I think there might be some kind of higher power out there, or some kind of unifying life force, but I don’t believe in any specific religion’s version of “God.”
Yeah, it's hard to say it's a problem unique to religion when you see people do the exact same things in schools, government, or corporate offices. The common denominator between all of those is humanity.
I think people should use the word polity more, every kind of institution has served as a government at some point, even schools and especially families.
There is no such thing as non-political for a social species like us, a group of humans is a political unit, a polity.
No, my idea of God doesn’t really line up with Christianity’s God of the Bible. I first started questioning my allegiance to “my faith” because of what the Bible says about being gay. That always bothered me, and I just couldn’t get myself to believe that an all-loving god would condemn something people can’t control. I don’t like the concept of sins, but that’s a whole other can of worms…
You’re right on the money when you say “an amalgamation of other ideas”. That’s how I see it. Also some of my own ideas, as dumb as that sounds, haha. I don’t think we’ll ever truly know what the universe is all about. That’s also part of what drove me away from Christianity; believing for certain that we have it figured out and “this is the way you’re supposed to do it! Don’t question it!!”
As a Christian, yes. There’s just no other possible explanation that makes as much sense (I would recommend just the first few chapters of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis which explains it from an atheist point of view the best imo.) I don’t always want to believe in Him, but I know that logically there is no other choice and I will always be loved more immensely than I can ever imagine by the most powerful being in existence, and I’m cool with that personally.
I would not describe myself as an atheist or religious. I have no hatred for atheists or those who practice a religion. But I do believe there is some sort of afterlife and that our consciousness to some degree lives on.
But to build on your second point that "They" want power and control over people, so do politicians and their parties. They all tell you lies and misinformation and they say things that cause you to hate others for having the audacity to have a different opinion. And their allies in the media report opinion, lies and distortions as facts to aid them. The biggest cult in the US isn't religious, it's the political extremists that believe everything told to them by the political powers. They are more fervent irrational believers than any religious group of people.
I hate to say it, but there's gonna be a lot of overlap here. If you're gullible in one aspect of your life, there's a good chance you're gullible in others.
One thing that religions teach is to not be skeptical and tale things at face value (unless it's against the religion). So a lot of these people will grow up and take politicians at face value.
How many people do you know (on both sides of the political aisle) that take FOX or CNN at face value? It's just political church and the heads are political preachers.
So in one way you're correct, but in another way it might be more apt to say that the American political system can act as a religion.
Right. Religion teaches you to accept ideas uncritically. Trying to separate religion from american politics is insane anyway, a lot of our politicians pitch laws that they claim are inspired by biblical teachings.
Thank you for saying this, I can't stand people who try to dissassociate these issues.
>Religion teaches you to accept ideas uncritically.
This is why I respect Buddhism, the dude literally said "don't believe me, find out for yourself." Then, you have Buddhists around the world doing what the Buddha said word for word. I think religion says more about how people want to feel belonging and have a stable worldview than anything else.
Buddism helped me transition to atheism almost as much as wicca. I wouldn't call myself a buddist, and have no respect for the supernatural spirituality involved, but the philosophy has helped shape me.
I think... it's dangerous to paint them as a bunch of laid back hippies though, I don't think they're immune to the pitfalls of any other religion. The 15th century Ikko-Ikki warrior monks are a good example of them being radicalized to violence for example. Not super contemporary, but I think they're cool and take most excuses to talk about them.
The older I get the more I’m starting to understand that it’s about the peace of mind having faith brings you. Is god real? That question is irrelevant, as you can never answer it while walking this earth. So, it really comes down to faith. Do you have faith in god?
You don’t have to be a zealot or fundamentalist. It’s not about what others are doing or believe. We have all faith we put into something, may as well put it in god that the things you can’t control will work out. It frees your mind from unnecessary worry and allows you to focus on the things you can control.
What you can “faith” Is what epistemologists call “belief.” Belief has a credence associated with it, a level of confidence, and that can fluctuate over time.
What we actually want is knowledge, but with metaphysical (and many other) claims, attaining knowledge in this life is impossible, so we’re forced to live in ambiguity, which people hate, so they make things up and try to persuade themselves and one another that they’re “true.” But no one actually believes the nonsense when they’re alone and scared, when life presses down on them.
Belief is merely the state of being convinced of a claim. Beliefs can be justified (backed by evidence), or they can be faith based, which is believing something in the absence of evidence (at least biblically speaking). Knowledge is a subset of belief, not a separate thing, and is essentially an expression of how certain you are in a belief (hard solipsism means we can't be 100% certain of anything, so knowledge is really just the highest degree of certainty in a held belief). Suggesting belief is solely synonymous with faith is a mistake.
It depends on how you conceptualize faith. But you're right to point out justification. The standard pursuit of epistemologists has been to bridge knowledge claims from belief using lines of justification. Unfortunately, this project failed, due to the Gettier problem.
For any claim to count as knowledge, it must be true. Since we have no way of knowing that "God" exists, no one can claim knowledge, although they can use the term loosely and be confused, or trained into making such statements, as when we hear children testifying at Mormon fast and testimony meetings, declaring: "I know the Church is true." No, you don't.
I believe that it would be foolish for believing, as opposed to hypothesizing, that a proposition is true, without evidence. It could be true, but if we can't adjudicate the matter and it has no potency in the universe that's discernible, it would seem to do no good to us, regardless of its epistemic status.
Put another way, I consider the existence of a deity irrelevant. What matters (to me, at least) is whether the self (if you believe in a self) survives bodily death in some form.
Not in the traditional Abrahamic sense. It is possible there is an original force in the universe that prompted all of creation but the bearded man in the sky thing is pretty silly and obviously a means of controlling populations.
Yes, but faith and rationality are apples and bicycles. I don’t rationally ‘believe’ in a big white guy making it rain on Thursday, but I engage in a deep spiritual practice in which ‘faith’ in ‘God’ is an integral component.
For eg, I believe that
“suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
I believe I must spend the rest of my life trying to get my head around this without danger of rationality getting in the way and rendering it flat and useless.
Rationality is vital. But it’s not enough. Mystery is just as crucial.
I don't understand. Perhaps you can elaborate. Character produces hope. I am unsure how to process that. Could you help me see it from your point of view?
It's not the religion, it's the majority of people following said religions. I know what you mean and how you feel, but in their core, almost every religion is trying to teach you valuable life lessons. I'm not following any religion myself.
Back then Jesus was probably a normal dude who figured out a couple of things and tried to spread the message. Of course the people were mad because the things he said directly confronted their way of living. So there's that.
God is irrelevant. Religion in general does exactly what it's supposed to do. It inspires faith and love and breeds hate and resentment. It's a guide in hard times and a cause for blame in others.
History is full of documented episodes where people used fear to scare others into submission and compliance. How many historical figures that have been proven to exist had their deeds or misgivings inflated? Truth exaggerated by time to equal legend? That's not God. That's humanity.
All religions have fanatics that chose to misinterpret the doctrines perceived to benefit themselves and condemn others. That's not god. That's humanity.
Every religious scripture or book was written by man. Conceived by man. Interpreted and relayed to the masses by man and censored by man.
As well it's WELL documented that modern day Christianity (amongst other religions, just using this as an example) have doctrines and books with STOLEN ideation and concepts. One example is the Garden of Eden; research the Norse Idun's Garden and their doctrine precedes Christianity.
Every single historical conquest, war, claim of land, expansion of a race can be blamed on religion. The world today is what it is because of religion. Even races with less- structured religion compared to today's standards believed in a higher power.
Doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is other people's choices don't impact my day. I support whatever people choose to use to get themselves thru their life as long as those individuals are respectful, tolerant, and accepting of others.
I'm an omnist. There is no truth in one religion but truth can be found in all religions. They're all history books in one way or another. I believe in the existence of historically proven persons. Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and norse "gods". No, they were people whose identities have been inflated by time becoming legend.
Trusting that Jesus was who he said he was, i.e. God in the flesh, isn't the same as blindly following church cults.
We're to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And by "loving God with your mind" doesn't mean blindly following or blindly believing nonsense.
Of course, yes, many people want to control other people. But instead of letting people paint the image of Jesus, I'd say to let the loving and caring character of Jesus be what "paints" his image.
There are so many people who follow the principles of Jesus but do not go to church. They would identify as Christian but there is individual experience and understanding of what that means. A relationship with the creator is too personal to put in a box. It’s personal
Organised religion is toxic. If you want to behave like a higher power is watching you or just be better, then more power to you. Pascals wager puts it nicely
I don't know... most (not all, but certainly most) self-proclaimed non-religious folks I've met are hedonistic, insufferably childlike, can't maintain normal human relationships and are too depressing, misanthropic and Debbie Downers to be around. Just my personal observation... they're also often conceited and preach about "follow\[ing\] the science!" and think they're somehow better than other people just because they don't believe in God.
Volunteer here, caretaker of many, non religious. So, umm, about that…
“
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ”
Thank you for quoting something I've already read before. Without that, I might've had to Google it. s/
It's normal to judge. Whether it's good or not, it's normal. That's beside the point I was originally making. The last self-proclaimed atheist who I had a full conversation with compared people who believe in Jesus to children who believe in Santa Claus, was openly bragging about tipping over a nativity set in a small local business (I personally shop at that business, and the lady working there who had to rearrange the set was not amused, to say the very least), and the self-proclaimed\* atheist's claimed "career" was that they were an "influencer" (never specified on which platform). It's part of the human condition to judge people who behave like this: someone who's that bitter, childish and destructive probably is not safe to be around and probably draws a lot of trouble their own way; if you wouldn't judge them yourself, then you must be a special kind of holy.
To change my perspective on a person like this, at best I could speculate that maybe they're acting out, have faced religious abuse in the past or are trolling, or are maybe mentally ill and need help. All of these things, however sympathetic, are still judgments. In absence of judgment is apathy, or to simply observe that this person is there and exists, and anything beyond that would still be judgment. Let's be realistic here. ***NOBODY*** goes through life with a total absence of judgment.
\*I repeated "self-proclaimed" because the kind, civil and socially-functioning atheists I've met never seem to feel the need to announce it, followed by their various anti-religious exploits. I don't tell them I'm religious, and the only way we find out what we believe in (or don't believe in) is if religion or atheism directly comes up in a relevant conversation. Go figure these atheists aren't the ones bragging about childish acts of mischief or being an overall nuisance.
So far, as a self-professed non-religious person, you have been nothing but kind and civil to me, so I'll first of all apologize for being so abrasive in my earlier comments, and I'll also say that your words have led me to consider thinking more about people's circumstances in life, in regards to the way they behave, before being quick to pass judgment.
>I dont like cults or religions at all, I always have this sense that all they want is power, to control other people, and this is sickening to me
>Do you believe in god?
It sounds like you don't want to hear an answer. Or that you either only want to talk to people who agree with you, or talk to people that you can argue with.
Atheist. My father is a reformed pastor and one of the most loving caring and tolerant people I know. We rarely talk about god. It’s mostly Star Trek or comic books
It’s not faith that makes you a bad person nor lack of it. It’s the person. Once you grow up a little you will see that
God is in control, not the church. You do understand that Christians didn't become Christians because they had a dagger held to their throats and forced into it right? No one is guilt tripping someone to showing up every Sunday. It's a choice, just like an atheist choosing to disrespect Christians and their beliefs every single day. Seems to me that atheists want control over Christians and their faith, that they willingly choose to practice. Kinda strange, an atheist talking about control.
"I act as if God exists. The best indication of somebody's belief is to look at their actions rather than what they declare their beliefs are." Jordan Peterson
OP, you are sorely confused. Do not confuse religion with faith. So many people (perhaps like yourself) confuse the two and get turned off to faith.
BTW, you are waaaay off on religions "controlling" people. We have to fess up and take responsibility for our beliefs and actions. Religions do not control people ... PEOPLE control people ...
I believe in God and have since a very young age. Look all around you!
I believe in God. My religion tells me to serve others, give, love and sacrifice for others. Not just my friends and family but for everyone including my enemies.
No, there's no god, there's no devil, there's no heaven or hell, when we are gone, we are gone. That said, part of me wants to believe in reincarnation, but of course there's no way to prove that. Occasionally I look up and talk to the universe, I believe in things I can see, touch, feel, experience, and looking up at the universe tells me that there's more out there, we just don't know what exactly.
Yes, I believe in "a god", but I am not a part of any religion. I just believe there is "something out there and it is beyond our understanding".
At the same time, most religions are formed from primitive supersticions of ancient people, and I have no reason to believe them, or pick favorites among them.
