Are you religious?

[Bad Dream 9,525]

I'm Catholic and a firm believer. I love my religion and enjoy living my life according to its teachings. I'm not perfect but God knows that and He's patient with me as I develop throughout my life. I can't imagine living without God or religion and I wouldn't want to. 

Edited September 10, 2017 by Dreambiscuit

[Lulzypop 3]

Agnostic FTW 

Kinda went started becoming a skeptic around age 14...

[Envy 6,128]

It's probably pretty obvious with me by now, but no, I'm not. I was raised to be, but it never caught on for me. as a child I was only ever going to church because I had to, and my "beliefs" were only based on conformity and trust in my parents and community/church that they had access to some knowledge and feelings that I did not. I came to realize that just really isn't the case. Not that their beliefs aren't sincere, I'm sure they are. I just don't see any reason myself. I was never given any, and once my Christian bubble was burst, I quickly began to realize that belief just didn't make much of any sense with the world and universe around me, logically and morally.

[Gabriel 560]

Optimistic nihilist by heart and brain. Used to be a protestant church member but when the confirmation camp came along as a kid I quit that stuff. The priests there were absolute zealots. I didn't want to hurt their feelings or anything and passed the camp but yeah, quite ironic that the thing that is supposed to strengthen your belief dissipated it completely. After that I did some actual research on the subject and did the personal conclusion that there is absolutely nothing. Everything 'life' appears to be is just a perception and all 'morals' and 'facts' are just individually subjective as there is no 'great meaning' or something like that in my opinion.

That doesn't mean that I live in total despair knowing that there is nothing after death or the fact that we have as much worth as a grain of sand. That is indeed where the "optimistic" comes in "Optimistic nihilist", as I think no one should worry about it, rather spending their short time here as they want, have fun, do whatever. (within the limits of law of course) 

[Yakamaru 3,126]

No, I am not religious. I am a full-blown Atheist. If I were forced to follow a religion(not necessarily believe in it) I'd go with Pastafarian or Greek Mythology.

I was however raised to be a Christian, and a lot of people around me call themselves that. Quite frankly, I've never seen them go to church let alone pray. I guess it's this "I am X if I claim to be X" kind of thing.

[PumpkinCharm 65]

I'm a Roman Revivalist, and consider myself religious. I honor the gods and make offerings, and live my life in an honorable manner.

[Midnight Blaze 98 1,138]

As I said when I started this topic, I am fairly religious, although I don't have much of a problem with Atheists as long as they respect other people's religions, which most do. Although, not meaning to start an argument here, it does rather annoy me when people who don't believe in God celebrate Christmas- I mean, it's called CHRISTmas for a reason...

On 10/09/2017 at 6:32 AM, Dreambiscuit said:

I'm Catholic and a firm believer. I love my religion and enjoy living my life according to its teachings. I'm not perfect but God knows that and He's patient with me as I develop throughout my life. I can't imagine living without God or religion and I wouldn't want to. 

Great to see I'm not the only rather religious brony on here! 

Edited September 14, 2017 by Midnight Blaze 98

[Jedishy 3,548]

4 hours ago, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

Although, not meaning to start an argument here, it does rather annoy me when people who don't believe in God celebrate Christmas- I mean, it's called CHRISTmas for a reason...

Yea and its traditions are based on stolen pagan ones and based on all actual evidence its not the time of the birth of Christ. So that annoyance is misplaced. Maybe the church should stop using pagan traditions first and THEN we can chat. 

[Midnight Blaze 98 1,138]

7 minutes ago, Jedishy said:

Yea and its traditions are based on stolen pagan ones and based on all actual evidence its not the time of the birth of Christ. So that annoyance is misplaced. Maybe the church should stop using pagan traditions first and THEN we can chat. 

Mmmm, that's a good point, December the 25th was a Pagen celebration at some point (I'm afraid I don't know what it was; sorry) Christmas is celebrated then because nobody knows exactly when Christ was born. 

I see your point, but the present and tree part which non-Christians use is still part of a Christian celebration. If anyone still celebrates whatever the original celebration was, then I'm fine with that... 

