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Religion

Soda Fox

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I'm sure we've had a thread about this before but I'm pretty sure it's been a long while. I'm keeping the poll super simple, sorry ya'll can't just get your free TBT.

Anyway, KEEP IT CIVIL. PEOPLE ARE ENTITLED TO THEIR OPINIONS, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IT MAY BE.

Personally, I'm spiritual but not religious. And by spiritual I believe the universe is "god" and that we are the universe experiencing itself. Our only "god given" laws are the laws of nature/physics.

Discuss! And again, BE NICE EVERYONE. IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE, DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.

Why didn't my poll work? T_T
 
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did you check the box for addign a poll??

I did. :( I added options and everything like I usually do.

I know I messed something up. I don't want to make a new thread though and I'm not sure how to add the poll after the fact.
 
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I'm not really sure where I stand as far as religion goes. I was brought up by Catholic parents, but I remember becoming fairly disillusioned with the whole thing by a relatively early age, probably around 11 or 12. These days, I'd probably describe myself as agnostic because I'm inclined not to believe in a god, but don't necessarily think the existence of one can be disproven either. The idea of there being a larger-than-life entity out there to watch over us is a comforting one all the same though.
 
This thread shouldn't have been made if you wanted a positive and civil conversation, it is a controversial topic and people cannot be calm and collected when discussing religion. The Bell Tree has a history of users getting over sensitive, rude, snarky and aggressive when discussing religion, politics, diets, sexuality, gender identity and several other controversial topics. So making any thread like this will only result in bans, infractions, grudges, groups of users bullying other users for simply having a different opinion and more often than not hating groups of people because of their race, sexuality, political affiliation.



Anyway!

I believe Religion is toxic and all it does is divide us.

However I believe everyone should have the right to practice whichever religion they choose, however I disagree with treating someone differently because of that religion. It simply is not fair and I am disgraced with people because of their idiocy and discriminatory views against other people because of their religions. If you are one of those people I would just like you to know that you disgust me and I hope you grow mentally to accept other people for who they are. Vile.
 
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I label myself under Christianity. I believe in God, and am active in a church, however I think a lot of aspects of religion itself can be harmful. The Bible itself addresses this. I think that regardless of what my beliefs are at any given time, the most important thing is to show love to others. That is my goal.
 
I was raised in a Catholic family. I was made to do my Communion and Confirmation.

As a young child, I always questioned the things I was taught about God and Catholicism. I never really believed in it, and I still don't today.

These days I consider myself to be more Agnostic than anything else. Religion or a God isn't something that I think about often. I personally can't follow religion when I see the kind of pain it causes. If a God was to prove of their existence in a way that can't be disproved, I wouldn't have a choice but to believe in them.

Regardless, I really enjoy talking to my religious friends about their beliefs. I can relate as I was taught about these things since I was a child.
 
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I'm an irreligious atheist. I was raised a Christian but I believe I only ever went to church and 'believed' because I thought my family and community had access to some knowledge that I didn't that led them to believe. I can't say I ever had a belief for myself. I never felt anything for myself. Going to church was just going through the motions. But I tried to believe, I prayed and everything.

Now that I am free from that I've recognized that there isn't any reason whatsoever to believe in a deity of any kind. It's not impossible, but I do think that the God of the Abrahamic religions can pretty easily be ruled out. A deistic kind of deity could be a thing, but it's not a relevant proposition until there is reason to believe.
 
inb4 it gets closed

I feel a little spiritual, though I am currently not part of a religion. I believe in things like the supernatural, spiritual mediums, and reincarnation to an extent. As a child, I always had Roman Catholicism shoved so far down my throat by my family. I was told things like going to church meant I would 100% go to heaven. When I asked "What if I literally paid attention to nothing said?" I was told it wouldn't matter because I had sat in that bench and sat in the mass. Pretty much, it didn't matter if my thoughts were there or that I didn't participate. That as long as I was there and continued going to just sit there, I would automatically go to heaven. They were also very hypocritical in that I had to go to church but they "shouldn't have to." It became very unbearable expereince that I couldn't make my own choices in my beliefs, and for a long time till the last few years, I was 100% against Catholicism. I wouldn't bash people for it or be mean to them, but I personally found hate towards it.