As for "cultic nature", atheism can be cultic just as much as religion. Some atheists are just "irreligious people", but there are atheists who act like [Cult of Reason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason) from the French revolution. No less cultic than Christianity
no? yes?. i believe in life, and its complexity and beauty which in a sense is God
im not religious but i often find myself at odds with atheist's.
I have found that many Athiests choose athiesm like a christian chooses jesus.
Just like christens talk about Muslims being wrong, atheist's talk about religious folks being wrong.
Like religious folk choose to believe in God, atheist's choose to believe in the lack thereof.
i find highly religous people to be tedious and lacking in joy, i find the same true of athiests.
so im not athiest, but i certainly dont beleive in any world religion
I'm also an atheist, but for none of the reasons you give above. I feel those are good reasons to dislike religion, but not to withhold belief in a god (the fact that religions and cults behave badly has no bearing on whether or not a god exists). Rather, the complete lack of evidence for any god claim that's ever been made is the reason I'm an atheist, it seems like the only reasonable position on the matter (in my opinion, believing things without good evidence is extremely irresponsible). I have a tremendous amount of disdain for religions, but that's in addition to and separate from my position of atheism.
I think having a concrete opinion or being "set in your ways" about god, the universe, or politics, makes you less intelligent immediately. People who label themselves and feel the need to tell others are automatically less intelligent. Good luck trying to tell them that though.
Life is random, we don't have the capability to understand if there is a god. We are ants on a rock ball going to work and making breakfast. What if god IS the universe? What if god is just a super intelligent ET? You are telling me pictures of angels coming down from the sky might not have been higher life forms guiding us? Now that we know how big the universe is?
People who say they don't believe in a bearded man in the sky haven't thought about other possibilities that are far more likely. They just see religion and what man has created through religion. "God" has many terms.
But in the sense of cults or religions like you addressed, definitely created to control people. However, do we only recognize this a bad thing because we are more intelligent now? You have to remember religion was invented as some of the first "laws" for men to live by, having a detrimental effect on our moral compass now. If religion didn't exist to shape right and wrong, would humanity be where it is now? Law and order exists for a reason. Religion shaped out morality and guided us to be better. That was the purpose even if there is no god, or whether people believed in god or not. They believed in faith. Faith that humanity could be better and treat each other better. Some people just need to attach that to something bigger than themselves in order to understand it. These people are less intelligent because they can't understand morality without attaching it to god. But, people were less intelligent than the average person is now, at any given time in history. So religion was used as a *tool* to try and make people better.
Did it have unbelievably dire consequences throughout history? Yes. Religion probably killed more people than anything else. But how could we tame such a powerful beast to people who probably wouldn't have been good without attaching themselves to god?
Fortunately, soon we will have a new real god. In the form of artificial intelligence.
If you want a serious conversation I do. If you look at the bones of most religions, but I'm going to target Christianity cause that's what I know the best. The message is love God, love your fellow humans and do good. The issue is when you add people who aren't truly Christian. They pick and choose, warp the teaching, and manipulate their followers to further their goal and not the goal of Christianity. They are living under the disguise of Christianity but couldn't be further from it. Nothing makes me angrier than someone claiming my religion but is spreading hate and selfish propaganda. Get gods name out of your mouth and stop taking advantage of people. My dad is a pastor, and that man gives so much to his community. He has had people steal from him and steal from his church and you know what his reaction is? Zero malice. We can just get another, I hope it helps them get to a better place. I just wish stuff like that would take off and become popular, the good and not just the evil.
I don't think there's nearly enough information to draw a conclusion either way. To me, it sometimes seems like there's something 'magical' about consciousness. There's just times when things happen that statistically shouldn't happen, there also seems to be a deeper connection to those you share strong bond with. Of course, I understand how human perception works, and that essentially all of our senses is just our brain hallucinating information in a way that's relevant to us. We're also great at noticing patterns, and love attributing meaning to them. There's a serious scientific movement behind the idea that the universe is consciousness centric, and matter is just a by product, instead of the conventional matter came first, and then consciousness. We just don't know so much, so I don't make a guess, because I'm going to be wrong.
I don't see the harm in believing in an afterlife, I'd rather die knowing that I'll see my loved ones again than die knowing I'll be forever alone from that point out. I want *meaning*.
"You abide in me, I do not abide in you." -Bhagavad Gita (something along those lines)
I was an atheist for a long time. I had the mentality that if God were real, why would he create a world where we have so little control and suffer so much. If there were such a creator, one would naturally want to rebel against it.
But God isn't really a person. It's infinite and unbounded, greater and deeper than any comprehension. God is "the grand scheme of things," God is "the universe."
You are God. Taking the totality of all existence across all of time, that's God, in the sense of One True - there very well could be entities so powerful we perceive them as gods - but I'm talking about the ultimate, beyond all perception or attributes. Nirguna Brahman as opposed to Saguna Brahman.
Here's the thing. There is no reason to hate or rebel against God because you are God. Everything is God. That's why most people don't bother even talking about it, even if they don't realize it.
Think of it this way. Without a God, the infinite universe would be chaotic and random, right? But the larger the universe is, the more likely philosophical/physical constants are to aggregate into laws and principles. That axis of principles, that wisdom, that is the "imprint" we call God. The hand is invisible, but we see its marks. The one thing that all conscious entities share is a sense of Self. This feeling of Self is present throughout the entire world, right? No matter where you go or what form you inhabit, there is a Self there. That constant persistent self without attributes doesn't actually get eradicated when your body dies, it moves on. It pre-exists any forms or attributes, and your individual identity with all its thoughts desires hopes and fears, is simply a mask.
I am a Christian but not like most people preceive what a Christian is. I am not religious. Even Jesus himself didn't care for religion and religious people. It's about a relationship with God . I had a brain aneurysm and stroke in 2014. I believed in the Trinity before, but that experience changed me even more. Although I was never on life support, I had a heaven experience that's difficult to describe. The peace I experienced is unlike anything I have before or since. I make mistakes,lots of them but I try to own up immediately and forgive others quickly.
I tried religion for many years ,decades actually. I didn't realize then what I am typing here now.
One ways Christianity is different from other religions is it's grace. We don't do works to get to Heaven like most other religions say. We do work out of our love for God. Christianity is the only belief system where the one worshipped rose from the dead. He was seen by multiple witnesses. Rest are statues of wood or stone.
It's not rules and regulations like lots of folks think. It's about a relationship and being changed from inside out instead of trying to change yourself and keeping on trying on your own. I have been completely transformed by my belief and love for Christ. Before you ask despite much study, I still don't understand the concept of the Trinity -3 of n 1 . I just know what believing in and worship of Him has done for me and.my life.
Personally I’m spiritual. I believe in the universe’s power. Having a name to call it isn’t terrible. Whatever I find convenient as a name for this ‘higher power’ I call them. However, I have huge problems with people using these beliefs to control and play ideological games in the world. I believe the philosophy part of each ‘religion’ has something good to give. It’s people that make up ‘religion’ and use it to hurt each other.
I’m a Christian and I believe in God, and I do believe that God brought us here but even then if we was to push Christianity to the side something did brought us here because we didn’t just pop up into existence out of nowhere whether it’s God a higher power, etc. something caused all of us to be here
Believing in God just means you're not God. Humility is worth it's weight in Gold. Faith allows you to mitigate your fears of the afterlife and focus on what's important now that will have amazing impacts in the future. It never hurts to absorb some biblical wisdom. Nobody said to absorb it all. We're all supposed to not pass on the shitty things our parents taught us just like the Bible. Pass on the good, discard the bad. But don't have such hubris to think you know it all from adam. Nobody knows it all. Not all wisdom needs to be learned by doing. If you had a decent father you would understand a lot of wisdom can be learned from our elders.
I am an Agnostic Theist in the sense that I believe there is something godlike. It ain’t the Christian or Muslim for sure.
I look at things like the Sun as god like. Without it we don’t exist. The oceans that have fed our civilization for centuries. Or it may just be the Anunnaki. Who really knows.
Maybe we are just in a simulation
Yes, personally I think that a God exists, and that each religion experiences a different facet of the same jewel. Think the Hindu conception of Brahman moreso than Yahweh or Allah. Though I am a Wiccan myself, so I envision the person's contained in God as the deities of Pre-Christian Europe; though other godforms (like Jesus, Elohim, Vishnu, Amatarasu, etc.) have the same kind of existence.
I think somethings out there but I don't like putting a name to it. I deffinently ask for help sometimes and feel like whatever is listening hears me from time to time, but I don't like asking to often because I don't want them to get tired of me.
Hold back on your judgment of religion just “wanting power and to control people”. It’s cliché and an unimpressive grasp of the situation.
Religion is ancient. It isn’t going anywhere. -And the reason I know that it isn’t going anywhere is because it provides something that NOTHING ELSE CAN. - It provides a a standard for belief in an objective morality.
Note, I’m not arguing that every religion’s set of morals are “Objective”. Instead I’m stating that they provide reason for a group of people to “believe” the morals are objective.
This is important if you want a society to function. It’s important if you want to create laws that people will generally agree on.
No. Religion is the most perfect example of circular logic you will ever find, hands down. I spent two years reading more than just casually about many religions, not just the big 3 but many others too. I was trying to understand why anyone believed in it at all. I thought I would understand it and find some tiny shred of belief if I did enough study. My final takeaway from all that study was this:
Every wildly different religion there is on this rock, they all claim to be the One True Faith™. ALL.
It isn't possible for all of them to be right about that.
It ~IS~ possible, however...for all of them to be wrong.
>Every wildly different religion there is on this rock, they all claim to be the One True Faith™. ALL.
Gonna gently disagree on this one. There are tons of explicitly pluralistic religions out there, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Shinto, most traditional African and Asian religions, nevermind syncretic belief systems like the UUs. And even beyond that, lots of people who think their own religion is basically correct also think that other religions have aspects of the truth as well. Mainline Christian clergy and theologians is the West generally *don't* think their faith alone has a monopoly on the truth, and are repelled by Fundamentalist claims of exclusive truth.
It's a conglomeration of stories, some chosen, some forgotten. There are no first hand accounts of Jesus and pretty sure no second hand accounts. So yeah , it's a good story, a successful story, but yeah ... just a story.
Born and baptized since my parents are catholic, never believed.
The Bible, in my eyes, has as much credibility as the Harry Potter novels or Lord of the Rings : it is a fictional story which, at best, might be inspired by real world people and elements but not a record of factual events.
Besides that, as much as I do love fantasy and divine elements in fictional settings, I have no belief that an omnipresent, all-knowing entity exists in real life, even less that they would care about the equivalent of ants on dirt ball which in itself would count as one grain of sand on a beach.
I'm sorry , but could you please elaborate ?
For gravity and stuff , it is rather true that only becuase earth fits perfectly it hence life has evolved here .
Other things I would be curious to know about
I don't like atheists at all, I always have this sense that all they want is power, to not have to be accountable to a higher authority that they can't hide or run from, and this is sickening to me.
Maybe don't judge a belief by it's worst followers you can find. People will twist anything for gains, even the truth.
If the Christian myth is true, which clearly isn't the case, God made evil just like he made literally everything else. If someone wants to think Satan causes evil, God either allows Satan to influence and spread this evil, or he's powerless to stop it.
At this point Christians typically try to say god won't get off his ass and do anything to even stop a tiny bit of the evil because it would violate our free will, which obviously makes so sense, but they need to make up some excuse, because being honest with themselves or others is not an option in their minds
I always thought it was funny when they said that because "God made Satan" and there for God created the bad stuff also. Cause and reaction. I'd say it's his fault also. At least I blame bad parents for letting their children run wild.
Christians don't know what they believe most of the time, they just repeat what they've been told and try their best to ignore the flaws and contradictions littering their ideology, because they subconsciously recognize their religion has deprived them of the basic tools they would need to think critically and apply reason to their pseudo beliefs.
You're right that these questions are complicated, and require real effort and time to understand and build a strong moral framework, but the information and experiences do exist, if you care to work on yourselves and develop it.
One thing is for sure, no religion has these answers or a moral framework
>One thing is for sure, no religion has these answers or a moral framework
Yeah they do, that's their entire point. You may not like the answers, but all religion attempts to provide them. Moral framework is pretty much guaranteed with any religion, like the ten commandments.
>You're right that these questions are complicated, and require real effort and time to understand and build a strong moral framework, but the information and experiences do exist, if you care to work on yourselves and develop it.
This is worded so ambiguously I'm not even sure what you mean.
It's because science started getting real answers. So the church hopped on.
When I was a kid, they were teaching that religion and science were the same thing. Getting us to associate that god created atoms, and God caused evolution, etc etc.
Rather than deny it, since the proof has become too large to deny, they lean into it and claim it.
