Poll: What's your religion?

[SecretTacoNinja]

.
I think that if science can prove that mankind evolved from apes

Which is amazing, because we didn't.

We evolved from some ape-looking thing.

From the Ape family, whatever.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

Other: Many RELIGIONS. That I don't quite follow to the letter but use as an excuse for things - such as: Sikhs are allowed to carry knives in the UK =D.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

I'm probably going to get killed for this but; I think it's amazing that all these complicated arguments came from a bunch of desert-dwellers telling their people that if they are nice then they'll go to a wonderful place when they die. That's what I think religion is; keeping the people in order, to stop them from killing or stealing. That's why I don't believe in a God, plus science has disproved almost everything in the bible which is the only proof of god's existence (and 2000 years of brainwashing kids).

*runs*

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Satanism, Cthulhu-worship, black magic (or possibly black magick), that sort of thing. Revering the Forces of Darkness and Evil.

Sounds jolly.

Hell yeah (pardon the expression)!

People worship Cthulu?

Sure. Their high priest is a guy who calls himself "Venger Satanis". I can never keep from giggling whenever I see the name because it always reminds me of the villain from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHNadgreLlQ

-_- Well...not the weirdest thing/person/un-imaginable entity one could worship. Although...the only real prospects you've got there is becoming a Deep One...even then you're more than likely to be driven mad.

Y'know, this question puzzled me for a long time too. Why the hell would anybody sign on to be a crazed cultist for the Elder Gods? Nobody ever gets a happy ending from that, so why do it? Then I watched the special features on the Call of Cthulhu DVD (fantastic movie, BTW), and it all made sense. They talked about the casting process and how they got the extras for the swamp cult orgy scene. They just put a little ad in the papers, expecting they might get one or two, and people responded in droves. The response was just huge. And when they got these people into costume and started filming them, they went absolutely bugfuck. They wailed and hollered, they gesticulated and twitched and spazzed out and were generally horrifying. They were also quite clearly having the time of their lives.

So you see, the reason people join up with insane world-destroying cults is because it's fun to be a crazed cultist. Well worth being devoured by disgusting extradimensional aliens who are madness to look upon.

Pheh, screw Cthulu! (please don't hurt me o Dread Lord!) Shub-Niggurath is -the- Great Old One to worship, all hail The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

IA! IA!

 

[Arborean]

Atheist, but a tolerant one, as I'm aware that my particular brand of atheism often makes even less sense than religion. It's just common sense: let he who lives in a glass house not throw the first stone lest he be judged . . . or something.

 

[Alex_P]

What the hell is "the left hand path"?

Satanism, Cthulhu-worship, black magic (or possibly black magick), that sort of thing. Revering the Forces of Darkness and Evil.

People worship Cthulu? -_- Well...not the weirdest thing/person/un-imaginable entity one could worship. Although...the only real prospects you've got there is becoming a Deep One...even then you're more than likely to be driven mad.

Pheh, screw Cthulu! (please don't hurt me o Dread Lord!) Shub-Niggurath is -the- Great Old One to worship, all hail The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

It's kind of a joke. Satanism, too. A way to freak out "normal," mainstream folks.

Anton LaVey's Church of Satan, for example, is atheistic. It's more-or-less an individualist/materialist philosophy with a lot of acting thrown in just for fun. That's why a lot of these guys seem over-the-top and unreal: they're doing it to be over-the-top and unreal, and their actual beliefs are a lot simpler and less supernaturally-oriented than the rituals they put on for fun.

-- Alex

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

I'm probably going to get killed for this but; I think it's amazing that all these complicated arguments came from a bunch of desert-dwellers

Ummm...no.
Christian apologetics has been thinking this crap up for thousands of years.

 

[Novan Leon]

I think that gamer culture probabally has roughly the same religious composition as the rest of the world, with indigenous faiths underrepresented somewhat.

The majority of gamers are under the age of 35 and male, a demographic that is largely non-religious or atheist (slight difference). This being the case, I would be cautious about drawing religious comparisons between gamer culture and the world as a whole

 

[MaulMachine]

I'm so happy that most of us are sensible.

