Poll: Are you religious?

[Evil Top Hat]

Not a shred of evidence to suggest either way, and outside of the universe we know of, anything could be possible. We can't apply the rules of reality to anything outside of the universe that we have discovered, because they may well change. The existance of god (to me) seems likely nor unlikely, because anything could be possible, and we are in no position to make assumptions either way, because those assumptions could never be based on proven fact.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Alhough I consider myself an agnostic, I am a practising Wiccan.

 

[Burntpopcarn]

No. You remember earlier this year when that guy predicted the second coming and said that if you weren't christian you'd be destroyed by god in his coming apocalypse, right? that's one reason.
another reason is if god is so loving, then why in hell is he going to blow the universe up, eh? makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[technoted]

The teachings of religion, yeah. The concept of a deity or something creating the entire universe, no.

 

[SonofaJohannes]

Yup, I'm christian. But not protestant, or catholic. I'm not sure what it's called, or even if it has a name, but I belong to that branch of christianity that don't believe in heaven or hell but still believe in god.

Would that be Universalist? I might be wrong but I think universalists belive in god, that said god is "love" and wouldn't send anyone to hell, thus all are saved. Sound about right?

Eh, kind of. Except for the whole everybody is saved thing. I believe that there is no hell, and if you die, you're dead. And if you live in sin you stay dead. It would be quite a lot to write, but it's definately not what you just described. But thanks for trying though.
The search for a name continues!

 

[brom0220]

I'm seeing a common trend I don't like among fellow atheist. The idea that SCIENCE! disproves all ideas or concepts of a "A god" or an higher entity, so to speak, and quite frankly, it does not. It only disproves all forms of religion we humans have managed to come up with. (God, Thor etc)

You can still quite logically belive in the existence of "A god" but also belive fully in all forms of science and still be a perfectly logical thinking human. In relative terms we humans know absolutely jack shit about anything. Just as much as theres no evidence for "A god" theres the same ammount against "A god". There is however plenty against the chirsten God.

Just because science can't answer everything yet doesn't mean there is a god. Basically, what you are saying is that God is an ever decreasing gap in scientific knowledge. This is called the "God of the Gaps" argument.

I stared out somewhat skeptical of the whole "divine being crated the universe from nothing on a whim" but then the fact that most of the science types I've asked about the origin of the universe can never come up with anything any more reasonable for the origin of matter or the origin of life has (among other things) caused me to follow the same path as my parents and be a christian, plus I figure there's always Pascal's Wager so its a win-win for me. The irony is that so many people here say that they don't like religion because its followers are pushy I have only ever had the opposite experience, I had several atheists rant at me and tell me i'm a moron if I don't agree with them but the church types have never been anything but nice.

The ignorance (as in, lack of knowledge, often confused for stupidity, it is possible to not know about something yet still be quite intelligent after all,) of a few people does not mean that it is reasonable to believe in a god without evidence to support its existence. Also, you are very lucky if you have only met the nice church types, but don't let that fool you into thinking that the pushy types don't exist. The history of mankind is riddled with atrocities committed in the name of religion. And for every atheist that condemns religious people as complete morons, there are many more that are just fine with people believing what they want to believe, provided they don't try to force others to agree with and accept their beliefs. Also, the sheer number of different religions makes Pascal's Wager pointless. What if when you die you meet Buddha or Vishnu instead of God?

OT: No, I am not religious. I used to be a Christian, but as I grew up and learned more about the world and science I stopped believing in the Christian version of God. And even if Jesus did exist, there is no evidence that proves he was the son of God. I guess I would be an agnostic atheist. I am open to the possibility of god, but I don't really believe in one, or in other words, if there is a god, I doubt anyone has the right idea about the nature of that god.


Just thought I would leave these here; despite the slightly condescending presentation of these videos, I find them funny and thought provoking. I wish I knew how to embed them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRLR9jhP_DM&NR=1&feature=fvwp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSxgnu3Hww8&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfZFsXfCy6s&feature=relmfu

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Why are "No" and "Agnostic" separate choices?
I happen to be an agnostic atheist...
I believe that not everything in this world can be understood, but there is no God, as described in any religion...

Why are "Yes" and agnostic separate choices? I happen to be a spiritual agnostic...
While I believe that we cannot know what greater power exists, I believe that it does exist.

 

[The Random One]

I'm not religious, I don't believe in religions.

I do believe in God. Entirely different things.