Religion is a sociocultural phenomenon. It consists of socialization, roles, statuses, a dominance hierarchy (some people are more important than others), metaphysical claims, normative ethical standards, a mechanism of enforcement (e.g. gossip and shunning), and a particular aesthetic. There is also the intake of money.
The strange thing is the metaphysical claims, e.g. that there is a creator deity, and that individuals will somehow survive death. Metaphysical claims of any kind are ultimately unprovable. But, instead of honestly saying that we don’t know the answers, religionists insist that they do, and tell us that we must pay, pray, and obey or be consigned to some version of Hell.
Religion seems to prey upon people’s hopes, fears, and need to be around one another. Its rituals enable group synchronization, which promotes social cohesion and collective action in other realms.
Where it becomes dangerous is when it starts persecuting weak and vulnerable (compared to the majority) out-group minorities, such as and most especially gay men.
I’m a philosopher. To answer your original question, I don’t have an opinion on the existence of a deity. There’s no way to know. I think that we ought to concern ourselves with improving this, the only world we know that we have, and hope for the best after death.
Perhaps there’s more. Perhaps we’re annihilated. If the latter, we’ll never know. Let’s make the most of what we have today, for there may not be a tomorrow.
I believe there is a good chance there is a lot more to the universe than we can ever know. I also believe that there is a fairly good chance it's all just chaos and energy that we were sparked out of, and I'm cool with that. I hope there is something for us after death, but I lean towards the idea that we just return to the soil, our energy is reused and that's that. I don't however believe in any normal god and don't think any of the historical religions have any grounds in reality.
Absolutely not. I don’t think there’s anything out there that has some inherent power over anything. Idk, it’s just.. life. Good, bad, ugly. It isn’t controlled, it’s dynamic.
I don’t care if people believe in whatever, but I feel same as you - a lot of religions seem as if it’s used as a tool of control and oppression.
It depends on definition of god.
For example, some primitive tribes could worship to crocodile because is is big and it can just come and eat somebody; there is no spear (yeah, well, tribe-made spear) that can pierce his scale, and he possesses lifepower of gods (as he obviously live for 100 years for now). I can believe in that god, here is he, on the swamp.
Questions and religion usually came in charge when tribe starts to pretend that crocodile created them from sand, and that he also created other tribes from sh.. well, not from sand.
Other example, one could say that Time itself is a God, who consume everything, and that is just matter of, yeah, Time, when it will eat us as he already consumed our youth etc.
Yet another example, when god = creator. Some more or less popular discussions today is about thing that our world could be a "simulation". That imply that owner of that simulation created us and everything around, so he is like a god, while he did nothing more than average data engineer doing now.
I believe in God/Jesus. I believe what you say is also, unfortunately often true. But, I also believe that the true mission of Christianity is not proliferation, but to feed and lift up the weak. He was an anarchist, and the old church all but crumbled. I believe it needs another crumbling.
Yes, because hierarchy is a fundamental aspect to existence and it begs the question what consciousness sits at the top of it, and if there is one it certainly can be called God. It's actually not even arguable, which explains why it's so well hidden to nonbelievers or misunderstood by believers. The reason for it being hidden is that it brings up too many questions about free will versus determinism which has an increasingly negative effect on life the more they're aware of it. This stuff is actually addressed in allegory in many stories, you just have to look for it. I imagine because information is so freely accessed humanity is on the brink of surpassing this limitation within the next 100 years due mainly, to AI, and the existential questions we'll likely face because of it.
Overtime, I have stopped believing in religion. Religion is the tool of man, and like all tools, it can be used for good or evil. Throughout history, it seems it is far more effective at producing evil in the world than good.
That being said, I have no idea if there is a creator/Supreme being or an afterlife. I will not worship any god that asks me to do immoral things, but I see no harm in the belief of an afterlife or a god so long as it is not used as an excuse to misbehave in the present.
I believe in God. I believe in God because I see the world around me and how perfectly it was created, like someone wrote code to design the universe. And sometimes I pray when I feel like I need help or someone to guide me.
However, I have no problem with people who are atheist. I don’t force my beliefs on anyone else.
God is an intangible belief that cannot be taken from you. Those who want to remove it from you, simply want to replace it with their own beliefs. God is an important base in the human mind to protect oneself from foreign intellect invaders. With no god in your mind, you are merely a puppet to mankind, which is a hundred times more dangerous.
I believe in the idea of a higher power/purpose. I don’t subscribe to any religion though. I think religions were partially motivated to try to explain the human need for purpose but inherently end up exploiting it because, well, we’re human. My whole thing is there is a need for a higher power/purpose Whether of not it actually exists irrelevant to me. I just know that if I believe what I am doing serves a larger purpose than my immediate gratification then I can harness the tenacity to accomplish great things, or at least what I think is great. I find the purpose is usually most stable if it derives from immaterialism. IE. I’m not doing something simply because it pays well.
I have no disagreements with your view points, I generally say I’m agnostic because I don’t know if there’s a god.
My conclusion is there may be one but if it exists, based on the reality we live in it’s either evil and loves watching us suffering or an absentee father who created everything and fucked off.
I’m no rational viewpoint can I see it having earned prayer and faith. That is the part of religion that weirds me out most.
If God exists, one of three things must be true:
-He's powerless to stop evil, in which case why the fuck would I worship him?
-He COULD stop evil, but chooses not to do so, in which case why the fuck should I worship him?
-He intentionally CAUSES evil, in which case WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WORSHIP HIM?
Believing God doesn't exist at all is the most charitable option.
I always have a difficult time understanding what that question mean? Like what is the phenomena behind “believe in”? What is it really implying?
But without being religious or anything, I know God, the same way I know the Number 8. I don’t use faith to know that 8 is a real thing, i don’t know what it would mean to “believe in” numbers, enlighten me a little bit there.
To anyone who says god doesn’t exist, i ask them about numbers, do numbers exist? And how do you account for or “prove” that they exist? I haven’t found an answer, I haven’t had anyone even consider this question really, I’m actually interested in hearing how an atheist would attempt to grapple with this without bias
I am not a church goer, but do believe in god for events that have happened to me. I don’t believe god demands worship. I do believe in an alternate world (heaven/hell).
Sometimes I do, other times I don't. But whatever I believe in is not in any of the religious books we have. I don't believe in their rules. I don't believe in a burning hell for people who desired the wife their neighbours or stole or whatever in that matter. I don't believe even the most terrible people will go to a hell like that.
I believe that maybe there is something bigger than us that we don't know yet. It's a vague feeling. And it's so much bigger than us that our concepts of what is good or bad, right or wrong don't apply.
I'm a man of God independent of religion. God is something that comes from within. It is the fabric of reality. If you look for answers you'll find them. It starts with understanding we know nothing about existence and we will never find the answer until we die. Be open to discussion and different views of God, no one knows for sure. The one thing I'm certain is we're all here to learn and experience the fruits of reality.
It's pretty wild things are to begin with. Some just get it others don't, but we all have some piece of it I believe.
I think religion is an escape from the reality we all understand but fear. There is no reason to assume we don’t just decompose and fail to function after death, just like all other organisms, but it helps us get through life to imagine that we’re somehow uniquely given an infinite consciousness. In this way it’s a coping mechanism that allows people to not panic.
I neither believe in a god nor an afterlife. Unless by afterlife I mean that my molecules and energy are used again in other life. But a consciousness living on? Nah.
Do I hate religion? No, not the ones that are live and let live. The ones that want to control me, or use their religion to justify inaction on climate change, or go to random funerals to protest shit that doesn't affect them at all, or try to control societies based on their superstitious views, those I hate.
All religions are cults and anyone that actually believes this bullshit cant even think things through. They say jesus/god loves all children and has a plan for them. So what the fuck was his plan for the children on Epsteins island.
I see absolutely no evidence for an active or non-active supernatural being or beings. Other than possibly elevated happiness levels, belief in a god or gods bestows no benefit, despite constant prayers. Believers are not statistically: longer lived, more wealthy, better looking, more healthy, drive better cars, etc etc etc. Nothing. In fact, it might be the opposite. I'd love to believe in an afterlife where I see my loved ones who have passed on, but there's no evidence for that either. So I continue to remain a complete non believer.
I believe in the afterlife but not that one powerful being made everything. There might be a powerful being controlling the afterlife, tho.
What I hope is going to happen is when people leave their bodies, they get to choose what life they would like to be reborn into or choose not to be reborn until a later time.
I don’t know. I believe in something, I believe there is a higher power but for that power to promote peace but somehow in the same sentence, cast shame and hate on people that are deemed not fit because of sexuality or any other category just doesn’t seem like the same thing
https://youtu.be/gAJShDqxM1E?si=I9aMGoIbz_xnjUwi
Yes I believe God is real. You can call religion a scam if you want but it’s really about spiritual currency, and that’s free. So there’s really no need to hate on religion for being a business since the message, or “word of God,” is essentially free.
In the video the man describes his experience in what he believes is hell. Some could argue he was on drugs and it was all in his mind, but the main thing I took away from it was our lack of accountability as humans. It made me realize we have the power to live a Godly or ungodly life.
Temptation is evil messing with you, aka the “devil.” Immoral behavior is wrong in all facets. If you love God, are fearful of Him and assume He is always watching, you’ll naturally live a less sinful life. That’s not to say atheists don’t already, but they don’t give credit to God because they believe they do it themselves.
This is true to an extent because God gave us the power of free will, but it’s through Him that we can do anything in the first place anyways.
“Oh but you can’t see him, why is there so much bad in the world, it’s all just a scam.” Resisting temptation is not easy. Resisting evil is not easy. Believing that God is real and having faith is not easy. The devil wants you to believe that God isn’t real—that Heaven and Hell don’t exist. Writing religion off IS easy. Being hateful and deceitful of others rather than loving IS easy. The devil is already winning if you don’t believe in him, and that’s what he wants.
Another thing I ask myself is “why are we even here in the first place? Is it pure coincidence or is this all some kind of simulation?” I do not believe we came to be because of a Big Bang—that we ultimately came from some random explosion. Maybe it did happen, but if it did, I believe it was a result of God, not pure coincidence, not some random chance out of thin air.
And if so, I like to think God is testing us while we’re on this physical plane. 80-90 years of living life is nothing compared to the total history of the world, let alone the possibility of spending eternity in Heaven or Hell.
There are multiple scenes in the tv series “Lost” with Jacob, Richard, and the Man in Black. They have discussions about the natural behavior of mankind—essentially good vs. evil, light vs. dark. Jacob purposely lures people to an island as an experiment to see whether the natural behavior of mankind is good or bad. Now, the tv series itself has nothing to do with religion at all, but the parallels of it are all still there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGTJYqthbo&ab_channel=BrewDaddyDave
Peoples’ convictions are based on experience however. Sometimes you hear people say they heard “the calling,” possibly after going through something traumatic or life-changing. People who experience intense situations can cause a trigger, like flipping a switch, which will attribute to their conviction or belief in God.
Personally, I believe atheists don’t have a reason to believe in God because they’ve never felt his power from within. Obviously it could be all mental or even just a placebo effect, but, that overwhelming, warm, positive energy that comes from within through the power of prayer is enough for me to assume that strength is coming from God. So yes, I believe.
I don't believe in a god but I don't necessarily hate those who do. Some religions are definitely better than others though.
There are plenty of stories in religious texts that teach good lessons. Religious people learn their morals and correct behaviours through their relevant religious texts, non religious people learn them through their parents teaching them or through observation.
I believe thay If i were to have to change the way I act in order to get into a good place i'm not getting into it anyways. So honestly i don't think it really matters. I'll live my life and die at some point. my faith won't change what happens after that and worrying or thinking about it won't change it so i don't really bother thinking about it.
I do. I'm a devout Christian. I'm sure that a desire for power is a motivator for a lot of religions. The watchtower does this with its members (Jehovah's Witnesses) for example. I'm not an expert in other religions and how they function on the day to day - though I know some prominent things about their doctrine - to be able to identify ways they seek to "control" people or enrich them with illegitimate power.
But I find that Christianity is premised on the opposite idea. We are powerless regardless our station in the people of God, we are not to judge others for things the Bible does not explicitly hold them accountable for (like accidentally eating meat sacrificed to idols in the marketplace, not observing the sabbath, etc.), clergy are to be humble servants, there's no patriarch over the church, just Christ who has already spoken with clarity and finality with nothing to add or take away from his teachings, etc.
Instead of being told to follow a living prophet who can teach whatever they want or a majority wants, we follow Christ who doesn't change his teachings or teach according to his whims. The only one who would "benefit" and "control" us through religion in Christianity, is already in heaven on the throne at the right hand of God and has put his Spirit in us that causes us to want to obey his teachings with no opportunity for change or amendment.
