Any non-religious people out there curious about religion?

[HEyHEY]

I really do think most of the love thy neighbour stuff sounds pretty good. And I'd almost like to believe, but I can't. I even went to church once partly because I was curious. It seemed so strange and cultish to me. I guess if you're not raised in the environment it's all so strange to you.

Your thoughts?

[rwenos]

1. Religion is Powerful

it's as powerful as love, sex, family, death, birth. Maybe even more power. I read a lot about it myself, without much loyalty to one religion or another.

Read the New Testament sometime, the way you would read Aristotle or Plato. Fascinating, powerful language, moves millions of people.

The Torah is fascinating too, also the Koran. Never tried the Upanishads or Gautama Buddha.

[lanparty]

5. Religion provides a sense of community !!!

... some people just plain cannot STAND to be "on their own". They cannot stand to have original thought. They cannot STAND being the ONLY one to think a certain way.

I used to be Catholic. I do NOT believe in the Bible. I think Jesus is AWESOME but not DIVINE (as did Thomas Jefferson (the man who penned "All men our endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights")).

I tend to AVOID churches. ANY time their is an event, there is always some hook and people try to convert you. The feeling within me wells up to say "YOU ARE A LEMMING. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN!!! YOU BELIEVE THESE THINGS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS!!!! I'M SO FAR BEYOND YOUR CHILDISH NOTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE REALMS OF POSSIBILITY. YOU ARE A PHILISOPHICAL INFANT. QUIT BOTHERING ME WITH THE MUSINGS ABOUT YOUR PACIFIER!!!!"

I don't want to say those things. I don't want to have that feeling. So I just avoid the situation. There is very little you can explain to a philisophical ant besides the dangers of children with magnifying glasses!!!!

[alittlelark]

2. I used to Catholic, but I got over it.

My husband got me a Baba Ghana carving for my B-day today - 1 day early (Happy B-day to me...). Perhaps I will give it an offering and consider the Hindu faith.....

[rwheeler31]

3. I was raised as a Catholic it is odd to see what they now think

[pocoloco]

4. It is not a prerequisite that you have to be religious

to have a Spiritual Life!

[FM Arouet666]

6. Life long atheist

I don't think religion itself is bad, it is the evil which is promulgated in the name of religion that is the turn off. The religious right feel that there can be no morality without religion. Most of the ideas in religious texts are good because people are basically good, except republicans ;), but I think we would all be better off without the whole artificial self-serving paradigm of organized religion.

[rawtribe]

7. I thank my parents

every day that I wasn't indoctrinated with religion as a child. It's all so strange!


:shrug:

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

8. I think there are a lot of good things that can be learned through

studying religions. I currently do not go to any church. I went to a methodist church as a kid, but I didn't agree 100% with it. I don't think I could openly commit to just one religion. I do like some of the moral lessons most religions teach. I also like how a church can bring a community together. I'm very interested in bringing my son to a Unitarian church when he is old enough to go to Sunday school. It would be a good learning experience for him, and I think we'd probably meet a lot of good people there.

Here's a little excerpt from the Unitarian Universalist web site.

"With its historical roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions, Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion -- that is, a religion that keeps an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. We are a "non-creedal" religion: we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed"

More information on the church's principals.
http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html

[DieboldMustDie]

9. What kind of church did you go to?

They vary considerably. Maybe the Belief-O-Matic quiz will help. ;)

[HEyHEY]

10. I went to a lutheran one

But I was there cause I was visiting a friend who's father happened to be the minister of said church, so I went partly not to be rude.

Only thing, I was soo hungover from drinking with my friend the night before I had to run down the isle in the middle of a hyme to go puke in the washroom.

It was a less than religious experience.

[MrPrax]

11. I regret ...

wasting a lot of time reading 'religious' works/theology under the delusion (mostly suggested by believers of course) that somehow it would have been helpful or would give a greater understanding of the human condition.

In hindsight, it was a waste of time...theology is really quite empty unless you are deluded.

You can do better reading great literature, history and poetry from the many different cultures instead of 'religious' writings from the same.

I actually believe it makes you stupid and impairs 'critical' thinking.