what is your belief system

[seabeyond]

i was told there is a lot of anti christian hate here. i do not believe it. and that the left are not christians. this, i know, is not true. i am angry at the christian right and the republican use of christianity for a vote. when i talk religion on this board i want my religion to own what we are doing and may be harsh, but i am anything but anti christian, that is for sure. that is the reason i put down christian angry at christian right. does not make me less a christian, but can sound like i am not christian because i am challenging the right beliefs.


are you

[StellaBlue]

1. atheist

www.richarddawkins.net

Thank you.

[seabeyond]

16. you are doing chris bell. i was talking about him tonight

thanks for the site. i amfindingthis way more interesting thani ever thought i would. i am going ot have a lot of things to check out, people are sharing. i love to hear others beliefs and thoughts. thanks for the site. it looks interesting

[Vexatious Ape]

39. Thanks for the Dawkins link

Looks like a good website.

[Bucky]

2. Humanist. Not atheist, but tad pantheist. Still dig those Christian ethics

Turn the other cheek, render unto Caesar, camel thru the eye of a needle, give your last talents to the poor, love thy enemy as thy brother, go read the prophets and reflect on their teachings. Jesus was pretty danged humanist. And boy could he stretch a food budget!

[seabeyond]

7. i like you bucky,you are fun. cool n/t

[FredStembottom]

8. I was about to write that I am sort of a deist with

pagan overtones - but I like what you wrote better.

I'm one of those.

Humanist, pantheist, Christian ethics-likers.

:toast:

[seabeyond]

12. ba hahhaha. lol lol lol. this is why i like the dem n/t

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. My beliefs are too long to explain.....

...and can't be found at any church.

Although I do think Jesus was a cool dude who would hate these pieces of garbage committing hate in his name, and it will probably lead to his dad kicking the ant farm called Earth into the circular bin very soon.

[seabeyond]

11. you are cool too. i never imagined i would find such diversity and

oddity..... lol lol all in the coolest of manner.

i say christianity cause i feel christ and the word to be true, but i see so many other ways too... to i am a bit undefined myself. i put a definition on me for others.

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. Frisbeetarian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisbeetarianism

[donco6]

5. I'm uncategorizable.

I believe in God. That's pretty much it.

[hfojvt]

47. have you tried

belief-o-matic?
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

Although there is alot of over-lap. I was about 95% unitarian,liberal christian or bahai, and a mere 46% Catholic. I took it again, answering the way I thought the Pope would and got 100% Catholic. So I do know what Catholics believe (according to that quiz).

[Synnical]

6. I'm an atheist

But not allowed to talk about it here in GD. I support the absolute separation of church and state, but also support your right to believe.

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[seabeyond]

14. cindy, i have heard many talk about it on this board

especially with how you sound, respectfully to all others and hopefully you will receive the same. you talked about it now, wink.

[helderheid]

9. watch "mind walk" and you'll know my belief system.

[seabeyond]

17. oh girl, like what am i going to do, run down to block buster. lol

thanks. i will keep that in mind. sounds interesting, the very very little you gave, wink

[helderheid]

28. honey let me tell you. It is so worth it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260036220639&category=309

I bought it on DVD for a friend recently so I know it is out there ... time for me to go to bed now though!

[seabeyond]

29. thanks i will get it n/t

[npincus]

10. Druids make better lovers

[seabeyond]

18. i know a druid

he is heavy duty repug,..... lol l ol

[Dervill Crow]

58. Wow.

The druids I know (granted, not a huge number) are about as diametrically opposed to anything repug as can be imagined.

I've never heard a pagan of any trad say anything nice about * and his gang.

[DemInDistress]

19. did God create the Heavens? why not a dog, or a Kleon,?

and how did God fiind this dot called Earth from the vastness of space. and why 2,000 years ago and not during the dinosaur age, and where is he today? better still where was He on 911? I'd like to know..

[seabeyond]

22. i felt god on 911, saw him all over the place, all across the world

:)

[DemInDistress]

33. I didn't..I saw sad people around the world..grief stricken

by the shock of this new terror. no God wasn't here, had he been real He'd have struck down the perps behind the massacre.


