This is not another religious debate thread.

Now that that's out of the way, I was curious as to what my fellow Plimates believed when it came to religion, what they practiced, or what they do not practice. Just a paragraph or two is fine, but it can be longer. Just explain what you follow and why you follow it.

As for me I'm thinking of converting to Buddhism, although I do not currently have a religion. I don't believe in a God right now per se, but I'm trying to figure out what I believe. The thing that is making most sense to me is Buddhism: There is always a balance of good and evil, chaos and order. Karma rules, and what goes around, does in fact come around. There is no God in Buddhism, because contrary to popular belief, even The Buddha said that he was no God. Even the notion of Nirvana as this wonderful heavenly place is not true. Nirvana is when you've reached your karmic peak, and been through every walk of life, you reach a state of nothingness: Eternal peace, if you will. There is no happy, there is no sad, there just is. It all puts things into perspective for me. :)

Jerry, do you maybe mean Buddha instead of Bhudda?

If I had to pick a major religion to follow, it'd be Buddhism. I was raised Catholic, but I could never consider myself a Christian since I don't believe Jesus was some magical dude. An enlightened thinker, maybe, but not divine.

Otherwise, I believe life on earth started as cyanobacteria and mutated and evolved into the things we see (and don't see) around us now.

I was raised a Catholic boy. When my first son passed away I renewed my hatred of religion on principle.

Whatever you decide Jerry, make your decision an informed one. Go to the experts, namely go directly to that religion to ask your questions about what they practice and believe. Then you can meditate, pray, or whatever to make your decision.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(Mormon). If you want to know what a Mormon believes go to our website. www.mormon.org

I believe in Rock and Roll, that music can save my mortal soul.

As most of you undoubtedly know, I'm an atheist. A "strong atheist" at that. I not only don't believe in any form of supernatural power, I think it is basically impossible for any to exist.

Started as cyanobacteria? How would that be possible? Did it just pop into existence? Life started as a self-catalyzing chemical reaction. ; )

I work with Archean rocks. I think I am quite capable to realize that life did not just magically 'start', with the chemical reaction self catalyzing or not.

Still, the earliest forms of life that can be traced back in the fossil record is cyanobacteria, which is why I left my comment as it is. Nothing earlier than that can be proven. You study Archean rocks for a decade and then tell me what you think.

Thanks for the hostility.

The only way life could have really started is with some kind of self-catalyzing reaction. All I was pointing out was that cells didn't just magically appear. The only reason that there isn't any evidence of anything before that is because, I'm guessing, nothing like that can fossilize very well.

Mershaullk, I think you misspoke.

Life didn't start as a self-catalyzing chemical reaction.

Life - even possibly cyanobacteria, might very well have resulted from "self-catalyzing chemical reactions", but those reactions themselves were not life.

Various chemicals, reacted upon by other forces such as sunlight, lightening, etc will not, of course, fossilize or leave any record that would last. They may eventually form building blocks that result in bacteria that in turn result in other forms of life.

The misunderstanding is why tundramonkey said "the earliest forms of life that can be traced back in the fossil record is cyanobacteria". The chemical reactions are the mud and straw that formed the bricks that formed the building. So to speak.

Hey, insult my intelligence and I'm bound to be a bit hostile. I never said cyanobacteria magically appeared, either. I should have said "..life started OUT as cyanobacteria..."

The chemical reaction may or may not have been self-catalyzing, as there is a good chance that background radiation may have catalyzed or at least aided any reactions that would have created life. I'd like to point out that the idea that life on earth arrived on some extraterrestrial projectiles is quite viable as well.

edit: If you're looking to start some sort of debate, I'm sorry I took the bait. If you want to discuss the origins of life on this planet, I'd be more than happy to do so. As a warning, this is one topic I find particularly interesting and have done much reading/research on it, so if I get wordy and scientific, I'm sorry.

Life started when I was born

None of you would even exist if I hadn't found you

and that tree in the woods would not have made a sound when it fell if the professor wouldn't have told me that it fell.

Okay, this thread is about what your religious beliefs are, not about damn bacteria. No one cares, I certainly don't. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the hospital.

Oh, for f**k's sake. I wasn't looking to start a debate. I was correcting what I thought was an incorrect statement in a "jesty" way. But, as Jerry said, this thread isn't for bacteria.

I'm sorry, Jerry.

I believe I'm one of the worst Plimers for threadjacking. I threadjacked your last religion thread, too. I'll try not to do it again.

Good luck with your research into Buddhism. Let us know how it works out for you.

Sorry, I'm very cranky right now, I feel crappy, and I'm headed to the hospital, so Happy Pliming, all!

I don't really know what I believe. Mostly, I disagree with dogmatists. Anyone that considers something to be an absolute, inalterable truth is a dogmatist. That's not to say you shouldn't have beliefs and ideas, just don't close yourself off from other ideas completely.

Frankly, I'm less interested in the "God" question and more interested in the "Mind" question. But that's for a different topic altogether.

OK, Jerry, hope you feel better. When you get back let us know what happened. "Headed to the hospital" just makes us worry.

