Your Religion?

[ChB 18,574]

I am an Orthodox Christian

[Guest]

I'm a Christian - although not the most active church-goer there could be, I believe in God and pray fairly often. And thank the Lord for many things.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,747]

Atheist.
I used to be christian, but I grew out of it, like I grew out of Santa, tooth fairy and such. (Not saying that He/she/it can't exist, I'm not claiming it. I just don't believe so.)

Edited June 4, 2017 by The Cerberus

[Oleks 1,994]

I've never practised any religion. I first thought about the possibility of supreme forces' existence when I was like 4 and decided that it's all made up by the grown-ups. So I've been an atheist since then.

[Fluttershy Friend 25,448]

I'm atheist. Science has important rule in my life. I think that science will explain everything. 

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

Im a catholic christian, not that i ever had a chance to choose though. But i guess i just stick with it.

[Lightwing 12,980]

Hello everyone!

This is just a post to give a small reminder in regards to this thread. Due to how this topic is on General Discussion, I would like to ask everyone involved on it or those that will get involved in the future with it to keep a more casual air when it comes to posting on here. If you want to actually discuss religion in a more in-depth level, I'd recommend you to go to this thread on Debate Pit:

Thank you everyone in advance, and have a good day!

[BlueStreak98 828]

According to Facebook, my religion is Baseball. It's a beautiful day, let's play two.

 

 

 

In all seriousness, though, I've studied the Bible extensively, but I consider myself nonreligious.

[RavenholmZombie 1,330]

If you were to ask me in person, I'd say "atheist" but, in most cases, I'd probably identify as either a "none" or as a Secular Humanist.

[Prospekt 11,034]

I am technically a non-denominational Christian, which I have been my entire life. However, in the past several months I've become fascinated by Orthodox Christianity. Haven't officially converted, though, mostly due to pressure from evangelical parents.

[Catsle 604]

 

Well I'm a non-denominational Christian, don't often go to church, nor do always trust the church, I'm a historian and I believe in science but there are somethings science and history cannot explain so I leave that up to debate on being a god or a untold phenomenon. 

[BloodDrops 762]

Candy Mountian

 

 

[Phirun Natela 77]

Strawberries must be the one food that doesn't go well with this brand of paint.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Phirun Natela

[RiseofSpectrum 359]

I'm a Roman Hellenist.

My favorite god is Mars, because he kicks ass. Though I also do enjoy Jupiter's mighty thunder.

Sometimes I think about offering an animal as sacrifice to them. Though, obviously, I would never sacrifice humans, much less children. That's for those filthy Carthaginians.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,028]

Church of England... I just like saying like that.

 

[Somberhoof 156]

As my whole family. Weird combination of paganism, shamanism and Orthodox Christianity

[Lucky Bolt 35,217]

I'm a Christian too!  Have been all my life 

[SquipyCheetah 449]

Atheism, religion never made any sense to me.

[Celli 4,349]

Atheist, and I think religion is a sham that needs major reformation or to be wiped from existence entirely.

Most religions today only seem to cause problems, and there are so many rules in all of them I cannot get behind. LGBT being one thing, especially as someone who is Bi.

[Rikifive 24,671]

I'm a Christian - or at least that's what was set 'by default' for me. Can't really say I believe or I'm interested in religions... It's all suspicious to me and there are tons of plot holes, if I could say so.

I think I could say, that I believe in 'Ponyism' though... I guess. It's not that I truly believe in Princesses and that kind of stuff, but I like to convince myself, that they exist. It's always that additional motivation to pick better choices. Does it sound silly? Probably yes, but honestly, it's as legit as most of other religions, because nothing was proven. If people can believe in gods, that they never saw, I can believe in Princesses and why anypony would question that.  

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not judging anybody, nor anything. As long as your beliefs don't make any harm, there's nothing wrong with this. It's all about what you want to believe, not what others force you to believe.

[TBD 17,271]

On 6/3/2017 at 5:43 AM, Nico said:

An agressive atheist. I like to debate about religion and the existence of a personal god whenever I get the chance to.

