used with a negative connotation, I do not mean it as such. Its original meaning is just someone who believes in multiple gods.

[enterthemadness]

Ok. I don't read much on this, but Is Allah and Christian God one and same? I view them as separate Gods. To be honest...it makes sense to me of many Gods cause who made the Christian God? I doubt "one" God just came to be.

[Lighthouse]

It's so surreal to read your old posts. My views have evolved since I posted here.

[FilmNerdJamie]

Baptist.

[8wid]

Woah. Eye opening. I, along with every other religious person in the world, MUST change our worldview. Your wisdom... it's too much. Seriously though, if you're not religious, why do you feel the need to poo on others? Why do you feel the need to even go into a thread with a subject you don't care about or believe in? I've always thought that atheists would care the least about trying to "convert" others, but I have been proven wrong time and time again. It seems atheists are the MOST militant, at least where I live. I've never even heard (in real life that is, obviously tons of news reports) of a Christian so obsessed with bashing atheists, yet I see atheists all the time bashing the religious.




In America, I find Christians to be MUCH more militant than atheists are in the pursuits and in trying to change politics in their favor, especially evangelicals. If you don't see any Christian bashing of atheism much, turn on Fox News and sit and listen to their religious matters, it can be heard 24/7. I poo on others to keep them thinking about their own positions and constantly to keep making themselves reevaluate the idea of belief in the supernatural to see the flaws that are just assumed and not question. Half the time they won't do it on their own.

[C. Lee]

In America, I find Christians to be MUCH more militant than atheists are in the pursuits and in trying to change politics in their favor, especially evangelicals. If you don't see any Christian bashing of atheism much, turn on Fox News and sit and listen to their religious matters, it can be heard 24/7. I poo on others to keep them thinking about their own positions and constantly to keep making themselves reevaluate the idea of belief in the supernatural to see the flaws that are just assumed and not question. Half the time they won't do it on their own.

But this thread is not for the bashing of people who have religious beliefs. I deleted several of your inflammatory posts you recently made. This thread is not for attempting to debunk religion. It was started by someone that wanted to know what religious beliefs the Hypsters had...not for saying they are wrong.

[Pink Ranger]

I'm Catholic, but I don't agree with some of the things they believe.
Such as confession.
I don't need to go through a person to ask for forgiveness from God.

Reminds me of an old Dennis Miller joke:

"I go into the confessional, and went to the priest, 'Okay, you first.'"

[Quasimod0]

Christian- Assemblies of God, Pentacostal

[redhawk23]

Is there any particular reason why the "No Religion" selection is so obnoxious?

Edit: Thanks to whoever changed it.

[Godzilla2000]

Here's the funny thing about me. I believe in a religion that can best be described as Christianity, but I don't belong to any specific church.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I was a Muslim when this thread first started and I'm still one.

[hopefuldreamer]

Was christened as a baby, and went to a CofE school were bible stories were told in assemblies and the lords prayer said every morning.

My mum doesn't like labels, but she has always believed in God and some form of heaven and a soul.

When I was about 10 my mum got involved with a little christian spiritualist church, which I used to go along too and get readings from mediums. I've been again in later life but cannot see it through the eyes of anything but a skeptic.

I spent my teens reading a lot about paganism and wicca, even getting involved with a coven. We used to do rituals on solstaces and I even used a spell to get rid of my acne (which involved washing your face in salt water - the 'magic' part was just a bit of chanting in front of a mirror :hehe:).

Also had a bit of interest in Thelema's basic principals of following the soul's true path, and being free to do whatever it takes to do that as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.

Beyond that, considered myself agnostic mostly.

That was generally due to my own instincts. If I lost something important, I'd instinctually pray to God that I find it. And because of stuff like that, I thought 'well I do kind of believe in him then'.

But I've recently come to realise that 'instinct' is just social conditioning. Like a form of brainwashing that I just can't shake.

It doesn't mean I believe in God. Because I really really don't. It just means it's hard for me to completely severe things that are engrained in me from such a young age.

I now consider myself an atheist, and I believe there is no God.

I find religion absolutely fascinating and have many religious friends.

My best friend converted to Islam a few years ago and married her husband (also an English Muslim convert). I completely do not understand her beliefs, and have my doubts that she is actually being honest with herself about them - but I will always be supportive. I even filled in for her father at the wedding (as a heavy Roman Catholic, he didn't approve).

I even wrote my dissertation for my journalism degree on the following subject: 'How the negative depiciton of Islam in the media since 9/11 has effected public opinion of the faith', which was a big eye opener about accepting the information we are fed on face value.