I am not knocking your position for their are many God fearing folks in the world like yourself its just that
no true God would have allowed this kind of inhumanity, sort of like Hiroshima, ...


thanks for the input though..

[seabeyond]

34. gosh, i dont fear god, not at all

not even, not a little. no, i saw love spread thru out the world. i saw such beauty in the ugliest of life. nothing had been more profound for me then to see the world weeping for our pain.

free will

and thank you for sharing.

[sakabatou]

13. Agnostic Jew

[rubberducky]

15. I don`t know about a category, but.........

I`ve always tried to live my life by the "golden rule"

[seabeyond]

21. ah the golden rule. you up for discussion on that?

i dont buy into the golden rule, do unto others as you would have done on to yourself..... cause

i assure you how i want to be treated is NOT how others want to be treated. hence, do unto others how you feel they may wnat to be treated and be true to self, wink. lol lol

just my little thing in my own spirituality

[judaspriestess]

20. I'm more spiritual

I am a Christian because I BELIEVE in Christ. I was raised catholic but I am not catholic I am a non-denominational Christian. I live my life by the Golden Rule

I have a book: The teachings of Jesus Christ and Buddha and their parallels. I wonder if Christians from Hell consider that blasphemy.........

[seabeyond]

23. post 21.... look at my discussion

on the golden rule. what do you think. hey i am with you. i put in a post above,.... i use christianity as a definition cause i feel and know christ.... but it is so beyond that. and yes, i can easily say spiritual

[BlueJazz]

24. An Atheist. Be Kind and help People. n/t

[seabeyond]

25. aaaahhhhhhh

i love you. lol lol. works for me. i really did not know i was going ot be so interested in everyones post. but i am really enjoying hearing all the diversity in beliefs. it is just grand, and heart warming. thanks.

[me b zola]

26. Other

I had always thought of myself as Catholic with heavy influence from Hinduism & paganism--until the insanity of the christian rw took power. They have nothing in common with Jesus of Nazarath, and so I have nothing in common with them, spiritually speaking. I am deeply offended by their hate speach regardless of whom they direct it at.

I'm just an other.

[seabeyond]

27. gosh, the wholepoint of this for me is i am too.... i agree with your post

and there is no way i am giving up my religion and faith and beliefs becasue of what they are doing. that is theirs to own. as a christian,i have an obligation and responsibility to stand up to them, or i too walk from christ and that i will not do. i hear ya

[stopbush]

30. Mithras, there are a lot of we atheists here!

Considering only 3-9% of Americans identify themselves as such.

[seabeyond]

32. i know. lol lol. but has been fun reading all the posts.

i have really enjoyed hearing different thoughts and beliefs

[otherlander]

31. The reason I don't worship a God

isn't because I don't think there is one. It's more that I don't think it matters if there is one. I'm agnostic, but even if I believed there was a God, it wouldn't be that important to me. I try to do the right thing because it's the right thing, but if someone else's reason for doing good is because their God wants them to, that works, too.

[stopbush]

40. Recently, the whole "worship me (ie: god)" thing has been a point I'd

like to explore. Why does a god demand that humans worship it? That's a concept of kings and queens,
people who felt superior to the slag they commanded. But in the modern age?? Hell, there are plenty
of lowly humans who have done great things yet expect no one to worship them. Why would an
all-powerful god need lowly humans to worship it?

Sounds like BS to me, ie: the human experience projected onto something non-human.

[otherlander]

41. I'd think that, if something was going to live forever,

it wouldn't really have human emotions. People's lives go by quickly, and for the short time that they live in, they rush through feeling everything. But if something was immortal and had all eternity to consider things, I don't think it would have that kind of passion.

[sandnsea]

35. Everyone and all religions have pieces of truth

I lean toward Christianity, Catholicism specifically, but I've found wisdom and guidance from everybody I've ever met.

As it pertains to Catholicism though, I believe in the basic tenets, not all the social directives from the Pope. The Church is too political, never learns that it should stay out of politics just the same as politics should stay out of churches.

