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Religion


Xezlec

What's your religion?  

1 member has voted

  1. 1.

    • Christian (any flavor)
      150
    • Atheist/Agnostic/Nontheist
      283
    • I dunno, I'm just me, dude!
      51
    • Jew
      17
    • Muslim
      9
    • Buddhist
      20
    • Hindu
      1
    • New-ager
      16
    • Cthuluite
      8
    • Wiccan
      17
    • Republican
      0
    • SubGenius
      4
    • Don't try to shove me in your categories
      43
    • Other/Unlisted
      80
    • Nihilist
      13

This poll is closed to new votes


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Cahoovytina

I should have visited AVEN more often -- or, in fact, at all. I haven't dropped in since i signed up as a member, oh, many odd months ago. I beg absolution though on the grounds that i have spent most of this afternoon reading the forum. I like this thread especially.

I put 'new-ager'. I was tempted to go with 'don't pigeonhole me', but i figured i might as well pick the category that fits the closest, though not entirely. If New Age means that we are looking ahead to an era where a critical number of people reach a higher level of awareness - each getting there in his/her own time and by his/her own path (hence the popular conceptualisation of New Age as a Subway sandwich religion, put together to everyone's own taste) - so that some changes for the better can start being exacted in the global society... well, i won't even venture an opinion on that. I don't know what the world will look like in the age of Aquarius, though i have good hope that the human race will get its shit together. That doesn't make me an optimist. Optimists are no more realists than pessimists are. I don't have much to say in favour of the typical New Age practices like astrology, tarot cards and the like either.

There endeth the dissimilarity.

I do believe that God/Goddess is everything, and everything is God/Goddess, including ourselves. We are Gods, sent into the realm of the relative with one purpose only: to create ourselves with every thought, word and action, and thus get to know ourselves in the way that Goddess couldn't: through experience. That's why there is no wrong or right, there is only choice, which is an act of creation. Goddess doesn't judge, because everything we do is just another way for her to get to know herself, through us. We can only deny or forget what we really are for a time. Eventually we will all wander back towards the rediscovery of our own divinity. With that comes a growing awareness of the relativity of this material world in which we live and everything it has to offer. Things like wealth and power and luxury stop meaning very much to us. We become disengaged from them. We don't judge them as evil, because they're not. We just don't need to choose them anymore.

I guess sexuality could be termed one of the things the material world (in this case in the form our genitals) has to offer. It's just a random musing, so don't anybody get mad at me if you don't agree, but i think that maybe asexuality could have a place in the above-mentioned equation. We don't judge sex as horrible or evil, we just don't need to choose it, we don't desire it.

Well, like i said, it's just a thought...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Atheist/Rationalist.

I've yet to come across any evidence for the existence of supernatural deities.

Organised religions I find a cause for concern; although they have a great power for good, they also have an equally great power for evil.

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This one guy tried to tell me once that I was depressed because I didn't believe in God. And, I know shouldn't have, but I asked how he came up with that idea, and we ended up arguing for 4 hours. I said that believing in something, whether it be real or not or questionable, it will help you achieve things and feel a little better. Am I right about this or not? Anyway, he said that wasn't true. And then he told me that God put us here to worship Him and only those who did would get into heaven. I've always understood that following the Bible's good examples and just by being an all-around good person was supposed to get you into heaven. I thought heaven was supposed to be kind of a reward for doing well here on earth. I also noticed that he contradicted himself a lot. I must say, it was almost brainwashing. Is that how they get you? Haha I still remain Atheist though. :D

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I must say, it was almost brainwashing. Is that how they get you?

:) You know, i think you may have a point. What more powerful brainwashing message is there than 'accept what we tell you without question, and there'll be everlasting reward in it for you'? I had a discussion just like the one you describe once, on the train, with some guy i didn't know who just started talking to me. My point was, more or less like yours, that if you're a good person, it should be enough. In fact, oughtn't god be more impressed with your good behaviour, since you're doing it out of free will, and not out of a selfish fear of not going to heaven? My discussion partner didn't agree. He said the only good reason to do the right thing is because god told you. But it just doesn't make sense to me that god would give us free will and then punish us for using it.