I have recently been back in contact with my Dad who is an atheist buddhism (buddhist monk actually) and I have found I agree with a lot of his philosophies and would like to look further into the practice of buddhism.

But I will never understand theistic belief. It seems so illogical to me.

[random_havoc]

In America, I find Christians to be MUCH more militant than atheists are in the pursuits and in trying to change politics in their favor, especially evangelicals. If you don't see any Christian bashing of atheism much, turn on Fox News and sit and listen to their religious matters, it can be heard 24/7. I poo on others to keep them thinking about their own positions and constantly to keep making themselves reevaluate the idea of belief in the supernatural to see the flaws that are just assumed and not question. Half the time they won't do it on their own.

There's your problem right there, no one should ever watch Fox News. As a Baptist pastor I find Fox News very offensive in that they claim Christian beliefs while not actually following them. Frankly, they make us all look bad.

[SentinelMind]

Baptist Christian

[Shemtov]

Ok. I don't read much on this, but Is Allah and Christian God one and same? I view them as separate Gods.
Well, Allahs not part of a trinity, so he (and the Jewish God) are not the same as the Christian God.

[Kane52630]

I'm a Muslim and I'm sticking to it. :up:

[Llama_Shepherd]

Ok. I don't read much on this, but Is Allah and Christian God one and same? I view them as separate Gods. To be honest...it makes sense to me of many Gods cause who made the Christian God? I doubt "one" God just came to be.

The Abrahamic deity, God/YHWH/Allah, is the God that is seen in Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions. But they are different interpretations of the same deity. For Jews, YHWH is singular and will send the Messiah. For Christians God is both singular and a trinity, in The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. For Muslims God is singular again, and Jesus, Mohammed, Adam etc were Prophets.

Their God never "came to be" he just was, he is infinite, no beginning, no end.

[enterthemadness]

I don't buy that. .......A God can't just pop out of no where IMO. I view Christian God and Jesus as two people, two Gods.

[Shemtov]

I don't buy that. .......A God can't just pop out of no where IMO.
You're forgetting that the whole definition of the Abrahamic God is a God beyond all natural laws (because he created them). The whole idea is is that he's beyond the rule that everything needs a source.

[Art_of_Crime]

If you put a gun to my head I guess I would say Buddhism.
Soto school Zen to be specific. Though I consider it more of a path/way of life/way of thinking than a religion. It offers no "answers" in the conventional western way of thinking.

[Llama_Shepherd]

I don't buy that. .......A God can't just pop out of no where IMO. I view Christian God and Jesus as two people, two Gods.

Well that's all well and good, but the Christian Deity is one being. The Christian argument is God is like a shamrock, a shamrock is one plant with three leaves, tear any leaf it is not a shamrock. It is a god who is infinite, he is beyond time, he doesn't appear, he just is. Considering actual scientific theories are being developed to replace the Big Bang, to allow for one infinite dimension, time, it could be theoretically possible for something to just always exist. A real thing.

And this comes from an atheist.

[Deathlok]

I don't subscribe to any religion. But I am not an atheist. Colour me agnostic, that way if there is something, I hopefully won't burn for eternity.

On a UK census in the early 2000's there was a box for religion. I put Jedi... :)
No really, I did. Apparently so did umpteen thousand others, but the Census Bureau would not add it to their recognised religions list.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I always find it strange when people feel the need to bash other people's religions in these threads.

[Llama_Shepherd]

No, they did, my friend is still a Jedi.

[Deathlok]

That's interesting. My understanding is that it was disallowed, for fairly obvious reasons. The Government does not like having the p**s taken out of them as a rule.

[Llama_Shepherd]

Yeah, if it was just a couple people that put it, there'd be a £1000 fine. But because of the amount of people who said it they pretty much had to accept it, its not an official religion, but after all, what defines a religion. So next time you go into a shop, you can have your hood up for religious reasons.

[Deathlok]

I just did a bit of research and this is what I found on Wikipedia. I hasten to add I checked some other sources to validate the numbers...

England and Wales

In England and Wales 390,127 people (almost 0.8%) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the countries.
In the 2001 Census 2.6% of the population of Brighton claimed to be Jedi. The percentages of religious affiliations were:

Christian: 70.0%
No religion: 14.7%
Chose not to respond: 7.8%
Muslim: 3.1%
Hindu: 2.1%
Jedi: 0.7%

Or read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1589133.stm

Made me chuckle.