 

[TheDist]

Yup, I'm christian. But not protestant, or catholic. I'm not sure what it's called, or even if it has a name, but I belong to that branch of christianity that don't believe in heaven or hell but still believe in god.

Would that be Universalist? I might be wrong but I think universalists belive in god, that said god is "love" and wouldn't send anyone to hell, thus all are saved. Sound about right?

Eh, kind of. Except for the whole everybody is saved thing. I believe that there is no hell, and if you die, you're dead. And if you live in sin you stay dead. It would be quite a lot to write, but it's definately not what you just described. But thanks for trying though.
The search for a name continues!

Ooooh ok, wait you mean annihilationism?

Sorry for all the questions like that, I do find it interesting to see what people do belive.

 

[Legion IV]

You know there's a "Religion and Politics" forum right? It's there for a reason. These things tend to go badly in Off-Topic.

Nope. I went to a Church of England Primary school, where they force religion onto you from your first year onwards. I just thought it sounded weird. Then I read up on science. And it explained everything a lot better than the vicar did.

I was religious as child until I spent a year in CoE primary school. I slipped, without noticing, from mildly religious to hardcore atheist.

His Dark Materials might have had something to do with it.

Kinda shames me that while a few of my friends actually thought it was bullshit, for every one of them, three went full on religious-whackjob.

That school claimed my little sister to their numbers as well.

Yes because religion makes people crazy /sarcasm Give me a break, then again my sister was claimed by atheism and hate that as well.

OP: I was not religious i grew up in an atheist household that never pushed anything, was in public school all my life, then when i was around 14? I found the lord Jesus Christ, on my own.

Theres so many atheists where i live and man its annoying, always so hateful for no reason. I've met people who refuse to even be friends or talk with religious people.

I guess in a nutshell i became to believe because at the time i was depressed and lost you could say, the atheist viewpoint was so depressing. I still think it is, i really pitty some viewpoints.

Like it seems in my city theres two things happening, i always see the atheists complaining if there Christian billboards or people going door to door, they hate and try to disprove religion.

It seems when they don't understand is we all do this out of love, imagine you found the most amazing thing or feeling on earth wouldn't you want to share? We do this out of love. The atheists are just doing this to bing us down and out of hate.

Maybe your cities different but myns like this. Just I've never had to deal with a more hateful group of people, not all are like this i know.

The most depressing thing i see is, something will come up in the news or something or some news on science that can be questionable, We go, well thats a little unmoral, atheists:Shut up your halting progress! Morales only get in the way of scientific progress.

I don't want to live in a world where thats accepted by everyone that if you we throw our morales aside we'll progress.

Lol also i HATE how people say "you should say happy holidays" Me and my buddy now say "Merry Christ....mas.

 

[darthmason0719]

I'm gonna be that guy and say "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual".

Meaning, I don't like religion as an organization, but I follow a religious faith to an extent.

This basically

 

[ImperialSunlight]

. What if when you die you meet Buddha or Vishnu instead of God?

You don't really "meet" Buddha in Buddhism, you're reincarnated until achieving Nirvana. Buddha was a real person.

 

[Matt Oliver]

i myself tend to take certain things from different religions and use them to my benefit I don't know if there is one god or many gods or whatever the deal is.

 

[ninetails593]

Proof that most people on the internet are atheists.

 

[Bento Box]

"Are you religious?"

- Yes
- No
- I'm agnostic? Really? I thought we were over this.

I appreciate that you're trying to be diplomatic. I really do, but we've got to straighten out some terms here.

When you're talking about religiosity, you're talking about what people believe. These beliefs are always based on faith, and almost always based on nothing more than that. Even if there is some kind of argument from personal experience, it's still nothing that we can test objectively, and therefore still bust fall into the realm of belief.

When you're talking about gnosticism vs agnosticism you're talking about what people know. Even a devout follower of a faith can typically be cornered into saying that they don't really, really, really, REALLY know, for instance, that they are saved, or even that there's anyone or anything around to do the saving. Insofar as someone is able to say that absolute certainty is impossible, they are necessarily an agnostic, but let's get a little more practical, and a little less proximal to the topic of the thread.

I know, with every meaningful amount of certainty that there are faith claims. From what I've seen of them, none of the ones that have been tested have held any water to my estimation, and so I remain unconvinced. At the same time, I can't be completely certain that they're all wrong, even if I suspect they are. In that sense I am agnostic, since I don't know.

But just calling myself agnostic doesn't do, or even mean, anything. I certainly do know whether or not I am religious, and I can say, again with every meaningful certainty, that I am an apostate. I am definitely not religious, and I'd argue, strongly, that if you don't know if you're religious or not, you pretty plainly aren't.