I challenge you to a debut then xp 

I like whenever people come up to challenge religion and vise versa. It's help me learn more about it on both sides point of view. I hated when some people would keep quite due to "political correctness".  As a "religious" person i always liked whenever someone come and challenge me with questions or debut about religion. it help me understand my own religion better for some reason. Of course with respect from both side.

[GoldenGumdrop 164]

I'm a Christian-Baptist

[Justin_Case001 4,930]

On 6/2/2017 at 7:41 PM, SCS said:

I know for an absolute fact that Christianity is the one and only truth, and that accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior is the one and only path to salvation.

Actually, you don't.

You believe this firmly; of that I have no doubt.  But you do not know it for a fact, because no one does, and no one can.  All we know for a fact is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the supernatural claims of any religion.

I am an agnostic atheist, and I believe that religion is the most divisive and harmful thing ever created.  The vast majority of problems and violence caused by religion could be instantly solved by one simple admission: that no one knows for sure what happens when we die.  Most religions claim to be 100% certain of what happens, but this is quite simply either intellectual dishonesty or an outright lie, as no one knows what happens, and no one can.  If every major religion just admitted that they are not 100% certain, then the vast majority of the worst atrocities caused by religion would cease, as acts like jihadism would unthinkable.  No one would be willing to blow themselves up on a hunch.

What I simply cannot comprehend about religion is the apparent failure to recognize that every religion throughout history has the same probability of being true, and that one's belief and commitment to a particular religion is almost always nothing more than the random chance of geography.  I.e. you were born in this country to a family of religion X, so your religion is X.  To the devout Christian, I ask: why aren't you a Muslim?  Why aren't you a Hindu?  Why aren't you a follower of Zeus and the gods of Mt. Olympus?  In all but the rarest of cases, the devout Christian is so because they were born to devout Christian parents and indoctrinated from birth.  What do you suppose you'd believe if you were born in Syria to devout Muslim parents?  Do you suppose that you'd have been indoctrinated into Islam, then at some point along the way, realized it was pure hokum, found Jesus, and realized that Christianity is the one and only truth?  If you believe that you would have done this, then I submit the following: why have you not realized that Christianity is hokum, and that Allah is the only path to salvation?  After all, that is what billions of Muslims believe, and if you were born into their religion, then that's what you'd believe too.

Let's talk about the ancient Greeks for a moment.  Why is it that the gods of Olympus are universally viewed today as simply a work of fiction--mythology to be studied for historical and recreational purposes.  Nothing more.  No one talks about Zeus and Poseidon in any serious context, as if they are real.  Moreover, if someone states that they do in fact believe in the gods of Olympus, they pay an immediate intellectual price for it.  The fact is that no one currently believes in these gods simply because, for whatever myriad of reasons, they fell out of favor and were lost in the mists of history.  I find it completely baffling that very few recognize the lack of difference between the gods of Olympus and every single other religion on Earth, including the present ones.  There is no more evidence for the god of the Bible then there is for Zeus.  We did not prove that Zeus doesn't exist.  This is not a discovery that happened in the 3rd century.  The god of bible, or the Qu'ran, or any other holy book today, are just as fantastical, and far-fetched as the gods of Olympus.  And yet, the gods of Olympus are looked at as a joke, occupying the same space in our discourse as Santa Claus, dragons, or the Dark Lord Sauron, while billions claim absolute certainty of the god of the bible or the Qu'ran, even though there is not the slightest bit more evidence for them then there is for Zeus.  And I've only talked about one ancient religion.  What about the thousands of others?  What about all the other gods that lie in the graveyard we call "mythology"?  The certainty of the gods of today, and the utter and comic dismissal of the gods of the past, is only so because of happenstance of where you were born, and young-age indoctrination.