[random_havoc]

I don't buy that. .......A God can't just pop out of no where IMO. I view Christian God and Jesus as two people, two Gods.

Your first sentence was already responded to quite nicely. In regards to your second, the Bible has numerous references that make it very clear that Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and that God the Father is God, and also that there is only one God. Hence the trinity as someone mentioned above.

[Prison Mike]

I'm Hindu

[Godsfireworks]

I'm a Christian. But I'm studying to major in Geology. the two seem to have bashed heads through history, so I'm gonna see how it works out. I'm excited.

[Pink Ranger]

Yeah, if it was just a couple people that put it, there'd be a £1000 fine. But because of the amount of people who said it they pretty much had to accept it, its not an official religion, but after all, what defines a religion. So next time you go into a shop, you can have your hood up for religious reasons.

Be careful. You know what happened the last time a government got mad at its jedis.

[Art_of_Crime]

Be careful. You know what happened the last time a government got mad at its jedis.
I only wish our government was cool enough to have Jedis.

[hopefuldreamer]

I just did a bit of research and this is what I found on Wikipedia. I hasten to add I checked some other sources to validate the numbers...

England and Wales

In England and Wales 390,127 people (almost 0.8%) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the countries.
In the 2001 Census 2.6% of the population of Brighton claimed to be Jedi. The percentages of religious affiliations were:

Christian: 70.0%
No religion: 14.7%
Chose not to respond: 7.8%
Muslim: 3.1%
Hindu: 2.1%
Jedi: 0.7%

Or read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1589133.stm

Made me chuckle.

:hehe:

That's awesome.

[Sloth7d]

Dammit! No Siths!? :argh:

[Changeling]

Agnostic

[hammerhedd11]

Christian

[Mr.Webs]

I was raised as a Christian pretty much, always had angels and crucifixes in my house, but I had a slight crisis of faith about two years ago. I just couldn't get behind it anymore, the more I read about the faith and it's foundation. But then I happened across Buddhism, specifically Zen. It really helped me accept a lot of things I had been fighting against, helped me say things I'd been only thinking for a long while.

So...I'm a Zen Buddhist, I guess. But I try to take a bit from every religion and apply it the best I can.

[Hellion]

But I try to take a bit from every religion and apply it the best I can.


Me at the moment...I've been contemplating a lot of things recently...

[Pink Ranger]

Dammit! No Siths!? :argh:

Of course not. There can only be two at the same time.

[Crazy Quilt]

I'm a Muslim and I'm sticking to it. :up:

I would shout "ALLAHU AKBAR" but then people will think I'm a 'turrist'. So I'll just say SubhanAllah brother! :awesome:

[Crazy Quilt]

Ok. I don't read much on this, but Is Allah and Christian God one and same? I view them as separate Gods. To be honest...it makes sense to me of many Gods cause who made the Christian God? I doubt "one" God just came to be.


Ugh. Really? :dry:

Well, Allahs not part of a trinity, so he (and the Jewish God) are not the same as the Christian God.

Yes and no. The Godhead of the Trinity, the Father, is the same God as Yahweh/Allah. But yes the Christian concept of God is different from the Jewish and Islamic concept. Unless you're a Unitarian because they don't believe in the Trinity. I don't THINK Mormons and Jehovas Witnesses do, either but I'm not certain on that.

[Thundarr]

I did not vote, as my religion is not listed on your poll.

If you must know, I'm a Wiccan.

[Secret Fawful]

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MY RELIGION!? Is it because you want to PERSECUTE ME!? I BET YOU'D ALL FEED ME TO LIONS IF YOU COULD.

http://i.imgur.com/1hA6s.png

[Crazy Quilt]

I did not vote, as my religion is not listed on your poll.

If you must know, I'm a Wiccan.


I complained about the poll not being more inclusive. I said it should include an option for Wiccans/Neopagans. :up:

I'm a Sufi Muslim. I understand your faith. I'm not one of those idiots out there who associate Neopaganism with Satanism. It has more in common with Eastern religions like Hinduism. Actually, Neopaganism has a lot in common with my interpretation of Islam as a Sufi. Sufism is the esoteric branch of Islam and it contains a lot of the same spiritual concepts as Neopaganism and Hinduism such as meditation, chakras(which are called Lataif in Sufism), astral projection etc.

