How did any of you arrive at your conclusion?

[St Dionysius]

So, I'm curious. How did any of you decide or settle on your specific brand of religion whether it's Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Mormonism, Protestantism, Ba'ha faith.... the list goes on.

I mean, all these different faiths, sects, variations on context seem to all have about the same amount of evidence, none at all.

There does not seem to be any documented supernatural occurrences of religious intervention barring bibles, mythology and fantasy. You're simply told to "have faith" by people that you trust, who were told by people that they trust.

I'm not trying to take a pot shot at any of you religious folks, I'm simply just curious as to why you all seem to place so much stock in your faith, using it to fight wars, base laws on etc.

If the majority of whatever nation you belong to wasn't Christian wouldn't homosexuality be legal? Without christianity wouldn't evolution simply be accepted or challenged using the scientific method only and not just by the argument "organisms are too complex to create themselves".

Discuss

 

[The Plant]

I find Budhism rather compelling. Regardless I'm still an atheist.

 

[Chispy]

I ended up reading up on spirituality starting at 14, and all the evidence really intrigued me, especially since a friend of mine could feel spirits.

It's both a religion and science to me.

 

[St Dionysius]

I ended up reading up on spirituality starting at 14, and all the evidence really intrigued me, especially since a friend of mine could feel spirits.

It's both a religion and science to me.

Do you actually believe in spirits or did you just read about them? What evidence are you talking about? Could you get your friend to talk about his experiences.

Have you personally ever felt any spirits?

I don't really see how it's a "science". Have you done any tests? If it were a science then I'm sure that you'd have evidence for these supernatural occurrences.

Could I please talk to one of your spirits?

 

[Force Majeure]

I'm a sympathetic atheist. I don't care that other people believe in something supernatural; I just don't go for unfulfilled promises.

 

[Chispy]

Do you actually believe in spirits or did you just read about them? What evidence are you talking about? Could you get your friend to talk about his experiences.

Have you personally ever felt any spirits?

I don't really see how it's a "science". Have you done any tests? If it were a science then I'm sure that you'd have evidence for these supernatural occurrences.

Could I please talk to one of your spirits?

First of all, I can't feel them myself, but believing in them has definitely cheered me up, so I'm not giving that up.

Second of all, my friend is female, and I trust her very much.

Thirdly, I have other friends that have spiritual troubles (ghosts acting like annoying roomies)

I don't have tangible evidence of my own, sadly, but it feels very right that ghosts exist.

 

[St Dionysius]

First of all, I can't feel them myself, but believing in them has definitely cheered me up, so I'm not giving that up.

I don't really think that it has a place in the thread if you only believe in them to "cheer yourself up". There are other ways to do it.

Second of all, my friend is female, and I trust her very much.

Why does it matter if she's female. I get the impression that she was messing with you and that you wanted to get into her pants. I don't know why and it's certainly off topic.

Thirdly, I have other friends that have spiritual troubles (ghosts acting like annoying roomies)

Forgive me if I sound rude but it just sounds like your friends are messing with you or being attention whores like all the people who hear about synthesesia then claim they have it one minute later.

I don't have tangible evidence of my own, sadly, but it feels very right that ghosts exist.

Maybe it makes you feel better that your existence won't end when your life does. Either way just because you wish something doesn't make it true or any more believable than if you didn't wish for it.

 

[Chispy]

I pointed out the gender because you assumed male.

No, I trusted her because she was a very mature young woman, always insightful, etc.

I believe in spirits because my aunt told me a story about her cat, how it had died, and then she went into later soon after. When my cousin was able to speak, he fell out of his high chair once and, with no knowledge of his mother's cat, said "Black cat hit head go boom."

That solidifies my belief in spirits, and their willful ability to reincarnate.

 

[St Dionysius]

I pointed out the gender because you assumed male.

Understandable.

No, I trusted her because she was a very mature young woman, always insightful, etc.

She's a young girl who is intelligent and mature for her age. Yep.

I believe in spirits because my aunt told me a story

What. It quite possibly couldn't get sillier than this could it?

about her cat

I stand corrected.

When my cousin was able to speak, he fell out of his high chair once and, with no knowledge of his mother's cat, said "Black cat hit head go boom."