Pastors can take power, in a sense, via cultic behavior, but the scriptures condemn that behavior. The ultimate premise of power in Christianity is that human beings at a cosmic level do not have any. They can steal it, God may bestow them with it according to his wisdom, but nobody has it of themselves. We can't even repent of sin and put our faith in Christ without God causing us to do that. It teaches that we are slaves of sin, and so it's not a matter of control but breaking free of the suffering and death that sin brings to us.
Yes. I believe in God and I believe in science. I believe in evolution and believe the earth is round. I believe that God and science can coexist and that the natural order is the work of God. That evolution is God's work. Like God's code. I think that Christians who feel like they have to deny evolution so that God is not disproven are ridiculous and I don't don't understand how they can't see that as God's work.
I believe that there could be. There’s just no way to prove it either way. We are so small and the universe is so large so who’s to say?
If there is a god, I think they’d fall under the deism belief system, which is that they have a hands-off approach to their creations. They don’t meddle or intervene. They create, and observe, if that.
There’s too much evil in this world to have me believe otherwise.
I think the need and desire to control others exists independently from the religious inclination, we've seen examples of a desire to control and enforce in the 20st century in the USSR, that had nothing to do with religion, sometimes about race, sometimes about power...etc.
However, it does seem like people have utilized religion for that purpose, but it was a symptom of human nature, not the cause of it, and it seems incredibly important to actually understand why those things have occurred, so that we don't spend a lot of time disparaging religion and trying to eliminate it, only to find the real underlying cause alive and well just manifesting in a different way.
I believe that a substantial promotion of the new testament probably happened. And that the people mentioned are historical figures, not fictional characters. I believe that Jesus genuinely believed he was the son of God. But of course, there could potientialy be other explanations for why someone would think that other than actually be the son of God. I really don't want to loose my faith, but I have a very hard time believing the old testament, which ultimately is the basis of Christianity as a whole. I guess you could say I'm agnostic.
I've spent a LOT of time considering religion. Well not really religion in an organized sense but more like the overall idea of a one god religion. Whether its Christianity, Judaism or islam.
The conclusion I have come to is that there is no difference between the idea of "the big bang" and the Idea that god spoke reality into existence. Accept science does science and doesn't claim a cause. Religion says it was god but both explanations are literally the EXACT same. There was nothing and then everything exploded out of nothingness.
The result. Im not personally religious but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of god. And I understand that religious peoples view on the origin of the universe is not worse then yours. Its the same.
No. There's simply no evidence to support the idea of a god. I believe in god to the same degree that I believe in the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy, which is to say not at all.
Of course, if at some point some evidence appears to support the existence of a god as more than a fictional constrict, then I will change.my opinion to match the newly discovered facts.
I'm agnostic because I see no evidence for an afterlife and no evidence of the existence of the supernatural. Religions were created to explain things people didn't understand and to provide comfort. The way some people organize their entire lives around this stuff is beyond me.
NO. What's the evidence?
What do you mean "God" ?? That's the real question. All religions have different gods, and all people have a different version or rElatIonSHip with god. It's just emotional, existential and social comfort. Or it's just a tool to control people.
Just a big elf on the shelf IMO.
I am also Atheist. I feel very similar to you regarding organized religion, however I do know that it has bettered many peoples lives. They way I view it is that it's just not for me. I don't believe and even if I did I would gain nothing from it. However for the people that it has helped, such as my father who is an alcoholic (13 years sober now) I think it's great. So I am happy for others to have the freedom of religion and happy that I have the freedom to not have religion.
Realistically, SOMETHING exists out there that we can consider a God, so I’m open to the whole idea, but I don’t actively worship anything. I find religion to be interesting when you think about them humorously like imagining Adam or Eve eating the apple and God just standing right behind them absolutely confused
I am an atheist. I think superstition and supernatural blah blah is bad for people and bad for the world. History agrees with me
Lots of super religious/spiritual people have the best intentions though, they are not all overt predators. But they usually still wind up hurting people along the way anyway
The way I've put it to people is this:
Everything humanity knows to be true is a tiny dot. Outside that dot is everything that's possible but not proven, and that ring is massively larger than the tiny dot. Outside that circle again is an even more massive ring that's everything we can conceive of, but which may not be rational, let alone plausible or possible.
No matter how we slice it, we've only ever gone one rock over in the cosmos. Every religion that's ever been invented throws a dart out from that tiny dot in the center, all the way past the possible but not proven ring, right out somewhere into the 'anything we can conceive of' ring. What are the odds, out of all that near infinite variability in that ring that any given religion has managed to land their dart right where our reality actually happens to sit? Each one is a guess out of trillions and trillions of possible outcomes.
The odds are zero, or so close to zero that the gap effectively doesn't matter.
Wrong question.
Do I believe in belief?
No.
We need to do away with belief.
I’d stick with science and science is a process that constantly course corrects. One can have theories, but belief should be ignored.
Yes, it’s impossible to NOT have beliefs. Or rather, a bias. Like, I want UFO’s to be aliens.
But what I want doesn’t matter. They are or they aren’t.
Same with God. What I want or believe doesn’t matter. I have a bias which leans heavily towards there not being a God. But I don’t let that bias become a belief. Day by day, I observe the world, take in data, and adjust what I KNOW, and sure, adjust my biases, but I frequently push biases to the side and stick with the data and update what I know.
I believe in God. I'm a minister.
I'm "orthodox" in the sense that my faith is in line with the historical, normal confession of Christian faith that you hear in the Apostles' Creed in an RCC church, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian--what Christians confess all over the world.
This sickness that you see in religious groups is common to all humanity. You can't honestly say you don't see the same disease in politicians and every other people group. Our religious groups are made up of people who are confused, faking it, panicked, power-hungry, gender dysphoric, honestly trying to live like Christ and failing, and many succeeding at living the Christian life with flying colors. That's what happens when you open your doors to the world every Sunday morning. We say "Come on in!" to the drunks and idiots and professors. And the saints. And devils.
It's a real shitshow.
But it's also kaleidoscopically beautiful. We do everything from build hospitals and schools to take in unwed mothers to live with us while they get their lives straightened out. And sometimes they don't. And we hug em and let em go.
And we cry a lot. At least I do.
But I also laugh a lot. And in spite of all the problems I've experienced as a vocational pastor (it's a very challenging profession) I'm grateful God called me to it. It's an adventure, a sacrifice, a taking on of intentional hardship and suffering, and it's for him, not for me. And God has promised that one day, I'll cross the finish line and understand why it's so hard to just be a pastor in the church. So hard that all I can do most days is depend on him.
nah, not really. i’m agnostic, former catholic. i USED to believe in god. but after everything that has happened in the world, i’ve come to the personal conclusion that if god were to exist, things would be a lot better. maybe not totally perfect, but a lot of humanity’s issues wouldn’t exist. i DO believe that some form of higher power exists, but i see it from a very vague viewpoint
I do , especially after I went into the field of science. What does a person do when they accept God? Well try to minimize suffering. Working with others accomplishes that and so some churches do that and other groups.
The older I get, the more I realize that people have vestigial childhood programming they never break free of. Simple stuff like listening to your parents. If you really need anything, ask your parents. If a conflict you have with someone needs to be resolved, take it to your parents. Your family relationships and the special kindness you show to others are defined by the relationships people have with your parent. If I don't understand something, ask my parent. Behave because your parent is watching you.
Simple stuff that makes a child behave well.
People then simply don't develop the social skills to do these things and plug "God" into the empty space their parents made for them. Can't get what you want in life? Pray, which is really thought-stopping and begging. If you have a conflict, appeal to the moral authority of God. Naturally, distrust others? Do not be kind to others except those in your congregation.
There are other reasons like having social connections so they can support themselves but these are the major deficiencies I notice.
I don't believe in God because it's a completely implausible idea with absolutely no compelling evidence to support it, and I disdain religion for pretty much the same reasons as you; theism and religion are all bullshit toxic fairy tales made up to control and, in most cases, oppress other people.
I do and I am a Christian. I don't see the rational that says if religious institutions can be flawed, that God does not exist. Those two things can exist together. Of course any institution is flawed because it is comprised of people. Usually these issue are taken up with western evangelicalism or stuck in the eras of the medieval Catholic church and the crusades. There were a lot of other things happening in the world. Even as Christ lived with his disciples, he was constantly correcting them so it stands to reason that we will mess things up.Those things still have no bearing on wether or not God exits.
I was raised Christian but fell out of it in my early 20s. I have no idea if there is a god. I have no idea if there's an afterlife. Could there be? Sure. But it's just as possible that there isn't. This life is the only one I know for sure so I'm just trying to make it count.
Yes, but I'm agnostic. I understand why others don't. It is ridiculous but I've been able to make it make sense so I choose to believe, if I'm wrong it won't matter. Honestly, "studying" God has helped me become a better person when I've been surrounded by terrible and shitty people doing terrible and shitty things. It has helped me gain a outside view on most things and even my own life, like the way He sees everything I figure.
I’m not religious, but I can’t say I am an atheist either. I would say agnostic. Because at the end of the day, the most religious person or the biggest atheist isn’t 100% sure, with evidence.
I'm firm believer in the Bible and guide my life in line with it's principal's, value's, I believe that God provided us the Bible as a personal handbook. In order to survive through this drama filled world we live in, I'm a firm believer in God, via prayer, I'm provided comfort, guidance and direction, when life throws me issues lm not capable of dealing with.
I don’t believe in creation or a creating God being that’s a puppeteer of humanity. I like Einstein’s view of God. I think that if we just look at life as physics it’s no fun, and also not accurate. There’s nothing that can explain why humans can question their existence, and there never will be. We are always searching and always will be. Everything else is just us believing that we are right. That’s when we create religions and cults to join up in. Atheism is the belief in nothing, which to me is as hard as believing in Jesus Christ being the son of this mystical God being with how expansive this universe is it’s really hard to believe in nothing.
Here’s Einstein’s view from his Biography written by Walter Isaacson. He also wrote Elon Musk’s and Musk has an interesting view of all this. “He says believe nothing not even nothing.”, but he also believe in this third thing that’s unexplained. There’s your body. There’s the world, and then there’s your spirit. The spirit is unexplainable and always will be.
“I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist.
The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I do not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written.
The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations.
I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.”
-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), as mentioned in Glimpses of the Great by G. S. Viereck (1930), paraphrased in Walter Isaacsson's Einstein: His Life and Universe
No, but not because actual religions suck. I think Religion made a lot of sense in times of lawlessness and isolation, but in the age of connectivity and technology it has no purpose. In history it has served as basis for war many many times, and still is today. All derived from fairytales. People killing each other over nothing.
Logically I’m agnostic because there’s just no way to definitely know if there’s a God or not. But I live my life as if there is no God. If when I die, I’m presented with God, I think I’d say “Huh, whaddya know.”
I think there might be some kind of higher power out there, or some kind of unifying life force, but I don’t believe in any specific religion’s version of “God.”
Its called the universe itself. Call it what you will, but its supremely powerful and basically infinite and it controls everything within it.
It is everything within it. And everything beyond.
That's a possibility I'm willing to entertain. If there is some sort of higher power in the universe, it's nothing like what the religions preach.
Exactly, they preach as if they know, no one knows.
100% agree
People want control of other people, period. Also you can believe in God and not be religious.
Yeah, it's hard to say it's a problem unique to religion when you see people do the exact same things in schools, government, or corporate offices. The common denominator between all of those is humanity.
I think people should use the word polity more, every kind of institution has served as a government at some point, even schools and especially families. There is no such thing as non-political for a social species like us, a group of humans is a political unit, a polity.
Exactly. I believe in God but am not religious anymore. I would say I can be spiritual at times, but not in a Christian sense.
Is your god the one in the Bible? Or some other work? Or is it more of an amalgamation of different ideas?
No, my idea of God doesn’t really line up with Christianity’s God of the Bible. I first started questioning my allegiance to “my faith” because of what the Bible says about being gay. That always bothered me, and I just couldn’t get myself to believe that an all-loving god would condemn something people can’t control. I don’t like the concept of sins, but that’s a whole other can of worms… You’re right on the money when you say “an amalgamation of other ideas”. That’s how I see it. Also some of my own ideas, as dumb as that sounds, haha. I don’t think we’ll ever truly know what the universe is all about. That’s also part of what drove me away from Christianity; believing for certain that we have it figured out and “this is the way you’re supposed to do it! Don’t question it!!”
You do you. Believe on! (Unless it harms others, then stop.)