[Thundarr]

I complained about the poll not being more inclusive. I said it should include an option for Wiccans/Neopagans. :up:

I'm a Sufi Muslim. I understand your faith. I'm not one of those idiots out there who associate Neopaganism with Satanism. It has more in common with Eastern religions like Hinduism. Actually, Neopaganism has a lot in common with my interpretation of Islam as a Sufi. Sufism is the esoteric branch of Islam and it contains a lot of the same spiritual concepts as Neopaganism and Hinduism such as meditation, chakras(which are called Lataif in Sufism), astral projection etc.

That's very interesting. I did not know that about Sufism. In fact, I didn't even know that there were different factions of the Muslim faith until reading many of the posts on this thread.

[C. Lee]

I complained about the poll not being more inclusive. I said it should include an option for Wiccans/Neopagans. :up:

Did you ever watch the TV show BABYLON 5? It's been years since I saw it, but I remember in an episode where there was some discussion about religion with someone from an alien planet....the alien asked Sinclaire if he could meet some practioners of Earth's religions. Sinclaire said sure, I'll set it up. The episode ended with Sinclaire introducing him to a line of hundreds of people....and he started naming off all their different designations.

In other words....a poll that gave a separate choice for every possibility would be too long to put here. I personally feel there shouldn't have been a poll....just each person give their answer.

[Crazy Quilt]

That's very interesting. I did not know that about Sufism. In fact, I didn't even know that there were different factions of the Muslim faith until reading many of the posts on this thread.

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l520/boffan1988/The-More-you-know.jpg

Did you ever watch the TV show BABYLON 5? It's been years since I saw it, but I remember in an episode where there was some discussion about religion with someone from an alien planet....the alien asked Sinclaire if he could meet some practioners of Earth's religions. Sinclaire said sure, I'll set it up. The episode ended with Sinclaire introducing him to a line of hundreds of people....and he started naming off all their different designations.

In other words....a poll that gave a separate choice for every possibility would be too long to put here. I personally feel there shouldn't have been a poll....just each person give their answer.

That makes the most sense. :yay:

[S.A.A.D.]

I was a Muslim when this thread first started and I'm still one.

I take it that you're a fake Muslim like myself.

[Crazy Quilt]

I take it that you're a fake Muslim like myself.

What are you talking about?

[CJ]

I'm a Catholic.

I get annoyed when I talk to other Christians online and they say Catholics aren't Christians because they Worship Mary.

Catholics do NOT worship Mary. (I don't anyway) We worship Jesus Christ the Lord. We just acknowledge the fact that Mary was his mother and have reverence towards her. But mass is always about Christ Jesus and his teachings. We do say the Hail Mary prayer, but that's it. She's not our God or anything. Jesus is.

[Sloth7d]

I'm a Catholic.

I get annoyed when I talk to other Christians online and they say Catholics aren't Christians because they Worship Mary.

Catholics do NOT worship Mary. (I don't anyway) We worship Jesus Christ the Lord. We just acknowledge the fact that Mary was his mother and have reverence towards her. But mass is always about Christ Jesus and his teachings. We do say the Hail Mary prayer, but that's it. She's not our God or anything. Jesus is.

Yeah. When I was a Catholic, I always had to go over this with girlfriends and new friends. It really frustrated me they couldn't understand that Catholicism is just another different sect of Christianity like their Baptists and Methodists sects.

[moviedoors]

My mom still believes that Catholics believe that when they take communion that the bread literally becomes the flesh of Jesus, the wine literally becomes the blood of Christ, as they chew and swallow.

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know too terribly much about Catholicism, but I kinda doubt that they literally think that they are eating Jesus when they take communion.

[Scourge2099]

I don't even know what I am any more since I've been taking this class called History of World Religions this semester. It's brought to light many things I never knew.

[CJ]

My mom still believes that Catholics believe that when they take communion that the bread literally becomes the flesh of Jesus, the wine literally becomes the blood of Christ, as they chew and swallow.

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know too terribly much about Catholicism, but I kinda doubt that they literally think that they are eating Jesus when they take communion.

During the Last Supper, Jesus took some bread and said to his disciples:

Matthew 26:26-28
"Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'
The bread and wine are meant to symbolize Jesus' body and blood. So because of that, it is very sacred.

[Thundarr]

Did you ever watch the TV show BABYLON 5? It's been years since I saw it, but I remember in an episode where there was some discussion about religion with someone from an alien planet....the alien asked Sinclaire if he could meet some practitioners of Earth's religions. Sinclaire said sure, I'll set it up. The episode ended with Sinclaire introducing him to a line of hundreds of people....and he started naming off all their different designations.

In other words....a poll that gave a separate choice for every possibility would be too long to put here. I personally feel there shouldn't have been a poll....just each person give their answer.

