It looks like I'm with the majority (at least on this board...in my personal life, not so much) since I choose Atheist. It wasn't always the case as my religious outlook has been more gradual over life. I started off a baptized Roman Catholic, but never was really practicing or attended church. Over the years I went from a Deist who still believed in a higher power, but not organized religion to an Agnostic where I couldn't prove God's existence either way to a full blown Atheist where I'm convinced the universe can only be explained through science and order and God is just a human construct to make our knowledge of eventual death easier to deal with. In many ways I've become anti-religious as following politics, dealing personally with hypocritical believers, watching people use their beliefs as a cudgel for violence and bigotry and in a small way just by being a Trekkie, has lead me to the conclusion humanity would be so much better off without such superstitious and it s one of the biggest things holding humankind back from advancing as a species. So while the Atheist label fits, but I actually would chose the term "Secular Humanist" as it better describes my belief that one doesn't need religion to be a good person and one should strive to be a positive influence in the world not due to any threats or promises after one dies, but just because it's the right thing to do and we only get one shot at it.
Raised Roman Catholic, but eventually I just couldn't pretend I believed in it anymore. I just don't believe in the supernatural, and that includes god. If I were inclined to be anything these days, it would be a secular humanist.
Interesting that you say that, using a pic of religious leaders bro'ing out with no quarrels whatsoever. In my own city, there are awesome examples every day of religious leaders coming together to serve the poor, take care of refugees, etc. One doesn't need religion to fight wars, even on an extinction level. (Remember the Soviet Union?) My faith draws me to love my neighbor and all humanity, all created by God. If the purpose of this thread is to mock faith, then that's one thing, but I'm pretty sure it's a survey with some good dialogue going on as well.
The unintended ignorance of that image is also the Buddhist monk is in orange robes. That implies heavily that he is of the Theravada school. They're not really even theistic.
I guess most people just want to find some kind of peace of mind, maybe have hope that there is something to being alive (aside from being alive). There's nothing wrong with looking for answers in places science can't explore just yet. We're just a naturally curious sort, as a species, and we often want to know what's around the next corner. Death is the corner you can't come around to see while still seeing.
I put Christian in because that's the closest to my beliefs, but I actually have a horrifyingly nihilistic world view. Before we get started down this rabbit hole from hell let me preface by saying that I don't choose to believe this way, I have seen spiritual evidence that this is just how it is, frighteningly enough. Basically I believe that the Judeo-Christian God is real, only he's not a great guy. Actually he's pretty much the villain of the universe, because he created it and so he thinks that his word should be law. Problem is he gave his creations free will, but also an insanely short life span and the choice to follow his Fascist Dictatorship and go to heaven (which basically amounts to an eternal Christian worship service) or live freely on Earth then die and go to hell (where they burn in eternal fire and brimstone). Satan isn't much better, but he's more a tragic villain because he at least tried to fight back, and God made an example out of him and now everyone thinks Satan is the bad guy. God is, in my opinion, the absent father, the deadbeat of the Universe who punishes all except those who follow his Holy Bible to a T. At least Cthulhu is a cool looking villain by comparison, the God I believe in is the same moral compass only he looks like a boring old white guy. It's amazing just how much attending a fundamentalist Christian church for years can seriously screw you up. I'm leaving out a lot of little details, but I think that is depressing enough. Please excuse me while I go find some sort of pallet cleanser.
I'd go one step further. It seems only in the New Testament that the concept of hell and Satan being the bad guy is more heavily promoted. The Old Testament seems to show that maybe God and Satan were more or less different sides of the same team and were bros, or at least not out and out antagonistic towards each other. BTW Wayist is an actual thing..... Thanks Andromeda for introducing me to that. There is an actual wayist religion that is like that.
Having been raised Jewish and not hearing anything about Satan - is he even (explicitly) in the Old Testament?
Sort of. Samael is an Archangel and servant of G-d and considered responsible for the fall of Adam and Eve and torturing Job. He's also called (ha-)Satan and so got conflated with Lucifer (which is a Latin name). More here, if you're curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan @Admiral Archer, that is depressing and certainly understandable. ::hugs::
That is not from the Bible. The most prominent/well-known references to Satan are from Job (as you mentioned), and some others are Zechariah 3:1, I Chronicles 21:1.
Depends on how you define the Bible. Oh no, a canon discussion that does not involve Gene's Vision Samael is mentioned in the Book of Enoch. There does seem to be a heavy dualistic influence from Zoroastrianism after the Babylonian and Persian occupations. How different is speculative. Then again the Samaritans still exist, albeit only a few hundred of them, and they have kept their traditions largely intact due to isolation. How different they are from before the occupations, I do not know. But certain aspects of Yahweh-ism, whatever it might have early been, whether Asherah played a heavy role in that religion, how it influenced or was influenced by that other monotheistic experiment across the Red Sea, is fascinating.
If the Bible is the literal word of God and there was no real mention at all of hell or such in the Old Testament does that mean words were added and the text changed when the New Testament was written?, or most of the NT was just made up to fit the times?
No, if you check out a Bible from a synagogue (which obviously doesn't embrace the New Testament) and compare it with a Bible in a church, nothing's been changed. The New Testament is the continuation and culmination of God's redemptive work, embodied in Christ. It's historical, with multiple references to Christ and Christianity found in non-Christian sources of the day as well.
"If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that He's evil. I think that the worst you can say about Him is that, basically, He's an underachiever." -- Woody Allen