I believe in a God. Not religion though. I am spiritual. I believe in an historical person named Jesus. But I believe he was just a man. I believe in an afterlife. Mainly because I hope that this life isn't it.... That there's something to live for. God isn't there to tell us what to do, to fix things for us, to interfere. He's not our judge. He may not even be a God in the sense of an all powerful being. But more a being who has achieved "enlightenment". I do believe in reincarnation, that you can learn from your life, and grow, reaching higher and higher "planes".
I guess, if I had to pick a religion, I would be a Buddhist.

I as well went to a Catholic school from kindergarten but only until 6th grade when I left for a public school. Around 5th or 6th grade I realized that my prayers weren't ever answered.

I don't believe in a God because simply looking around I see that we've had to work hard for a long time to get where we are now, but we still have a very long ways to go.

There's a saying I've heard a couple times and it makes it sound as though everything good that goes your way comes from God, but that everything bad is your fault.

So what if I've worked hard for 2 years in a job and I'm finally recognized and promoted. It seems to me like I would have earned that. But if I make a bad choice by celebrating in certain illegal ways and get caught for it, then it's still my own doing. It seems that in both cases each ending was caused by my own doing. However, if you should choose to go with the saying, then it's God's divine intervention that got you the promotion but it's your own damn fault if you mess it up.

That doesn't make sense to me.

And if God is such an compassionate, understanding creature, why would he "tell" some of his followers that homosexuality is one of the most evil sins you can commit, and that every single religion but his is wrong?

I'm curious if there are any non-christian plimates . It would be interesting to have their views on this topic.


(in addition to marz)

I'm not Christian (though I used to be).
I'm an agnostic, but I lean towards Buddhism.

I've actually attended a convent school till I was 17. I've been baptised, had communion and confirmation. My parents are catholic, and brought me up as such. I had to go to mass with them etc. Once I turned 18, I was allowed to make my own choices. I already knew what I wanted then.

I would say I'm not catholic now, but I was.

Should read back a bit -
Doggy
Kero
Mutil8or

Pascal's wager (paraphrased):

• If I believe and I am right: SCORE!!
• If I believe and I am wrong: No eternal loss.
• If I don't believe and I am right: No eternal loss.
• If I don't believe and I am wrong: ETERNAL DAMNATION!!

Like Pascal, I see no conflict in scientific thought and a belief in a higher power. I find it helps my peace of mind to believe somebody thought this out. Science is man's way of learning to understand how he did it. I could be wrong, but, as long as I am not using it as an excuse to remain ignorant, no harm done.

Unfortunately, the real problem isn't GOD, it is MAN. A belief in an interpretation by man of some work of man (Bible, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.). A belief that some men know the thinking of God better than the rest of us. etc. That is all about power, not spirituality.

I believe in God. I do not believe in RELIGION.

I was referring to non-christian plimates that believe in a god. Sorry for the confusion.

"U no wantz neibor stuff! No wief, no gurlz, no menz, no animulz, NO BUKKITZ! DEY NOT UR BUKKITZ, K? dey da LOLrus' bukkits."

BAHAHAHAHAHAH


___________________________
To stick to the topic and not get in trouble for jacking to say "lol", I'll throw in what I believe.

I'm not entirely sure if there is a God, but I don't rule it out. I believe in Demons, so you'd think I believe in God right? No, it's not as simple as that. [The whole demon thing I'd rather not discuss, but it's part of my belief, so I figured I'd mention it.]

I used to believe in a God, and I find myself praying only when things get really tough. It's like he's a last resort to me.

Every time I find myself in a religious debate I always throw out this quote: "Human beings speculating a divine being is the equivalent of penguins speculating nuclear physics." [I'm paraphrasing here, as I don't remember the exact words and who said it.]
But it's true. If there was a God who created everything we see around us, He/She/It would be so complex, our tiny little human brains would not be capable of understanding.

/0.02

Sorry if I made little sense, I'm a bit distracted at the moment.

Somebody went to a lot of work doing that.

I wonder if their language skills are stuck like that now. :^)

LOL I wuz wunderin that 2.


Crap!! It's happening after reading just 2 pages!!

I think there's a few Flying Spagetti Monster believers around, and I know there are a few Jews but I can't remember who they all are other than Jaxom.

As for the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I don't like it.

It just seems like it's making fun instead of adding anything constructive.


What also bugs me are those people (a few of which are my friends) who scoff at and openly mock how odd it sounds that Joseph Smith spoke to angels through a hat (or whatever he did, I am admittedly not Mormon) or that one can die but have their spirit be reborn or that Moses spoke to a burning bush, but who blindly accept that an electron can literally be in two places at once and that the act of measuring it makes it change what it does. It's hypocritical.

While I do not condone MOCKING, this is not HYPOCRITICAL.

In one case, we are asked to believe something absurd without proof. (Usually with a prove it didn't happen argument.)

In the other case we are asked to believe something that is absurd but something that is measurable and observable. Many technological advances are based on these effects.

I can see where the distinction is, and I can see your point. But I still think that it's hypocritical to mock someone's absurdity when you harbor something just as absurd.

It's like laughing at someone for eating a red delicious and then sinking your teeth into a granny smith.

Either stop eating apples or don't make fun of other people's apples.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster makes me laugh. I'm a Christian, but I try to have a sense of humor about everything (because God gave me one, and made so many things that are funny (farts and duck billed platypusses, for instance)), and that includes my own faith and pardoies of it.

But that's just me. The Fyling Spaghetti Monster was initially just a letter pointing out why religions should not be taught in public schools; and it had some damn good points. Then it became a meme, and it still is. Makes me chuckle from time to time simply because it is so absurd.

The issue with Pascal's Wager is that it assumes that Christianity is the only religion.
What if Islam is right? You'd still be damned, even if you did believe in the Christian god.
What if the Hindu's got it right? If you weren't up to their standards, you may just be reborn as a bottom feeding fish.
What if NO religions are right? What if there's a god that casts you to hell FOR believing in a god?
It's a pretty big fallacy.
That's not to say you shouldn't believe, but hopefully Pascal's Wager isn't the only reason you believe in what you do.

I consider myself as an agnostic who's as close to being an athiest as an agnostic can be. I think that a god is possible, but not very probable. I don't think there's an omnipotent, omnipresent god, and I don't think we ascend to heaven or go to hell when we die. Humans are too flawed for me to believe that any religion we come up with is correct, and I can't believe that there's a god that care's about us with the way things are.
I have to say though, if the god the bible describes is real, then I'd have to absolutely hate him for letting me exist, and for letting the people I care about, no matter what they believe, go through absolute hell for no logical reason at all. The Satan argument only makes me wonder why something that could create entire universes wouldn't just make Satan go away.

I believe in God, because the Christian belief system makes the most sense to me.

I simply cannot fathom the idea that the universe, in all of its ridiculously complex splendor, could have happened by accident.

And personally, I find the thought that I'm descended from a monkey and have absolutely no purpose in life other than to procreate and die is incredibly depressing. Not to mention the subsequent moral implications of that eventuality.