Belief Poll

[Olly 1,011]

This is just an exercise I thought would be interesting to see what the statistics are- not meant to advocate one stance over another. Here's a little bonus question if anyone wants to answer:

Do you think you could live or draw meaning from life without your religious/"spiritual" beliefs? 

Edited May 5, 2018 by Olly

[kaiser5578 340]

yeah, honestly i only use Hinduism as a tool for my spiritual needs. though, it would be easy enough to get behind the fact that we are all just coincidence and that literally everything is a miracle. as for no afterlife... well i was dead for an eternity before i was born, i didn't mind it then, i doubt i'll mind it when my time comes.

[J.J 926]

"the" god, or any "god", I think this world bears false imagery, but often times the correct faith. Meaning their heart is in it, but it isn't the correct belief system, and on the flip side, most people just say they have some sort of religion to identify and or out of fear... Gods don't answer prayers, and they to us are the source of an entity, not an outright one himself. I think faith should be used to earn, along with loyalty and sentiment, not take. I think you make sacrifices it is evident where you stand before your beliefs, you expect sacrifices to be made for you, you believe in people that believe in god... because he isn't nearly as nice as his followers...(or so believe themselves to be)

[Envy 6,267]

I see no reason to believe in a deity/higher power. That's not to say that we can discount it with 100% certainty, but I can throw in the pile of other random unsubstantiated claims and go on with my life.

I'm not concerned with some capital P purpose in life. I've never really understood why people make such a big deal about this, to be honest. I exist, we exist. It's a really neat thing. I don't need a meaning to live. The world and universe around is so full of wonder and always new things to learn/try. Now for a goal, I think as a whole we should strive to make that existence more comfortable and enriching and increase the well-being of those who are less fortunate to the best of our efforts. That's just a natural goal I derive from existing myself and having empathy. I also know it is not necessarily one that everyone would agree with, sadly.

[The Recherche 29,977]

As a deist myself, I will say yes. Please note that the deist God and the Abrahamic God are two separate things; the Deist "God" is merely a creator, while the God of Abrahamic religions answers prayers. performs miracles... things like that. Whatever this deity may be is all up to interpretation.

[Oleks 1,993]

I answered "No", because I don't believe in any "higher powers".

As for the additional question, I don't consider myself a spiritual person, and I don't need anything to "draw meaning from life", because I actually don't want to limit myself with one certain meaning or goal in life - I just want to enjoy life while I can.

[SushiSub 37]

well, im a pagan but i definitely think someone could set a better life without spirituality. its just that some people find more comfort and guidelines in religion. thats my take

[kaiser5578 340]

really i just use religion as a tool, i dont really believe much in gods and goddesses. i have a hard time worshipping genocidal monsters who murder and smite without mercy

[Thuja 3,663]

I do believe in a higher power, I just don't believe in one higher power.  I believe that there are more forces at work than just one god only

[Dreambiscuit 10,584]

I absolutely believe in God. If I didn't have that connection in my life it would be difficult to find meaning. I guess I would trudge along and try to do my best with the time I have, but there would be little substance in it. There is no way to fully express how much God means to me. I don't want to merely survive, I want to live, and God is life.  

[Stardust* 3,302]

I have a very different view on many aspects of God/higher power. Being raised in religion and leaving it when I was in high school, going back to it, and then researching other religions my views have changed drastically. 

I will never tell anyone that they are wrong for believing or for not believing. But after talking with so many religious persons and asking questions that they cannot answer, their response was always (pray about it, you will know the answer when you feel it.) The thing is... I could never "feel" anything.

So I would go and research and figure it out on my own. The more research and searching within myself, which was more for enlightenment rather than salvation, my views fall much more in alignment of Buddhism. Which isn't a religion at all, and a way to find yourself at peace. I don't know, I can't really answer the poll because of my background. I will never flat out disbelieve, but I also struggle to believe what makes zero sense to me. 

[King of Canterlot 9,604]

I believe in God, I'm a Roman Catholic and I've been one my entire life. There's honestly no reason for me to not believe in God, because he's someone I can look up to and be like "Yeah your watching over me, you've got my back, and you love me with all your being" What's not to like about someone who loves you with all their existence and also happens to be the creator of the universe? God does answer prayers, I know for a fact because my family has gone through some dark times, and we prayed and prayed for a miracle, and it happened. God does answer, but you just have to look 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,980]

I believe in no higher power whatsoever. To me, a 'higher power' is just an invisible excuse to enforce religious dogma.

To answer the bonus question, I wouldn't be able to find much meaning in this life WITH a god in play. In fact, that would actually make it more difficult, since then I would know that I am not existing to be happy for myself or to experience happiness in general, but rather to please some deity that created the universe yet needs its ego fed at all times, as is the case with many religious deities. Would make this life seem pretty insignificant. On top of that, most gods are petty, spiteful and outright murderous in their literature and it would be a bummer knowing that I exist only to please 'that'.

