What religion/faith are you?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You don't *mine* marshmallows, silly... they grow on trees.

Marsh MELONS!

 

[Amaris]

You don't *mine* marshmallows, silly... they grow on trees.

You should try to get the details right, since we all know cults are generally regarded as paragons of truth and correctness.

Clearly this is heresy.

 

[HIjol]

I am open to the idea of a Creator, but I am not open to Earth centric religions. If there is a Creator, we haven't the slightest idea of who or what it is.

Hmmm...though "Kirk" was the Creator!

If I had to try to describe my "faith", I would say it is (seriously, no joking) very much like the Force.

Put "Good" in, get "Good" out
Put "Bad" in, Get "Bad" out.

Very simplistic, yes, but, in other words, try to do good things and be a good person. Avoid the bad when you can, and don't get sucked in...

Works for me, anyway!

 

[Admiral Shran]

That's the key thing, though.

Most people who oppose religion oppose organized religion, exactly because they have a tendency to try to force their beliefs on other people. No one really gives a wit's end what you personally believe, but the moment you try to force those beliefs down others throats -- such as trying to get laws passed to ban Evolution, or luring kids out from school so you can try to indoctrinate them (and yes, both of those things have happened within the last few months alone) -- that's when it's gone waaaay too far.

The fact that they keep infecting the government and passing laws of a governmental system that went out of its way to try and separate church from state kind of says it all, really.

I don't know about that. I've encountered plenty of atheists who are more than happy to give a wit's end about what others personally believe. Just a few months back I encountered one online who was openly calling for religion - not just organized religion, but all forms of it - to be systematically eliminated by the government. When I pressed him on it he was more than happy to say he favored massive crackdowns on theists, all the way up to huge prison sentences if they even once mentioned their faith in public. When I pressed him further by saying that that would only end in a totalitarian system, he was again more than happy to openly support such an authoritarian way of government.

 

[Avro Arrow]

If I had to try to describe my "faith", I would say it is (seriously, no joking) very much like the Force.

Then perhaps Jediism is the religion for you.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...ng-canada-number-jedi-declines-185643833.html

Sadly, according to the article, the number of Jedi adherents is on the decline, both in Canada and worldwide. Perhaps they heard about Order 66 and decided it was time to cut their losses.

 

[HIjol]

Well, while I do have a pretty cool Obi Won (Sir Alec version) robe, I would say that I just think "Good" is stronger than "Bad", but Bad seems to be a lot more tempting and seductive (from time to time).
Plus, it is BAD!!!

Jediism...huh...I did not know there was such a thing! Thanks for the link, Avro!

 

[Admiral Shran]

How about "The Church of Spock"?

http://www.retroweb.com/lynchburg/attractions/main.html
About half-way down the page.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

You don't *mine* marshmallows, silly... they grow on trees.

You should try to get the details right, since we all know cults are generally regarded as paragons of truth and correctness.

I want one!

 

[Crow T. Robot]

I don't know about that. I've encountered plenty of atheists who are more than happy to give a wit's end about what others personally believe. Just a few months back I encountered one online who was openly calling for religion - not just organized religion, but all forms of it - to be systematically eliminated by the government. When I pressed him on it he was more than happy to say he favored massive crackdowns on theists, all the way up to huge prison sentences if they even once mentioned their faith in public. When I pressed him further by saying that that would only end in a totalitarian system, he was again more than happy to openly support such an authoritarian way of government.

Nutjobs are nutjobs no matter what they believe.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I don't know about that. I've encountered plenty of atheists who are more than happy to give a wit's end about what others personally believe. Just a few months back I encountered one online who was openly calling for religion - not just organized religion, but all forms of it - to be systematically eliminated by the government. When I pressed him on it he was more than happy to say he favored massive crackdowns on theists, all the way up to huge prison sentences if they even once mentioned their faith in public. When I pressed him further by saying that that would only end in a totalitarian system, he was again more than happy to openly support such an authoritarian way of government.

Well obviously he was not a Secular Humanist like most of the atheists I know are. Maybe you should start hanging out with a better brand of atheist?

 

[think]

God is asking me why people are always praying for things? (God is praying to me now.)
I will tell God the answer soon but he will have to wait while I do things as Gods prayers are quite distracting from my normal flow of life... you know.?.

I think I had tried a Ask God a question thread, or some nonsense like that .. it fell flat out.

I never pray for things... or objects of .. or meanings to be understood for me it is really quite pointless... I know.

Listen --- listen to these words I am typing in your head... what does it sound like? Think?

 

[O'Dib]

Raised pentecostal, fully bought into it in early adulthood, having attained some of the spiritual gifts the faith espouses (tongues, I guess), but still felt inadequate on account of missing out on some of the more advanced bollocks my peers professed to have been blessed with, such as visions, prophecy, secret knowledge, whatnot.

