Are you religious?

[Guest]

I think I’m an atheist?
 

What partly influenced me was that as a child I was forced to participate in Catholicism by my overly religious mother. Before her recent surgery, as far as my first memories go- my mother went to church every single day for several hours and try to shame us for not going. I was religious myself for a period of time as they scared me into believing about God. After her surgery, my mother watches masses and is praying here at home as she recuperates throughout the day. 

I was made to read the Bible all the way through several times. It is one of the most messed up books I have ever read and I have read a lot of fiction. One of the classic ”parables ” or stories that I see that they love mentioning is David and Goliath, but have people actually read the later years of David’s life in the Bible? FYI- This guy was chosen by God and part of his divine plan. Some questionable behavior- Collecting a peculiar part of the male skin from enemy soldiers in order to get approval from the king to become his son in law? Didn’t David have a solider placed in the front lines during a battle  because he coveted that guy’s wife as he saw her bathing from his rooftop? Didn’t he have several wives/concubines? Now don’t get me started on the messed up stuff with his son Absalom(look it up) and other stories. You can try to contextualize some of these instances, but they are just so contrary to the teachings they try to present and that’s just one small section of the Bible. 

No religion really sits well with me the more I learn about them, they all really feel like manipulative ideology  to control people to act in predetermined ways. I know this sounds like conspiracy time, but it’a almost like a weapon of war. Almost every war in history has been influenced by religion to a certain degree. Whoever created these religions knew exactly what they were doing and were pretty knowledgeable of human nature and our tendency of chasing a greater purpose. Every single human being encounters religion at some point because they want to pursue something greater and some see religion as the vehicle for that, but the reality is- this is it. There’s nothing else and that’s okay. It’s not the end of the world, but the world ends with you. There’s no negativity, or bitterness in my perspective to life like how some people try to say in order to downplay atheism, we’re just out here floating in this vaccumless space, chilling. You can still have a code of ethics or rules to live by and do many great things for personal reasons. 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by StarlightNyars

[Twitchy-Tremor 297]

I’m not a very religious person and even hated going to church when I was younger because I thought it was boring. I believe there’s a god or gods but that’s about it. 
 

[Iforgotmybrain 5,727]

I'm not really religious but could maybe be considered spiritual? Kind of? It's complicated. I believe or like some aspects of Christianity. mainly the Jesus stuff. Was he really the Son of God? I dunno honestly, but he was a real dude. And the stuff he preached seemed pretty cool and agreeable to me. Buddhism is interesting too, I like meditation and the Buddhist ideas of reincarnation but I don't know if I'd really call myself Buddhist. 

I could go on. I've written paragraphs to my one friend about it before but I'll spare everyone here from that. One paragraph is enough :p.

[TBD 17,254]

No, I do not associate myself with religions or consider myself religious. Despite of being raise in a Catholic, if it weren’t for my family, I would have stopped going to church long time ago. I do have beliefs of some sorts and cool with Jesus. However, as I said this before, times goes by and I forget to tell different between Satan and God. I could have a love/hate relationship with them both if I wanted to. Being raise and going to catholic school did shaped me up, as I was a troubled kid. But not in a way I would expect it to be.
 

From my experience, It didn’t even try to make me a better person. It’s only good for forcing me into a mold to the point it couldn’t fit anymore. So with that, being tried of all the bullshits- I literally drop it. And just do my own thing and believe what I wanted to believe in. Most societies forced people to be who you are not. Religion is one of it. And I don’t like associating myself with a society such as this. 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,986]

I believe I am becoming increasingly religious as time passes -- straying further and further away from my former Atheism/Agnosticism; at minimum recognizing religion's authority.

In brief, it strikes me that man will always be oriented to something that he considers to be of the highest value. This has traditionally been provided by the various traditions throughout the world. But when man begins to doubt the existence of the transcendent, is the tendency then to effectively consider man as god? But does this not have the tendency to replace tradition with mere ersatz religions? I doubt that man can be considered the absolute authority on morality when man is not what one can call an infinite entity.

Another thing that comes to mind is the cycle of civilizations: the collapse of civilization is preceded by the decline in religion -- a view held by, among others, Guénon, Spengler, Leontiev and Glubb. If religion was merely a set of arbitrary values, would not their removal result in some form of golden age for a civilization rather than being a symptom of incoming collapse?

It is definitely a matter with which I have more questions than answers, but, at present, it is difficult for me to imagine myself moving back towards Atheism/Agnosticism.

[Ryuuko 148]

i classify myself as agnostic.

[Clawdeen 14,778]

On 2023-09-02 at 1:33 PM, Props Valroa said:

I have never accepted the authority of organized religions on the planet. At best, I am indifferent to it. At worst, I am quite hostile to the notion of organized faith. I find that I am a lot more satisfied when I come to my own conclusions. I don't need a priest or an authority figure to tell me what to believe in. By nature, I am far too skeptical to believe in much of anything mainstream these days. At the same rate, Atheism does not satisfy me either. I do believe in the divine, in the sense that existence itself is what one can call "God", but I do not believe that there are any "Divine" authorities on Earth.

I was never raised religiously, both of my parents never attended Church or anything like that. Though before I was born, my family did enforce Catholicism before they walked away from it many years ago. I do not question the existence of "God", but what I question is the entire power structure and Church based around it. An infinite and "all-loving God" doesn't need a church. What immortal, omnipotent, and omnipresent being would confine itself to a mere building? Never made any kind of sense to me, so I do not think of the notion of a church with any kind of valor. 

I have become more and more hostile to the idea of organized religion over time, almost to the point where I can no longer bare to hear anything to do with it without a reaction of annoyance coming from my side of things.

At best, religious content strikes me as fairly immature, and at worst - entirely morally arrogant and consumed by people's egos. However, it is not only religious content that does this that evokes this reaction from me. What turns me away from it completely is those who act like religious "authorities" are the end all be all, who know everything, etc. 

"God" to me is not religious, it is a mere fact of life. Existence, and the fact that we as humans think and feel is proof of something more than us, though it isn't at my liberty to say what it is beyond the guess that we live in a universe that is a projection of infinite consciousness that has existed for infinity. 

 

Very well said. You really captured how I feel about organized religions as well.

[abronymouse 5,482]

In the delta sun, down in Arkansas,
It's the great god bird with its altar call,
And the sewing machine, the industrial god,
On the great bayou where they saw it fall.

It's the great god bird, down in Arkansas,
And the hunters beware, or the fishers fall,
And paradise might close from it's safe flight flawed,
It's the great god bird through it all.
 

--

in response to OP - um, nop. feel the spirit sometimes, but lack the discipline