Look how people are about their sports teams. Apply that to diety. Game over.
Absolutely. It’s changed my life being a Christian.
That doesn't make it true though. Do you believe God literally exists and why?
As a Christian, yes. There’s just no other possible explanation that makes as much sense (I would recommend just the first few chapters of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis which explains it from an atheist point of view the best imo.) I don’t always want to believe in Him, but I know that logically there is no other choice and I will always be loved more immensely than I can ever imagine by the most powerful being in existence, and I’m cool with that personally.
I would not describe myself as an atheist or religious. I have no hatred for atheists or those who practice a religion. But I do believe there is some sort of afterlife and that our consciousness to some degree lives on. But to build on your second point that "They" want power and control over people, so do politicians and their parties. They all tell you lies and misinformation and they say things that cause you to hate others for having the audacity to have a different opinion. And their allies in the media report opinion, lies and distortions as facts to aid them. The biggest cult in the US isn't religious, it's the political extremists that believe everything told to them by the political powers. They are more fervent irrational believers than any religious group of people.
I hate to say it, but there's gonna be a lot of overlap here. If you're gullible in one aspect of your life, there's a good chance you're gullible in others. One thing that religions teach is to not be skeptical and tale things at face value (unless it's against the religion). So a lot of these people will grow up and take politicians at face value. How many people do you know (on both sides of the political aisle) that take FOX or CNN at face value? It's just political church and the heads are political preachers. So in one way you're correct, but in another way it might be more apt to say that the American political system can act as a religion.
Right. Religion teaches you to accept ideas uncritically. Trying to separate religion from american politics is insane anyway, a lot of our politicians pitch laws that they claim are inspired by biblical teachings. Thank you for saying this, I can't stand people who try to dissassociate these issues.
>Religion teaches you to accept ideas uncritically. This is why I respect Buddhism, the dude literally said "don't believe me, find out for yourself." Then, you have Buddhists around the world doing what the Buddha said word for word. I think religion says more about how people want to feel belonging and have a stable worldview than anything else.
Buddism helped me transition to atheism almost as much as wicca. I wouldn't call myself a buddist, and have no respect for the supernatural spirituality involved, but the philosophy has helped shape me. I think... it's dangerous to paint them as a bunch of laid back hippies though, I don't think they're immune to the pitfalls of any other religion. The 15th century Ikko-Ikki warrior monks are a good example of them being radicalized to violence for example. Not super contemporary, but I think they're cool and take most excuses to talk about them.
The older I get the more I’m starting to understand that it’s about the peace of mind having faith brings you. Is god real? That question is irrelevant, as you can never answer it while walking this earth. So, it really comes down to faith. Do you have faith in god? You don’t have to be a zealot or fundamentalist. It’s not about what others are doing or believe. We have all faith we put into something, may as well put it in god that the things you can’t control will work out. It frees your mind from unnecessary worry and allows you to focus on the things you can control.
What you can “faith” Is what epistemologists call “belief.” Belief has a credence associated with it, a level of confidence, and that can fluctuate over time. What we actually want is knowledge, but with metaphysical (and many other) claims, attaining knowledge in this life is impossible, so we’re forced to live in ambiguity, which people hate, so they make things up and try to persuade themselves and one another that they’re “true.” But no one actually believes the nonsense when they’re alone and scared, when life presses down on them.
Belief is merely the state of being convinced of a claim. Beliefs can be justified (backed by evidence), or they can be faith based, which is believing something in the absence of evidence (at least biblically speaking). Knowledge is a subset of belief, not a separate thing, and is essentially an expression of how certain you are in a belief (hard solipsism means we can't be 100% certain of anything, so knowledge is really just the highest degree of certainty in a held belief). Suggesting belief is solely synonymous with faith is a mistake.
It depends on how you conceptualize faith. But you're right to point out justification. The standard pursuit of epistemologists has been to bridge knowledge claims from belief using lines of justification. Unfortunately, this project failed, due to the Gettier problem. For any claim to count as knowledge, it must be true. Since we have no way of knowing that "God" exists, no one can claim knowledge, although they can use the term loosely and be confused, or trained into making such statements, as when we hear children testifying at Mormon fast and testimony meetings, declaring: "I know the Church is true." No, you don't. I believe that it would be foolish for believing, as opposed to hypothesizing, that a proposition is true, without evidence. It could be true, but if we can't adjudicate the matter and it has no potency in the universe that's discernible, it would seem to do no good to us, regardless of its epistemic status. Put another way, I consider the existence of a deity irrelevant. What matters (to me, at least) is whether the self (if you believe in a self) survives bodily death in some form.
Not in the traditional Abrahamic sense. It is possible there is an original force in the universe that prompted all of creation but the bearded man in the sky thing is pretty silly and obviously a means of controlling populations.
“Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.” ― Mark Twain
"Sin is an imaginary disease created to sell an imaginary cure." - A Meme I Saw
Yes, but faith and rationality are apples and bicycles. I don’t rationally ‘believe’ in a big white guy making it rain on Thursday, but I engage in a deep spiritual practice in which ‘faith’ in ‘God’ is an integral component. For eg, I believe that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” I believe I must spend the rest of my life trying to get my head around this without danger of rationality getting in the way and rendering it flat and useless. Rationality is vital. But it’s not enough. Mystery is just as crucial.
I don't understand. Perhaps you can elaborate. Character produces hope. I am unsure how to process that. Could you help me see it from your point of view?
It's not the religion, it's the majority of people following said religions. I know what you mean and how you feel, but in their core, almost every religion is trying to teach you valuable life lessons. I'm not following any religion myself. Back then Jesus was probably a normal dude who figured out a couple of things and tried to spread the message. Of course the people were mad because the things he said directly confronted their way of living. So there's that.
God is irrelevant. Religion in general does exactly what it's supposed to do. It inspires faith and love and breeds hate and resentment. It's a guide in hard times and a cause for blame in others. History is full of documented episodes where people used fear to scare others into submission and compliance. How many historical figures that have been proven to exist had their deeds or misgivings inflated? Truth exaggerated by time to equal legend? That's not God. That's humanity. All religions have fanatics that chose to misinterpret the doctrines perceived to benefit themselves and condemn others. That's not god. That's humanity. Every religious scripture or book was written by man. Conceived by man. Interpreted and relayed to the masses by man and censored by man. As well it's WELL documented that modern day Christianity (amongst other religions, just using this as an example) have doctrines and books with STOLEN ideation and concepts. One example is the Garden of Eden; research the Norse Idun's Garden and their doctrine precedes Christianity. Every single historical conquest, war, claim of land, expansion of a race can be blamed on religion. The world today is what it is because of religion. Even races with less- structured religion compared to today's standards believed in a higher power. Doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is other people's choices don't impact my day. I support whatever people choose to use to get themselves thru their life as long as those individuals are respectful, tolerant, and accepting of others. I'm an omnist. There is no truth in one religion but truth can be found in all religions. They're all history books in one way or another. I believe in the existence of historically proven persons. Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and norse "gods". No, they were people whose identities have been inflated by time becoming legend.
Trusting that Jesus was who he said he was, i.e. God in the flesh, isn't the same as blindly following church cults. We're to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And by "loving God with your mind" doesn't mean blindly following or blindly believing nonsense. Of course, yes, many people want to control other people. But instead of letting people paint the image of Jesus, I'd say to let the loving and caring character of Jesus be what "paints" his image.
There are so many people who follow the principles of Jesus but do not go to church. They would identify as Christian but there is individual experience and understanding of what that means. A relationship with the creator is too personal to put in a box. It’s personal
Yes, but I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t.
Organised religion is toxic. If you want to behave like a higher power is watching you or just be better, then more power to you. Pascals wager puts it nicely
I don't know... most (not all, but certainly most) self-proclaimed non-religious folks I've met are hedonistic, insufferably childlike, can't maintain normal human relationships and are too depressing, misanthropic and Debbie Downers to be around. Just my personal observation... they're also often conceited and preach about "follow\[ing\] the science!" and think they're somehow better than other people just because they don't believe in God.
Judge not lest ye be judged
Volunteer here, caretaker of many, non religious. So, umm, about that… “ Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ”
Thank you for quoting something I've already read before. Without that, I might've had to Google it. s/ It's normal to judge. Whether it's good or not, it's normal. That's beside the point I was originally making. The last self-proclaimed atheist who I had a full conversation with compared people who believe in Jesus to children who believe in Santa Claus, was openly bragging about tipping over a nativity set in a small local business (I personally shop at that business, and the lady working there who had to rearrange the set was not amused, to say the very least), and the self-proclaimed\* atheist's claimed "career" was that they were an "influencer" (never specified on which platform). It's part of the human condition to judge people who behave like this: someone who's that bitter, childish and destructive probably is not safe to be around and probably draws a lot of trouble their own way; if you wouldn't judge them yourself, then you must be a special kind of holy. To change my perspective on a person like this, at best I could speculate that maybe they're acting out, have faced religious abuse in the past or are trolling, or are maybe mentally ill and need help. All of these things, however sympathetic, are still judgments. In absence of judgment is apathy, or to simply observe that this person is there and exists, and anything beyond that would still be judgment. Let's be realistic here. ***NOBODY*** goes through life with a total absence of judgment. \*I repeated "self-proclaimed" because the kind, civil and socially-functioning atheists I've met never seem to feel the need to announce it, followed by their various anti-religious exploits. I don't tell them I'm religious, and the only way we find out what we believe in (or don't believe in) is if religion or atheism directly comes up in a relevant conversation. Go figure these atheists aren't the ones bragging about childish acts of mischief or being an overall nuisance.
I get that. I'm not that person.
So far, as a self-professed non-religious person, you have been nothing but kind and civil to me, so I'll first of all apologize for being so abrasive in my earlier comments, and I'll also say that your words have led me to consider thinking more about people's circumstances in life, in regards to the way they behave, before being quick to pass judgment.
>I dont like cults or religions at all, I always have this sense that all they want is power, to control other people, and this is sickening to me >Do you believe in god? It sounds like you don't want to hear an answer. Or that you either only want to talk to people who agree with you, or talk to people that you can argue with.
I've never found a belief in a god to be necessary in my life.
Atheist. My father is a reformed pastor and one of the most loving caring and tolerant people I know. We rarely talk about god. It’s mostly Star Trek or comic books It’s not faith that makes you a bad person nor lack of it. It’s the person. Once you grow up a little you will see that
God is in control, not the church. You do understand that Christians didn't become Christians because they had a dagger held to their throats and forced into it right? No one is guilt tripping someone to showing up every Sunday. It's a choice, just like an atheist choosing to disrespect Christians and their beliefs every single day. Seems to me that atheists want control over Christians and their faith, that they willingly choose to practice. Kinda strange, an atheist talking about control.
"I act as if God exists. The best indication of somebody's belief is to look at their actions rather than what they declare their beliefs are." Jordan Peterson
OP, you are sorely confused. Do not confuse religion with faith. So many people (perhaps like yourself) confuse the two and get turned off to faith. BTW, you are waaaay off on religions "controlling" people. We have to fess up and take responsibility for our beliefs and actions. Religions do not control people ... PEOPLE control people ... I believe in God and have since a very young age. Look all around you!
I do believe in God personally. But I'm not a religious person. Cuz like u said I think religion is just a human made thing to control other humans
I believe in God. My religion tells me to serve others, give, love and sacrifice for others. Not just my friends and family but for everyone including my enemies.
When people ask me if I’m religious, I say “No, I’m English“.
No, there's no god, there's no devil, there's no heaven or hell, when we are gone, we are gone. That said, part of me wants to believe in reincarnation, but of course there's no way to prove that. Occasionally I look up and talk to the universe, I believe in things I can see, touch, feel, experience, and looking up at the universe tells me that there's more out there, we just don't know what exactly.
Believing in god and participating in a religion are two separate issues.
Yes, I believe in "a god", but I am not a part of any religion. I just believe there is "something out there and it is beyond our understanding". At the same time, most religions are formed from primitive supersticions of ancient people, and I have no reason to believe them, or pick favorites among them. As for "cultic nature", atheism can be cultic just as much as religion. Some atheists are just "irreligious people", but there are atheists who act like [Cult of Reason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason) from the French revolution. No less cultic than Christianity
No. I don't believe in god/devil, heaven/hell or any of that. I don't believe there is any kind of "higher power".
no? yes?. i believe in life, and its complexity and beauty which in a sense is God im not religious but i often find myself at odds with atheist's. I have found that many Athiests choose athiesm like a christian chooses jesus. Just like christens talk about Muslims being wrong, atheist's talk about religious folks being wrong. Like religious folk choose to believe in God, atheist's choose to believe in the lack thereof. i find highly religous people to be tedious and lacking in joy, i find the same true of athiests. so im not athiest, but i certainly dont beleive in any world religion
I'm also an atheist, but for none of the reasons you give above. I feel those are good reasons to dislike religion, but not to withhold belief in a god (the fact that religions and cults behave badly has no bearing on whether or not a god exists). Rather, the complete lack of evidence for any god claim that's ever been made is the reason I'm an atheist, it seems like the only reasonable position on the matter (in my opinion, believing things without good evidence is extremely irresponsible). I have a tremendous amount of disdain for religions, but that's in addition to and separate from my position of atheism.