 

[Unholykrumpet]

Christian, though I certainly believe in bits and pieces of modern evolution theory.
Grew up Christian, turned from it, and came back to it after four years.

 

[Novan Leon]

...it's also interesting to note that this same demographic (male under 35) is also the most likely to do drugs, get drunk and commit violent crimes.

 

[MaulMachine]

Hell yeah, we know how to live! Free, drunk, and godless.


SNAB'LUU!!!!!!

 

[DamienHell]

BOOM Atheism 55.6%, and do you know why its so high? The internet is anonymus. They can't have country wide anonymus cencuses and to some people the thought of ANYONE (even a computer) knowing you don't believe in god is enough to lie about it. And thats where closet Atheists come from.

 

[goodman528]

Agnostic.

I spent two years studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, and really felt I learned something about morality, and how man should live, and how man should act towards his fellow man. I felt The Jehovah's Witnesses really did have a point in what they were saying. I learned about Christian Apologetics; Atonement; Theodicy; and Apophatic theology. So even though I've never believed in Chritianity, I probably know more about it than most Christians.

Most people just think of them as pushy nutjobs who bash your face in with religion; but really they are the true believers. Unlike Catholics, Methodist, Rastafarin, Lutherian, Jedism, or whatever else new age crap there is out there; These Witness guys actually read the Bible, discuss interpretations of the scriture, and try their best to live their lives by the Bible. Unlike the rest of us, they know exactly what they believ in, and the guys I knew were very knowledgable about their religion. To them religion is not just some trendy brand like it is to the other 99% of free thinking young people out there, to them it is the right thing.

I leave you atheists out there with Pascal's Wager:

___________________________Live by God's ways__________________Live as Atheist
God Exists_________________Infinite postive outcome______________?????????????????
God does not exist___________Finite negative outcome______________Finite positive outcome

Since risk = probability x consequence, so the infinite consequence of the top left cell outweighs all other risks. Therefore any logical man would believe in God.

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

It's kind of a joke. Satanism, too. A way to freak out "normal," mainstream folks.

For some of them, yes, that's how it is.
But there are others who take it quite seriously. Those are the ones who usually refer to themselves as left-hand pathers.

 

[Larmo]

If there is belief there is faith as long as someone believes in it the God/Goddess or various there of they exists.

I'm atheist however so I don't care what you believe or think as long as it doesn't hurt people.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

Unfortunately for you, those who practice Hinduism and Buddhism have also both shed blood.

I think the point he was trying to make was that Buddhist never killed people in the name of Buddhism and never forced anyone to convert to Buddhism under threat of death.

Perhaps. But whatever the reasons, Hindus and Buddhists have killed human beings for the sake of their faith. The reasons for the killings are seldom of any great importance to the dead, or those who cared for them.

Believers (and unbelievers) of all stripes need to be wary of the xenophobia and hatred of the "other" within themselves. We're all vulnerable.

Unfortunately I have heard of one instance when a sect of Buddhists [link="http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1726/17260840.htm"]fought{/link] in regards to religion.

I haven't read enough yet to make an opinion on the matter, but it is an obscure subject at the moment.

While I rather enjoy Zen Buddhist teachings or practices, I've never been a fan of religion requiring hierarchy.

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Pascal's Wager

I find it very surprising that someone who has studied the philosophy of religion to the extent you have done, would be taken in by Pascal's Wager.

An omniscient god would see through a person trying to game the system like that. And then there's the problem of religious diversity. How can you be sure that your method of "living by God's ways" is the correct one, when many others (who have studied their various holy texts just as carefully as you) have come to different conclusions?

There are arguably plenty of reasons to believe in various gods and ways of life, but Pascal's wager is a very poor one.

 

[LadyZephyr]

I'll do all these atheists one better. I'm a passive antitheist (AKA: "oh, in a perfect world...").

 

[dryadwrangler]

I say other, simply because while I don't believe in god, I have a limited patience for religious tradition.

So would it make sense that I'm an agnostic Jew?

Though I really don't like calling myself atheist, agnostic, or whatever, it seems like people take lack of religion or not partaking in religion AS a religion. Which seems kind of silly.

*does the horah*