By the way, i agree with what you said about the benefits of believing in something, especially when it's questionable, since i think it helps to keep an open and critical mind. Believing in something gives meaning to your life, and this does wonders for mood and motivation. In fact, i personally have no qualms about believing for the sake of those benefits. Utilitarianist of me, i know, but faith is, after all, a matter of choice. No one can prove anything to you, one way or another. And people will always look for a good reason to make any choice, whether this reason be social, motivational, existential or just simply useful in nature.

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In fact, oughtn't god be more impressed with your good behaviour, since you're doing it out of free will, and not out of a selfish fear of not going to heaven? My discussion partner didn't agree. He said the only good reason to do the right thing is because god told you. But it just doesn't make sense to me that god would give us free will and then punish us for using it.

Hmm I think I'm going to use that one next time. Yes, it seems like He should be more impressed, but I don't think the guy I was arguing with would think that either. But I agree with that last line, and I tried to tell him that but he didn't get it. I asked him why God would reprimand us if we chose to not to follow His religion, or if we followed the "wrong religion" (i.e. not Christianity), especially when Christianity is about a third of the world's religions. This guy (I'll, just call him SS from now on) said that all the other religions are wrong and that those who don't believe anything are "being tricked by the devil." Then SS talked about how God cured people of their illnesses and such, so I asked him how that's possible if God gave us free will and said He wouldn't interfere with our lives. I told him praying helped some of those people because they believed in it. And then that went back to me saying "believing in things helps you physically and mentally" and such, which he didn't believe in the first place. He's his own example for what I was saying though haha. *sigh* Oh well. He's not completely ignorant, but he has a very flawed view of things. :(

No one can prove anything to you, one way or another.

Haha I tried that one too, and he said there is a bunch of proof. He said that the Bible has never been proven wrong. EVER. I've never read the entire Bible myself, though I started reading Genesis (and stopped quite quickly because I disagreed) and I would say that's one thing that's been proven wrong. It says that God just created us from the earth and that everything was just placed here; it didn't evolve or anything. I suppose a few centuries ago, that would have been acceptable. Nowadays, though, there are things that can prove it wrong. For instance, you can't go into a museum and say those huge skeletons aren't real. I don't believe that people could have just made up all those things.

I dislike not being able to get my point across to people. I thought the stuff that I was saying was unarguable. I thought it was generally true, and that everyone would see that. I guess it's not if you're blindly following something.

I'm glad you agree with me though. At least someone[i/] gets it! :D

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I dislike not being able to get my point across to people. I thought the stuff that I was saying was unarguable. I thought it was generally true, and that everyone would see that. I guess it's not if you're blindly following something.

I'm glad you agree with me though. At least [/i]someone gets it! :D

First of all, i think a lot of people 'get it', that is, would agree with this logic. Probably most atheists and agnostics who have posted here would (though i won't presume to speak for anybody, i'm just guessing).

I suppose it does seem to you and me and others that convinced Christians are wearing blinkers the size of dining room tables. For a rather extreme illustration, google Kent Hovind. But be aware that we are talking about people's faith. That deserves respect, even if we presume ourselves so clever as to say they are blatantly wrong. I know it's frustrating not to be able to get your point across. Believe me, i've been there, done that, taken no prisoners. But in the end, what's the point of arguing, of trying to disabuse each other? It won't change the way things are. If God really is up there in his heaven, waiting for the day when he gets to wag his finger at us, he still will be, whether or not we agree on it. Dito if we're all just a freak of biochemistry, accidental Frankensteins, if you please. I guess what i'm trying to say is, why don't we all just agree to disagree, or something in that vein.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Agnostic. I've got my theories, but I'm not subscribing to any doctrine and will change my theories if and when evidence presents itself. Agnostic's not nearly the same thing as atheism, though. Since atheists believe there IS NO SUPERNATURAL STUFF, and agnostics don't believe there is, but don't believe there isn't. Or arn't sure. Or believe that no-one can know for sure.