Are you sure that there is no way that he didn't know about her mothers cat? Are you sure that he hadn't just been watching Sylvester and Tweety. He just said some random words that don't necessarily mean anything much less being proof of anything.

That solidifies my belief in spirits, and their willful ability to reincarnate.

So you believe that your cousin is the reincarnation of your Aunts dead cat? Well, I suppose that your belief is as well grounded as Christianity or Islam but have you ever heard of coincidence? He was a young child. Many young children simply say random words. They're like parrots they repeat any words that they've heard and before they've mastered talking in sentences they'll often just say whatever word pops into their head, possibly even making up words.

I think that you're just searching for a foundation to support your belief on no matter how weak a foundation it is.

 

[Sceats]

Abuse, you should probably back off man. No reason to go full on offensive. I think linkshot believes in spirits and such for the exact same reason most other people believe in their religions...faith.

Personally im a christian and i have been told about jesus and the bible since kindergarten. However i wasent truly a christian till this year when i joined up with my youthgroup and we started discussing the evidence of god. We found out about the bible having many, many copies in a very short timespan. This shows that whats written in the bible, specifically the new testament to be truth. At least we know as fact that there was a man named jesus who preached of god to the people.

However what we dont know and cant really prove is that jesus actually did do the miracles he proposed. However i would rather live in a world where my life has a purpose that is more than just to exist. Rather i would like to believe that there is life after death and put my faith in something with a reward behind it and thats teaching good morales in the way of the commandments and jesus' parables.

atheism= lose/lose
christianity win/lose

 

[199 Lives]

I am atheist for the simple reason that I don't believe there could possibly be a God.

 

[Trax]

However what we dont know and cant really prove is that jesus actually did do the miracles he proposed. However i would rather live in a world where my life has a purpose that is more than just to exist. Rather i would like to believe that there is life after death and put my faith in something with a reward behind it and thats teaching good morales in the way of the commandments and jesus' parables.

atheism= lose/lose
christianity win/lose

It's only lose/lose if you can't justify your own existence with what you do with it.

 

[Chispy]

With spirituality comes belief in a higher being.

However, I believe that being is on a neutral standpoint, and is imbued everywhere within the universe.

Everything is a balance to me. When something happens, I dig into why it happened, look at both sides, and then everything seems to clear up.

 

[Raikage]

I mean, all these different faiths, sects, variations on context seem to all have about the same amount of evidence, none at all.

I'm not a religious person, but you seem to be missing the point of 'faith' here.

 

[Altmer]

Uh oh, Pascal's Wager is back in town!

I believe in myself. I decided this because I think most religions are like fairy tales to me. They are very elaborate human-constructed ideals, detailed and rich in imagery, beautiful as they come - but eventually and essentially human. Religion fills a role for humans, not for God. If God exists, he exists regardless of whether we have faith in him or not. I don't buy God's vanity that we should believe in him. Clearly if he exists, he knows it.

Therefore I don't care either way what people argue about whether he exists. Sure, he could exist, and he could have created the world, but I find it implausible and unlikely and therefore I don't base my life on it. I think that things happen due to either some measure of chance and then natural physical processes, or because we set them in motion. They say "Gott wuerfelt nicht" but I think that he probably does.

I don't adhere to any doctrine whatsoever, yet still lately I have discovered I would enjoy having faith - but the only faith I want to have is something that makes me happy in life again and drives me to be a better person for myself, and not for God. If God really exists, he will understand that being a better person isn't done in His name, it's done in everyone's, mine foremost. Only I know my morality and only I know what I am comfortable with. I act thus.

 

[Miscellaneous]

Altmer summed it well there. I don't personally believe in religion. I have no evidence for or against. But i do know i would rather be a happy atheist than an unhappy christian/muslim/buddist.

But my stongest view on religion is morality. In my opinion a world without God is a better world. This is because i believe in myself and others. I want people to be nice to me because they choose to be, not because they do it because otherwise they face devine punishment or some other shit. I am friendly because i choose to be, not because I'm scared of God telling me to be nice. I think people are living a lie if they live to please God and not other humans.

 

[pokedude7]

Altmer summed it well there. I don't personally believe in religion. I have no evidence for or against. But i do know i would rather be a happy atheist than an unhappy christian/muslim/buddist.