 

[JokerCrowe]

I stay away from everything that has anything to do with religion. I guess you could say I'm agnostic, but I don't believe in any religion, so it's still a "No". I put my trust in Science, the things you can prove.

 

[enzilewulf]

Only on Tuesdays.

What he said ^

You know there's a "Religion and Politics" forum right? It's there for a reason. These things tend to go badly in Off-Topic.

Nope. I went to a Church of England Primary school, where they force religion onto you from your first year onwards. I just thought it sounded weird. Then I read up on science. And it explained everything a lot better than the vicar did.

I was religious as child until I spent a year in CoE primary school. I slipped, without noticing, from mildly religious to hardcore atheist.

His Dark Materials might have had something to do with it.

Kinda shames me that while a few of my friends actually thought it was bullshit, for every one of them, three went full on religious-whackjob.

That school claimed my little sister to their numbers as well.

Yes because religion makes people crazy /sarcasm Give me a break, then again my sister was claimed by atheism and hate that as well.

OP: I was not religious i grew up in an atheist household that never pushed anything, was in public school all my life, then when i was around 14? I found the lord Jesus Christ, on my own.

Theres so many atheists where i live and man its annoying, always so hateful for no reason. I've met people who refuse to even be friends or talk with religious people.

I guess in a nutshell i became to believe because at the time i was depressed and lost you could say, the atheist viewpoint was so depressing. I still think it is, i really pitty some viewpoints.

Like it seems in my city theres two things happening, i always see the atheists complaining if there Christian billboards or people going door to door, they hate and try to disprove religion.

It seems when they don't understand is we all do this out of love, imagine you found the most amazing thing or feeling on earth wouldn't you want to share? We do this out of love. The atheists are just doing this to bing us down and out of hate.

Maybe your cities different but myns like this. Just I've never had to deal with a more hateful group of people, not all are like this i know.

The most depressing thing i see is, something will come up in the news or something or some news on science that can be questionable, We go, well thats a little unmoral, atheists:Shut up your halting progress! Morales only get in the way of scientific progress.

I don't want to live in a world where thats accepted by everyone that if you we throw our morales aside we'll progress.

Lol also i HATE how people say "you should say happy holidays" Me and my buddy now say "Merry Christ....mas.

I believe this guy has a big point. Atheist are right up there on my shit list with Grammar nazis and religious wack jobs. I have spiritual followings but refuse to be in the church. Atheist are way to smug about themselves. Then again this whole website is smug about themselves. Why can't the two groups just live in peace. I say the church needs to stop trying to convert us and stop causing such stupid arguments and the Atheist need to stop bitching at the Church because of their believes. We are all free so why do we continue to have this crusader like mind set? Just shut the fuck up and believe what you want and stop provoking one another.

 

[Lucem712]

Not very religious, non practicing catholic as one would say. I see God, or whatever you would call it, more as a RTS game then a Sims game, there, maybe directing some crap but mostly sitting back. I don't know, it changes every day.

 

[Bento Box]

I am not religious but I am also agnostic (also an atheist). I also am friends with several people who are religious but are also agnostic. I think you need to brush up on what that term actually means.

If you knew what the words agnostic and atheist meant you would know its impossible to be both. How about YOU go brush up on what that term actually means.

See? Here we go. God damn it. Theism and atheism have to do with the belief of whether a god exists or not. I believe there are no gods. I don't know that there are no gods. That means that I am 1: A strong atheist, and 2: agnostic in my atheism. I posted five paragraphs about the meanings of these words two posts above yours. How dare you launch such a careless and uninformed assault on him.

EDIT: OK, so I didn't actually post anything about atheism in my previous post, but it falls into the same category as religiosity, if only in the sense that it is about belief, and not about knowledge.

 

[flamingjimmy]

I am not religious but I am also agnostic (also an atheist). I also am friends with several people who are religious but are also agnostic. I think you need to brush up on what that term actually means.

If you knew what the words agnostic and atheist meant you would know its impossible to be both. How about YOU go brush up on what that term actually means.

Actually I know very well what the words mean. You are mistaken, it is entirely possible, and extremely common, for people to be agnostics as well as atheists.

I do not believe in the existence of any gods, therefore I am an atheist.

I'm aware that I cannot know for an absolute certainty that there is no god/s, therefore I am agnostic.

They are not mutually exclusive, one is about belief, the other about knowledge.