Edited September 14, 2017 by Midnight Blaze 98

[Jedishy 3,548]

2 minutes ago, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

Mmmm, that's a good point, December the 25th was a Pagen celebration at some point (I'm afraid I don't know what it was; sorry) Christmas is celebrated then because nobody knows exactly when Christ was born. 

I see your point, but the present and tree part which non-Christians use is still part of a Christian celebration. If anyone still celebrates whatever the original celebration was, then I'm fine with that... 

No those are stolen bits of Germanic and various other traditions that the Christians decided to co-opt. They are not part of the celebration originally and thus if we want to be annoyed at other celebrating "your" holiday then you should not use them 

[honk friend 1,978]

2 minutes ago, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

Mmmm, that's a good point, December the 25th was a Pagen celebration at some point (I'm afraid I don't know what it was; sorry) Christmas is celebrated then because nobody knows exactly when Christ was born. 

I see your point, but the present and tree part which non-Christians use is still part of a Christian celebration. If anyone still celebrates whatever the original celebration was, then I'm fine with that... 

I don't see how an annual gift-giving celebration has to be a strictly religious custom. It doesn't matter what group of people took yuletide and had the idea of turning it in to a gift-giving holiday, but that doesn't mean only that group of people are allowed to adopt the same custom.

[TBD 17,253]

Partially religious, there are some things I either couldn't agree with or  just couldn't held to it expectation. 

[Midnight Blaze 98 1,138]

1 minute ago, Jedishy said:

No those are stolen bits of Germanic and various other traditions that the Christians decided to co-opt. They are not part of the celebration originally and thus if we want to be annoyed at other celebrating "your" holiday then you should not use them 

Ok, now that you mention I think the trees thing did come from Norway or somewhere, but whatever it used to be, it is pretty much a Christian celebration now, I mean, even non-Christians send cards saying Merry Christmas in, so it's clearly not just being celebrated as a gift giving thing.

But anyway, I never meant that comment to start an argument, and I usually like to keep threads constructive. It's sad that religion causes so many arguments, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. And I really don't think us arguing over Christmas celebrations counts as constructive, so maybe we should leave it here?! You're welcome to your own opinion and I'm welcome to mine.  

9 minutes ago, Annie said:

I don't see how an annual gift-giving celebration has to be a strictly religious custom. It doesn't matter what group of people took yuletide and had the idea of turning it in to a gift-giving holiday, but that doesn't mean only that group of people are allowed to adopt the same custom.

Agreed, there's nothing wrong with an annual gift giving celebration (sign me up! ) It's just the fact that some people use Christmas as an excuse for one that annoys me. Anyway, let's try to keep this constructive!  

[honk friend 1,978]

When christians say non-christians shouldn't be allowed to celebrate christmas, I can't help but think of the people who whine about cultural appropriation.

[Jedishy 3,548]

Just now, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

Ok, now that you mention I think the trees thing did come from Norway or somewhere, but whatever it used to be, it is pretty much a Christian celebration now, I mean, even non-Christians send cards saying Merry Christmas in, so it's clearly not just being celebrated as a gift giving thing.

But anyway, I never meant that comment to start an argument, and I usually like to keep threads constructive. It's sad that religion causes so many arguments, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. And I really don't think us arguing over Christmas celebrations counts as constructive, so maybe we should leave it here?! You're welcome to your own opinion and I'm welcome to mine.  

I'm sorry, but you can't say "I don't want an argument" and bash peoples practices as annoying when your own practices are not really your own but ones taken from people that got abused by the religion that stole them. Something stolen ( It's theft only because force was used to conquer the people and then we have people like you annoyed when others use the customs.) does not become yours just because you use it long enough. Normally I do not complain about people using traditions from anywhere but when someone wants to be annoyed about said use they need a good reminder of the barbaric way in which they got the tradition in the first place. 

[Envy 6,128]

5 hours ago, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

Although, not meaning to start an argument here, it does rather annoy me when people who don't believe in God celebrate Christmas- I mean, it's called CHRISTmas for a reason...

So many of the traditions related to "Christmas" are celebrating the winter solstice (when the days begin getting longer). Why do you think people put evergreen trees in their homes? In a pre-scientific culture, evergreens were a complete wonder. They were a sign of life and fertility in plants when everything else was brown and seemingly dead. I can imagine the fascination, I can imagine them being worshiped in a way.

