Are you a religious person?

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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,985
8,222
126
Was raised Catholic, and started having doubts when I reached the upper single digits of age. Dropped out of CCD in my early teens, and didn't get confirmed. I'm pretty much anti-religion, but will tolerate people who STFU, and don't try to inflict their religion on others. I have an affinity for Zen Buddhism, but only as it relates to dealing with the world; none of the magical stuff.
 

brandonb

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2006
3,731
2
0
That's beautiful and all but it really turns me off of religion when religious people (not you, you seem like a really great person) say things like "you can be a good person but that's not enough" and basically say you're going to hell if you don't believe in god, as if believing in god is more important than being a good person.

I have had many of these conversations with my fellow man... I consider myself Catholic, and I've had these types of conversations with protestants. They seem to think "As long as you believed Jesus Christ died for our sins we'll be saved." I think that is a line of baloney. Faith without deeds is dead. It says that in our own bible.

I 100% believe (not many share my feelings) as long as you are a loving person, and avoid selfishness, you are a good person and that is all you need. It's not really a judgment that God casts on you. If you live a selfish life, in the next life you will be with selfish souls. You will live in the life you created for yourself. The opposite is true if your loving.

Right now we are in a place of choice. You choose how you want to end up. That is what God gave you because he loves you. He wanted to give you that option for your own soul. We get to pick it. Where we end up is up to us by our actions. Not our words.

Evil in this world is caused by selfish actions. Murder, Robbery, Rape, Power, Greed, is all selfishness. God is loving, Devil is selfishness.

When religions say "You have to believe in OUR God, or you will end up in hell" That is manipulation and is a selfish act. That is not Godly at all.
 

Franz316

Senior member
Sep 12, 2000
987
467
136
Me and my 4 siblings were raised Catholic but we are now all atheists. The Catholic chain in my family ends this generation.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,996
126
Raised in a Catholic family. Doubted the stories from a fairly early age, but when you're 12 or 13 you don't have the authority to say "this is bullshit, leave me out of it". Attended a private Catholic HS and one of the courses taught for freshman was called "Comparative Religion". It compared and contrasted the major faiths and tried to cover the basic history of how/where/when they started. That was the tipping point for me as it solidified my doubts into a more reasoned non-belief. When you trace any religion back to its roots you discover that they all have the same roots. The major religions are all based on essentially the same fairy tales, superstitions and fears, they've just evolved in different ways. So around age 14 or 15 I finally felt I had the right to tell the rest of my family that I did not want to be a part of their mass delusion and demanded to be left out of all religious activities. My mother was not particularly pleased, but short of hog-tying me and dragging me into church she didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter.
 

Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,242
649
126
That's beautiful and all but it really turns me off of religion when religious people (not you, you seem like a really great person) say things like "you can be a good person but that's not enough" and basically say you're going to hell if you don't believe in god, as if believing in god is more important than being a good person.

Those same religious people are supposed to love their neighbor (i.e. everyone) and they have no more authority to condemn anyone to anything than you or I do. My wife caught a lot of this hatred and condemnation as a catholic restaurant worker in a predominantly Assemblies of God town. The self-righteous condemnation people make me sick, to the point that it's almost physical sickness, as I remember my (at the time) girlfriend's anguish over her treatment.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
19
81
I think that's rather fair; of you don't mind: What did you think of the teachings/stories of Jesus?

They're much better than what goes on in the OT. A person who attempts to live by most of Jesus' teaching is likely to turn out to be someone I like very much.

I'm up in the air as to whether there was actually a man named Jesus at all though. I'm thinking there probably was, but the miraculous stuff attributed to him is no more believable than any other similar part of the bible. The inclusion of said miraculous events and claims as part of a whole that I'm supposed to believe casts the shadow of doubt over the whole. It is very likely that even much of the other non-supernatural stuff Jesus is said to have done was added later simply to embellish the tale. So I like Jesus in general, but I doubt that the Jesus as depicted in the bible ever existed.
 

crashtestdummy

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,893
0
0
That's a complicated question. I go to services (Jewish) at least a couple times a month, had a very traditional Jewish wedding, but I'm an atheist. What does that count as?

I was raised in a non-religious household. God was never a topic of discussion; it just never seemed particularly relevant to anything. The sum total of my religious education was my dad tossing me a bible (old and new testaments) at 16, saying "you should probably understand what everyone talks about".

When I began dating the woman I'm now married to, she was beginning to get back in touch with Judaism and considering seminary (which she's now in). I began going to services with her, and found the mix of tradition, cultural history, and ritual rewarding. My atheism, however, is very much intact.

