Religion

(gulp). Always think two subjects shouldnt be discussed online - religion and politics !

It wont end well !!

 

Never been religious really although as I live in Belfast I kinda have to classify myself as protestant, I will say I don't rule out a God though and I consider myself a reasonably moral kinda guy most of the time.

 

I'm an atheist. If there was real evidence of a god i'm sure i would follow one. Religion seems to cause so many issues and wars. If there was a god i doubt there would be so many bad things happening in the world.

My best friends wife got cancer when she was 6 months pregnant, she had the baby, sadly the cancer beat her and she died aged 32. When i told that to some Jehovas who knocked on my door one day they told me it was a 'test from God'. Yeah great test !

Got no problem with people being reliigous, just dont like it in my face.

 

We have different views on the raiders, but the exact same outlook on religion.

I say, do whatever you like (as long as you don't hurt anyone), just don't bother me

 

I am not religious at all.

 

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

— The Dalai Lama

 

I'm not really religious person, I believe in Buddha and Karma. All the things that happened outside our powers are named fate and in my believe, they determined by our behavior. However, since I believe in karma, I also believe of reincarnation, also past life. Our life nowadays reflecting from our past life, that's it.

 

I don't wish to offend anyone, let me say that first.

My honest opinion? All religion should be banned/removed from the world, it does nothing but promote hatred and start wars. I'm old and lived through five decades so far, I've yet to see any good come from religion. Only hatred, despair and suffering.

 

I don't care what religion you believe in or not as long as you treat everyone and everything with kindness and respect.

 

Finally, an entertaining thread.

Lol.

 

First off I respect your opinion. I don't know about that there are plenty of good things that come out of religion. Poor are fed, sick are taken of, homeless are sheltered etc. Many churches and religious organizations do a lot of good for the world and its people of the church that are giving their time and money. Like most things there is good and bad.

 

I'm Catholic and I feel everyone should believe in whatever they want and not to force your religion on anyone. There are a lot of things I don't understand within my own religious teachings and the world itself. The age old questions why are we here, what is the purpose of our lives, what's the big picture, why do bad things happen etc. I don't know these answers and I just have to trust in my faith that if you try to live a life of kindness and love then that's all the matters. I think that's one of the basic teachings of Christian faith and I think it's a good one. If it helps people to be better to one another then I'm all for it. Is God real, does heaven exist, I think a lot of people of faith (and nonfaith) question this and it's our hope that it does exist and that after our earthly lives are over we can find peace and eternal happiness in heaven. Even that is unsettling, the unknown can be a scary thing. I absolutely hate it when people judge others and use their religion to impose on others because that goes completely against what we are taught. Stop hating on other people we all have our own faults and sins. Religion is really a curious thing since there are so many types and how did they all get started. It's definitely a struggle to be faithful and believe because there are so many questions and doubts but I feel like having a religion can try to help you understand these questions or give you hope for bad times in your life. I go to church every weekend and there is something about it that makes me feel whole and the community of people is fantastic. It's up to you individually as a person to believe in what you want to, but also if you don't experience it in your life you also don't know if its something you are missing in your life.

 

Nope, grandfather was a minister and a lot of my extended family are socially religious but I've never had faith in it. I respect good morals and kindness and accept people for their actions, not their religious beliefs, skin sex or birthplace. People are more than welcome to believe what they feel comfortable with, as long as it hurts no one.

 

Hardcore atheist here.
I'm with Oldgamer, in an ideal world all religion would not exist / be removed.
Unlike Oldgamer, I don't give a flying "sexual intercourse" (replace with 4-letter-word) about not offending anyone. Religious basketcases offend and insult me on a regular basis (example: a German bishop publicly saying that Atheists caused Hitler and the Holocaust, thank you very much). So I have no problem with clearly stating what I think about them.

Also, I include religion equivalents in my stance, like Astrology, Genderism, or Homeopathy.

And I'm with psj3809 to a degree:
Religion/Atheism *needs* to be discussed, and online is a great platform for this simply because of reach. But TA might not be the best place for this.
If there was any real scientific evidence for any god, that would change the game quite a lot.

To people like copaeci I say: "Bring evidence". Faith/Believe is the opposite of Knowledge.

And to people who argue like klink ("I don't care what religion you believe in or not as long as you treat everyone with kindness and respect.") and metalcasket ("everyone has their beliefs and/or non-beliefs and shouldn't impose them on anyone else") I reply:
I still wanna see that. Because that includes e.g. not forcing your own superstitions on your children: Starting with indoctrinating them; and ending with children dying because their crazy parents refused to give them a blood transfusion or vaccination because they believe that's what their god wants.

Some of my personal history:
Started out with "maybe true / maybe not, don't care" , despite (or because of) having religion (Roman Catholicism, specifically) thrown in my face in school constantly (I'm originally from Germany, where religious indoctrination - pardon, "lessons" - are still mandatory part of the curriculum) .
Kept it like this for many years, didn't even bother to officially renounce my membership in one of the "state curches" till I was 20-something.

Really started to dig into the scientific method and mindset at age 30-something.
Conclusion is simple: No evidence for any god, so they don't exist until shown otherwise.

Now hardcore atheist, anti-theist, and anti-(organised) religion.
Because crazy superstitions have no place in public life - schools, politics, younameit - and have way too much influence in this supposedly enlightened day and age. I could spend all day ranting and giving examples; like church officials having their seats on every important political council in Germany, the insane "teach Creationism as Science in schools" stuff you have in the US, etc.

If you believe in reptiloid aliens secretely taking over the world and replacing the most influential people (google e.g. "David Icke") people rightfully think you're a total basketcase.
But where is a guy like Icke any different from, say, a Ken Ham or Fred Phelps, or the Pope?

Fun fact: Despite my stance, I still think the Catholics and Orthodox have the ritual stuff down pretty good in their church. All the pomp and circumstance looks fantastic; and they made/inspired some good music to boot (classic Gregorian chants, Mozart's Requiem, etc.).

Also: Whoops, that turned from the simple one-liner that starts this post into a pretty long rant.

 

I'm pretty much with Nullzone on this.

Religion is a blight on this world that causes terrorism, wars and homophobia, contributes the the spread of STDs and many other nasty effects.

If there was a reason to actually believe in any deity they I still can't grasp why anyone would worship them with all of the natural disasters and the like that happen. If I actually believed in God I would hate him with every fibre of my being so really I'm quite glad there isn't one.

 

I wanted to be agnostic but then lost all faith whatsoever. If there is a "higher power" I just believe it's a being that has power that we do not yet understand or comprehend, therefore I am an atheist. No offense to any religious members. It looks like most people here are agnostic.

 

All these heretics in this thread is sickening. We all know the truth, and the truth is that the almighty, omnipotent Emperor of the free worlds oversees and protects us all! For he shall lead us to conquer the universe!

All hail the Emperor!

 

I'd like to be agnostic but I'm just not sure.