Anyway, I chose other in your poll.

[Random_Australian]

36. Atheist - with very strict ethics.Probably too strict, but I have personal

reasons for that. And the reason I am Random_Australian is that I get my morals and ethics from solutions of random variables. :)

That's odd - the poll is favouring atheism thus far. That is... unusual.
Meh.

Lies, Damn lies, and statistics.

[DaveJ]

37. I have my own...

I created my own belief system but I am not going to tell anyone what it is because I do not want to be accused of pushing it on anyone. I actually had a moment of realization about 12 years ago, and it is still going as strong as ever. I hope people realize that they do not necessarily need to be obtain their spiritual beliefs from an outside source.

[Speck Tater]

38. Lifelong Buddhist.

Actually, I've been Buddhist for several lifetimes now. :-)
It did come as a shock to my Catholic parents, though.

[XemaSab]

42. agnostic/pagan

but I am officially on the rolls as a Methodist. :D

[Kiouni]

43. why no buddhist?

[seabeyond]

48. i forgot about it though when talking religions it is generally one

i always name..... that simple. i love the pieces of buddahism i have read

[troubleinwinter]

44. I generally keep it to myself. It is my business, not others'.

[seabeyond]

49. you are absolutely right and the idea of a poll you could even answer

and still have that privacy if you chose, or simply not answer. so not a deal

[OneBlueSky]

45. mostly panenthiest, I guess . . . "God is in everything" . . .

see the work of Matthew Fox for further explication . . .

actually, I kinda like the way Woody Guthrie handled the question . . . when asked his religion by a hospital admitting clerk, Woody replied "All" . . . when the clerk said that he couldn't accept that answer, Woody replied "Then just put 'none.'" . . .

[seabeyond]

50. interesting.

i like. i agree

[Cobalt-60]

46. Equal Opportunity

I like to use the right tool for the job.
When I'm working on the car Hephaestus is laughing as I skin my knuckles.
When I'm striking out with a babe, it's Aphrodite that's entertained.
After hanging with Aphrodite my man Bacchus is there with a nice jug.
When I'm writing all 9 muses are there - watching Oprah in the other room.
Zeus stops by to charge up from my outlets and hit on my lady friends.
Most of the monotheistic Gods are just sticks in the Mud.
Allah, Jehovah, and God himself seem to be the patrons of anyone that needs an excuse for bad behavior
It is a rocking time, however, when Jesus and Mithra stop by to party on their common birthday.

[seabeyond]

51. cute

i love the creativity in so many of the posts in this thread.

[LeftishBrit]

52. Atheist, but not a 'missionary' about it

I see no evidence for a supernatural force of any sort. But if other people do believe in a God, that's great.

I believe that everything we do contributes in a small or large way to what the world becomes. If we do good things, we are contributing to the world becoming a better place. If we do bad things, we are contributing to the world becoming a worse place. For me, that's as good a reason for acting ethically as anything spirtual could be. While I don't believe in heaven or hell, I do believe that there are people and actions that can turn this world into a hell.

[lukasahero]

53. I don't know any more

I used to be a Christian - was going to be a minister. I'd love to say I still am because the church I was raised in taught tolerance, peace, committment to the less fortunate among us. Those are still values I believe in but I don't call myself Christian any more.

To say I'm a Christian angry at the Christian Right doesn't cut it. I have a logical issue arguing over whose set of "beliefs" is right and whose is wrong. They're beliefs - not facts.

Years of exploration leaves me somewhere in the agnostic/humanist/pantheist/pagan/believe-what-Jesus-of-Nazareth-taught area. I am still spiritual but I believe God is all around and within us. Needless to say, if I ever find another spiritual community, it'll likely be inside the UU church.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

54. Agnostic/secular humanist.

There's some atheist in there, too. I put down agnostic.

[hunter]

55. Social Justice Liberal Catholic, mostly.

Ah, but to the right wing Christians, we may as well be pagans...