Born and raised Episcopal. I identify myself as that because I don't know where else to go. Ever since my confirmation, I have been questioning my faith and belief in God. I am not worried or lost. I just need to find out what I truely believe in and not what others tell me I should believe in. I believe in a higher power and I believe in science. Without religion and the stories that come from it, there is no science and without science, there is no way to have religion. Each balances the other. I believe in one and many gods. I go to church when I am home. I practice yoga and it is, unfortunately, seen by many as a religion. I do it because it is healthy and I like the feeling of syncing my mind and body. I believe in evolution and I also believe that if something happens, it was meant to happen; fate. It is said that God created us in his own image. If God created us in his own image than it is perfeclty okay for people to have different skin color, beliefs, sexual orientations, etc. The perfect religion for me would be what I have described above. Second to that would be Buddhism.

I do not believe in any Religion.
This is based on observation and research on the subject. I believe that the only why to achieve a happy life and enlightenment are through looking into yourself and making it happen.I do not need an organization to know what is appropriate behavior.
I can not imagine a Creator endowing his creation with the ability to think and reason ,and then require the blinders of Belief be put into place.
I do believe in each person having the right to make their own decision as to Religious beliefs.

I call myself a Catholic with an open mind. I believe the bible is a storybook with morals attached and should not be followed word for word.
I believe in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. I believe in The Virgin Mary. I believe in Saints. I believe in Miracles. I believe in reincarnation. I believe in heaven, and hell. I also believe in Evolution. I believe a lot of things. But this is all very personal to me, and unless asked specifically what I believe, you'd probably never know.

I also consider myself a catholic with a sense of humor which is why I want to get Jesus riding a Dinosaur tattooed.

A story I rarely tell.

I was baptized (apparently you had to be back then) a Presbyterian. In my very early years I went to Sunday School and my parents *might* have gone to church but I don't know. When I got a bit older I continued going to church (as did my sister, I don't recall my brother attending though) and my parents did not go. When I got to the point of wondering why my parents didn't attend it was explained to me that I could make my own decision as to whether to go or not (there was no discussion at that time about what they believed). My sister stopped going and I was the only one in the immediate family to continue.

When I got really cognizant of my environment I discovered my maternal grandmother was a Jehovah's Witness, my parents were atheist, my paternal grandmother was Lutheran (though I'm not sure she ever attended a service) and my siblings had no opinion on the matter.

I continued to attend church and even got "confirmed" Presbyterian. I don't remember if my parents attended my confirmation but I don't believe they did. In that religion you get confirmed at 12.

I was attending a youth group on Sundays. I liked it, I had friends there, good friends. They were nice people and I had a good time. We had very philosophical discussions and some of the guys were cute. We went on retreats and had fun and it was all very good until I turned 16.

When I was 16 my friend, Glenn committed suicide. A few days before he did it he told me he had a gun and was going to kill himself. I made a joke about it with him (I never knew anyone who killed themselves before and thought he was kidding) I said "oh, take me with you". Two days later he was dead.

Glenn was Catholic. He was living in a sort of group home run by a Jesuit priest (Father Benedict Groeschel, you can sometimes catch him on EWTN). Father Benedict was the one who told me, in a very matter-of-fact way that Glenn was dead (over the phone...I expect he was distraught but he came off brusque to me at that time).

I was in a state of shock. I didn't believe it. I talked to my youth group about it. It was if I had just brought a batch of poison snakes into the meeting. Their sympathy seemed distant, I don't know how to describe it. They wanted me to shut up and my whole world had just collapsed. I felt immediately distanced from the church.

My state of disbelief continued to the day of the funeral. The church was packed and I was calm, right up until Father Benedict's started to cry during the eulogy. That is when I knew it was real. I lost it. By the time we were at the cemetery I had to be nearly carried off. I believed then is when I truly began to doubt that any superior being could exist that would bring so much pain to anyone.

Since that time I've studied many other religions, I wasn't seeking any solace so much as I wanted to know what made people tick. Buddhism is the closest I could find to a peaceful and abiding belief. A practice one could undertake without devoting oneself to a bunch of rituals and rites that serve no purpose. The words and [for lack of a better word] understandings of Buddhism entirely encompass one's own behavior, effect and actions. It's not so much a religion as a spirituality.

I thought I couldn't be hurt more than Glenn's death, I was wrong. The subsequent pain only galvanized my lack of belief in a higher being.

I don't practice Buddhism, to truly practice it you have to respect all life, go vegan, not kill bugs, etc. I'm going to kill a mosquito that lands on me or a fly that annoys me or a silverfish if I see one. I am not a successful vegetarian, nevermind vegan.

But after all the above, what I've come to the conclusion is that I have to be comfortable and love myself. I'm a flawed, imperfect being. I'm smart and funny and attractive, I'm annoying and caustic and stubborn. I'm good and bad. I've succeeded and failed.

I don't seek a higher consciousness but I think I get a little bit closer each day anyway. I try to be a good person and do the right thing but I screw up and I misstep and I get aggravated by stupid stuff.

I've lived, I've loved, I've laughed. I've cried, I've mourned, I've wallowed. I keep going. I make no apologies for who I am and try to avoid doing things that would make me apologize for my actions.

Sheesh this went on too long, I'm sure I had a point...

What I think I'm trying to say is, it's not about a belief in something else, it's about a belief in yourself. Good/bad/right/wrong/perfect/imperfect as long as you are true to yourself can accept the good and bad of yourself there really aren't too many other answers, are there?