Which religion is the right one for you?

[db_pr]

Yes, Religion won't die out... unfortunately one could say. :S

[kaiba4ever]

[Cress]

Mine didn't work right. Stupid thing. I was agnostic. Yeah, I believe in nothing. I'm a weirdo. Anyway, I think that religion will still be around because so many people rely on it just as a moral compass because they can't figure out what's good and bad for themselves. Or they like to believe that there's something out there helping everything along. I personally think it would be slightly scary if everything was completely random and anything could happen.
I don't want to be mean, but I think one of the weirdest religions ever is Mormonism. I don't want to insult anyone here if they're Mormon, but they think you get your own planet when you go to heaven. I think that's a bit much.
I don't know where Satanism was for me. I might have to take it again and find out.

[Gryphon]

I really don't want there to be any fighting of this. You'll probably feel a little bit of enmity because you feel your beleif is right. It's just as hard for me to beleive in a god as it is for someone seriously religious to beleive in no god. 'Cept for Buddhism, which doesn't have a god anyway, so... XD

Gahh, religion isn't bad! Some parts of it you may disagree with, but in general, I think it's good. And religion doesn't have a chance of dieing out in 600 years. It's been around so long that I can't think anything sudden would eradicate it. I mean, if you think about it, 600 years is a _short_ time for religion. And changes happen slowly, but it won't wipe out...

We were talking on the bus about how, at one point, jews were forced to convert, and some would pretend to convert, but they'd pray to their symbols, etc, that would be hidden in their closet. But down the generations, the children would know to pray to the closet without realizing why. Which is why there are Christians who pray in front of the closet.

In geo:
"I love the Big Bang Theory. It's so cool. It was like BAM!!! and there was Earth!"
"You know, they're beginning to disprove that."
"Awww... well, it was cool while it lasted."

It depends where you live... that's definitely not true for across the US, let alone world. People won't be killed, but some sure as heck won't say anything like that.

Lack of tolerance is baaad. Like the Crusades where they (not everyone) beleived that they were superior, absolutely right, therefore they should slaughter all opposition. I don't beleive you should be forced to say all of the pledge (one nation, under god...), but I do beleive people should have the opportunity to pray whenever in public. It's not bad. People just have different views is all.

Heyy, if it can dissapear, there can also be a revolutionary pro-whateverreligion movement.

Wars have happened because of religion, yes, but that's lack of tolerance... religion generally has good values. It also changes to more modern views. I'm sure you could cite something in the bible that isn't followed today. What worked then doesn't work now, and that's okay.

Islam is a monotheistic religion with many branches (like any religion). You've probably heard of the Suni and Shiite in Iraq. Hmm... I forget the details. It's similar to Christianity and Judiasm, but very different. As in monotheistic (but you could say Christianity is polytheistic; it just depends on how you look at it), but they have different views about Jesus and prophets. Their holy text is the Koran.

I beleive in absolute nothingness after dead. You're just gone, and that's it. Kinda depressing if you think about it too long. Hmm.

[Gigo]

agnosticism

67%
atheism

63%
Paganism

42%
Buddhism

33%
Islam

25%
Satanism

17%
Judaism

17%
Christianity

8%
Hinduism

8%



Someday, I will become an atheist.

DAMN. I hate it when my window suddenly goes to another webpage by accident, and I lose a HUGE long post!

[bluesalamanders]

You scored as atheism.

You are... an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul. Instead of simply being "nonreligious," atheists strongly believe in the lack of existence of a higher being, or God.

atheism 58%
agnosticism 58%
Buddhism 50%
Satanism 50%
Paganism 42%
Judaism 17%
Islam 13%
Christianitty 13%
Hinduism 0%

I have to disagree with their definition of atheism. Atheism, as I "believe" it, is not the "strong belief that god does not exist" but the lack of any belief relating to the subject.

I know that doesn't necessarily sound like there's a difference, but there is. Calling it strong belief against makes it active. Me? I tend not to think about it. The idea of god (any and all of those ideas) just doesn't play a part in my life. So, it's not that I believe god doesn't exist; I just don't believe god does exist. There isn't another belief that takes the place of that; that belief is just not there.


