Hey Religion thats a topic!
hey it's alright
I like to think of myself as a "Realist" - I believe in reality, and don't believe in the application of fantasy to explain away gaps in the knowledge of that reality.
....or you can call me an atheist if you prefer....
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"Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"
My parents raised me to be a Christian.
Until I reached college I accepted my parents' teachings.
After taking several science and religion classes I came to the realization that I cannot accept my parents' teachings without sufficient proof.
I still have a nightly prayer based on the hope that there is a God who cares.
I don't have a label that really sums up all of my beliefs- the closest I can narrow it down is Pagan (not a very narrow term I know sorry). I went through an obsessive phase trying to find the exact right pagan path for me and I came to the conclusion that the only right one is mine- even if I can't label it effectively.
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Crush your intolerance, your stinking abhorrenceOf pleasures and laughter and lifeThe essence of life is to share our delightsDrink it down for there?s more still to come
My thoughts on religion...
I don't understand the concept of God being all-knowing, all-powerful, all-god, and all the other "omni" stuff....
Yet be so incredibly vain as to require his creatures to worship him.
Do we keep fishtanks just so our fish can worship us? Well, I don't at least.
This makes the question of whether or not there is a God irrelevant to me. If there is a god, and he wishes people to spend a significant amount of time showering him with praise, he's not a person I would be inclined to worship.
If there is no God, there is no reason to worship.
At the same time, I view the bible/religious ideals a generally good model of how somebody should live their life. Take out the archaic and overly puritanical views of sex, and the book is generally preaches that people should be good to one another, which is a decent ideal.
One additional reason I am hesitant to worship a God- I cannot see how a "good" god would sit idly by through history while a good portion of history's largest atrocities have been carried out in his name. So either God does not exist, or he is not somebody to worship.
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I am indeed a "proud aspie".
There are 10 kinds of people in the world- Those that understand binary, and those who don't.
I think they call it "freedom of choice" or something if memory serves.....
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"Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"
I was bought up as an Anglican/Episcopalian, and now I'm converting to Catholic. I am quite traditional in my beliefs in these religions.
As long as people accept the mere presence of God, any form of God, that's fine with me. I don't care how they worship, even Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus are okay. It doesn't really matter; we're all people and you should respect everybody, so that is what I try to do.
However, I do draw the line at Paganism and Satanism. I can't even begin to imagine why on earth anybody would want to worship the Devil! I sort of tend to think of Paganism as a "made-up" religion. I hope I do not offend any body, these are my own opinions.
My brother used to drive busses cross country and he was always driving church groups around. Last week, he said that he had driven all over the country looking for Jesus and had not yet found Him. We thought this was very funny. I think my brother accepts God's Presence, but no longer believes in organized religion.
As long as people accept the mere presence of God, any form of God, that's fine with me.
I thought this first point of yours was kinda contradicted by what you went on to say:
I'm persuming here that you didn't think Paganism was some kind of 'devil worship' so I won't even go there and I don't know enough about all forms of Satanism to explain this one.
Paganism may be a 'reconstituted' religion but I don't see how that makes it a made up religion. There are plenty of debates about how some forms of Paganism actually pre-date christianity- but I'm not going to take over this thread with that.
Take a look at this:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/goddess.htm
There are plenty more articles on this website that might be of interest to you too.
It always interests me how people who would never dream of belittling other religious groups have no qualms about doing it to Pagans.
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Crush your intolerance, your stinking abhorrenceOf pleasures and laughter and lifeThe essence of life is to share our delightsDrink it down for there?s more still to come
Melvis this is a very interesting conversation. I have many, many friends who are Pagans. One is also a Shaman,
Most people would be shocked to realize most of our holidays and celebrations are based on Pagan beliefs.
Pagans and Satanists are totally, totally different! They are on opposite ends of the spectrum!
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