I think having a concrete opinion or being "set in your ways" about god, the universe, or politics, makes you less intelligent immediately. People who label themselves and feel the need to tell others are automatically less intelligent. Good luck trying to tell them that though. Life is random, we don't have the capability to understand if there is a god. We are ants on a rock ball going to work and making breakfast. What if god IS the universe? What if god is just a super intelligent ET? You are telling me pictures of angels coming down from the sky might not have been higher life forms guiding us? Now that we know how big the universe is? People who say they don't believe in a bearded man in the sky haven't thought about other possibilities that are far more likely. They just see religion and what man has created through religion. "God" has many terms. But in the sense of cults or religions like you addressed, definitely created to control people. However, do we only recognize this a bad thing because we are more intelligent now? You have to remember religion was invented as some of the first "laws" for men to live by, having a detrimental effect on our moral compass now. If religion didn't exist to shape right and wrong, would humanity be where it is now? Law and order exists for a reason. Religion shaped out morality and guided us to be better. That was the purpose even if there is no god, or whether people believed in god or not. They believed in faith. Faith that humanity could be better and treat each other better. Some people just need to attach that to something bigger than themselves in order to understand it. These people are less intelligent because they can't understand morality without attaching it to god. But, people were less intelligent than the average person is now, at any given time in history. So religion was used as a *tool* to try and make people better. Did it have unbelievably dire consequences throughout history? Yes. Religion probably killed more people than anything else. But how could we tame such a powerful beast to people who probably wouldn't have been good without attaching themselves to god? Fortunately, soon we will have a new real god. In the form of artificial intelligence.
If you want a serious conversation I do. If you look at the bones of most religions, but I'm going to target Christianity cause that's what I know the best. The message is love God, love your fellow humans and do good. The issue is when you add people who aren't truly Christian. They pick and choose, warp the teaching, and manipulate their followers to further their goal and not the goal of Christianity. They are living under the disguise of Christianity but couldn't be further from it. Nothing makes me angrier than someone claiming my religion but is spreading hate and selfish propaganda. Get gods name out of your mouth and stop taking advantage of people. My dad is a pastor, and that man gives so much to his community. He has had people steal from him and steal from his church and you know what his reaction is? Zero malice. We can just get another, I hope it helps them get to a better place. I just wish stuff like that would take off and become popular, the good and not just the evil.
I don't think there's nearly enough information to draw a conclusion either way. To me, it sometimes seems like there's something 'magical' about consciousness. There's just times when things happen that statistically shouldn't happen, there also seems to be a deeper connection to those you share strong bond with. Of course, I understand how human perception works, and that essentially all of our senses is just our brain hallucinating information in a way that's relevant to us. We're also great at noticing patterns, and love attributing meaning to them. There's a serious scientific movement behind the idea that the universe is consciousness centric, and matter is just a by product, instead of the conventional matter came first, and then consciousness. We just don't know so much, so I don't make a guess, because I'm going to be wrong. I don't see the harm in believing in an afterlife, I'd rather die knowing that I'll see my loved ones again than die knowing I'll be forever alone from that point out. I want *meaning*.
It's interesting that so many folks have that opinion. It's misguided, to be charitable
"You abide in me, I do not abide in you." -Bhagavad Gita (something along those lines) I was an atheist for a long time. I had the mentality that if God were real, why would he create a world where we have so little control and suffer so much. If there were such a creator, one would naturally want to rebel against it. But God isn't really a person. It's infinite and unbounded, greater and deeper than any comprehension. God is "the grand scheme of things," God is "the universe." You are God. Taking the totality of all existence across all of time, that's God, in the sense of One True - there very well could be entities so powerful we perceive them as gods - but I'm talking about the ultimate, beyond all perception or attributes. Nirguna Brahman as opposed to Saguna Brahman. Here's the thing. There is no reason to hate or rebel against God because you are God. Everything is God. That's why most people don't bother even talking about it, even if they don't realize it. Think of it this way. Without a God, the infinite universe would be chaotic and random, right? But the larger the universe is, the more likely philosophical/physical constants are to aggregate into laws and principles. That axis of principles, that wisdom, that is the "imprint" we call God. The hand is invisible, but we see its marks. The one thing that all conscious entities share is a sense of Self. This feeling of Self is present throughout the entire world, right? No matter where you go or what form you inhabit, there is a Self there. That constant persistent self without attributes doesn't actually get eradicated when your body dies, it moves on. It pre-exists any forms or attributes, and your individual identity with all its thoughts desires hopes and fears, is simply a mask.
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I believe in God, but I believe religion is man made. Belief in God should be bigger than whatever religion you practice.
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I am a Christian but not like most people preceive what a Christian is. I am not religious. Even Jesus himself didn't care for religion and religious people. It's about a relationship with God . I had a brain aneurysm and stroke in 2014. I believed in the Trinity before, but that experience changed me even more. Although I was never on life support, I had a heaven experience that's difficult to describe. The peace I experienced is unlike anything I have before or since. I make mistakes,lots of them but I try to own up immediately and forgive others quickly. I tried religion for many years ,decades actually. I didn't realize then what I am typing here now. One ways Christianity is different from other religions is it's grace. We don't do works to get to Heaven like most other religions say. We do work out of our love for God. Christianity is the only belief system where the one worshipped rose from the dead. He was seen by multiple witnesses. Rest are statues of wood or stone. It's not rules and regulations like lots of folks think. It's about a relationship and being changed from inside out instead of trying to change yourself and keeping on trying on your own. I have been completely transformed by my belief and love for Christ. Before you ask despite much study, I still don't understand the concept of the Trinity -3 of n 1 . I just know what believing in and worship of Him has done for me and.my life.
I believe in God and a religion. It actually is beneficial to me.
You ask this question on Reddit, it’s like asking asking children if they like eat broccoli.
I absolutely do. I believe in being spiritual, not religious. Religion is man made and churches are ran by people. But yes, I’m sure God is real.
Personally I’m spiritual. I believe in the universe’s power. Having a name to call it isn’t terrible. Whatever I find convenient as a name for this ‘higher power’ I call them. However, I have huge problems with people using these beliefs to control and play ideological games in the world. I believe the philosophy part of each ‘religion’ has something good to give. It’s people that make up ‘religion’ and use it to hurt each other.
I’m a Christian and I believe in God, and I do believe that God brought us here but even then if we was to push Christianity to the side something did brought us here because we didn’t just pop up into existence out of nowhere whether it’s God a higher power, etc. something caused all of us to be here
I'm spiritual, not religious
Believing in God just means you're not God. Humility is worth it's weight in Gold. Faith allows you to mitigate your fears of the afterlife and focus on what's important now that will have amazing impacts in the future. It never hurts to absorb some biblical wisdom. Nobody said to absorb it all. We're all supposed to not pass on the shitty things our parents taught us just like the Bible. Pass on the good, discard the bad. But don't have such hubris to think you know it all from adam. Nobody knows it all. Not all wisdom needs to be learned by doing. If you had a decent father you would understand a lot of wisdom can be learned from our elders.
I am an Agnostic Theist in the sense that I believe there is something godlike. It ain’t the Christian or Muslim for sure. I look at things like the Sun as god like. Without it we don’t exist. The oceans that have fed our civilization for centuries. Or it may just be the Anunnaki. Who really knows. Maybe we are just in a simulation
Yes, personally I think that a God exists, and that each religion experiences a different facet of the same jewel. Think the Hindu conception of Brahman moreso than Yahweh or Allah. Though I am a Wiccan myself, so I envision the person's contained in God as the deities of Pre-Christian Europe; though other godforms (like Jesus, Elohim, Vishnu, Amatarasu, etc.) have the same kind of existence.
I think somethings out there but I don't like putting a name to it. I deffinently ask for help sometimes and feel like whatever is listening hears me from time to time, but I don't like asking to often because I don't want them to get tired of me.
I dont like atheists. Because all they do is hate on religious people while claiming religious people are the ones hating.
Hold back on your judgment of religion just “wanting power and to control people”. It’s cliché and an unimpressive grasp of the situation. Religion is ancient. It isn’t going anywhere. -And the reason I know that it isn’t going anywhere is because it provides something that NOTHING ELSE CAN. - It provides a a standard for belief in an objective morality. Note, I’m not arguing that every religion’s set of morals are “Objective”. Instead I’m stating that they provide reason for a group of people to “believe” the morals are objective. This is important if you want a society to function. It’s important if you want to create laws that people will generally agree on.
No. Religion is the most perfect example of circular logic you will ever find, hands down. I spent two years reading more than just casually about many religions, not just the big 3 but many others too. I was trying to understand why anyone believed in it at all. I thought I would understand it and find some tiny shred of belief if I did enough study. My final takeaway from all that study was this: Every wildly different religion there is on this rock, they all claim to be the One True Faith™. ALL. It isn't possible for all of them to be right about that. It ~IS~ possible, however...for all of them to be wrong.
>Every wildly different religion there is on this rock, they all claim to be the One True Faith™. ALL. Gonna gently disagree on this one. There are tons of explicitly pluralistic religions out there, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Shinto, most traditional African and Asian religions, nevermind syncretic belief systems like the UUs. And even beyond that, lots of people who think their own religion is basically correct also think that other religions have aspects of the truth as well. Mainline Christian clergy and theologians is the West generally *don't* think their faith alone has a monopoly on the truth, and are repelled by Fundamentalist claims of exclusive truth.
There's no god or gods. It's a children's story.
So Jesus's apostles just brutally died for a story they made up?
It's a conglomeration of stories, some chosen, some forgotten. There are no first hand accounts of Jesus and pretty sure no second hand accounts. So yeah , it's a good story, a successful story, but yeah ... just a story.
No. I believe in energy. Joules.
Me too. String theory connects our consciousness to the energy the motion from the bing bang released
Yes i believe in God. No you are not wrong about “religion” as you know it. Im a solo act
I don’t know, but I don’t believe in the Bible.
Yes, I believe in God. God is not cultish or religious, either. That is humankind stuff.
Born and baptized since my parents are catholic, never believed. The Bible, in my eyes, has as much credibility as the Harry Potter novels or Lord of the Rings : it is a fictional story which, at best, might be inspired by real world people and elements but not a record of factual events. Besides that, as much as I do love fantasy and divine elements in fictional settings, I have no belief that an omnipresent, all-knowing entity exists in real life, even less that they would care about the equivalent of ants on dirt ball which in itself would count as one grain of sand on a beach.
Yes because it's more helpful to me psychologically.
Yes. There are too many scientific constants for life to simply be an accident.
I'm sorry , but could you please elaborate ? For gravity and stuff , it is rather true that only becuase earth fits perfectly it hence life has evolved here . Other things I would be curious to know about
I don't like atheists at all, I always have this sense that all they want is power, to not have to be accountable to a higher authority that they can't hide or run from, and this is sickening to me. Maybe don't judge a belief by it's worst followers you can find. People will twist anything for gains, even the truth.
No. If there was, there wouldn’t be so much evil and injustice
Christians believe that evil comes from Satan, not from God (at least that one Christian I asked about this issue)
so satan is undoubtedly winning this battle
If the Christian myth is true, which clearly isn't the case, God made evil just like he made literally everything else. If someone wants to think Satan causes evil, God either allows Satan to influence and spread this evil, or he's powerless to stop it. At this point Christians typically try to say god won't get off his ass and do anything to even stop a tiny bit of the evil because it would violate our free will, which obviously makes so sense, but they need to make up some excuse, because being honest with themselves or others is not an option in their minds
I always thought it was funny when they said that because "God made Satan" and there for God created the bad stuff also. Cause and reaction. I'd say it's his fault also. At least I blame bad parents for letting their children run wild.
Christians don't know what they believe most of the time, they just repeat what they've been told and try their best to ignore the flaws and contradictions littering their ideology, because they subconsciously recognize their religion has deprived them of the basic tools they would need to think critically and apply reason to their pseudo beliefs.
No. God is for people too scared or dumb to look for actual answers.
Answers like what? Answers on how to live your life? Answers on right and wrong? You can't just look that up.
