Are you religous?, And Why? Options

[x__rilind]

i'm... religious in that i follow my chosen religion. however, people seem to think that because my particular chosen religion is agnostic, that i'm not religious.

i've looked at and studied many different religions. i was raised in a loosely catholic household, though i never really saw anything in catholiscm that i connected with. my stepmother is a strict protestant, and so i've been to services with her, and i still don't see anything i really connect with.

on my own, i've studied norse, wiccan, and taoist religions. each made slightly more sense to me (i'm definetly polytheistic), but many factors still didn't mesh.

i've identified myself as agnostic, because i do believe that there are higher spiritual beings that exist and have control over the universe. however, i have no way to prove what those beings are and their extent of power, and i don't believe that anyone else can prove their existence or non-existence.

[flc]

i'm... religious in that i follow my chosen religion. however, people seem to think that because my particular chosen religion is agnostic, that i'm not religious.

What religion are you practicing, out of curiousity?

[waccoon]

And your point is?

Have you heard of evolution?
"agnosticism

n 1: a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God; "agnosticism holds that you can neither prove nor disprove God's existence" 2: the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge [syn: skepticism, scepticism]
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University "

"agnosticism holds that you can neither prove nor disprove God's existence"

[NERDFACE™]

o god did not hurt me as a boy stupid.
i just find it a relevant topic that people will go against logic ad rason to believe these insane ideas.
o and i like the fact that ppl are saying this thread woont get anything solved because that meas you understand that some people will never give up somethig like religion no matter how much it has been disproven

The reason,
that people wouldn't give up their religion(or atleast christianity) is because in this world,where so many people attempt to dissprove it,and there are so many reasons why it SHOULDN'T be right,religiousley active people have faith.That's what god asks us to do,to simply have faith in him.

as for the initial question,i can't answer you yes or no.
I have gotta be the worst kid who's a christian I know.
yet I still have faith God.
I go around,
do stupid sh*t,and not think twice about it at all.
I don't feel guilty when I lie,or when I do something I KNOW is wrong.
I try not to lie,okay,that's the best it's getting.
call me a bad kid,whatever.
I wish I could be more religious,
that I could just CARE more,
but the cold hard truth is I just can't.
I've been WRONG for too LONG.

[Spirited Away]

My brother is getting married to a Catholic. He is getting ready to convert, taking classes and going to Church, but of course knowing him, he doesn't have his heart in it.

Choice? Where is choice? If he doesn't convert, he cannot marry the woman he loves. He tells me that maybe he'll understand prayer and God after a while, and I've thought to ask him "are you marrying her or are you marrying her religion?" A rhetorical question, but to clarify, he obviously cannot marry her without the marrying latter. But I held back. He needs support, not negativity from me. If someone is thinking "he has the choice of not marrying her", that isn't a choice at all! It's cruelty.

No, I am still not religious. Before, religion was a random annoyance. Now, it makes me laugh in despair and cry in distaste. And, I've done both.

[Something Vague]

Agnostic.

[vash1530]

My brother is getting married to a Catholic. He is getting ready to convert, taking classes and going to Church, but of course knowing him, he doesn't have his heart in it.

Choice? Where is choice? If he doesn't convert, he cannot marry the woman he loves. He tells me that maybe he'll understand prayer and God after a while, and I've thought to ask him "are you marrying her or are you marrying her religion?" A rhetorical question, but to clarify, he obviously cannot marry her without the marrying latter. But I held back. He needs support, not negativity from me. If someone is thinking "he has the choice of not marrying her", that isn't a choice at all! It's cruelty.

No, I am still not religious. Before, religion was a random annoyance. Now, it makes me laugh in despair and cry in distaste. And, I've done both.

sad that he can't be accepted into the brides family w/ his own beliefs

[timeflies51]

Sure, religion may be a nice guide and give support for people, but when it gets bad is when they rely too much on it and don't try to figure it out for themselves.

It's like, "I have this problem...to the Bible!" instead of just sitting down and thinking about it with common sense, first.

It just kind of makes me sad for people to wrap themselves up in a fantasy and how that's the only way to make them feel better.

I know of people who have given up on religion simply because no one was able to answer the question why their loved ones had passed away. I felt kind of annoyed at this. They couldn't just sit down and think maybe it was because of nature: their genetics/a disease/an accident/etc. and not because God just "has a plan" for them? Gah, I know it depends on your philosophy, but personally, I'd rather think about it that way!

Meh, that's my rant. I'm not religious, if you haven't figured it out.

However, I still help celebrate holidays and such because I am proud of my culture and very much like the community/family aspect of it.

[vash1530]

thank god for religion! How else could governments keep ppl in line so well!

[AngelinaTaylor]

^ That's so true, and precisely why religion was invented. Think about it. If you didn't enforce these morals and ethics on people, what would the world be? Actually, what would it have been back then? Chaos. You need to control people, and religion is your strongest card.

[vash1530]

^not to mention the ultimate power gained by those who lead the practices of these religions.

[twinkles6801]

I think i am supposed to be religious, but i dont know about going to church.
I went yesterday, and I felt so akward.
I think that I will be more content just being spiritual with my own god, at my own. Without going to church, and without other people telling me what to pray about. My relationship with the higher power is my own, so I dont need to go to a spiffy place to practice.

[sweetangel2128]

Heres what I believe.

I believe there is a huge possibility that God exists, I believe that more than evolution because it's hard to believe that with things being so perfect that this would be the cause of Evolution and not Creation by a higher power. I believe that God most likely does exist and that Jesus really did walk this earth.

But, I am not your normal Christian, I also believe that GOOD PEOPLE do go to Heaven even if they don't believe that God exists. I do not follow the Bible completely 100% but a lot of it does have good points and a lot of it is common sense. I don't attend church and I don't preach about God or evangelise...I guess what you could say is that I'm a Christian (someone who believes in Gods existance) but I am not religious and I don't submit my whole entire life to him.