In high school, I had a friend whose mom asked me if I believed in anything out of curiosity. Because of trust, I told her my feelings with religion. I will never forget when she told me she didn't understand why parents force their beliefs on their children and get upset if they stray away from believing 100% in the same things as they did. She told me that she believed that everyone has their own experience with the higher being, whether you see them as God, Allah, or any other names from any religion. That you shouldn't have to go to a church, mosque, synagogue, or where ever to prove you're a "good person" by whatever religion you follow unless you believe it yourself. She said that because everyone has their own relationship and understanding with the higher being so that it is up to you to do what you believe is enough.

These words have stuck with me since. I don't believe I should have to have a religious label. I believe I will find my own way.

As for my parents, a few years ago they stopped being so crappy about religion. When my parents renewed their wedding vows, my dad had asked the church's priest "How do you know there is a Heaven?" The priest responded not to the question, but instead said that our souls continue on because people "remember" us. Yes, a roman catholic priest said this. My dad doesn't believe so much anymore while my mom has her own personal beliefs when it comes to "God." All in all, they don't care anymore what I believe in.

tldr; I feel a bit spiritual and I don't label myself with a religion. I believe I will find my own connection with a higher being on my own and don't need rules that I don't believe in to tell me how.
 
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This thread shouldn't have been made if you wanted a positive and civil conversation, it is a controversial topic and people cannot be calm and collected when discussing religion. The Bell Tree has a history of users getting over sensitive, rude, snarky and aggressive when discussing religion, politics, diets, sexuality, gender identity and several other controversial topics. So making any thread like this will only result in bans, infractions, grudges, groups of users bullying other users for simply having a different opinion and more often than not hating groups of people because of their race, sexuality, political affiliation.



Anyway!

I believe Religion is toxic and all it does is divide us.

However I believe everyone should have the right to practice whichever religion they choose, however I disagree with treating someone differently because of that religion. It simply is not fair and I am disgraced with people because of their idiocy and discriminatory views against other people because of their religions. If you are one of those people I would just like you to know that you disgust me and I hope you grow mentally to accept other people for who they are. Vile.

While I think there are a few bad eggs among our bunch, I have faith in our community that we can make this topic one that works.

The gun thread got pretty far (and is still open to discussion!) I believe this one can be, too. And I hope we can all learn form each other's experiences and become better people for knowing - even if we disagree, every experience is something to add to yourself and make everyone more well rounded people.
 
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This thread shouldn't have been made if you wanted a positive and civil conversation, it is a controversial topic and people cannot be calm and collected when discussing religion. The Bell Tree has a history of users getting over sensitive, rude, snarky and aggressive when discussing religion, politics, diets, sexuality, gender identity and several other controversial topics. So making any thread like this will only result in bans, infractions, grudges, groups of users bullying other users for simply having a different opinion and more often than not hating groups of people because of their race, sexuality, political affiliation.

I don't think it's necessary for you to scour this area for threads that you can automatically slam as taboo. Topics like these are very common and I don't see anything wrong with controversial topics; in fact, I think they should be welcomed. It's an interesting topic and like you said:

result in bans, infractions, grudges, groups of users bullying other users for simply having a different opinion

anyone who crosses will see proper judgement. What's wrong with going in a little too deep? It's cool to see other sides of people. Me? My family is very religious and honestly it hurts me a lot, but soon I'll be away from it all and I won't have so much pressure and disappointment on my shoulders anymore. If religion makes certain people happy, then whatever. But it has never made me happy so I'd rather never be involved with it, which unfortunately means having to disconnect with my family in the near future.
 
I don't think it's necessary for you to scour this area for threads that you can automatically slam as taboo. Topics like these are very common and I don't see anything wrong with controversial topics; in fact, I think they should be welcomed. It's an interesting topic and like you said:



anyone who crosses will see proper judgement. What's wrong with going in a little too deep? It's cool to see other sides of people. Me? My family is very religious and honestly it hurts me a lot, but soon I'll be away from it all and I won't have so much pressure and disappointment on my shoulders anymore. If religion makes certain people happy, then whatever. But it has never made me happy so I'd rather never be involved with it, which unfortunately means having to disconnect with my family in the near future.

