What religion are you?

[LSD Jellyfish]

Question: I’m atheist and so is my father, the rest of my family are christians. How do I go across telling them?

Until you are financially independent, don’t.

[LegendZilla]

I am surprised a thread like this is allowed here. What do the mods and site staff have to say about criticizing religion on these forums?

[JAGzilla]

I am surprised a thread like this is allowed here. What do the mods and site staff have to say about criticizing religion on these forums?

The fact that this thread has been open almost a year and several similar threads have existed in the past shows that they're fine with religious discussion as long as it stays calm and civil, and so far it has.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I am surprised a thread like this is allowed here. What do the mods and site staff have to say about criticizing religion on these forums?

I'm pretty sure the only thing that's truly off-limits here, other than the obvious like flame wars and spamming, is references to pedophilia, as a certain Kaleesh droid general found out the hard way back when I was a lurker on here.

As long as idiots don't pollute this thread with shit like "all religious people are --------" and "all atheists go to Hell", I think we'll be fine.

[Terasawa]

What do the mods and site staff have to say about criticizing religion one's beliefs -or lack thereof- on these forums?

Fixed that for ya.

And as far as I can tell, there has been no such criticism here.

[tbeasley]

Sorry if this rambles on -

I was raised without organized religion (or politics) which I will forever be grateful for. It's even weirder when you consider I'm from the very religious/conservative south. I don't consider myself a spiritual person either - whatever that means. So I was basically nondenominational/agnostic growing up before taking the plunge into the cold unfeeling abyss that is atheism (/s) sometime in high school.

I don't believe in anything supernatural or paranormal although I've had a lifelong interest in both in terms of storytelling and whatnot. I value clarity, simplicity and humanism. I'm a very left-leaning, progressive person. I try my best to practice empathy and treats other with respect, dignity and kindness.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

The only time I take an issue with religious people is when they assume that those who don't follow their religion are inherently immoral. I have a close friend whose conservative Christian parents dislike me because I'm an atheist and they think that means I can't possibly have good values. This doubly irritates me because one of their family friends is a drug addict with a history of violence, but that's all okay because he believes in Jesus.

[Chrispy_G]

Was raised in a fairly "Christian" in general sense kind of way, we celebrated Christmas and I went to Sunday school VERY briefly. Spent a lot of my early life fairly agnostic/Christian in the sort of superficial and general sense.

But the last few years the Christian Faith just reached out and touched my life in a really meaningful way. I am genuinely happier.

It is a constant walk, nobody is perfect and pretty much nobody ever will be....but I am trending towards being a stronger human with better habits and a better way of living thanks to my faith.

I absolutely don't see it as my place to dictate to others or cast judgment on anyone. I believe in very strongly sticking to what works for me, what I believe in and what my values are....but I don't feel like it is my place to mandate that upon anyone else.

[Voyager]

I never actually told my story when it comes to religion, so here goes.

I was raised Christian but now I’m not. I have nothing against anyone no matter what religion you are. But what I DO hate is when people use religion to justify their actions whether it’s physical or verbal. My Grandma and Grandpa use their religion to justify racism and homophobia.

Another reason why I have a distaste for religion is how (especially if you are younger) they shut down curiosity and thoughts that don’t align with their beliefs.

[H-Man]

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

[Voyager]

I have (recently) thought up of something, and I think this is a version God I could believe in.

I think that this God is loving, like the Abrahamic god, but in a different way to what’s traditionally taught in scripture. I think this God, because of being a higher being, would have no personal issue with you living the way you want to. God does not hate you for your choices, and in fact, I believe this God would want you to be unabashedly you. Just with a simple moral code, like don’t harm others, don’t steal, etc. The basics.

I also do not believe this loving God would send people to hell to punish them eternally. I believe God would, to put it in a fancy way;

“Do upon a person how they have done upon others.” An explanation of this is that they would punish others according to how they’ve wronged and harmed others in life. Say, a murderer kills someone, then dies, without repenting or regret. They meet God, and God punishes them accordingly. By this, I mean God would give the murderer the experience of being murdered, and then ask if they repent/regret. If they do, truely, and I believe a higher being would know this, they will be sent to peace, to rest.

On the subject of the afterlife, I think this God would give people the choice to live in a world of their making. To live in a reality they want, whatever they want. If you want to see loved ones again, deceased or alive, they will allow you, in this paradise. If you want to live in some super wacky world we’re you’re the mayor and preside over a wacky town full of cartoony antics, they will allow you. Your paradise is only limited by your imagination. And in this paradise, you can live out the rest of eternity in a dream world, that you can change and alter at anytime.

God is loving and all-powerful, so why would he care about the way you live, and why would he eternally punish people. This is a god that i think truly embodies love. But this is just a shower thought. Up for discussion, what do you think? Have I gone off the deep end? Is this an interesting way to view things?

