Religion- Read first post please

[Enitsnid]

Okay, this thread needed to happen, because religion can be a fascinating subject to discuss and I find it often provides a window of understanding into the opinions of others.

As stated in the rules of conduct, religion is a very sensitive subject and things can get out of hand quickly if we do not respect other peoples' opinions and discuss using non-inflamatory language. When posting, pretend you are talking to your nice, great-grandmother.

So for the sake of discussion, keep things clean.

So, discuss away!


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Edit: With the advent of the Spirituality thread, elaboration on what this thread is specifically for is required.

This thread covers discussions of religious doctrine. This is where you should come to ask what a specific religion believes, what tenets they hold, or why practitioners of a specific religion react one way or another, as well as get information on how they compare and contrast. If you want more general discussions of concepts, rather than doctrine, the Spirituality thread is more what you are looking for.

Guidelines:
- Standard MS and HoS rules apply.

- No bashing other people's beliefs and practices is permitted. You may disagree (and should expect to be disagreed with); however, you may not tell them they are going to hell, are bad people, are not a 'real' <whatever faith they are professing> or the like. If you believe they are breaking the law hit 'report' on the thread. If they are factually in error (such as misquoting something that actually says something else, or getting solid provable fact wrong) politely disagree with them and provide the corrected information with some form of source to reference.

- Remember, if you need psychological or medical help with real life problems, this is not the best place to inquire. Talk to a real person close to you or find a hotline.

- We understand that there is going to be overlap between this and the Spirituality thread. If a tangent gets too deeply into areas covered by that thread and too far from areas covered by this one, we reserve the right to ask you to switch the conversation over to the other thread.

~Wolfeyedangel

[Piney]

I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. Outside of that I don't do very many religious stuff but I can consider myself more religious than the average internet person.

I'm curious, why do people choose not to believe in a God? I find religion a comfort, because I know that God loves me and has a plan for me, even though I may not see it all the time. Call me delusional and naive, but I think it's better to have something that you can believe in that gives you hope and comfort than to think that you're all alone and wallow in the world's misery.

Of course, there's the things that the churches do that not everyone agrees with, and can put people off of religion. But church is made of men, and you can't expect men to be perfect all the time. Besides, a religion isn't about its followers, but about the god.

[ShenziSixaxis]

A god who can do anything at whim, to me, is ridiculous. Instead, I find comfort in believing there is SOMETHING after death. Hard to explain, but it's there. I feel there's a choice of living in a dimension that is PERFECT, just as you want it. You can travel and visit those you met or never knew before, choose to watch the living go about, or you can stay in this life, but in a different plain of existence. Reincarnation is also a choice, but does not apply just to humans and in this 'reality' and such.


Just the way I see it. Shenzi's creative.

[Soleil]

I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. Outside of that I don't do very many religious stuff but I can consider myself more religious than the average internet person.

I'm curious, why do people choose not to believe in a God? I find religion a comfort, because I know that God loves me and has a plan for me, even though I may not see it all the time. Call me delusional and naive, but I think it's better to have something that you can believe in that gives you hope and comfort than to think that you're all alone and wallow in the world's misery.

Of course, there's the things that the churches do that not everyone agrees with, and can put people off of religion. But church is made of men, and you can't expect men to be perfect all the time. Besides, a religion isn't about its followers, but about the god.

Replying to the question, bolded for emphasis. =)

I'm a Pagan, I believe in multiple gods and goddesses (mostly Greek and Roman, with a few Egyptian thrown in because I love Horus.) so I do understand where you are coming from when you talk about how religion is about the deity and not the followers.

To me, I think people choose not to have a religion (any, not just christianity) is simply because they think they are 'fulfilled' without it. I'm sure I'm very wrong, but that's my personal little view about it. My sister in law is non-religious just because she doesn't really think there is anything out there that governs her life/the lives of others.

I'm personally a believer in fate and all that fun stuff.

I honestly have no problems with any religion, but I do take 'offense' to others who try to shove their religion down my throat and tell me that I'm going to hell (or whatever it may be for that religion) and I have had this happen 3 times since I became a 'public' Pagan because I used to hide it. I had a 75 year old woman scream at me in the middle of a Walmart that I am a heathen and am damned for all eternity..

[Soirgriffe]

I've taken the "Don't shove it down my neck, and I won't shove my opinions down yours" approach to religion.
I do not believe in any higher power, because I know there must be some cause to what has happened in the world, whether this is due to a deity or other powers, I do not know, but I know there is something there, but I do not believe. It's kinda complicated, but I like to think of it as I don't believe in a chair, because I know it's there.

