What religion do you identify with?

I am of the belief that we are constantly learning more about the world we live in, and we need to adjust accordingly. With that being said, I can't find reason with traditional religion. I would say that I'm spiritual though. I find aspects of some religions to be interesting, such as Buddhism and Wicca. I find aspects of all religions to be beautiful. I just think that a lot of the followers are misguided. They're too focused on being better than other people than being good people themselves.

 

Was raised to be a Christian, but didn't feel any connection at all. Then was a Theistic Satanist for a couple years, and for the past 5 years, agnostic.

 

^this^

---------- Post added 6th Oct 2015 at 06:46 PM ----------

Do you believe in the existence of one or more gods?

 

I don't remember if I've answered this thread before or not, but here goes: I'm leaning towards Buddhism, I used to identify as Buddhist, but I don't know anymore.
I think I'm still pretty Buddhist-ish with a touch of agnostic thrown in the mix.

 

It's not that they dislike religion so much, it's that certain religions keep trying to enforce their religious beliefs, often including discrimination, onto the rest of society.
I have no issue with religion in general, as long as you realise not everyone follows your religion and you don't have the right to force it upon them.

Besides this being an appeal to authority fallacy (ie why should we care that it's DeGrasse Tyson said it), it's a silly argument.
We have words for being not into politics: apolitical.
We have words other things which are not a thing: darkness.
Most importantly though, atheism is not the word for an organised community or group, it's the name for people who do not have a particular belief.
If said belief did not exist, there'd indeed be no need for such a term, but since such a term not only exists, but applies to the vast majority of the world's population, a term for those not part of that group, is also useful.

---------- Post added 6th Oct 2015 at 06:53 PM ----------

Do you believe a god exists?

---------- Post added 6th Oct 2015 at 06:54 PM ----------

Wrong. Atheism is exactly what it says on the tin:
A: without
theism: a belief in the existence of one or more deities.
It's finding gods not guilty of existence, not innocent.

---------- Post added 6th Oct 2015 at 06:55 PM ----------

Neither is a religion, which is an organised set beliefs.
Theism is the word for the general belief in the existence of deities, not a particular set of organised beliefs.
Atheism isn't even a belief so it doesn't qualify in the first place.

---------- Post added 6th Oct 2015 at 06:57 PM ----------

Agnosticism deals with knowledge about gods, it's not a religion, let alone on the same spectrum as Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

 

Was born and raised as a Baptist, but I'm much more lenient in my beliefs compared to my family members.

 

Atheist
I haven't left the church and I was baptised, but I don't believe in God and I never go to church anyway. I wasn't raised in much of a religious environment, except for maybe the school I went to went I was 5-9 years old, other than that, I haven't. Which is kind of weird because I'm Irish and my relatives are sort of religious.

 

Other. I have some spirituality but don't identify with any particular religion.

 

What if the religious person was raised that way and just has a hard time forming their own opinions when they go against what they were taught?

It seems like a lot of religious people are religious simply because they were taught religion. Maybe they'd be atheists if they weren't told to follow a religion. That doesn't seem comparable to a mental disorder; it seems more like normal influence... Or at least that's the way I think of it. My dad hates religion, but he says that it only exists because it's what people have passed on to their children.

 

As I said, I'm not a religious person. Spiritual, maybe. While I think having a militant religious stance can be problematic (ex: using your faith as an excuse to be cruel to others), but calling religion a parasite and a mental disorder is a bit much. Many people were raised in their faiths, and some found their own truths and practice peacefully, and not everyone is out to convert the world or damn non-believers to Hell for not believing in their god/gods or practicing their specific denomination of faith.

Through and through, I've been that person who feels that sees light (and darkness) in all faiths, it's not fair to completely generalize an entire group of people just based off the wrong-doings of a few people; much like the people who label all Muslims as terrorists because of a few radical extremists, or Christians as deranged right-wingers or neo-nazis because of a select few.

I see it like this. As long as you aren't hurting anyone (this includes indoctrination or using scare tactics/harassment to convert people), then practice what you will and wish. If you're apart of a certain path out of fear of punishment that might await you in some afterlife, then that's probably not something you should be apart of if it's harmful to you and your well being.

 

I'm Atheist. It's just the way I was raised, and I can't wrap my head around the existence of a higher being.

 

Okay, uh, what's with the people in this thread treating all religions as if they're all a very specific kind of western Christianity?

 

Non-religious and non-spiritual. I have no interest in the supernatural or associated nonsense. I respect individual beliefs to the extent that I won't berate them, but they (religions) are all equally ridiculous in my mind.