Whatchoo believe in, Willis?

I believe in the golden rule- One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.

I go to church once a year, on Christmas, with my parents. I do this for one reason and one reason only- because if I told them I didn't believe I wouldn't get presents. They assume I am still religious. I haven't believed in any sort of God since the Oklahoma City bombing. It was at that time I rationalized this in my head- God has the power to do whatever in the Hell he wants. He sees all, he knows all before it happens. WHY IN THE FUCK WOULD ANY GOD LET THIS HAPPEN?

You know what I do like about church? The sense of community, and all the good things it does. I wish there was something I could be part of that did all the good things, and left out the religion.

My parents church is currently locked in a battle with it's regional conference. The regional office hired a gay accountant. The church thinks this is reason enough to find a new governing body. And people wonder why I hate religion.

 

I'm an atheistic-agnostic, with a fairly heavy tilt toward the latter. I won't pretend to be cleverer than these quotes, so have it, boys:

 

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

 

I'm not religious in any way, never went to church growing up, My dad was raised Jewish, my mom some form of Christian. . . I think. The only time I went to church was in Basic Training. I got away from the Drill Sergeants, and they gave us cookies. I generally slept, woke up for cookies, and then fell asleep again.
I've read a lot about Taoism, I don't feel strongly either way, but it makes some sense to me. I generally don't care either way about religion, but its prevalence in politics (separation of church and state? what?) is disconcerting.
Also extremists/fanatics. Fuck them.

 

I'm a protestant Christian, was raised mostly baptist but I can't really say I identify with any denomination beyond just being protestant. I believe in God and I believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. I also rarely, if ever, go to church, I drink heavily, curse like a sailor, engage in premarital sex and generally don't act like a Christian. I believe in science and evolution, I don't take the Bible literally, and I have zero interest in spreading my beliefs to anyone else.

If you are Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist or Atheist, that's cool with me, I'm just interested in respecting others beliefs and in turn receiving the same respect. I tend to dislike the forceful, over the top, "you're going to hell if you aren't like me" types of Christians just as much as everyone else does. My only problem is that a lot of Atheists are just as bad with their "if you believe in any type of God you are a retard/sheep/etc.", which I've already seen some of in this thread. Why does it offend you so much if I choose to have a little bit of faith in my life?

 

For the same reason it would offend me if you ate dog poop. Sure it doesn't hurt me, but it still pretty dumb.

Actually I could give a shit less what you believe in until you tell me or try to convert me, or condemn me.

 

Focus: Do you believe in god? Are you spiritual? Religious? It should hopefully go without saying that my intent with this is not to carpet bomb religion; I'm honestly curious what people believe, why they believe it and if they're willing to share. It would be superfantastic if we could avoid a post that begins, "Religion is such a bunch of bullshit..."

This thread really should be locked down.

 

Shitz bout to get uuugly up in herre. Hey, I tried. Nettdatta tried. But the Frenchfry is nowhere to be found.

 

Delete my above post if you think shit is about to hit the fan. I just answered his question. I figure he shouldn't be allowed to ask stupid things if I can't respond with my stupid response.

 

For the people that believe in God, heaven and hell, do animals go to these places too? Do you think animals are thinking about getting into heaven and hell? Of course not, so why should we? Because we have the capacity to do so? I'm not sure our afterlife should, or would be any different for us than it would be for the 4 ants I stepped on outside this morning.

 

I've kinda been over the spectrum belief wise. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school from grade school through high school. Lost pretty much all interest in it and went more Atheist/Agnostic. Then I started getting into Carl Sagan, Thomas Paine, and Ben Franklin's writing and work and started taking baby steps towards Deism.

I don't have any problems believing in an all powerful Grand Architect of the universe. I just really can't fathom why they would spend all their time worrying about what's happening here. We're on an uninteresting planet, in an uninteresting solar system, situated in an uninteresting galaxy that's located nowhere near the center of the universe (Not that we'd want to be near the center of anything - super massive black holes, and all that). I have a tough time imagining said all powerful being hovering over our planet waiting to chuck thunderbolts at us on the off chance we read Harry Potter or go gay. I'd think they'd have better things to do.

Like I said, no problems believing in an all powerful authority figure, I just don't get too hung up on whether or not said figure even exists. I really like what Douglas Adams once said "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" If there is a God it's probably like the one in Futurama. I think I could definitely get behind that.