True. However I believe this site allows you to create a poll with as many as 40 choices. So leaving off things like Wicca or Neopaganism, for example, is a huge oversight. I'm not saying you have to use all 40 slots, but more than the six or so choices we were offered would be nice.

[moviedoors]

During the Last Supper, Jesus took some bread and said to his disciples:

The bread and wine are meant to symbolize Jesus' body and blood. So because of that, it is very sacred.

Oh, sure. I get that. But do Catholics believe that when they eat the bread and wine that it transmutes into the literal flesh of Christ?

Basically, my mom believes that Catholics believe they are engaging in cannibalism.

[Sloth7d]

Oh, sure. I get that. But do Catholics believe that when they eat the bread and wine that it transmutes into the literal flesh of Christ?

Basically, my mom believes that Catholics believe they are engaging in cannibalism.

3hP9XWMDcDs

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist posting this. :ninja:

But for a serious answer;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist#Ritual_and_liturgy

[CJ]

Basically, my mom believes that Catholics believe they are engaging in cannibalism.

Well, actually.. kind of.

It is said that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, who died on the cross for our sins.

Jesus said that life is in him, and if we feed on him, we will live. I'll have to look up where these verses are from, but I recall reading it many times.

[enterthemadness]

Looking up stuff...I'm confused. Technically I would be a Pagan, many definitions of Pagan. I believe animals have souls/spirits. But the few times I pray it's to Christian God and Jesus, but I believe other Gods are up there. Just learned that technically Hindu's are Pagan.

[Art_of_Crime]

I'm a Catholic.

I get annoyed when I talk to other Christians online and they say Catholics aren't Christians because they Worship Mary.

Catholics do NOT worship Mary. (I don't anyway) We worship Jesus Christ the Lord. We just acknowledge the fact that Mary was his mother and have reverence towards her. But mass is always about Christ Jesus and his teachings. We do say the Hail Mary prayer, but that's it. She's not our God or anything. Jesus is.


I'm still a little surprised at the amount of animosity felt between some Baptists, Catholics and other followers of the bible (I'm not labeling as Christians because I feel like that has come to represent a group withing a group). I don't condone anyone persecuting another person for their religion( (within reason, if your morning devotion is to go out and strangle someone with your shoelaces you are on your own), but its hard for me to understand how a few groups with the same basic foundation, scripture, deity and dogma can see each other as so separate.
My grandparents are Baptists and they act like Catholics are from the moon.

[Spider-Kid]

My mom still believes that Catholics believe that when they take communion that the bread literally becomes the flesh of Jesus, the wine literally becomes the blood of Christ, as they chew and swallow.

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know too terribly much about Catholicism, but I kinda doubt that they literally think that they are eating Jesus when they take communion.

That's what it is. It's the body and blood of Christ, which makes us pure, and will help us to go to Heaven.

Also, there's no such thing as no religion...Athiesm is a religion. Belief of no God.

[Sloth7d]

That's what it is. It's the body and blood of Christ, which makes us pure, and will help us to go to Heaven.

Also, there's no such thing as no religion...Athiesm is a religion. Belief of no God.

A religion is a set of beliefs. Even if we count atheism as a belief rather the default position (thus not a belief), it would still be but one belief. In the same vain, theism is not a religion by itself. Christianity is a religion, and theism is apart of that belief system. As is the case with Hinduism. As is the case with Islam.

[Bat-Mite]

That's what it is. It's the body and blood of Christ, which makes us pure, and will help us to go to Heaven.

Also, there's no such thing as no religion...Athiesm is a religion. Belief of no God.Do you believe that not collecting stamps is a hobby?

Is disbelief in leprechauns its own superstition?

[SuperFerret]

Well, ****. I got hopeful when I just read the start of this page.


I'm Buddhist, by the way (or rather learning to be).

[Schlosser85]

I consider myself an agnostic, as I believe it most accurately reflects myself. I've previously variously called myself an atheist, a non-denominational Christian, and a Free Methodist. I've attended a Free Methodist church and a Catholic church, but I'm not officially affiliated with any church or religion.

Re: what you guys said about some Christians not acknowledging Catholics as Christians, one of my Free Methodist friends refers to Catholics and Mormons like they're separate religions from Christianity, and I always think it's weird and a little annoying when he does that.

[Sloth7d]

I can understand differentiating Mormons. They're religion adds enough to Christian lore to separate it as it's own thing. By comparison, not doing so would be like calling Christians Jews.

