Then and Now religious views

I don't see any reason to believe in god - certainly not one who is all-loving and all-powerful, given the hideous cruelty and pointless suffering that huge swathes of the human population endure and always have endured. The natural world in its raw state is horribly cruel, vicious and wasteful. If the human lot has improved over time, it's because of the efforts of humans themselves using science to cure diseases, improve sanitation, and feed more people. Somebody above equated science to a belief system, but it's the opposite of that. Science is constantly testing its own premises and conclusions, but religion often begins with a conclusion and works backwards, desperately trying to make the "evidence" fit.

Christians have to believe some really out-there, physics-breaking stuff: walking on water, curing the blind / deaf / paralysed, magic food appearing out of nowhere, exorcisms, reincarnation. If we heard about someone claiming to perform these acts in the present day, I think we'd be extremely sceptical. Yet somehow through the fog of time, these claims acquire the air of plausibility. Jesus should have appeared in the age of the smartphone.

Atheism is not a belief system, it's the absence of one. I don't think most atheists assert that there is definitely no god, only that they don't see any reason to think that there is. I don't know how the universe started, or if there's anything after death, and neither does anyone else, really. The ones making the claim that they do know are the ones on whom the burden of proof has to fall, and I've yet to see any plausible proof coming from a Christian or any other religious person. Rather, in most cases, the belief seems merely to be meeting an emotional need.

 

Then: I was raised in a strict Anglican/Episcopalian household, mostly my mom dictating what we're to do as "Christians". I was so terrified of going to hell as a child that I was well behaved and really didn't start rebelling until I was 9 or 10. Then I realized my mother wasn't always right and I could be my own person.

I went from devout Christian as a child to doubting it, Christian Wicca, Christian Witch, and eventually general witch... Now I'm Einsteinian Witch - I believe in full balance. When you do something good, good comes your way and the same with being horrible.

I'm still in the broom closet with my family though... Mom would have a meltdown if she finds out I left Christianity, and I was on a pagan forum for a long time, and as a staffer to boot. She thinks I'm a non practicing Christian. Uh... She knows I have no problem with other belief systems, and that I believe all paths lead to the divine, that no path is "wrong".

My husband's family and a lot of my pals know I'm not Christian and they don't care. Thank heavens. In fact, my youngest sibling in law and I talk about nature and other things related to my beliefs sometimes. It's nice having someone in the family who gets it.

 

This is accurate from my extensive study too. The condemnation is always about something else like rape and it gets contorted and translated to be against gay guys. There's is so much more like this which is fabricated to control people, that we've been lied to about, and is still taught as truth to indoctrinate. They say it's wrong to lie but keep doing it which eliminates all credibility. It makes it intolerable for me, with all that I can see plain as day that supports basic facts of our existence in the universe. We are literally made of stardust that existed in multiple stars that lived and died over billions of years, before the material became our solar system, and eventually you and me and everything around us. I think all of that is amazing and how much we can see in the universe with the latest technology humans invented.

 

No sorry, keeping to the initial question asked, I should have said that I was raised Christian but stopped believing in my adolescence.

 

I can't answer your first question because I have always questioned most things in life. From when I was fairly young. It probably irritated some people.

That's a fairly good analysis of the difference. I don't like it when people argue about this stuff. Most of my friends are agnostic, atheist, or Catholics who stopped attending. It almost guarantees that our friendship will have less drama and that's how I want it.

I agree with the observation that we should tread with some caution on this thread. Every member is bound to have a different viewpoint on this topic that they are entitled to.

 

Raised Catholic and forced to attend church until I was 18. I’m now agnostic and have been for longer than I believed. I have an uncle who’s a priest and answered every question I had about God and religion with the word ‘faith’. I always sort of wondered why it’s fine to show children a man nailed to a cross with blood dripping down his face from the crown of thorns he’s wearing, with a huge bloody gash in his side. And people say video games are too violent. Catholic school from ages 4-18 didn’t really help me believe either. My secondary school was right next door to the church and occasionally forced us to attend. The church’s bullshit about how it’s fine to be gay as long as you don’t act on it didn’t help.

 

I've seen you say this before and I don't really know what you mean. Could you cite studies that show what you are talking about?

 

Was the Quaker worship you experienced programmed or unprogrammed?

In the UK the overwhelming majority of Quakers (Society of Friends) meet in silence for unprogrammed worship and they tend to be very liberal, with an emphasis on simplicity, truthfulness, equality, peace and sustainability. They were the first faith commnuity to offer same sex marriage in their meeting houses and in recent weeks they have made a clear declaration of support for trans people. While many UK Quakers are followers of Jesus' teachings, a very significant minority are not. They are Quakers because they support the Quaker testimonies and values of friendship and see something of God (or Good) in everyone. I know it's a little different in the United States with programmed and unprogrammed meetings and conservative as well as liberal Quakers.

Just curious about your past experience of Quakers.