But my stongest view on religion is morality. In my opinion a world without God is a better world. This is because i believe in myself and others. I want people to be nice to me because they choose to be, not because they do it because otherwise they face devine punishment or some other shit. I am friendly because i choose to be, not because I'm scared of God telling me to be nice. I think people are living a lie if they live to please God and not other humans.

What color is the sky in your little world? If you believe that Man is naturally good and only commits atrocities because of religion, then think again. Some people don't rape and murder others, because of religion stops them. OTOH, some people rape and murder because they believe that is what their religion calls for (Terrorists, anyone?) A world without God is best summed up in the Charlie Daniels lyrics:"People are living by the Law of the Jungle". Without religion telling people that the Strong should not abuse the weak, people would do things just because they are Strong and the Weak would perish (either because they are weak or because the Strong Kill them). Without God, why should people be nice or friendly towards you or anyone else? It is you who is living a lie if you think that religion is unnecessary.

 

[Miscellaneous]

Not all men do, but there are those that do act because of religion. I am not saying all religion is bad, and I'm not saying that all religious people are only kind because of religion. What I am saying is that it's stupid to be nice because of God. The bible is wrong, being nice for your own benifit is selfish. That's different to being a generally nice person.
I never said that religion was the cause, but I was implying that it can be misleading to some people, and therefore is flawed.

 

[Force Majeure]

I personally think that man is flawed. The issue for me is that religion doesn't seem to make man any better. It just seems to present a nice facade.

 

[Llama]

My parents were not very religious but felt it important for my brother and I to be, by forcing us to church, needless to say this had the opposite effect and my brother ended up rejecting god because he hates wasting time, and that's what church is for him and I. I followed him shortly, and now I don't know I am. This was back when we were ~8 years old.

 

[ivar]

Agnostic.

Nothing about God is logically impossible (just no empirical evidence or any reason to suggest that there is a God), so I never discount the possibility of a God. I don't buy into any ontological "proofs" of God, though.

For some reason, I have this intuition that there is a creator (universe seems too complex and perfectly designed), but I certainly do not prescribe to any religious dogma. And it could be the case that the universe is so complex and perfectly designed because it is necessary for existence (and we have existence).

 

[Glen]

What color is the sky in your little world? If you believe that Man is naturally good and only commits atrocities because of religion, then think again. Some people don't rape and murder others, because of religion stops them. OTOH, some people rape and murder because they believe that is what their religion calls for (Terrorists, anyone?) A world without God is best summed up in the Charlie Daniels lyrics:"People are living by the Law of the Jungle". Without religion telling people that the Strong should not abuse the weak, people would do things just because they are Strong and the Weak would perish (either because they are weak or because the Strong Kill them). Without God, why should people be nice or friendly towards you or anyone else? It is you who is living a lie if you think that religion is unnecessary.

morality can and does exist without religion. your argument is absurd.

 

[iKitsune]

atheism= lose/lose
christianity win/lose

I hate this argument what happens if there is an afterlife but those selfish enough to believe in it weren't allowed in. Considering you don't know if there is or there isn't an afterlife/heaven and you certainly don't know whether this rule is in place how can you believe in this. It seems pretty ridiculous to devote so much of your life to something if you don't have any idea if its true or not.

 

[McGrrr]

I am an atheist.

There are countless religions throughout the world, yet not one offers compelling evidence to suggest that it is true. While I entertain the notion that it is possible for a god (or many gods) to exist, the practical probability of judging and choosing the right religion - even if this were the case - would be infinitely remote. I am also rational enough to understand that there is an opportunity cost associated with Pascal's Wager. Therefore, I choose not to believe in any religion.

 

[CaptKirby]

Agnostic.

Nothing about God is logically impossible (just no empirical evidence or any reason to suggest that there is a God), so I never discount the possibility of a God. I don't buy into any ontological "proofs" of God, though.

For some reason, I have this intuition that there is a creator (universe seems too complex and perfectly designed), but I certainly do not prescribe to any religious dogma. And it could be the case that the universe is so complex and perfectly designed because it is necessary for existence (and we have existence).

I do not really think that is an intuition. I think it is more like it is impressed on you by people until it feels preconditioned. I could be wrong though!

The way I arrived at my decision was that I rejected everything else becoming a typical Protestant, and then when I rejected that I did not really bother to reconsider the others.