But yeah, that whole Catholics aren't Christian thing is wrong, and stems from left-over, inherited resentment back from when the Catholic Church was persecuting the Protestants as heretics.

[Bat-Mite]

I've been a Buddhist for about ten years. I don't really affiliate with any particular sect and just read up on a little bit of everything here and there. I haven't really practiced Buddhism for a few years now though, because it's always been hard for me to make meditation a routine part of my life. I'm planning on trying to get back into it, though. I've also been putting a bit of a focus on Zen lately, so maybe I'll learn something in my studies that will help me stay focused.

[bullets]

Is Buddhism a hobby?

[Thundarr]

I thought I'd like to elaborate a little on my beliefs. First I'd like to mention that I was not raised Wiccan/Neo-Pagan, but rather that I am one by choice.

I was raised as a Protestant. My family was not extremely religious, but we did attend church every Sunday. At first, I enjoyed church since I spent all of Sunday in Sunday School, listening to interesting (biblical) stories and doing (biblical) arts & crafts. Then I became old enough to sit with my parents and sisters during the sermons. Everything said by the minister went right over my head, I didn't find it incredibly interesting, and I didn't know the words to any of the hymns. Remember that Mr Bean sketch, where Mr Bean decides to attend church and then spends the entire time trying to stay awake? That's pretty much what I was like.

Eventually, we cut church out of our weekly routine as trying to keep me sitting still was too much of a hassle. Some years later, I was sent to bible camp (called Camp Caledonia, for those of you who wish to know), which was a lot of fun. We gathered around the campfire at night, sang hymns/Christian campfire songs (my favorite was always The Blind Man Sat By The Road/Show Me The Way), and performed comedy sketches (some of which had strong Christian themes). We also attended church every Sunday. Other than that, it was your typical summer camp (hiking, canoeing, swimming, water fights, Capture The Flag, soccer, softball, etc).

It was shortly after this that I began getting interested in spiritual things. The summers I went to Camp Caledonia I was in preschool (grades 2 & 3, I think). I became really interested in spiritual matters in elementary school. I think my interest was sparked when I was asked to do a report on a certain Christmas icon in the 5th grade (I got assigned The Christmas Star). It was shortly after this I joined a Christian youth group which a friend of mine invited me to.

It was at this point in my life where I was old enough to start seeing inconsistencies in the teachings. I began reading up on the history of The Church and discovering their holier than thou "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The Salem Witch Trials. Just to name a few. Then there was all the reports in the news at the time. Seemed like every week, somewhere in the world, some little kid was being molested by his priest, or his minister, or his pastor, or some other member of the clergy. Not only that, but it's revealed that their superiors (whether it be the Catholic Church or whomever) actually knew about these men's fondness of raping children, and not only covered it up, but sent the guy to a different church in a different town, to molest a whole new group of kids! It got to be so bad that it became a running joke. "A priest, a rapist, and a pedophile walk into a bar . . . and that was just one guy."

To make matters worse, there were parts of the bible that really bothered me (and still do). In the Book Of Revelations (I forget exactly which chapter & verse), it says that "All nonbelievers shall be cast into the lake of fire, alongside the adulterers, the killers, the liars, and the thieves." So in other words, you can go your whole life not breaking any of the ten commandments. But if you worship God under any name other than Christ, then when you die you're gonna burn in Hell. I know that part of Revelations was written to frighten people into converting to Christianity, but for me that just pissed me off. If a man were to run a country like that, he'd be labled as a tyrant and overthrown. Then all of his "loyal subjects" would dance on his grave and piss on his headstone. And there have been men like that throughout history. Caligula, Attila The Hun, Napolean, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, Saddam Hussien, the list goes on and on. I didn't want to be a part of a religion that holds mortal kings and politicians up to higher moral standards than they do their deity. It should be the other way around. When I would point this out to priests and clergymen, they would say things like "Because He's God, and God is above morality," or something like that.

To quote the movie Dragonheart, "No one is above the code! Especially the king!"