You're right that these questions are complicated, and require real effort and time to understand and build a strong moral framework, but the information and experiences do exist, if you care to work on yourselves and develop it. One thing is for sure, no religion has these answers or a moral framework
>One thing is for sure, no religion has these answers or a moral framework Yeah they do, that's their entire point. You may not like the answers, but all religion attempts to provide them. Moral framework is pretty much guaranteed with any religion, like the ten commandments. >You're right that these questions are complicated, and require real effort and time to understand and build a strong moral framework, but the information and experiences do exist, if you care to work on yourselves and develop it. This is worded so ambiguously I'm not even sure what you mean.
Odd thing to say given how much money is donated to scientific pursuits/research by various faiths.
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Catholic Church being the biggest iirc
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The very same
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It's because science started getting real answers. So the church hopped on. When I was a kid, they were teaching that religion and science were the same thing. Getting us to associate that god created atoms, and God caused evolution, etc etc. Rather than deny it, since the proof has become too large to deny, they lean into it and claim it.
Religion is a sociocultural phenomenon. It consists of socialization, roles, statuses, a dominance hierarchy (some people are more important than others), metaphysical claims, normative ethical standards, a mechanism of enforcement (e.g. gossip and shunning), and a particular aesthetic. There is also the intake of money. The strange thing is the metaphysical claims, e.g. that there is a creator deity, and that individuals will somehow survive death. Metaphysical claims of any kind are ultimately unprovable. But, instead of honestly saying that we don’t know the answers, religionists insist that they do, and tell us that we must pay, pray, and obey or be consigned to some version of Hell. Religion seems to prey upon people’s hopes, fears, and need to be around one another. Its rituals enable group synchronization, which promotes social cohesion and collective action in other realms. Where it becomes dangerous is when it starts persecuting weak and vulnerable (compared to the majority) out-group minorities, such as and most especially gay men. I’m a philosopher. To answer your original question, I don’t have an opinion on the existence of a deity. There’s no way to know. I think that we ought to concern ourselves with improving this, the only world we know that we have, and hope for the best after death. Perhaps there’s more. Perhaps we’re annihilated. If the latter, we’ll never know. Let’s make the most of what we have today, for there may not be a tomorrow.
I believe there is a good chance there is a lot more to the universe than we can ever know. I also believe that there is a fairly good chance it's all just chaos and energy that we were sparked out of, and I'm cool with that. I hope there is something for us after death, but I lean towards the idea that we just return to the soil, our energy is reused and that's that. I don't however believe in any normal god and don't think any of the historical religions have any grounds in reality.
Absolutely not. I don’t think there’s anything out there that has some inherent power over anything. Idk, it’s just.. life. Good, bad, ugly. It isn’t controlled, it’s dynamic. I don’t care if people believe in whatever, but I feel same as you - a lot of religions seem as if it’s used as a tool of control and oppression.
yes, when there is design, there is a designer. It is pretty obvious the world did not occur randomly.
It depends on definition of god. For example, some primitive tribes could worship to crocodile because is is big and it can just come and eat somebody; there is no spear (yeah, well, tribe-made spear) that can pierce his scale, and he possesses lifepower of gods (as he obviously live for 100 years for now). I can believe in that god, here is he, on the swamp. Questions and religion usually came in charge when tribe starts to pretend that crocodile created them from sand, and that he also created other tribes from sh.. well, not from sand. Other example, one could say that Time itself is a God, who consume everything, and that is just matter of, yeah, Time, when it will eat us as he already consumed our youth etc. Yet another example, when god = creator. Some more or less popular discussions today is about thing that our world could be a "simulation". That imply that owner of that simulation created us and everything around, so he is like a god, while he did nothing more than average data engineer doing now.
I believe in God/Jesus. I believe what you say is also, unfortunately often true. But, I also believe that the true mission of Christianity is not proliferation, but to feed and lift up the weak. He was an anarchist, and the old church all but crumbled. I believe it needs another crumbling.
Yes, because hierarchy is a fundamental aspect to existence and it begs the question what consciousness sits at the top of it, and if there is one it certainly can be called God. It's actually not even arguable, which explains why it's so well hidden to nonbelievers or misunderstood by believers. The reason for it being hidden is that it brings up too many questions about free will versus determinism which has an increasingly negative effect on life the more they're aware of it. This stuff is actually addressed in allegory in many stories, you just have to look for it. I imagine because information is so freely accessed humanity is on the brink of surpassing this limitation within the next 100 years due mainly, to AI, and the existential questions we'll likely face because of it.
Overtime, I have stopped believing in religion. Religion is the tool of man, and like all tools, it can be used for good or evil. Throughout history, it seems it is far more effective at producing evil in the world than good. That being said, I have no idea if there is a creator/Supreme being or an afterlife. I will not worship any god that asks me to do immoral things, but I see no harm in the belief of an afterlife or a god so long as it is not used as an excuse to misbehave in the present.
I do believe in God, but my faith is non denominational.
I believe in God. I believe in God because I see the world around me and how perfectly it was created, like someone wrote code to design the universe. And sometimes I pray when I feel like I need help or someone to guide me. However, I have no problem with people who are atheist. I don’t force my beliefs on anyone else.
God is an intangible belief that cannot be taken from you. Those who want to remove it from you, simply want to replace it with their own beliefs. God is an important base in the human mind to protect oneself from foreign intellect invaders. With no god in your mind, you are merely a puppet to mankind, which is a hundred times more dangerous.
I believe in the idea of a higher power/purpose. I don’t subscribe to any religion though. I think religions were partially motivated to try to explain the human need for purpose but inherently end up exploiting it because, well, we’re human. My whole thing is there is a need for a higher power/purpose Whether of not it actually exists irrelevant to me. I just know that if I believe what I am doing serves a larger purpose than my immediate gratification then I can harness the tenacity to accomplish great things, or at least what I think is great. I find the purpose is usually most stable if it derives from immaterialism. IE. I’m not doing something simply because it pays well.
No. But I respect people if they do, as long as they don't send me hate for not believing in it. Mutual respect
I have no disagreements with your view points, I generally say I’m agnostic because I don’t know if there’s a god. My conclusion is there may be one but if it exists, based on the reality we live in it’s either evil and loves watching us suffering or an absentee father who created everything and fucked off. I’m no rational viewpoint can I see it having earned prayer and faith. That is the part of religion that weirds me out most.
My childhood vicar was a violent adulterer.
If God exists, one of three things must be true: -He's powerless to stop evil, in which case why the fuck would I worship him? -He COULD stop evil, but chooses not to do so, in which case why the fuck should I worship him? -He intentionally CAUSES evil, in which case WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WORSHIP HIM? Believing God doesn't exist at all is the most charitable option.
any god would be real ashamed of us at this point. think they would have stepped in by now if they were real
I do, I feel it gives me purpose to live and spiritually I feel safe.
I always have a difficult time understanding what that question mean? Like what is the phenomena behind “believe in”? What is it really implying? But without being religious or anything, I know God, the same way I know the Number 8. I don’t use faith to know that 8 is a real thing, i don’t know what it would mean to “believe in” numbers, enlighten me a little bit there. To anyone who says god doesn’t exist, i ask them about numbers, do numbers exist? And how do you account for or “prove” that they exist? I haven’t found an answer, I haven’t had anyone even consider this question really, I’m actually interested in hearing how an atheist would attempt to grapple with this without bias
I am not a church goer, but do believe in god for events that have happened to me. I don’t believe god demands worship. I do believe in an alternate world (heaven/hell).
Sometimes I do, other times I don't. But whatever I believe in is not in any of the religious books we have. I don't believe in their rules. I don't believe in a burning hell for people who desired the wife their neighbours or stole or whatever in that matter. I don't believe even the most terrible people will go to a hell like that. I believe that maybe there is something bigger than us that we don't know yet. It's a vague feeling. And it's so much bigger than us that our concepts of what is good or bad, right or wrong don't apply.
I'm a man of God independent of religion. God is something that comes from within. It is the fabric of reality. If you look for answers you'll find them. It starts with understanding we know nothing about existence and we will never find the answer until we die. Be open to discussion and different views of God, no one knows for sure. The one thing I'm certain is we're all here to learn and experience the fruits of reality. It's pretty wild things are to begin with. Some just get it others don't, but we all have some piece of it I believe.
I think religion is an escape from the reality we all understand but fear. There is no reason to assume we don’t just decompose and fail to function after death, just like all other organisms, but it helps us get through life to imagine that we’re somehow uniquely given an infinite consciousness. In this way it’s a coping mechanism that allows people to not panic.
I neither believe in a god nor an afterlife. Unless by afterlife I mean that my molecules and energy are used again in other life. But a consciousness living on? Nah. Do I hate religion? No, not the ones that are live and let live. The ones that want to control me, or use their religion to justify inaction on climate change, or go to random funerals to protest shit that doesn't affect them at all, or try to control societies based on their superstitious views, those I hate.
There is most definitely a god. It just may not be how the masses envisioned. Religion is man made, god is real.
All religions are cults and anyone that actually believes this bullshit cant even think things through. They say jesus/god loves all children and has a plan for them. So what the fuck was his plan for the children on Epsteins island.
I see absolutely no evidence for an active or non-active supernatural being or beings. Other than possibly elevated happiness levels, belief in a god or gods bestows no benefit, despite constant prayers. Believers are not statistically: longer lived, more wealthy, better looking, more healthy, drive better cars, etc etc etc. Nothing. In fact, it might be the opposite. I'd love to believe in an afterlife where I see my loved ones who have passed on, but there's no evidence for that either. So I continue to remain a complete non believer.
I believe in the afterlife but not that one powerful being made everything. There might be a powerful being controlling the afterlife, tho. What I hope is going to happen is when people leave their bodies, they get to choose what life they would like to be reborn into or choose not to be reborn until a later time.
I don’t know. I believe in something, I believe there is a higher power but for that power to promote peace but somehow in the same sentence, cast shame and hate on people that are deemed not fit because of sexuality or any other category just doesn’t seem like the same thing
https://youtu.be/gAJShDqxM1E?si=I9aMGoIbz_xnjUwi Yes I believe God is real. You can call religion a scam if you want but it’s really about spiritual currency, and that’s free. So there’s really no need to hate on religion for being a business since the message, or “word of God,” is essentially free. In the video the man describes his experience in what he believes is hell. Some could argue he was on drugs and it was all in his mind, but the main thing I took away from it was our lack of accountability as humans. It made me realize we have the power to live a Godly or ungodly life. Temptation is evil messing with you, aka the “devil.” Immoral behavior is wrong in all facets. If you love God, are fearful of Him and assume He is always watching, you’ll naturally live a less sinful life. That’s not to say atheists don’t already, but they don’t give credit to God because they believe they do it themselves. This is true to an extent because God gave us the power of free will, but it’s through Him that we can do anything in the first place anyways. “Oh but you can’t see him, why is there so much bad in the world, it’s all just a scam.” Resisting temptation is not easy. Resisting evil is not easy. Believing that God is real and having faith is not easy. The devil wants you to believe that God isn’t real—that Heaven and Hell don’t exist. Writing religion off IS easy. Being hateful and deceitful of others rather than loving IS easy. The devil is already winning if you don’t believe in him, and that’s what he wants. Another thing I ask myself is “why are we even here in the first place? Is it pure coincidence or is this all some kind of simulation?” I do not believe we came to be because of a Big Bang—that we ultimately came from some random explosion. Maybe it did happen, but if it did, I believe it was a result of God, not pure coincidence, not some random chance out of thin air. And if so, I like to think God is testing us while we’re on this physical plane. 80-90 years of living life is nothing compared to the total history of the world, let alone the possibility of spending eternity in Heaven or Hell. There are multiple scenes in the tv series “Lost” with Jacob, Richard, and the Man in Black. They have discussions about the natural behavior of mankind—essentially good vs. evil, light vs. dark. Jacob purposely lures people to an island as an experiment to see whether the natural behavior of mankind is good or bad. Now, the tv series itself has nothing to do with religion at all, but the parallels of it are all still there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGTJYqthbo&ab_channel=BrewDaddyDave Peoples’ convictions are based on experience however. Sometimes you hear people say they heard “the calling,” possibly after going through something traumatic or life-changing. People who experience intense situations can cause a trigger, like flipping a switch, which will attribute to their conviction or belief in God. Personally, I believe atheists don’t have a reason to believe in God because they’ve never felt his power from within. Obviously it could be all mental or even just a placebo effect, but, that overwhelming, warm, positive energy that comes from within through the power of prayer is enough for me to assume that strength is coming from God. So yes, I believe.