[碇 シンジン 27,437]

Everyone has equal power only one who is limiting you is yourself i dont believe calling someone higher or lower in another words we are no different from god just in different phase of discovering ourselves

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by Hanekawa Tsubasa

[Denim&Venöm 19,754]

More like I'm open to the possibility of a higher power existing. 

But religion? That I do not believe in. 

God  may or may not be real. But religion is probably fake. 

Edited May 10, 2018 by Denim&Venom

[Sondash Studios 4,862]

On 5/5/2018 at 7:41 AM, Olly said:

This is just an exercise I thought would be interesting to see what the statistics are- not meant to advocate one stance over another. Here's a little bonus question if anyone wants to answer:

Do you think you could live or draw meaning from life without your religious/"spiritual" beliefs? 

Yes.

Since I'm a born again Christian, I believe in God as my creator and savior with the Bible as my ultimate proof. 

[Olly 1,011]

2 hours ago, Sondash Studios said:

Yes.

Since I'm a born again Christian, I believe in God as my creator and savior with the Bible as my ultimate proof. 

The bible isn't something you turn to for "proof" though... the bible doesn't set out to prove anything. If you're christian you take it as an article of faith and assume it's true, for whatever reason you do. 

[Sondash Studios 4,862]

52 minutes ago, Olly said:

The bible isn't something you turn to for "proof" though... the bible doesn't set out to prove anything. If you're christian you take it as an article of faith and assume it's true, for whatever reason you do. 

Well not exactly, Jesus talks in the bible in all 4 gospels and i know it's true. The Bible tells why we're on this earth, what to do, love others, etc. (Moral standards for life)

[King of Canterlot 9,604]

59 minutes ago, Sondash Studios said:

Well not exactly, Jesus talks in the bible in all 4 gospels and i know it's true. The Bible tells why we're on this earth, what to do, love others, etc. (Moral standards for life)

Exactly! What a lot of people fail to understand is that the events that took place in the Bible actually happened, they did, thousands of years ago, but just because it happened thousands of years ago doesn't make it fiction. These are real people and places, and over the course of several hundred years people who sometimes never met each other because they were separated by time and land, wrote about God, the same God, and the coming savior which was prophesied and came true when Jesus came. People documented in several books (the four Gospels) what happened during his life, and that leads us to today. None of these things were coincidental, and many who do not believe fail to see that 

[Sondash Studios 4,862]

6 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

Exactly! What a lot of people fail to understand is that the events that took place in the Bible actually happened, they did, thousands of years ago, but just because it happened thousands of years ago doesn't make it fiction. These are real people and places, and over the course of several hundred years people who sometimes never met each other because they were separated by time and land, wrote about God, the same God, and the coming savior which was prophesied and came true when Jesus came. People documented in several books (the four Gospels) what happened during his life, and that leads us to today. None of these things were coincidental, and many who do not believe fail to see that 

Amen brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

3 hours ago, King of Canterlot said:

Exactly! What a lot of people fail to understand is that the events that took place in the Bible actually happened, they did, thousands of years ago, but just because it happened thousands of years ago doesn't make it fiction. 

No, but what does make some people view it as fiction is that there isn't actually any proof that the events that took place in the bible actually happened. 

[King of Canterlot 9,604]

6 minutes ago, Yamet said:

No, but what does make some people view it as fiction is that there isn't actually any proof that the events that took place in the bible actually happened. 

Your very ignorant 

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

Just now, King of Canterlot said:

Your very ignorant 

To quote the very same article "the association with David is not based on direct archaeological evidence, but solely on circumstantial grounds." So yeah, not exactly the most convincing proof in the world.

Also, how am I ignorant? 

[King of Canterlot 9,604]

1 minute ago, Yamet said:

not exactly the most convincing proof in the world

The fact is that they're still digging, it's very possible that the remains do in fact have direct ties to King David, though it'll probably be a few years before there's any substantial findings

3 minutes ago, Yamet said:

Also, how am I ignorant?

You can't just ignore findings like this, sure they haven't found any direct ties yet, but they might, and if they do, then you'll be considered ignorant for ignoring possible Biblical sites like this one   

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

1 minute ago, King of Canterlot said:

The fact is that they're still digging, it's very possible that the remains do in fact have direct ties to King David,

And your point is? 

"Oh, we might find proof in the future" isn't the most convincing argument either  and can practically be applied to every other mythology as well. 

And even if it does wind up having direct ties to king david, that wouldn't really convince me either. I mean, I don't really see how it'd prove that, say, any of the events of the new testament happened.  

3 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

You can't just ignore findings like this

I'm not ignoring it, I'm just not immediately convinced that it somehow proves that the events of the bible actually happened.