That dreaded topic: religion

[Lord Mike]

That's because in schools they probably don't want religious beliefs involved in science.

 

[parallelzero]

Personally, I don't really follow any particular religion. Well, at least not that I'm aware of, as my knowledge of the various religions is very limited. To me, life is life. Stuff happens, that's what I follow.

 

[Zone]

And Zone, you don't believe in ANYTHING?

Let's talk about God, Zone. Tell us exactly why you don't believe in God. I will not bash you, I promise, and nobody else shoud bash you.

Allstorie's reason is one of mine. Another, as I stated in another topic, is this: The thought that you go to a nice place (Heaven, reincarnation, etc.) when you die was created to rid people's fear of death. Afterlife beliefs sprouted into religion.

 

[Drifblim]

Although I attend a Presbyterian church, I've rarely ever set store by religion for answers.

I'm also generally ashamed of what power religion seems to give people these days. If you thought the Roman Catholic Church was bad enough, giving cards to certify forgiveness and assigning a proxy to represent God but having him turn out to be the equivalent of a king — John XII, who provoked war between Italy and Germany, thus creating the Holy Roman Empire that existed until the 1600s, comes to mind — you should take a look at televangelists.

• Jerry Falwell called the Metropolitan Community chuches 'a vile and Satanic system' for their gay sympathies. A journalist found this on an interview tape and Falwell promised him $5000 if he could prove it. When the journalist did, Falwell didn't pay, and the resulting lawsuit caused massive embarassment for him.
• Pat Robertson, who has several books on intimacy with God to his name, was the founder of American Centre for Law and Justice as well as the conservative media network CBN, and currently hosts CBN's key show 'The 700 Club'. He also led a presidential campaign to eliminate corporations such as Amtrak and the Department of Education, as well as ban all pornography, and because of his speech at New Orleans, George H W Bush became president in 1988. Despite this guise of respect, he also was hotheaded. He claimed that as a minister he diverted Hurricane Gloria from Virginia Beach, CBN's headquarters, he made gays and the ACLU shoulder inherent blame for the 11 September 2001 attacks, called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and dismissed Ariel Sharon's stroke as divine wrath.
• Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker were the overlords of televangelist corruption. Their Praise The Lord deposit-taking programme named fake charities as recipients of donation money and really went to the construction of a doomed theme park in South Carolina that would serve as the citadel for PTL, a $3.7 million air-conditioned doghouse, and a $250,000 agreement for Playboy playmate and church secretary Jessica Hahn to keep quiet about having sex with Bakker. Bakker served seven years out of a 45-year sentence imposed by Robert 'Maximum Bob' Potter, one of the strictest federal judges known.
• Charles Coughlin was a broadcaster during the Great Depression that would use scare tactics to keep voters for voting in Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roman Catholic officials pulled the plug on him in 1940.
• In 1987, Oral Roberts asked for $8 million on television, lest God 'call him home', to power a fundraiser.
• Jimmy Swaggart was common at brothels in the South in the 1980s, and he once said he was forced by God to admit his sin on public television. He continued to do it nonetheless.
• James Kennedy pushed for a constitutional revise to force federal judges to 'recognise God as the sovereign source of law'.
• Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Black Muslim movement, was known to frequent brothels in Chicago. These scandals damaged the system so much that his most popular preacher, Malcolm X, separated from him and formed his own Muslim sect. When he went on the hajj to Mecca, he developed ideas that recognised whites as equals to blacks, those that the Black Muslim movement had opposed and eventually led to his assaassination in 1965.

If you think about this a little, you'll find that their use of religion to enrich themselves in these scandalous ways violates the third commandment of what they're trying to enforce: 'You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.'

 

[Red530]

What made me change my mind on the religion? Let's just say I was and am very angry at the people who run it. I have absolutely nothing against the religion itself. I respect all religions whatever they may be.

Then you don't really have a good reason for converting.
If I were to convert, then I would convert because of the belief and not the people running the church.

Newsflash!
There is no scientific law that states that an all-knowing, all-powerful being has been here since the beginning of time cannot be possible.

If there was a Big Bang, then what created the Big Bang?



Now, I don't doubt the Big Bang. I truly believe in Evolution. I'm a Catholic, but I completely believe that the Bible was made my humans, people INSPIRED by their religion and belief in God.
But Adam and Eve? Who was there to see it?

Allstorie's reason is one of mine. Another, as I stated in another topic, is this: The thought that you go to a nice place (Heaven, reincarnation, etc.) when you die was created to rid people's fear of death. Afterlife beliefs sprouted into religion.

But why do you doubt an afterlife? The afterlife was and is not an idea created by people. I have dreamt of myself in the shoes of other people. Who knows, this life I could be living may be my 100th.
Many people have had dreams of older times. My uncle had a dream that he was at the opening of the Statue of Liberty. o_0

But I don't an afterlife. My family has seen the spirits of MANY relatives. With that evidence I can not doubt an afterlife.

I was christianed but have never gone to church and Im now an atheist and will stay like that.

I don't go to church at all...unless it's something I HAVE to go to for school or relatives or Christmas. But no, I don't go to church. I don't believe in it.

That's because in schools they probably don't want religious beliefs involved in science.

In Science class, we were watching a video on volcanoes. On one part of the video, they talked about Moses, and the ocean that he "split apart." They said that it was created my volcanic activity.
My teacher interrupts and says, "You see? They're atheists."