[nemo137]

56. Christian Misanthropist.

My belief that I should love my neighbors as myself is tested by my daily dealings with my neighbors. This could just be me internalizing the doctrine of the Fall a little too much. The Religio Romana always struck me like a neat idea, too.

Pretty much a mainline protestant Christian with a dim view of the world, which I'd like to think is separate from my faith.

[Zebedeo]

57. Straight-up Christian n/t

*

[and-justice-for-all]

59. Oh my dear Atheist ..... Its so grand to be in your Company.

...Love my fellow non-theist!

[Zhade]

60. Atheist is not a belief system. Your poll is flawed.

There is no system to my lack of belief in unproven gods.

[cyborg_jim]

67. Indeed

Being an athiest says nothing about how I form my model of reality, it just notes one aspect of it (one that lacks a belief in a physically existent deity of any sort). Skeptic, rationalist, materialist: that says something about it.

[tomcalab]

61. Hitchhiking Gentile

I follow God's plan for the Gentiles, not historical Christianity's.

Isa 61:6 But ye shall be named the priests of the LORD, men shall call you the ministers of our God; ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their splendour shall ye revel.

The Jews had 4000 years of God's training before Rome and pagens hijacked their religion 1700 years ago, called it Christianity, and started killing Jews.

I am the dog eating crumbs from the master's table.

Mat 15:22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
Mat 15:26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
Mat 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

I pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

[Vidar]

62. Personal spirituality, involving a very nebulous higher power &

reincarnation. I was formerly Lutheran, atherist, Unitarian (the only one I would return to), Methodist & Episcopalian.

[kwolf68]

63. Difference

Can someone define the difference in a Moral Agnostic and a moderate/weak Atheist.

[immoderate]

64. Jewish atheist.

I will attend any religious observance where the food is good.

My core belief system is: 1) The laws of the universe are constant and the same everywhere. (e.g. There are no magic beings.) and 2) The universe comprehensible. And you can throw in that I think that everything that happens, happens in the physical universe.

It's all kind of, "what you see is what you get."

The Jewish part is a cultural-tribal identity. I mean, the next time they come for the Jews, they're not going to overlook me because I have no religious beliefs.

--IMM

[redphish]

65. Deist

[Freedom_from_Chains]

66. Freelance monotheist angry at Christian right. n/t

[heidler1]

68. Atheist, but I prefer to believe in "enlightened selfishness"

Admitting that I'm an Atheist appeals to my desire for honesty with no regard for persecution. Living a dishonest life when your own logic says all religion is a hoax has a distrustful result on many individuals. When religion goes loco as under Bush it is destructive for everyone, IMO.

We are merely animals trying to cope with the complicated mess we have constructed. Religion makes it nearly impossible to see a reasonable path to deal with it all. Bush and the fundies do everything they can to obscure the truth. Life as a human animal is beautiful.

[Odin2005]

69. Materialist Transhumanist

BTW, Atheism isn't a belief system, it is a theological position that results from having a materialist worldview.

[varkam]

70. I don't know.

I think strong atheism is certainly a consequence of holding a materialist worldview, but is weak atheism? So far as I understand it, strong atheists actively assert that there is no god (thus assuming the burden of proof) whereas weak atheists just aren't buying the bridge that theists are selling, so to speak. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't materialism the worldview that holds that there are no supernatural or paranormal forces - correct? If that's the case, then it's easy to see how strong atheism would result, but less so for weak atheism. In other words, I would think that one could be a weak atheist and not a materialist.

Thoughts?

[Random_Australian]

71. I'd say the most of the weak atheists are materialist, but

your right, it is not going to be as strong as an association as explicit atheism.

[Chulanowa]

72. I hate to call myself "Pagan"

because it's at best vague and lumpy, and at worst derogatory (Basicly, the 9th century version of "redneck")

I find it hard to explain exactly what I believe without going on forever about it - it's pretty involved stuff, 'specially when you're speaking to someone who's religion consists of there being only a single god, ever, period. Which is most of America. I'm an animist of sorts. I respect the spirits, and the gods and forces they interact with, but I don't actually worship.