Does anyone not have a religion?

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ruveyn
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18 Jun 2011, 7:23 pm

Fnord wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

Define "a religion". All people have underlying beliefs which are not the results of their own personal experience.

How about: "A social expression of belief in an unprovable god or gods"?

Are you saying Budhism is not a religion. It has no god. The Budah is revered as a wise person. Completely human.

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Aprilviolets
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19 Jun 2011, 8:20 pm

Religion dosen't really mean anything to me.
Too much has happened for me to believe in any at all.

AngelRho
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19 Jun 2011, 10:59 pm

MasterJedi wrote:

atheist - literally "without religion". Like it or not, it's a label. Labels mean things so instead of saying, "see that person over there?", say, "See that emo kid over there with the purple hair?"

Labels have uses.

Well, LITERALLY it means "without God," the Greek root referring usually to the God of the Bible. Only recently has "theology" even referred to any other deity. On the other hand, the Romans often accused Christians of being atheists because we're monotheists. In that sense, we are little different than atheists here. The main difference is we only happen to believe in one more God than they do.

ruveyn
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20 Jun 2011, 6:08 am

Aprilviolets wrote:

Religion dosen't really mean anything to me.
Too much has happened for me to believe in any at all.

Do you hold beliefs that are not supported directly from sensory input? Of course, you do. You believe in the existence of an external world, some of which neither you nor anyone else has not seen.

We all require some kind of beliefs to function.

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YippySkippy
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20 Jun 2011, 7:30 am

Geezer question: What's an "emo"? Is that like a Goth? Where does the term come from, as it would seem that everyone has emotions?

Philologos
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20 Jun 2011, 9:07 am

ruveyn wrote:

Aprilviolets wrote:

Religion dosen't really mean anything to me.
Too much has happened for me to believe in any at all.

Got THAT right!

Fnord
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20 Jun 2011, 9:17 am

MasterJedi wrote:

atheist - literally "without religion"...

No.

"Atheist" is literally "Without a god" or "God-Less" (Greek origin). Gods and religions are entirely different things.

Faith is the belief in unprovable things (like, gods). Religion is the socio-political expression of that faith.

Sweetleaf
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20 Jun 2011, 9:43 am

blauSamstag wrote:

Sweetleaf wrote:

I don't mean are you athiest or agnostic, I'm talking about people that follow no religions and don't nessisarly identify as athiests or agnostic. That would be my stance on religion.....I am not religious and I don't care enough to try and put a label on it. not to mention neither of those quite describe me very well. What are your thoughts on this, and do you feel the need to identify as something concerning religion.

If you're sure you don't believe in any gods, that's the short definition of "atheist".

If you're not sure whether you care to believe in any gods, that's the short definition of "agnostic".

It really is that easy.

You don't have to be a cockbag about it and wear your decision on your sleeve - that's strictly optional, and i wish more atheists would give it a rest.

Well its really just kind of irrelevent to me........I guess I would say I do not belive in gods but that does not mean there are no spiritual entities, not sure what exactly a spiritual entity is but that is the only way I can think to describe some things that have happened in my life. As far as I know there is nothing that really defines that belief.

Aprilviolets
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20 Jun 2011, 7:36 pm

Philologos wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

Aprilviolets wrote:

Religion dosen't really mean anything to me.
Too much has happened for me to believe in any at all.

Got THAT right!

No idea what that was all about.

blunnet
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20 Jun 2011, 7:42 pm

ruveyn wrote:

We all require some kind of beliefs to function.

We do?

Fnord
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20 Jun 2011, 9:08 pm

blunnet wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

We all require some kind of beliefs to function.

We do?

Yes, we do.

For instance, do you believe that the next time to flip the light switch, the lamp will illuminate? Or when you turn the faucet, that water will come out? Or that when you take your next breath, you will have sufficient oxygen to continue living?

Try to imagine what your life might be like if you said 'No' to any of those questions.

ruveyn
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21 Jun 2011, 9:08 am

Fnord wrote:

blunnet wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

We all require some kind of beliefs to function.

We do?

Even more to the point: we assume the past is an indicator of the future. Without this belief or assumption we could not learn anything new.

ruveyn

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