Why can't it be possible that it was volcanic activity? Maybe God motivated the volcanic activity? Everything has life. All life is created from God, but the life-form has choices: bad or good. Today, they're mostly bad. -_-

 

[Lord Mike]

You can never be too sure. If that found out all the mysteries of the past, then all of this Moses, Allah and Muhammad, Budda stuff wouldn't be just a theory or belief.

 

[[Technya]]

Then you don't really have a good reason for converting.
If I were to convert, then I would convert because of the belief and not the people running the church.

Maybe not for you. That is just one reason for me to convert I have many but I'm not going to explain them, I see no reason why I should.
But I strongly believe in this religion, even more than the previous one.

 

[♥RanaRocket!☆]

my family is sorta weird when it comes to religion, my dads atheist and my siste and mum are chatholics, although they dont go to church.
Me? i sorta follow any sayings i hear, or ones that come to me. My personal favorite is Desidrata.
I cant understand why people find it so hard to let other people get on with their belifs, if someone cant understand this, then they should just keep quiet about what they think of that other person/ group of people, and do what they think is right.
At the moment, the 'war on terror' E.c.t is getting atme, its so... strange that we cant say:
"this is what you belive, this is what i belive, so what, its different. We're never going to know or sure whos right and whos wrong, so stuff arguing and lets get on with our lives."

 

[Zone]

But why do you doubt an afterlife? The afterlife was and is not an idea created by people. I have dreamt of myself in the shoes of other people. Who knows, this life I could be living may be my 100th.
Many people have had dreams of older times. My uncle had a dream that he was at the opening of the Statue of Liberty. o_0

But I don't an afterlife. My family has seen the spirits of MANY relatives. With that evidence I can not doubt an afterlife.

Dreams are not related to the afterlife. And by seen the spirits, do you mean seen ghosts?

 

[Drummershuff]

That's the thing about religion. Even if you don't want to, you should always respect other people's religious views.

I agree, and that is what I do.

 

[~Ozy~]

You can never be too sure. If that found out all the mysteries of the past, then all of this Moses, Allah and Muhammad, Budda stuff wouldn't be just a theiry or belief.

But they're not theories. The persons of Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed are documented historical figures. Moses is the most conjectural, Buddah lived roughly 500 BCE. Buddhism also has less supernatural belief. Like many Eastern religons, it's less a means of salvation and more a way of looking at the world to improve your own condition. Jesus, obviously, lived around th time of 0 CE ant there are historical records aside from the Bible proving, at the least, his existance. Finally, Mohammed found the Muslim religion in 632 CE.

Consequently, the major figures of the religions mentioned are indeed, historical figures and their religions, be they false or true in you mind have influenced the shape of the modern world for both ill and good. For something as unsubstantiated as a "belief," that is amazignly powerful.

 

[bna_li]

Allstorie's reason is one of mine. Another, as I stated in another topic, is this: The thought that you go to a nice place (Heaven, reincarnation, etc.) when you die was created to rid people's fear of death. Afterlife beliefs sprouted into religion.

Heaven And Hell

If that be the case, why create a Hell? If people wanted something to believe in, they might as well just have made up the story of a Heaven, without there being a hell. That way, you could do whatever you pleased, not care where you go knowing that in the end, you would be happy.

Reincarnation

Now we're talking about reincarnation. You say reincarnation is a reason for us to not be afraid of death. Have you heard that you can be reincarnated as a bug? Who would want to be a bug?

Your theories simply do not stand.

 

[Lord Mike]

I'm still Christian. I'm debating whether it should be the religion for the rest of my life.

 

[Allstories]

If that be the case, why create a Hell? If people wanted something to believe in, they might as well just have made up the story of a Heaven, without there being a hell. That way, you could do whatever you pleased,

Looks like you answered your own question there, dude.

 

[Zone]

Heaven And Hell

If that be the case, why create a Hell? If people wanted something to believe in, they might as well just have made up the story of a Heaven, without there being a hell. That way, you could do whatever you pleased, not care where you go knowing that in the end, you would be happy.

Reincarnation

Now we're talking about reincarnation. You say reincarnation is a reason for us to not be afraid of death. Have you heard that you can be reincarnated as a bug? Who would want to be a bug?

Your theories simply do not stand.

If you were a bug, at least you would still be alive. Also, you'd die soon and become another organism, unless it was a religion that believes that you can only become a human in reincarnation.

 

[Lord Mike]

Religion has been a conflict throughout the years. Just look at what Hitler did. He and the Nazis tortured 11 million people to death, most of them but because they were Jewish.

 

[Zone]

Religion has been a conflict throughout the years. Just look at what Hitler did. He and the Nazis tortured 11 million people to death, most of them but because they were Jewish.

Yes. Would a peace-loving god really allow conflicts such as this to happen?

 

[Lord Mike]

It depends if you believe in miracles or not. If you do, then you probably think God will make sure nothing happens to you. If you don't, you probably support science.

 

[~Ozy~]

Yes. Would a peace-loving god really allow conflicts such as this to happen?

Under deistic beliefs, yes He would. Indeed, under the beilef systems of the Islamic and Christian faiths, He would as well.

 

[DarkFenris]

i think i was born a christian but i dont believe in him. my uncle and auntie are true christians and they go to church once a week. i see my self as Wiccan and believe in the Goddess of the moon and other such beings of high power in the Wiccan religion, if it is that.