I think it helps that I'm a 4th generation atheist (my mother's father's father was a very outspoken atheist). I think most atheists that grew up in religious households feel that they have to expressly separate themselves from the religious institutions that they felt were forced on them form a young age. They also feel lied to and deceived, as if they were told Santa was real until they were 25. I never had this problem, and thus feel reasonably comfortable in my skin even when reciting prayers in a group setting.

What will be more interesting is when I have kids. I have no intention of lying to or misleading them about my non-belief in God, but that's a tough set of nuances for young children to navigate. Saying "We do/don't believe in God" is a much simpler way to view the world than, "Mommy believes in God, Daddy doesn't, but Daddy still likes to go pray on Friday nights."
 

Braznor

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2005
4,619
409
126
No, I'm a Hindu Atheist/Materialist.

So I'm spiritual, but not religious.
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
So I like Jesus in general, but I doubt that the Jesus as depicted in the bible ever existed.
From my perspective, that's a reasonable, well thought out, conclusion. Thanks for sharing!

That's a complicated question. I go to services (Jewish) at least a couple times a month, had a very traditional Jewish wedding, but I'm an atheist. What does that count as?
Not spiritual, but religious.

What will be more interesting is when I have kids. I have no intention of lying to or misleading them about my non-belief in God, but that's a tough set of nuances for young children to navigate. Saying "We do/don't believe in God" is a much simpler way to view the world than, "Mommy believes in God, Daddy doesn't, but Daddy still likes to go pray on Friday nights."

I think they'll turn out wonderful, though it'll be hard for them to figure out what to believe in as teenage rebels... maybe they'll be "evangelical christian", like me

The major religions are all based on essentially the same fairy tales, superstitions and fears, they've just evolved in different ways.
Some how, for me, coming to the exact same conclusion made me feel much more comfortable with my faith. Odd how things end up, eh?
 
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xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
17,571
8
0
Recovering Catholic. Raised in a Catholic household. Stopped attending once I went to college and was no longer forced to go.

Not religious in the least bit, however I still respect others who are.

100% this. Never really believed in any of the stuff but I was born into a Catholic family. As soon as I moved out of my parents' house I stopped playing along and stopped going to things. I personally am not religious at all, but I respect those who are... as long as they respect me and don't try to shove it down my throat.
 

natto fire

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2000
7,117
10
76
I chose "not sure" because I didn't know if you meant I identify with a certain religion or if I am simply a spiritual person and believe in energy we don't understand.

I was not raised in a religious household, although I did attend a Presbyterian church with my babysitter.

I used to be an atheist, but have had a few experiences in life that made me switch to a more neutral view. I then accepted the fact that despite everything we as a species know, it really just opens the door on what we don't know, and knowing everything seems unlikely.

Out of curiosity, do you keep the stats from all these "get to know you" threads/polls in a proper database, or just use a spreadsheet?
 

Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
5,382
65
91
I never believed in god but I did the sacraments and religion class as a kid and sometimes went to church with family. Nobody was really religious though.
I eventually stopped getting involved completely after the final sacrament, most people never go to church again after that except maybe for christmas or other occasions.
Now I am a pure agnostic atheist with a passive attitude, meaning I'm not an edgy atheist but I don't mind them nor I care if religion gets ridiculed.
 
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GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,996
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I don't have a problem with God, it's his whacky fan club I have a problem with.

Are you sure? Because if the wacky fan clubs are right then god is a major asshole with anger issues, paranoid schizophrenia and a thirst for blood. Which wacky fan clubs worship a god you'd really want to have as a god? It's a good thing the wacky fan clubs are so wrong, if any of those invisible men in the sky was really a god we'd be fucked.
 
Nov 29, 2006
15,695
4,204
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I thought for myself and realized religion is dumb any way you swing it. Humans are logical rational creatures and religion goes against that. It plays on emotions more than anything. We are emotional creatures to, but should not be at the expense of logic and reason.
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
Which wacky fan clubs worship a god you'd really want to have as a god? It's a good thing the wacky fan clubs are so wrong, if any of those invisible men in the sky was really a god we'd be fucked.
True, invisible sky god is a scary stupid fiction used to control the weak minded.

I propose a scientific test of the theory that God created the Earth. If we make the reasonable assumption that if God created the earth then he did a good job, if we ever find a planet where it seems God did a better job, then we've empirically disproved the God-did-it theory. While we can never 'prove' God did it, this allows us to test the proposition and thus the overall theory.
 

Dankk

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2008
5,558
25
91
Was raised in an LDS (Mormon) household. Managed to completely extract myself from that cult when I was 18. My brother left the church recently as well.

My parents are still Mormon, but fortunately they're nice people who are accepting of others.
 
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