[JAGzilla]

I have (recently) thought up of something, and I think this is a version God I could believe in.

I think that this God is loving, like the Abrahamic god, but in a different way to what’s traditionally taught in scripture. I think this God, because of being a higher being, would have no personal issue with you living the way you want to. God does not hate you for your choices, and in fact, I believe this God would want you to be unabashedly you. Just with a simple moral code, like don’t harm others, don’t steal, etc. The basics.

I also do not believe this loving God would send people to hell to punish them eternally. I believe God would, to put it in a fancy way;

“Do upon a person how they have done upon others.” An explanation of this is that they would punish others according to how they’ve wronged and harmed others in life. Say, a murderer kills someone, then dies, without repenting or regret. They meet God, and God punishes them accordingly. By this, I mean God would give the murderer the experience of being murdered, and then ask if they repent/regret. If they do, truely, and I believe a higher being would know this, they will be sent to peace, to rest.

On the subject of the afterlife, I think this God would give people the choice to live in a world of their making. To live in a reality they want, whatever they want. If you want to see loved ones again, deceased or alive, they will allow you, in this paradise. If you want to live in some super wacky world we’re you’re the mayor and preside over a wacky town full of cartoony antics, they will allow you. Your paradise is only limited by your imagination. And in this paradise, you can live out the rest of eternity in a dream world, that you can change and alter at anytime.

God is loving and all-powerful, so why would he care about the way you live, and why would he eternally punish people. This is a god that i think truly embodies love. But this is just a shower thought. Up for discussion, what do you think? Have I gone off the deep end? Is this an interesting way to view things?

The punishment system could potentially be done in other ways, but the rest of this is (in my opinion) basically the only logical way for an all-loving creator god to operate. I don't understand why, for example, a god would create a gay person and then eternally torture this person for following the biological urgings the god built into them. If we are all hand-crafted and loved equally, why would some of us have extra flaws built-in? It only makes sense that we are the way we are because that is how the god intended us to be.

And then the reward system is also pretty much how it ought to be. Maybe I'm just self-centered, but the idea of toiling in a deity's service all my life and then being rewarded with an eternity in a city of gold telling that deity how great he is doesn't sound very fair. Better than eternal torture, but not exactly paradise.

[Jetty_Jags]

I'm a Christian. While I may not fully agree with all of the theology of various denominations (I would kind of consider myself non-denominational), I'd prefer if the church was less tribalized by these things.

[Major sssspielberg!]

I'm agnostic. I've seen too many beautiful, strange things to believe there's no higher power or order to existence, but I also haven't found any religion that particularly attracts my soul.
Although I did come pretty close to becoming a Muslim a few years back.

[eabaker]

I'm agnostic. I've seen too many beautiful, strange things to believe there's no higher power or order to existence, but I also haven't found any religion that particularly attracts my soul.
Although I did come pretty close to becoming a Muslim a few years back.

That doesn't particularly sound like agnosticism to me. True agnosticism is the specific belief that it is impossible to know whether or not there is a god.

[o.supreme]

I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is a Christian Religion. I was not raised as such. My Fathers family is Catholic, and my Mothers family is Lutheran. My parents didn't go to church, or practice in any way during my childhood. So obviously I had questions, which they couldn't always answer. As a preteen/teenager I began researching several different faiths. Some had no answers, and some had vague or unconvincing ones. When I studied with JW however, they used the Bible to explain everything, and it just made sense. There are many misconceptions about JW (we don't believe in Jesus, we refuse medical treatment, we are a cult etc...) all of which are provably untrue.

My life is far from perfect. I face the same trials everyone does, but the life I have chosen for myself has served me well. My wife and children are all unified in our beliefs. We live a simple content life, but we are happy, and I don't think I could ask for anything more.

[Major sssspielberg!]

I'm agnostic. I've seen too many beautiful, strange things to believe there's no higher power or order to existence, but I also haven't found any religion that particularly attracts my soul.
Although I did come pretty close to becoming a Muslim a few years back.

That doesn't particularly sound like agnosticism to me. True agnosticism is the specific belief that it is impossible to know whether or not there is a god.

Fine. Areligious. Happy now?

[SpaceG92]

For a while I thought I was agnostic - but I believe there is a "higher being/beings" that I am at this time am unsure of who/what they are and their influence can be felt on the world, better or worse. That's really it. I don't have a set of religious rules I follow but a moral compass. I have some belief in Karma but that's basically it. Kinda just live life as I go.

[Creola]

Christian, though I'm not completely devout.

[Thatguy4683]

I’m not really Christian but I do believe there something out there, but on the other hand, I do believe there nothing here too