[LunatheDragoness]

I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. Outside of that I don't do very many religious stuff but I can consider myself more religious than the average internet person.

I'm curious, why do people choose not to believe in a God? I find religion a comfort, because I know that God loves me and has a plan for me, even though I may not see it all the time. Call me delusional and naive, but I think it's better to have something that you can believe in that gives you hope and comfort than to think that you're all alone and wallow in the world's misery.

Of course, there's the things that the churches do that not everyone agrees with, and can put people off of religion. But church is made of men, and you can't expect men to be perfect all the time. Besides, a religion isn't about its followers, but about the god.

I agree. Im not Christian though. Im an Episcopalian. I find that believing in Him it gives me comfort, even though I have depression I am happy on the inside,and I hold back my tongue now when I want to curse the living daylight out of people. I still curse but only at home or when Im alone lol. I dont feel as angered as I used to feel. Feels like I have a huge mountain lifted off my chest. I do not believe in Him 100% though. Not yet. I lost my faith when my great grandma died and I thought it was God's way of telling me that He hates me and that Im being punished. I dont think that anymore. It was just her time to go. I understand now what "To fear God" means too. Thank goodness for grandmas

[freakazoid]

I honestly cannot say whether I have a religion or not.

It's hard for me to think of someone that could create the world with a snap of his fingers, and then supposedly communicate with a human being, telling them that they had just given birth to his son. Maybe the lady made it up - perhaps the real tale is lost in time, known only to those who were there.

I do believe in life after death, with the evil/bad people having to live their lives over as ghosts, playing through their death over and over and over again. For the good people, I believe that they are free to wander to their 'happy place', where they can do what they want without anyone telling them the limitations, restrictions, rules, etc.

I do happily believe in other Gods, however, such as Poseidon ( ), Zeus, Athena etc. The idea that they control a specific element (water forever!) amazes me.

[theplanetnox]

Well, I'm not religious mostly because my parents aren't. My dad's going back to college and is majoring in philosophy, and he loves to laugh about how they say in books that "You can't be good because saying you are good is comparing yourself to god. That's bad." I know that people aren't like that now, but things can change. I also just find it flat out illogical that a person is up in the sky , controlling absolutely everything that goes on. it makes me think that polytheism was actually more logical because I can imagine a higher being controlling one or two parts of the world.

[Kestrad]

I am agnostic. I do not reject the existence of a god or gods. Nor do I worship any. Put simply, I will not flat out believe or disbelieve in a god until I receive some form of proof. Perhaps it's because I am scientifically inclined--I don't draw a conclusion until I find decisive proof. I am a skeptic of any proof set before me either way as well--you must show me that the data is sound.

That said, if I were to choose a religion, I would probably choose wicca, or some form of paganism. The stories behind the gods and goddesses of all cultures around the world have enthralled me ever since I was very young, and the fact that people believed (and still believe) in them is perhaps an indication that they did at some point exist and might still exist.

And speaking of paganism and christianity. Many christian traditions and stories are suspiciously similar to pagan ones. Why do you think Christmas is celebrated at almost the same time as the pagan holiday of the solstice? And the story of the resurrection of Jesus--it bears echos of the story of Osiris. People in the ancient world had cults dedicated to Isis, which were succeeded by cults dedicated to Mary. Christmas trees come from the Norse tradition of making representations of the Yggdrasil (the world tree) by hanging carcasses from trees.

It's also funny how in theory Jews, Muslims, and Christians worship the same god, yet have so many conflicts with each other, isn't it?

EDIT: For readers, there's a very interesting section in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart where the missionary and the leader of one of the villages discuss religion and find that they have lots of common ground after all.

[Soleil]

And speaking of paganism and christianity. Many christian traditions and stories are suspiciously similar to pagan ones. Why do you think Christmas is celebrated at almost the same time as the pagan holiday of the solstice? And the story of the resurrection of Jesus--it bears echos of the story of Osiris. People in the ancient world had cults dedicated to Isis, which were succeeded by cults dedicated to Mary. Christmas trees come from the Norse tradition of making representations of the Yggdrasil (the world tree) by hanging carcasses from trees.

In Pagan history, from what I gathered from research, supposedly the Christian holidays were based around Pagan holidays because it was "easier to convert" Pagans if they were promised the same/similar holidays.

Christmas = Yule (both acknowledge/worship the birth of a "King" so to speak)
Easter = Ostara (basically the re-birth of the world after winter for Pagans, though we celebrate it at the Spring Equinox which is around March 21st instead of the Christian Easter in April)

There's others, but you get my point