Anyway, turned off by the hypocracy of The Church, I decided to find a religion that matches my heart. And in my studies I had discovered Wicca. I had heard of witchcraft before, obviously. However my actual knowledge of The Craft was limited to the Christian and Hollywood perspectives (IE: Witchcraft = Satanism and all that BS). I was surprised to learn that The Craft predates Christianity by about 3000 years (which shoots the whole Satanism thing full of holes, as Satan is a Christian concept, so how can witches be Satanists if they existed 3000 years before Christ and, therefore, also Satan?). And that most of our Christmas traditions (Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, decorating with mistletoe and holly, Christmas wreaths, the burning of the Yule log, even going caroling) were all a part of the celebration of Yule, which celebrates the Winter Solstice. And that Easter was a pagan fertility ritual (hence the liberal use of bunnies and eggs in today's holiday), which still uses a very pagan system for determining when to celebrate (the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox). And unlike most organized religions, Wicca encourages individuality in its practice. In the last 5000 years, no two covens of witches have ever gone to war over "Who's version of Wicca is The One True Version", because any such conflict is pointless. NO coven practices the "One True Form Of Wicca" because there is NO "One True Form Of Wicca". No two witches in the same coven practice The Craft in exactly the same way, let alone two entire covens.

What "sealed the deal" for me was that Wicca has no Heaven or Hell. Just the endless cycle of life (IE: reincarnation). There are no Ten Commandments or Seven Deadly Sins, just The Law Of Three (IE: Karma) in that "Every action performed by thee, comes back [to you] times by three". So in other words, you do good and three times the good will come back to you. You do bad and three times the bad will come back to you. And then there is the Golden Rule of The Wicca, "So as it causes no harm, do what you will." To me this is a much simpler, much more peaceful way to govern my life.

I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. I'm not one to shove my religion down others throats. I don't even practice The Craft on a very regular basis. But those are my beliefs, and that is my story as to how I came about them. Take from it what you will.

[Ultra Lantern]

I'm Jewish,so I'd have to say Judaism.

[Clerk]

Just what we need, a Druish Princess.

[DBryan]

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

Man we are growing in large numbers fast. Just two years ago we were the fourth biggest and now were the third.


Christianity (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christianity): 2.1 billion
Islam (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Islam): 1.3 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious): 1.1 billion
Hinduism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Hinduism): 900 million
Chinese traditional religion (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Chinese): 394 million
Buddhism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Buddhism): 376 million
primal-indigenous (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#primal): 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#African): 100 million
Sikhism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Sikhism): 23 million
Juche (http://www.adherents.com/largecom/Juche.html): 19 million
Spiritism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Spiritism): 15 million
Judaism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Judaism): 14 million
Baha'i (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Baha'i): 7 million
Jainism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Jainism): 4.2 million
Shinto (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Shinto): 4 million
Cao Dai (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#CaoDai): 4 million
Zoroastrianism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Zoroastrianism): 2.6 million
Tenrikyo (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Tenrikyo): 2 million
Neo-Paganism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Neo-Paganism): 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Unitarian): 800 thousand
Rastafarianism (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Rastafarianism): 600 thousand
Scientology (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Scientology): 500 thousand

Good news.

[Thebumwhowalks]

I am a monk. From reading some of the posts round here, and some of the reactions, I think there are quite a few monks on this forum. haha
No friends outside the cult! No dating outside the cult! haha
One of us one of us one of us....
you go away for a couple thousand years and come back to a big cult and no-one even gives you a cut of the merchandising money.

[PopRock1]

I am a Catholic.

[cryptic name]

Batman.

[enterthemadness]

My old posts...oh whoa...I've come a long way. Bit embarrassed by them.

I'm a Neo-Pagan. Been a Pagan since January2012..maybe as far back as Dec 2011. Was a Pagan-Atheist, but I refer to myself as a Pagan. But if someone said I have agnostic and/or atheist viewpoints too, that wouldn't be incorrect. But I believe in the Goddess Gaia..refer to her as Mother Earth and Mother Nature...Gaia is a Goddess who is also the planet in my view. Don't believe in other Gods(atheist), but technically I cannot 100% prove they aren't there(agnostic). I am honest, I could one day switch back to Pagan-Atheist...the past year has been eye opening and I thank the very informative and awesome Atheist thread for that, lots of good info there. Very friendly thread. I actually still favor Atheists over my fellow Pagans, because I came out there, and I still feel more comfortable talking to them than fellow Pagans. I think that will be a defining moment in my life, that I chose to come out to Atheists instead of seeking Pagans.

[Rogue Kira]

I'm actually happy that this Thread isn't hostile at all when I saw the topic I thought Oh man this is going to get ugly , but it hasn't I think Thats cool.

[nogster]

Atheist.

Grew up a christian basically.
Learnt about it all in sunday school and religious education at school.
But as I started to reach adulthood I started to question and scrutinize the belief and why I believe it.
The belief fell apart like a house of cards.

