What's your Religion?

Militant in the sense that nonbelievers no longer have to fear death and persecution for voicing their opinion, so now they can speak openly about the atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, and how life can be better without it. Not in the sense of acting in violence for their cause, which usually cannot be said for those acting under the guise of religion.

 

Going on a slight tangent here but actually the puritans came to amercia to be able persecute since there was already freedom of religion in england.

 

pascals wager.

 

The purpose of life is determined by what diety among many I believe in for just a tiny blip in my infinite existance in either heaven or hell?

Life exists and my purpose is to live happy, but evidence says I end with death.

 

Religion was created to keep the poor/ignorant in check so they do not revolt. A good serman here, some fear interjected there, theatrics all around the square fallowed by singing and passing the collection plate... Sure it is psychology for a few. Some good can come out of anything. The end all be all question is can you show blind faith created more good than bad?

 

The stuff about drug use wasn't something you said at all. It was just 3 or 4 posts in a row that I read as quite negative. And that's ok, not everyone has to see things my way, it just kinda seemed like suddenly the conversation turned really negative. I thought we were having a good conversation, and I kinda saw it going downhill, that's all. I'm glad it seems like things are back on track here because I like this thread.

 

Yeah, the Amish impress me, overall. That's not an easy lifestyle. I think sometimes it's easy to latch onto any mainstream religion or even atheism. You don't have to change much, you just say, "Hey, this is what I believe." Being Amish means going way out of your way, doing things the hard way to not be part of the world and remain true to your beliefs.

But yeah... Amish... Quaker. Not that unusual a mistake. In college someone in a class asked me if I brought a horse and buggy to school. I told him yes, my horse was hitched to the bike rack

 

Christianity is not easy either...most of us are not very good at it...many of us just keep trying.

I've always felt it takes an equal dose of faith to not believe...as it does to believe. YMMV

btw, good job all at keeping it civil.

 

Truth? I'd say I'm a strongly atheist-leaning agnostic. Because of that very thing: you can't prove the absence of something. Not sure I'm wording that well but I think you get the idea? We can't prove God doesn't exist. It's not a scientific concept, it can't be tested. That's why it requires faith.

 

Science isn't something you 'believe in' . It would be kind of like saying you believe in engineering or economics.

Science, engineering, and economics are disciplines that use empirical observations and methodology to achieve an end, draw conclusions, or make predictions.

One may not like a conclusion but that is not a valud reason to state one does not believe the conclusion. I don't personally like the conclusion economists provide that unemployment will continue to remain high, but this is where the data points. Brushing off this conclusion because I don't like the picture it paints may make me feel good but it is still an irrational reason for rejecting the conjecture.

Many people are inclined to brush off many theoretical predictions in science for no other reason than they don't like what it infers and they are more comfortable with something more compatible with their desire to see the world in a certain way.

 

My fb religion status "its all the relationship..forget religion" lol

 

So without faith, does it exist? Seems to me to be entirely thought up by people. I also feel it was invented to aid in controlling the masses. Ask any follower and they will tell you their god is the one true god. Why can't God just end the uncertainty? So we can all pull the rope the same direction. (and don't give me the "God works in mysterious ways" BS.) That's the answer for everything that doesn't make sense.

 

I'm sorry. Did you really just ask someone who told you she's basically an atheist to justify religious belief?

Barking up the wrong tree there.

 

If we would have more murders, rapes, drugs etc. if we followed what you think to be an atheistic lifestyle, then why is it that there are nearly no atheists in prison? One obvious answer is that they make up a minority of the population, however those numbers are deceiving. Atheists / agnostics make up roughly 10-15% of the American population, Christians approximately 75%, Jews about 2%, Muslims about 5%, and "Other" making up the remainder (please note that these are not exact numbers). How is it then, that atheists make up the smallest prison population when they are the second larget "religious" group in America?

We could go on and on about this...

As for the religious not pushing beliefs on others... are you joking? Seriously?

 

No, I kinda re said the same thing she is saying. I didn't articulate very well

 

Ahhh. Rhetorical question. lol

 

Sorry but have to interject or add to this.

Is there one person that has found religion that has not suffered a tramadic experience? War, jail? Fucked up family? No.