Then I had a concussion & weed fueled manic episode which seemingly filled some of those blanks. I never felt closer to god than in those fucked up times. Having come out of it, I'm suspicious of faith, as it played a role, I feel, in escalating my delusions. Nevertheless, I feel fairly empty in absence of mind-altering substances, be they as basic as alcohol, and beyond that, I still find some comfort in prayer that I have no particular need to explain to myself. Church though, as much as I've tried to give it a fair shot, now feels like visiting spaceships. Just, confusing. Given all that, I'm a non-voter on this poll.

 

[HIjol]

Morgan Freeman's National Geographic show on "God" showed a researcher and doctor who purports to have accessed and recorded the presence of "God" in the human brain, as faith and spirituality are being experienced. Morgan had his own brain scanned, and the scan pictures were similar to others, while thinking about or mediating on "God".

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ I've been meaning to watch that. Because of Morgan Freeman, not God.

And I will say that I find religion and the supernatural very useful as devices in fiction. I use them frequently. They do have a way of cutting to the meat of the psyche.

I had found the answer, but it had taken years for my brain to study and scrutinize on every level, all in the background while I went about normal business.

If I remember correctly-- and it's been close to fifty years now-- I had a dream about having a dream. That made me wonder how many nested dreams were possible. Then when my Mother started talking about God (a frequent occurrence), I realized that if the world needed a creator, then God needed a creator, and then that God would need a creator, and on and on. And that made me realize that there couldn't be a God.

Maybe it's a side effect of whatever allows our organic machine to be self-aware, or illogically creative, or... I dunno.

I think it's simply because we're mammals. Our brains are wired to look for a parental figure.

I have to wonder, what difference does it make, and why do you care?

It's the Internet. It's a BBS. It's a conversation.

Well, this is all temporary anyway. Once I start my sex and marshmallow mine cult, things will change for the better*.


*(better for me)

You just gave me a flashback to 5th grade, when I wrote a story called "The Looney Leprechauns of Lapra Lava," in which the Leprechauns had a marshmallow mine. No sex, though. I don't think Miss Biggs would have approved. Kind of makes me wonder how often marshmallow mines appear in fiction.

Very simplistic, yes, but, in other words, try to do good things and be a good person. Avoid the bad when you can, and don't get sucked in...

This is essentially my philosophy of life.

Just a few months back I encountered one online who was openly calling for religion - not just organized religion, but all forms of it - to be systematically eliminated by the government. When I pressed him on it he was more than happy to say he favored massive crackdowns on theists, all the way up to huge prison sentences if they even once mentioned their faith in public. When I pressed him further by saying that that would only end in a totalitarian system, he was again more than happy to openly support such an authoritarian way of government.

There are whackos in every demographic, but in this case it seems more likely that he was a sock puppet-- a religious fanatic pretending to be an atheist in order to make them look bad.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Good thing there are no nutbars like that in this thread. We are having a disagreement but doing it in a friendly way.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

I mostly could not give a damn what other people believe, so long as they don't want ME to believe it, or to follow laws or accept arguments based solely upon the premise that their silly religion is the right one.

Unfortunately, most religions are like that - what with having a central tenet of "spread the cult / convert the unbelievers / make the Priest class more money."

 

[cultcross]

Unfortunately, most religions are like that - what with having a central tenet of "spread the cult / convert the unbelievers / make the Priest class more money."

Historically, there have only really ever been two or three significant proselyting religions. But the effect of this tendency to recruit others is your religion grows, exponentially. So what you're left with is the two major 'turn or burn' religions, Christianity and Islam, dominating proceedings in the West while the much more numerous religions who don't actively convert others are swallowed, ignored, or discriminated against.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It's in human nature for everyone in the world to 'proselytize,' to some extent. Everyone tries to sway other people to their POV. That is not unique to any religion.

make the Priest class more money.

If you're talking about offerings or tithes, those go to the church as a whole. Ministers don't get paid that way.

 

[suarezguy]

I'm agnostic. Frankly I do occasionally wonder/worry about a negative/punitive afterlife but I don't think there's historical or ethical basis to believe in a god or if one exists to worship or obey it.
I'm very much into individual freedom and it is troubling that most religions (although also other belief systems including communist state atheism) are so heavily into authoritarian control.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I mostly could not give a damn what other people believe, so long as they don't want ME to believe it, or to follow laws or accept arguments based solely upon the premise that their silly religion is the right one.

Unfortunately, most religions are like that - what with having a central tenet of "spread the cult / convert the unbelievers / make the Priest class more money."

The vast majority of "Priest class" members make very little money (TV evangelists and and some mega-church types being the most obvious exceptions).