In my 20's I still believed in a soul and reincarnation, but again. Once I scrutinized that it also fell apart.
I would like to believe we have a soul and spiritually evolve over many lifetimes. It makes far more sense than the Abrahamic religions, but to me. like all religions, its wishful thinking. A way to ease the thought of inevitable death of us and our loved ones.
I guess the older I get the more skeptical I am.
So. now I am just a non believer.
An atheist.

Bty atheism is not a religion. it is the lack of belief in god/s.
Thats it.

" When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

[enterthemadness]

Atheist.

Grew up a christian basically.
Learnt about it all in sunday school and religious education at school.
But as I started to reach adulthood I started to question and scrutinize the belief and why I believe it.
The belief fell apart like a house of cards.

In my 20's I still believed in a soul and reincarnation, but again. Once I scrutinized that it also fell apart.
I would like to believe we have a soul and spiritually evolve over many lifetimes. It makes far more sense than the Abrahamic religions, but to me. like all religions, its wishful thinking. A way to ease the thought of inevitable death of us and our loved ones.
I guess the older I get the more skeptical I am.
So. now I am just a non believer.
An atheist.

Bty atheism is not a religion. it is the lack of belief in god/s.
Thats it.

" When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

I love this quote.

[CapedCrusader14]

Athiest.

[chamber-music]

Jedi

[hopefuldreamer]

Atheist.

I have beliefs and a certain amount of faith (for instance, when things are bad, I believe they will get better (which I guess is just hope)).

I am on the fence when it comes to belief in fate, a soul, the afterlife, miracles etc. I wouldn't say i'm a believer or a non believer in those things. I am unsure.

But I believe there are no deities.

I believe that very strongly.

My main reason is that it is simply such a primitive human thing to do. To put human qualities on forces beyond our conception. To give them genders, appearances, words. And then to worship them because we've put us and them in a heirarchy of power in which we are at the bottom.

I just absolutely do not believe that any spiritual or universal energies that exist, can be remotely defined in that way.

I believe if there is anything like that out there (some kind of spiritual force), that it was created at the same time we were - in the big bang - and that it co exists WITH us, not above us.

Very much akin to what Paulo Coelho calls it in The Alchemist - 'The soul of the universe'.

[Prison Mike]

cwvtxtZgnX0

[DarkSovereignty]

I guess I'm an atheist. The whole concept of organized religion just doesn't gel with me.but on the flip side, the whole concept of life after death, or lack thereof, isn't something I think about it. Honestly it just doesn't worry me, so I don't pay it any mind. I do appreciate other religions from a mythological standpoint, though, it provides a good well to draw for fiction writing.

[The Boy Scout]

Christian. But I don't really give a damn about organized religion. If the Catholic Church collapsed tomorrow, I wouldn't even blink.

[Kane52630]

cwvtxtZgnX0


:up:

[8wid]

^If I want to believe that my pencil sharpener is the creator of the universe I can, so f*** off... is what he's saying.

[Sloth7d]

Good news, everybody. I'm no longer a nihilist and I kind of despise everything Egoism stands for now. Thank you Derek Parfit, Shelly Kagan, Peter Singer, and, most of all, George Edward Moore.

Not sure what I'd put down as a belief system since I don't think "atheist" or "agnostic" adequately tells anyone what I really believe, only that I'm not religious.

[Thundercrack85]

Let's make this a little more interesting.

Who here has been in the same religion (including order) from the start? Show of hands.

[Marvolo]

Let's make this a little more interesting.

Who here has been in the same religion (including order) from the start? Show of hands.

Start of what? Their life? I was in a baptist church at two months old but i stopped going to church at 18.

[Thundercrack85]

Well, I think most people are born without a religion, so I guess, the start would be the first one they identified with. You know, the one you're raised in.

[Marvolo]

Well, I think most people are born without a religion, so I guess, the start would be the first one they identified with. You know, the one you're raised in.

Well yeah people are born athiest or without any alliegance to any one god or religion. Religion is about indoctrination when you get right down to it and its hard for most people to overcome that when said religion says its a sin to question the word of their god. Its especially difficult when your entire family for countless generations have believed the same thing. My family has been protestants since before they came to the states so its pretty ingrained in the family. Before and around 18 i decided to explore and learn about other beliefs, religions, and ideas. It was a great learning experience, but im certainly the black sheep of the family.

[Thundercrack85]

The ironic thing is that it really isn't. All Protestants were Catholic once (not that long ago, either), and all Catholics were pagan once. And you can break that down even more if you get into denominations.