"Earth? Which way is that?"

 

I personally don't care what or who anyone believes in, that's the beauty of free will. I will say that more people have been killed in the name of God, Allah, Mohammed etc. than any cancer could ever hope to wipe out. For that reason alone I do not believe in organized religion, and it is fallible since it was created by Man. I do personally believe that there is something out there that happens after we die, what or who it is I do not know. I would however like to recount a discussion I had with an atheist friend which basically boiled down to two points.

If I'm a believer and I die and I'm wrong, then I'm worm food.

If you are an atheist and die and you're wrong, you get to spend an eternity in Hell being ass-raped by the Devil and his forked cock.....and as everyone knows...

 

I was raised/believed Catholic until I started actually reading the Bible (the parts they didn't teach me in church/school) in my early 20's. Like many non-believers, I have no problem with any religion until believers start preaching their beliefs to others, something the Bible commands in no uncertain terms. There's just something about teaching children something that can't be proven as literal truth that just doesn't sit right with me.

As for religion in general, while I don't think it will ever go away completely, I think it's something we as a species need to outgrow in order to thrive. To my eye, we're on our way, what with the majority of pluralistic/secular societies being vastly more free than those under strict theocratic rule (which to me says a lot, because if any belief system was inspired by the creator of the fucking universe, shouldn't it do a better job ruling justly than us on our own, regardless of human being's 'corruptability'?).

Any spirituality I feel, and I do feel it, comes from science. Two things that, with my maybe-slightly-more-than-rudimentary-scientific-knowledge, seem clear to me are: if there is a first/eternal "creator", it sure as fuck did not "create" the universe with humans holding any special place in it whatsoever, and, the only way it's communicating with us, if at all, is through discovery (scientific, moral, social, etc.), not revelation. Unfortunately, this seems to be a foreign idea on the grand scale, since in my opinion the discovery of evolution (on earth and in the universe) should have been the starting point to world peace, since it clearly shows we are hardly different from other animals, let alone each other, and our idea that what we believe, or what part of the earth we were born on, actually matters in reality is...kinda silly, no?

Speaking of reality, a question for believers who care to share: it seems the more physicists look at reality, the more Einstein was correct in saying it's "little more than a persistent illusion". Does this -- the fact what we call reality may very well be a dream -- affect your beliefs at all? I know some Eastern religions say this is pretty much the case, though I'm not clear on the details, but Christianity/Judaism do not. Meanwhile, Stephen Hawking has apparently proven there is no need for a creator.

EDIT: Another question, Christian-specific: In general, the Bible is about morality, teaching that there is a moral authority, with a set of static rules, whom we are to listen to at all costs, even before the well-being of our immediate family. Science/facts show that our morality, like everything else about us/the universe, is in a constant state of change, evolving right along with our physical bodies. How do you resolve these (or correct me if I'm wrong on either point)?

For example, the golden rule of 'treat others like yourself', while not a Bible original, is a pretty good idea. However, it can't be a steadfast, 100% of the time "moral" rule, since most people do not think that pedophiles and rapists should be treated the same as those of us who don't harm children or, you know, cum in people uninvited.

This thread's actually a good reminder for me. Been meaning to use this Bill Hick's quote as my signature:

"All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves."

Something about the truthfullness of that statement stikes me as the kind of spirituality I can believe in.

Some more Bill Hicks goodness.

 

Just because a dog doesn't think about buying a car doesn't mean he doesn't like going for a ride.

I'm patently non-religious. I do not believe in God or heaven and hell. When I die, I'm gone--that's it.

However, just because I reject the fundamental beliefs of religion (for the purposes of this post, Christianity), that does not mean that I think religion is altogether a bad thing. Take the God and Jesus and heaven out of the scenario, and most of it is just about being a good person, treating people with respect, and trying to improve the world around you by helping others.

Where the trouble begins is when people decide to cater religion to specific situations, like abortion or gay marriage, and use it as a tool to justify their (mostly irrational and sometimes hate-filled) personal beliefs.

 

I always figured that if, when I see St. Peter or whoever, he isn't happy with my life maxim of "Be as decent to everyone as possible and occasionally enjoy yourself along the way," then this isn't the sort of god that I want to be hanging out with for eternity.