I will continue to celebrate the oncoming of my favorite season, and I'll even call it "Christmas" for Christians. But I will celebrate it. I love decorating spruces, seeing beautiful shiny lights everywhere, candy canes, and snow. Those traditions have nothing to do with Christianity.

The only particularly Christian part of Christmas I really like are the old Christian Christmas songs... But you can't tell me that I can't like Christian music because I'm a nonbeliever. Old/Ancient Christian music is beautiful to my ears, I don't need belief for that.

Edited September 14, 2017 by Envy

[Mind Scape 45]

I'd say I'm an agnostic atheist. I don't believe in any religion(but maybe there's one out there though that I like) while some could be true, there is no actually evidence to support that God or any other deity exists. If that is scientifically proven, I'll believe it. I used to be christian since it was forced on me by my mother who is christian and I just thought that was just the way to live, but when I was 10 I was really questioning whether or not the things in the Bible are true and actually happened, whether or not God/Jesus can actually see and hear everything I do and say, if praying even does anything....and look, in no way am I saying that it's wrong to pray, follow the Bible and feel god/Jesus around you and believe in all that stuff because if it helps you, makes you happy, and you're not hurting anyone and respecting everyone else's choices and beliefs, and not being hypocritical, I see no problem. Anyways, I decided that Christianity was not for me. I hated how my mom would say that it is the only truth and she wasn't open minded at all to other beliefs, yet told me to be open minded about her religion. So I was just atheist for awhile, and now I'm also agnostic and a strong believer of science and the scientific method. But I'm also pretty spiritual about auras/vibes/souls/hippie stuff and very open-minded. 

[Hachiroku 127]

I ain't a religious person, nor do I believe in God but I still go to church with my family sometimes.

[DJ_Bonebraker 183]

I am fairly religious, depending on how you define it.  I strongly believe in Jesus & the Bible, however, I have come to some conclusions that put me at odds with certain main-stream Christian denominations, particularly due to the fact that I'm non-binary transgender and have come to the conclusion that the interpretations of certain passages of scripture that are used to condemn LGBTQI people are wrong, and have a different meaning than what many modern churches preach, based on historical & cultural context.  Furthermore, while I try to let it be known what I believe in and that I do believe it's the ultimate truth, I also try my best to not force my beliefs down everyone's throats, demean others' beliefs (or lack thereof), even if I disagree (unless you believe in something that directly harms other people, then we're going to "have words" as they say).

The way I figure it, life's short & miserable enough on this sin-infested ball of rock that I don't want to add to that misery by pointing the finger at everyone & criticizing or condemning them for not being perfect:  Most people who aren't complete psychopaths probably already do that to themselves without having some self-important prick rubbing it in their faces (I know I do! ).  Instead, I prefer to do as St. Francis of Assisi once said (more or less) to the novice monks at his monastery:  "Let us go into the village and preach the Gospel.  Only use words if necessary".  I try to let the way I live my life & my actions do most of my speaking for me (after all, actions speak louder than words, right?) and practice what I preach.  My goal every day is to make this world at least a little bit better than it was yesterday.  

One thing I would like to note here is that I came to my beliefs later in life than many others have:  I was raised in a family that could best be described as non-religious, or even anti-religious theists:  My mom was a non-practicing Christian who left the church due to abuse she suffered from it as a girl (although she returned to it not long after I became a Christian) and my dad believed that there was some sort of ultimate creator god, but that all the various religions out there were (a) merely reflections of different facets of said being and (b) mostly just a means for power-hungry dictators to oppress and/or kill people for fun & profit (he ended up converting to Christianity some time after I graduated high school).  As a result, I ended up spending most of my elementary school & middle school years denouncing religious people as "self-righteous hypocrites" (granted some are, but not all, by any stretch of the imagination) until one day when I was 13, I was making the same spiel about how "I wasn't some self-righteous hypocrite like those Christians,"  and it dawned on me:  I was being self-righteous in condemning people I deemed to be self-righteous hypocrites, I was being a hypocrite as well.