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  • 3 months later...

"Cthulhu" is mispelled in the poll. I am so offended! These things are important to some of us you know. The croaking and flopping has to be just right. If you're ever in Innsmouth, drop in to one of our Cthulhu Prayer Breakfasts to see how it's done.

*wanders off singing*

What a friend we have in Dagon....

Crawling Chaos, come for me....

Give me that Old One religion, give me that Old One religion...... :twisted:

(apologies to Brother Darrell Schweitzer)

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Eh, I don't really know what to call it. I believe in the gods that people worship, but I don't follow any of them. I lean closer to Native American beliefs, but even then... I'm not sure. I think I shall just keep an open mind about the whole thing.

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I am an atheist. My reasons for being so can be found elsewhere on AVEN.

The majority of people on AVEN seem to be atheists. I wonder why that is.

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Atheist...although I may say I have my own little pagan rituals, which I will not expound on here. :P

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I have to point out in case nobody else has done so that NOT ONE PERSON HAS VOTED HINDU! That's hard to beleive! There are still quite a few Indians (many of whom are Hindu) in places like the US and UK. I wonder if it has something to do with the Indian culture, which some might is somewhat repressive and constricting?

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Opel the Old

i believe in zeus, hahah :lol: :lol: (just kidding)

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Unfortunatly,you put atheism and agnosticism in one cathegory eventhough it's something different.Atheists believe that there is nothing while agnostics rather think there can be something but it's also possible that there isn't anything because there isn't any reasonable proof yet.

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Toiletman - atheists *dont* believe in 'nothing'. We look at the evidence to date; consider it in a scientific way; remove any possibility of gods/god intervening in human life/lives/history (because there is *no* evidence for this), and continue to live our lives.

The moment any truly good scientific evidence for any kind of deity (or, indeed, supernaturalism) arrives, I will examine the evidence. It may be, I will change my mind. Meantime, I believe in freedom of all information; scientific discourse; peer-examined & peer-reviewed written material, and the axiom that 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.'

ALL religions fall under that-

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Yep. I'm one of those Evangelical Christians.

But before you pigeon hole me into a box, remember that I am also asexual.

I would hope that people on this forum don't jump to conclussions about people because they identify with this group or that group but look at everyone as individuals.

Yes I am a fundamentalist when it comes to my religious beliefs.

But I am also open minded and tolerant of everyone elses religious beliefs or non-beliefs.

I masturbate.

I am a nudist.

I collect guns and swords.

I like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and everything fantasy.

If I could be an ELF I would in a minute.

If I could have a pet dragon I would in a minute.

Yes, Christ is my Saviour and my Lord.

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  • 3 months later...
i believe in zeus, hahah :lol: :lol: (just kidding)

I do, and I'm not kidding :D

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Where's Scientology? :lol:

Nah... I'm a Christian, but not overly enthused about organized religion and haven't been to church in years.

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Atheist heavily influenced by buddhist and daoist philosophy, and also absurdism and nihilism, though not so directly. I think some things that are religious to most people, but I don't think of it that way at all--it's not about belief, spiritualism, or religion, it's just where my brain's logic leads me, but I still think of myself as an atheist.

I still sacrifice and eat Protestant babies at the annual secret conference for the preservation of true Catholic Christianity each year though--for family bonding and all, you understand. And I have a secret crush on Islam, but don't tell anyone.

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for family bonding and all, you understand.

Of course. Good to see people sticking to the old traditions in the face of all this wishy-washy modernity ;)

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oneofthesun

I'm agnostic. Since a lot of people don't understand the difference between atheism and agnosticism: Atheism is believing there is no God, agnosticism is believing it's impossible to know if there is a God or not. That is a very important distinction to me.

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