Now consider the following: we presently have thousands of religions in practice today, but let's just focus on the big ones, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.  That covers about 99.99% of the world's religious population, I reckon.  Each of these religions has a different holy book, and all are mutually incompatible.  They each tell a different story, and none of them tell the same story.  Each book says that it is true, and that anything else is false.  There is no evidence for any of them.  Essentially, it's as if holy book A says "2+2=3", holy book B says "2+2=5", and each book says, "This book is the one and only truth."  These religions all cropped up in different parts of the world, all separated from each other in a time where the world was not electronically interconnected.  I don't know which came first or where, but I do know that Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and all the rest were not living together in a big mixed company. inventing their religions side by side.  Islam pops up over here, and Christianity over there.  Religions meet, clash and wars are fought because each side claims they have divine authority.  At most, ONE, and only ONE of these holy books can be true.  There aren't very many possibilities to explain the existence of these incompatible books.  There are three.  Either: A) Humans tried to explain the world around them with limited knowledge and technology, inventing different religions in different regions, and all got it wrong, or B.) God wrote or otherwise dictated ONE holy book, and left all other regions high and dry to come up with their own answers, or C) God passed out many different holy books, one, or possibly none, of which were true.  Answer C would mean that God is a troll, and answer B would mean he's a dick.  Which is most likely?  That humans all tried to get it right and failed, that god wrote only one book for one people in one region and said "screw it" to everyone else, or that god trolled humanity?  Only one of these answers makes sense.

Religion claims to know things it cannot know, and claims to have powers it cannot have.  To all religious people, I submit the following request: please stop pretending that you have authority that you do not.  I'm not asking you to stop believing in god or your religion.  I'm not trying to change your beliefs.  I'm simply asking that you admit that you do not, and cannot, know for certain.  Stop pretending that your religion, simply by dint of the fact that it is your religion, gives you some supreme authority to know that you are right, and everyone else is wrong, an authority, I might add, that every major religion believes itself to have.  Simply by dint of geography and the religion they were indoctrinated into, everyone knows they are right, and knows everyone who believes differently is wrong.  The Christian knows he is right.  The Muslim knows he is right.  Where does this leave us?  Neither knows for certain, because no one can.  Believe whatever you want, but please have the honesty and integrity to admit that it is just that: a belief.  Faith.  Whatever you want to call it.  It is not fact, and you do not know for certain.

[碇 シンジン 27,439]

I like to think that if something exists there has to be something true behind it since otherwise it couldn't exist. Everything is formed from truth and the truth itself is what i believe. That said the Bible I think is a more of a reference guide to reach the right path and the foundation of the truth that people have constructed over the ages. The words itself are flawed and far from the right message but when you can see beyond the words  and see the spirit behind the text  you can grasp the true meaning behind the text.

I  grew into a religious mormon family and i went to church from since i was born and we  read the scriptures every day. After 7-8 years I felt that something was off since the church and its teachings didnt go any further  and the discussion around the subjects were kinda dull since people didnt desire the knowledge and go deeper in their study. So i dropped out from the church since i felt it was  hindering me in my own research.

I started adapting the different principles of the bible in my own life and thinking about the world and why things some are considered the way they are. I saw that many religions called that they are the only true religion and I was thinking that  there must be something more to it than that. Why the other religions called the other ones wrong?   what is right and wrong actually. Does such thing as concept wrong even exist. 

I think that something cannot be 100% wrong without a single reference to something true in it, because everything that is false has derived from the truth at some point, this world is like a puzzle where you need to assemble those pieces together and only that way you can see the whole picture. you mustnt call anything wrong or discard it . you dont really discard any pieces when you build a puzzle do you? if you do the puzzle cannot be completed.

when you are able to see the world as a whole you can start seeing the patterns how things work and that way find a structure behind the  given concept and why it works the way it does. in this world the only thing you are fighting against is yourself. The struggle becomes from our flesh and body  it has its own nature and I think the goal  is to tame it and finally become one with it.  the opposites meet the flesh and spirit  that way you can achieve control over both of them.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, TBD said:

I challenge you to a debut then xp 

I like whenever people come up to challenge religion and vise versa. It's help me learn more about it on both sides point of view. I hated when some people would keep quite due to "political correctness".  As a "religious" person i always liked whenever someone come and challenge me with questions or debut about religion. it help me understand my own religion better for some reason. Of course with respect from both side.

Online debates are more or less useless, as in I can't change your opinion and you can't change mine, plus this topic isn't the best one to have a debate at. Feel free to PM me and we can argue there.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Guest