This started a quest for answers that lasted several months, when I looked into various religions and philosophies, and ultimately came to the conclusion that Christianity was the true path, since it was the only one that, to me, both made sense intellectually AND emotionally, although I will admit that Buddhism & Taoism came pretty close, and that's how I came to my faith.  Since then, I've been to a dozen different countries on 4 different continents and everything I've seen only helped to confirm my faith.  During my travels (thanks to the Navy), I did get to meet people of all different religious backgrounds: Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Australian Aboriginal beliefs, etc.  I had many interesting conversations with people I met from these faiths and the things I learned from each one ultimately helped me gain new insights about my own beliefs, and to realize, that even with all the evil and suffering in this world, just how marvelous & wonderful God's creation really was.

3 hours ago, Envy said:

So many of the traditions related to "Christmas" are celebrating the winter solstice (when the days begin getting longer). Why do you think people put evergreen trees in their homes? In a pre-scientific culture, evergreens were a complete wonder. They were a sign of life and fertility in plants when everything else was brown and seemingly dead. I can imagine the fascination, I can imagine them being worshiped in a way.

You know, it's funny how you bring this up, since I almost became a botanist, but ultimately changed my career path to electronics (in brief, the reason was that most of the biology professors were Richard Dawkins' brand of rabid anti-theist atheists and I figured out that my other long time hobby, electronics, had better career opportunities without any of the religion vs atheism drama).  I still am an avid horticulturalist who specializes in growing rare & unusual plants (e.g. I'm growing citrus, bananas & palms outdoors year-round in central Pennsylvania), and I must say that I LOVE my evergreen plants, because they brighten up the yard, but that's beside the point.  I still consider them a complete wonder, even though I understand the biological & evolutionary principles behind it.  To quote a line from Sir Terry Prachett's novel, The Wee Free Men:

"That was how it worked. No magic at all. But that time it had been magic. And it didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done..."

I find that having such an attitude does wonders for keeping a fresh outlook on life and prevents one from becoming a jaded, cynical old turd over time.

[Kaneki 1,072]

Yes, I try to be Christian. I'm not always a model Christian though, I do swear sometimes and say lewd things as jokes for examples, but I believe in Jesus Christ, yes. I'm not gonna judge you if you are not religious at all, or of a different religion, as the Bible does say not to judge, and honestly, you're free to be how you want!

[Prospekt 11,017]

I'm religious, officially non-denominational Christian but leaning Orthodox theologically. Haven't quite made the commitment to convert to Orthodoxy yet, kinda because I have evangelical parents who believe anything besides the sola scriptura school of thought is anti-Christian.

I don't believe in shoving religion in people's face. Not everyone is going to convert to a certain faith if you try to woo them. That's just life. The Bible makes it clear in the New Testament that the gospel will be preached to the whole world but not everyone is going to be "saved." While sharing the gospel is a good thing to do, sometimes living a Christ-like life is what's effective. And in the end, Jesus tells us that judging a fellow person is wrong, and if you judge then you will also be judged (Matthew 7:1-5). Kind of similar to the basic idea of karma in Eastern religions. You reap what you sow.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Prospekt

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

Very. But only my very best friends know who my god is lol

[Monsoon 1,662]

I'm far from religious to be honest I used to be when I was 5-11 but after that I ditched all religion and just to live life and i grew to hate mass XD 

[Philosopher Pone 108]

I consider myself an atheist/agnostic. I respect other people's religiousness as far as they do not try to force others to obey their religious rules (through law, for example). Believe what you want and even if I may find it stupid, I don't care until it does not have to affect others' lives negatively.

On the other hand, sometimes I tend to be quite cynical about hypocrisy of many people who consider themselves "religious" while not following the basic moral rules of their faith. I see a lot of people who are religious just in order to conform to the society and going to church is just a habit for them, not something of a greater spiritual meaning. I can be also a bit anti-clerical sometimes, I just dont't like intitutionalization and politicization of religion. Generally, I think that if more folks who call themselves Christians actually contemplated and followed what Christ had to say, the world would be at least a bit better place.

If I were supposed to follow any religion, I would choose buddhism, from the philosophical perspective, leaving aside any spiritual or supernatural elements of some buddhist traditions.

 

[Guest]

I used to be somewhat religious but I never really thought about it until my late teens. After that I crystallized my attitude towards religion a bit more and am now an Anti-Theist. I was not raised with any particular religion in mind.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Guest