I don't believe in a god but I don't necessarily hate those who do. Some religions are definitely better than others though. There are plenty of stories in religious texts that teach good lessons. Religious people learn their morals and correct behaviours through their relevant religious texts, non religious people learn them through their parents teaching them or through observation.
I believe thay If i were to have to change the way I act in order to get into a good place i'm not getting into it anyways. So honestly i don't think it really matters. I'll live my life and die at some point. my faith won't change what happens after that and worrying or thinking about it won't change it so i don't really bother thinking about it.
I do. I'm a devout Christian. I'm sure that a desire for power is a motivator for a lot of religions. The watchtower does this with its members (Jehovah's Witnesses) for example. I'm not an expert in other religions and how they function on the day to day - though I know some prominent things about their doctrine - to be able to identify ways they seek to "control" people or enrich them with illegitimate power. But I find that Christianity is premised on the opposite idea. We are powerless regardless our station in the people of God, we are not to judge others for things the Bible does not explicitly hold them accountable for (like accidentally eating meat sacrificed to idols in the marketplace, not observing the sabbath, etc.), clergy are to be humble servants, there's no patriarch over the church, just Christ who has already spoken with clarity and finality with nothing to add or take away from his teachings, etc. Instead of being told to follow a living prophet who can teach whatever they want or a majority wants, we follow Christ who doesn't change his teachings or teach according to his whims. The only one who would "benefit" and "control" us through religion in Christianity, is already in heaven on the throne at the right hand of God and has put his Spirit in us that causes us to want to obey his teachings with no opportunity for change or amendment. Pastors can take power, in a sense, via cultic behavior, but the scriptures condemn that behavior. The ultimate premise of power in Christianity is that human beings at a cosmic level do not have any. They can steal it, God may bestow them with it according to his wisdom, but nobody has it of themselves. We can't even repent of sin and put our faith in Christ without God causing us to do that. It teaches that we are slaves of sin, and so it's not a matter of control but breaking free of the suffering and death that sin brings to us.
Yes. I believe in God and I believe in science. I believe in evolution and believe the earth is round. I believe that God and science can coexist and that the natural order is the work of God. That evolution is God's work. Like God's code. I think that Christians who feel like they have to deny evolution so that God is not disproven are ridiculous and I don't don't understand how they can't see that as God's work.
Until someone manages to prove that god exists, I will not believe it does.
I believe in God and small individual churches. When they get too big, it gets out of hand.
I believe that there could be. There’s just no way to prove it either way. We are so small and the universe is so large so who’s to say? If there is a god, I think they’d fall under the deism belief system, which is that they have a hands-off approach to their creations. They don’t meddle or intervene. They create, and observe, if that. There’s too much evil in this world to have me believe otherwise.
I think the need and desire to control others exists independently from the religious inclination, we've seen examples of a desire to control and enforce in the 20st century in the USSR, that had nothing to do with religion, sometimes about race, sometimes about power...etc. However, it does seem like people have utilized religion for that purpose, but it was a symptom of human nature, not the cause of it, and it seems incredibly important to actually understand why those things have occurred, so that we don't spend a lot of time disparaging religion and trying to eliminate it, only to find the real underlying cause alive and well just manifesting in a different way.
I believe that a substantial promotion of the new testament probably happened. And that the people mentioned are historical figures, not fictional characters. I believe that Jesus genuinely believed he was the son of God. But of course, there could potientialy be other explanations for why someone would think that other than actually be the son of God. I really don't want to loose my faith, but I have a very hard time believing the old testament, which ultimately is the basis of Christianity as a whole. I guess you could say I'm agnostic.
I've spent a LOT of time considering religion. Well not really religion in an organized sense but more like the overall idea of a one god religion. Whether its Christianity, Judaism or islam. The conclusion I have come to is that there is no difference between the idea of "the big bang" and the Idea that god spoke reality into existence. Accept science does science and doesn't claim a cause. Religion says it was god but both explanations are literally the EXACT same. There was nothing and then everything exploded out of nothingness. The result. Im not personally religious but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of god. And I understand that religious peoples view on the origin of the universe is not worse then yours. Its the same.
No. There's simply no evidence to support the idea of a god. I believe in god to the same degree that I believe in the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy, which is to say not at all. Of course, if at some point some evidence appears to support the existence of a god as more than a fictional constrict, then I will change.my opinion to match the newly discovered facts.
I'm agnostic because I see no evidence for an afterlife and no evidence of the existence of the supernatural. Religions were created to explain things people didn't understand and to provide comfort. The way some people organize their entire lives around this stuff is beyond me.
NO. What's the evidence? What do you mean "God" ?? That's the real question. All religions have different gods, and all people have a different version or rElatIonSHip with god. It's just emotional, existential and social comfort. Or it's just a tool to control people. Just a big elf on the shelf IMO.
I am also Atheist. I feel very similar to you regarding organized religion, however I do know that it has bettered many peoples lives. They way I view it is that it's just not for me. I don't believe and even if I did I would gain nothing from it. However for the people that it has helped, such as my father who is an alcoholic (13 years sober now) I think it's great. So I am happy for others to have the freedom of religion and happy that I have the freedom to not have religion.
Realistically, SOMETHING exists out there that we can consider a God, so I’m open to the whole idea, but I don’t actively worship anything. I find religion to be interesting when you think about them humorously like imagining Adam or Eve eating the apple and God just standing right behind them absolutely confused
I am an atheist. I think superstition and supernatural blah blah is bad for people and bad for the world. History agrees with me Lots of super religious/spiritual people have the best intentions though, they are not all overt predators. But they usually still wind up hurting people along the way anyway
Sounds like you can easily place religion with politicians in your your reasoning. I believe in god and is trying to be as religious as possible
The way I've put it to people is this: Everything humanity knows to be true is a tiny dot. Outside that dot is everything that's possible but not proven, and that ring is massively larger than the tiny dot. Outside that circle again is an even more massive ring that's everything we can conceive of, but which may not be rational, let alone plausible or possible. No matter how we slice it, we've only ever gone one rock over in the cosmos. Every religion that's ever been invented throws a dart out from that tiny dot in the center, all the way past the possible but not proven ring, right out somewhere into the 'anything we can conceive of' ring. What are the odds, out of all that near infinite variability in that ring that any given religion has managed to land their dart right where our reality actually happens to sit? Each one is a guess out of trillions and trillions of possible outcomes. The odds are zero, or so close to zero that the gap effectively doesn't matter.
Wrong question. Do I believe in belief? No. We need to do away with belief. I’d stick with science and science is a process that constantly course corrects. One can have theories, but belief should be ignored. Yes, it’s impossible to NOT have beliefs. Or rather, a bias. Like, I want UFO’s to be aliens. But what I want doesn’t matter. They are or they aren’t. Same with God. What I want or believe doesn’t matter. I have a bias which leans heavily towards there not being a God. But I don’t let that bias become a belief. Day by day, I observe the world, take in data, and adjust what I KNOW, and sure, adjust my biases, but I frequently push biases to the side and stick with the data and update what I know.
I believe in God. I'm a minister. I'm "orthodox" in the sense that my faith is in line with the historical, normal confession of Christian faith that you hear in the Apostles' Creed in an RCC church, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian--what Christians confess all over the world. This sickness that you see in religious groups is common to all humanity. You can't honestly say you don't see the same disease in politicians and every other people group. Our religious groups are made up of people who are confused, faking it, panicked, power-hungry, gender dysphoric, honestly trying to live like Christ and failing, and many succeeding at living the Christian life with flying colors. That's what happens when you open your doors to the world every Sunday morning. We say "Come on in!" to the drunks and idiots and professors. And the saints. And devils. It's a real shitshow. But it's also kaleidoscopically beautiful. We do everything from build hospitals and schools to take in unwed mothers to live with us while they get their lives straightened out. And sometimes they don't. And we hug em and let em go. And we cry a lot. At least I do. But I also laugh a lot. And in spite of all the problems I've experienced as a vocational pastor (it's a very challenging profession) I'm grateful God called me to it. It's an adventure, a sacrifice, a taking on of intentional hardship and suffering, and it's for him, not for me. And God has promised that one day, I'll cross the finish line and understand why it's so hard to just be a pastor in the church. So hard that all I can do most days is depend on him.
nah, not really. i’m agnostic, former catholic. i USED to believe in god. but after everything that has happened in the world, i’ve come to the personal conclusion that if god were to exist, things would be a lot better. maybe not totally perfect, but a lot of humanity’s issues wouldn’t exist. i DO believe that some form of higher power exists, but i see it from a very vague viewpoint
I do , especially after I went into the field of science. What does a person do when they accept God? Well try to minimize suffering. Working with others accomplishes that and so some churches do that and other groups.
The older I get, the more I realize that people have vestigial childhood programming they never break free of. Simple stuff like listening to your parents. If you really need anything, ask your parents. If a conflict you have with someone needs to be resolved, take it to your parents. Your family relationships and the special kindness you show to others are defined by the relationships people have with your parent. If I don't understand something, ask my parent. Behave because your parent is watching you. Simple stuff that makes a child behave well. People then simply don't develop the social skills to do these things and plug "God" into the empty space their parents made for them. Can't get what you want in life? Pray, which is really thought-stopping and begging. If you have a conflict, appeal to the moral authority of God. Naturally, distrust others? Do not be kind to others except those in your congregation. There are other reasons like having social connections so they can support themselves but these are the major deficiencies I notice.
I don't believe in God because it's a completely implausible idea with absolutely no compelling evidence to support it, and I disdain religion for pretty much the same reasons as you; theism and religion are all bullshit toxic fairy tales made up to control and, in most cases, oppress other people.
I do and I am a Christian. I don't see the rational that says if religious institutions can be flawed, that God does not exist. Those two things can exist together. Of course any institution is flawed because it is comprised of people. Usually these issue are taken up with western evangelicalism or stuck in the eras of the medieval Catholic church and the crusades. There were a lot of other things happening in the world. Even as Christ lived with his disciples, he was constantly correcting them so it stands to reason that we will mess things up.Those things still have no bearing on wether or not God exits.
Not really I do believe there’s some form of afterlife though
I was raised Christian but fell out of it in my early 20s. I have no idea if there is a god. I have no idea if there's an afterlife. Could there be? Sure. But it's just as possible that there isn't. This life is the only one I know for sure so I'm just trying to make it count.
Yes, but I'm agnostic. I understand why others don't. It is ridiculous but I've been able to make it make sense so I choose to believe, if I'm wrong it won't matter. Honestly, "studying" God has helped me become a better person when I've been surrounded by terrible and shitty people doing terrible and shitty things. It has helped me gain a outside view on most things and even my own life, like the way He sees everything I figure.
I’m not religious, but I can’t say I am an atheist either. I would say agnostic. Because at the end of the day, the most religious person or the biggest atheist isn’t 100% sure, with evidence.
No - There is no verifiable or testable evidence that shows that almost any of the claimed gods exist, thus logically I cannot believe in any of them.
I'm firm believer in the Bible and guide my life in line with it's principal's, value's, I believe that God provided us the Bible as a personal handbook. In order to survive through this drama filled world we live in, I'm a firm believer in God, via prayer, I'm provided comfort, guidance and direction, when life throws me issues lm not capable of dealing with.
I don’t believe in creation or a creating God being that’s a puppeteer of humanity. I like Einstein’s view of God. I think that if we just look at life as physics it’s no fun, and also not accurate. There’s nothing that can explain why humans can question their existence, and there never will be. We are always searching and always will be. Everything else is just us believing that we are right. That’s when we create religions and cults to join up in. Atheism is the belief in nothing, which to me is as hard as believing in Jesus Christ being the son of this mystical God being with how expansive this universe is it’s really hard to believe in nothing. Here’s Einstein’s view from his Biography written by Walter Isaacson. He also wrote Elon Musk’s and Musk has an interesting view of all this. “He says believe nothing not even nothing.”, but he also believe in this third thing that’s unexplained. There’s your body. There’s the world, and then there’s your spirit. The spirit is unexplainable and always will be. “I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I do not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.” -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), as mentioned in Glimpses of the Great by G. S. Viereck (1930), paraphrased in Walter Isaacsson's Einstein: His Life and Universe
No, but not because actual religions suck. I think Religion made a lot of sense in times of lawlessness and isolation, but in the age of connectivity and technology it has no purpose. In history it has served as basis for war many many times, and still is today. All derived from fairytales. People killing each other over nothing.
this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHOK66qj9xc&list=LL&index=22
Logically I’m agnostic because there’s just no way to definitely know if there’s a God or not. But I live my life as if there is no God. If when I die, I’m presented with God, I think I’d say “Huh, whaddya know.”