Is any here religious?
I converted from agnosticism to atheism about ten years ago.
All the hoopla about religion during the Bush years compelled me
to think about religion and the concept of god more than I ever did
prior to those years.
The more I thought about it....the more I could no longer justify
my internal arguments for the possible existence of god. While
I leave some room for the existence of SOMETHING outside the
physical universe, I don't think this *something* comes in the
form of a personal god.
And *it* probably doesn't exist either. *Higher* consciousness likely
begins and ends with human neural networks and possibly those of
some extraterrestrial life form/s.
I kinda Wish I could get hooked on religion. I have met people who are some how
made whole because of truly believing.
The big question for me is what set off the expansion and collapsing of
universe. What happened before the big bang?
Perhaps humans do not have the mental capacity to understand the answer
anyway tho.
I have to admit the ToE makes sense to me.
I'm a self described christian with quite a few issues with organized religion. I see it more as a personal life philosophy, I don't put much weight on other people's interpretations of texts.
I don't much enjoy church or church society, and I certainly don't go because I want to feel better about myself or life, etc.
I am a closet atheist, I don't tell anyone I've met irl and don't plan too ever. I've found that people these days get sensitive when it comes to religion and I just don't like discussing it because I could cause a lot of uproar with my opinions on religion. I come from a very religious family and I've become accustomed to tuning them out when they talk about anything regarding religion. If possible I just leave the room because it makes me angry.
If I have to believe in something then I believe in myself, I make my own choices and only I can determine if I will be a success or failure. I don't believe there is a higher power controlling my fate and never will.
Douglas_MacNeill
Veteran
Joined: 10 May 2007
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,326
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
I would have to say that I am religious, yes.
-I attend my church almost every week
-I welcome opportunities to support the worship or the administration of my congregation
-I willingly accept opportunities to improve any skills I have that bear on supporting their worship
-I regularly attend Bible studies and other opportunities to examine Christian faith as Anglicans in Canada understand it.
I go to church every week. It's a special place to pray once a week (I'd say Sundays, but I never actually go on Sunday; it's always Saturday), and I do appreciate the routine for the most part. The readings are nice.
I don't really do any activities for them anymore. When I was younger, I was an altar girl for years; by the time I stopped, I was second oldest (and second longest working) one there. I did religion school every Sunday throughout the school year but stopped after Confirmation.
I go back and forth from being very religious to only mildly so. There are times when I truly appreciate the services. Other times - and this has been the past few weeks - I go, but I don't like all of the extras. The homilies are too long, the announcements usually based on money issues. I don't like that we sing the same phrase four times in a row, just because the priest seems to think that everything sounds better sung (it does not). Extra trappings keep getting added on for the sake of the show.
As for activities outside that are affiliated with the church now... I don't really do any. There's a volunteer organization that's funded by four of the Catholic churches in the county, and I volunteer there every so often (they do both a food pantry (which I worked at for four years) and a homeless shelter (which I started early this year but am stopping this months to go back to the food pantry)). It's not really affiliated with the church though; I mean, they put periodic announcements in the weekly bulletin about donations or volunteers, but those are few and far between. I think they really just donate some funding, and that's it.
_________________
"Nothing worth having is easy."
Three years!
I go for the sake of maintaining contact, but I absolutely detest "making peace" by shaking hands with the random strangers either side of me. That, and the abominations that the institutional church is responsible for...
There is a forum here about Religion and Polotics if you wanted to talk more about this topic there you might get more response.
I consider myself to be quite religious. I'm not in the spectrum but have many charactaristics and do have ADHD. I have three children, two of whom have AS and the third isn't NT but doesn't have a clear dx. We all have ADHD. My children are quite religious as well. They dislike when something prevents us from going to Sunday School and Church. They prefer Sunday School because it's more interactive.
We are Episcopalian and like that we are encouraged to think for ourselves and respect all religions.
I go for the sake of maintaining contact, but I absolutely detest "making peace" by shaking hands with the random strangers either side of me. That, and the abominations that the institutional church is responsible for...
See, and we enjoy that part. I always give the kids a big hug first, and then we have certain people we try to greet. The kids do not always like doing it with strangers, but our church is very small so there aren't always many new faces.
I think you should not have to do that part if you don't like it.
Is there a small congregation you could join, or an alternate worship time that is more suitable? Your Rabbi might have a good suggestion. It only takes 10 to make a minion, and that's not too many people. I love the Jewish Liturgy, although I am not personally Jewish. I do enjoy it on occasion when I go with a friend or relative, very much.
I consider myself agnostic, but I also believe there is a higher power of SOME type and studying the Bible on my own was a Aspie obsession of mine a few years ago. I may have joined a church at some point, but it is just the matter of sharing (i.e. fellowship) with others that I cannot take. I would make a great church of myself and two friends, but anything beyond that is near impossible.
It seems that church-goers are the more NT people in the world. They seem to demand mutual support and empathy. If there are any WP'ers who attend churches (IF any), how do you do it?
I had a theology obsession. I have been member of a pentacostal church for a few years. Theology obsession and pentacostal don't mix well and their emotional approach was very different from the way I experience things. I liked the litteral way they read the Bible though.
The fellowship was something that caused me much frustration. I tried very hard to fit in but I am just not comfortable around people. They tried to make use of my theological/Bible knowledge in cellgroups but I prepared lectures on how
brilliantly the Psalms were composed, mathematically precise. And all they were interested in was a superficial talk about practical things....
Services were a source of anxiety as well. I like singing very much and that got me in a pentacostal church in the first place.
But at a certain point you need to raise at least one hand (lift up to the lord as they call it) and I could not figure out when and why you were supposed to do that. If you didn't people seemed to think you had not received the Holy Ghost and needed prayer...
I do believe in God. But I don't want to be part of a congregation again. I visit another church with lots of old people now and then. I leave directly after the service has ended to avoid too much stress for me.
Mind you, I am not certain at all I have aspergers so its even difficult for people who may be not on the spectrum.
AnonymousAnonymous
Veteran
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 70,174
Location: Portland, Oregon
I'm a faithful catholic that tries to only focus in the religious teachings and the Holy Bible and who tries to avoid the bad stuff like the people that make catholicism look bad. I like going to church because it gives me a sense of peace, even though I don't really like shaking hands with strangers for the risk of them being sick and not washing their hands properly or something and just avoid sitting where the majority of the people does.
I was a Christian. I had a major existential crisis a few years back and became agnostic. I spent a few months after that waiting to get struck by vengeful lightning.
After that, my orchestral colleague and I made up our own religion when we didn't like a piece that we had to play (I am seriously going to put that religion as my religion on the next census form).
_________________
Music Theory 101: Cadences.
Authentic cadence: V-I
Plagal cadence: IV-I
Deceptive cadence: V- ANYTHING BUT I ! !! !
Beethoven cadence: V-I-V-I-V-V-V-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I
-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I! I! I! I I I
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