I was raised Jewish - or a combination of Jewish culture and atheistic lack of belief, really. I have to say I prefer the Jewish view of other religions over the apparent Christian or Islamic view. Christianity and Islam seem to be against the existance of other religions (or even of other sects of their own), which is what causes all that intolerance that people are talking about. Judaism is much more tolerant of the existance of other religions (in theory, anyway).

Of course, one of the fascinating things about the history of religions is how much they change. Back in the dark ages (or whenever it was exactly), when the Jews were expelled from most of Europe, one of the few places where they were safe and allowed to live peacefully was in the Islamic countries.

[db_pr]

Originally posted by bluesalamanders:
Judaism is much more tolerant of the existance of other religions (in theory, anyway).

MAYBE in theory because there is no way that could be said about the current situation between Israel- Palestine.

Edit: Palestine, yeah BM, I had too much soda today :S

[Peter Murray]

Originally posted by bluesalamanders:
Atheism, as I "believe" it, is not the "strong belief that god does not exist" but the lack of any belief relating to the subject.

I think that would be agnosticism - and you scored the same for that as for atheism.

Originally posted by db_pr:
MAYBE in theory because there is no way that could be said about the current situation between Israel- Pakistan.

What situation? I haven't heard anything about those two countries. Or do you mean Israel-Palestine?

[bluesalamanders]

No, agnosticism is the refusal to decide. Not that I'm maligning that viewpoint; I was agnostic for a long time. An agnostic says "there's no way to tell if there is or isn't". An atheist says something more like "what is this 'god' thing you're talking about?"

And just because I scored the same in agnostic and atheist in that silly quiz means nothing. It wasn't a particularly well-devised quiz, with far too many ambiguous questions and questions with presumptions of belief implicit in them.

[Gryphon]

bluesalamanders:
I have to disagree with their definition of atheism. Atheism, as I "believe" it, is not the "strong belief that god does not exist" but the lack of any belief relating to the subject.

Naw, their definition is right. What you're takling about is the second on your list; agnosticism. Atheism is the beleif that no higher being exists. Agnosticism is more like indescision, lack of beleifs, whatever.

Well, if you have no opinions, you're not atheist.

[bluesalamanders]

agnostic

1. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
2. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.


I don't think it is impossible to know and I'm not "skeptical about the existance of god". I simply prefer a slightly different definition of atheist than is apparently commonly used - that being "lacks a belief in god" as opposed to "disbelieves in god".

[Artemis Wolfang]

No offense, but in light of recent events for me, I find this topic really depressing... and slightly...

Well, I'm just saying that we don't want any...

...I'm just worried that someone might get offended.

[Cress]

I don't know what recent events you're talking about, and personally I find it really interesting to know what people here think about religion. I've been raised in a very Catholic environment, so it's nice to hear some other opinions.
I truly don't know what I believe a lot of the time. I'm pretty sure I'm not a Catholic, although it's hard to get rid of that kind of thinking after being taught it for so long.
I think at the moment I'm an agnostic because I'm still in the process of figuring out whether or not I believe in anything and what I believe in if I do.

[bluesalamanders]

What is it you find depressing, Artemis? That people have different beliefs? That there are people who don't believe in god? That we can't agree on a definition of atheist? (For anyone who's interested in that question of definitions, you can check out http://positiveatheist.com and the faq specifically at http://positiveatheism.org/tocfaq.htm.)

I think that if a person is offended by a discussion of religion, they should stay away from it, not try to discourage it. It can be such a large part of some people's lives, and it is such a large part of many cultures, that it should be discussed, particularly since it is a very contentious topic; it's important to hear other peoples' views.

[Gryphon]

Try "nonreligious" then?

Blue:
What is it you find depressing, Artemis? That people have different beliefs? That there are people who don't believe in god? That we can't agree on a definition of atheist? (For anyone who's interested in that question of definitions, you can check out http://positiveatheist.com and the faq specifically at http://positiveatheism.org/tocfaq.htm.)

She'd rather not people get into fights over this... Religion is a volatile subject. Also, some people could come to a religion topic for the sake of battling their views.