Please, both of you, I hope you don't dissolve this into attacks. Zendel meant well with that post.
 
While I think there are a few bad eggs among our bunch, I have faith in our community that we can make this topic one that works.

The gun thread got pretty far (and is still open to discussion!) I believe this one can be, too. And I hope we can all learn form each other's experiences and become better people for knowing - even if we disagree, every experience is something to add to yourself and make everyone more well rounded people.

I really hope so too. c:

I'm sick of seeing what I described happen all the time so hopefully this thread will stay civil and positive.

I apologise if that came off as harsh, it wasn't my intention.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Please, both of you, I hope you don't dissolve this into attacks. Zendel meant well with that post.

I don't plan too, that would only make me a hypocrite if I did so.
 
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I'm an atheist; most of my family is atheistic, actually. My parents straight up told me when I was little that God doesn't exist and to not listen to that "religious nonsense" (I guess kinda the opposite for most people, heh). I respect people who are religious but religion usually turns me away a little because I hear a lot of the time about how some use their religion to justify immoral actions or hateful speech. But I know that the great majority of those who are religious are good, hard-working people who outweigh the minority that do have negative influence.
 
I don't know, I was born Christian but I consider myself atheist and I don't practice religion. I do find myself praying to whatever God when I'm really upset or troubled, but I don't do that regularly.

I think people should be allowed to practice whatever religion they want, but in history religion has caused more negatives than positives.

- - - Post Merge - - -

So I guess I have a neutral stand point on religion.
 
Well I was raised Christian. However, the more I think about it, the more I believe that the gods or prophets that religions speak of aren't as they are written in the book. They aren't these all knowing perfect beings. These books, such as the Bible, were written thousands of years ago by regular people, who maybe had their own agendas, their own beliefs that they wanted to spread. Can we really say that everything written in them are accurate? Now my opinion is that everybody should be able to follow whichever religion they want, without being "sheep." By this, I mean that if there is a rule/law in a religious text that is wrong by today's standards or does not feel right to you, that you don't just follow it because "God" says so. Let your heart be the true guide for your actions. Now do I actually believe in a god? Well, I simply believe that there are so many things in life that are beyond our capabilities to understand at the moment, things or beings that we don't know even exist. So it is possible there is a greater being somewhere else. However, I don't think that there is an all powerful and "perfect" God, capable of doing anything and everything and loves us and cares, etc. There is too much evidence against that. A perfect and loving powerful entity would not allow a lot of things to happen as they do, would not strike down the first born children that God is said to have done to free the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. A truly powerful and perfect God would have taken out the people in power, rather than innocent children. Anyways, these are all just ramblings.. I'm tired so my brain just cannot organise my thoughts at the moment lol.

But to summarise, I believe that people should have the freedom to practice any religion, but they should also practice critical thinking to form their own opinions and to have more reason behind their actions/opinions besides "my religion tells me so." Also, in my own personal opinion, there are things/beings we have not yet discovered/cannot understand and so there could be something greater and more powerful out there, but I don't think that being is the epitome of perfection and love, because I disagree with the morals of the Christian's God in the ways he has acted to solve the problems of his people. I cannot speak for other religions because I only have experience as a Christian. Please remember that this is just my opinion and everyone is free to think differently!
 
I'm Christian and go to a Southern Baptist church.
I won't lie, I have many disagreements with some of the church's teachings, particularly dealing with homosexuality and abortion. I'm bisexual myself, so you can see why it particularly hits close to home, and especially because I have a lot of gay friends.
Anyways, I don't have a problem with religion, but unfortunately, the interpretations of religion have had profound effects on society. Anyways, I do not intend to strike debate here. I'm just stating what I think.
 
I was raised Catholic but my family wasn't like SUPER Catholic. We didn't go to Church at all, and just believed the basics of heaven and hell. Bad people go to hell etc.

Though, as I've grown, I think I'm more spiritual. Definitely agnostic. I can't say I don't believe in God or a higher being. Especially when I watch documentaries of people who say they feel God within themselves or God speak to them. Hey, that's pretty cool. I'd love to sit down for tea and ask about that. I like learning about other religions and kind of take a piece that I could apply to myself.
 
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