There is a philosophy thread, so I see no problems with posting a religious discussion thread. I have a feeling that it has been avoided for obvious reasons: to avoid conflict. However, there is a way that we can approach this to both educate members who are not familiar with a particular religion in the religion's theology as well as promote loving and tolerating, and that is to keep discussion free of argument. While it is true that a particular religious belief or system may not be what youagree with on a personal level, it is important to remember that others take their beliefs very seriously. Nothing here is "right" or "wrong", it's simply a place to clear up any questions anyone has about various religious systems and to promote unity within the community. I am telling you now, I will report anyone who tries to present an argument with malicious intent in this thread. It is for knowledge and caring, not for shooting others down. First thing's first: I am agnostic at the moment, but I am extremely well versed in a few brands of Christian theology and have dabbled in various other religions (at least learned about them, if not practiced them at some point or another). If you have any questions regarding Christianity, I can certainly answer them from a fairly non-biased perspective, but anything else I'll have to post sources outside of scripture for probably because I am not as familiar with it.
Hmm. I used to be a hardcore atheist, not taking any religion seriously and hating organised religion for all the conflict it has the potential to cause. Since then I've matured a bit and now understand just how great a force religion can be in many peoples lives. I still dont believe in any god, and think that on the whole humanity is ready to leave organised religion behind as we discover more about our world, but I'm certainly more open to the concept of spiritualism. I don't know, but I guess you could call me an agnostic antitheist.
I'm pretty much a very, very, very, very, very irreligious guy. I never intend to hurt feelings of anyone religious, but I cannot accept their beliefs at all. Tell me to go to a church, I will refuse. Tell me to join a group of Christians, I will refuse. Tell me to say a prayer, I will refuse, and so on. If I see the words 'devout Christian' about any person, then I will, I am ashamed to say, get quite angry. Maybe I'm an arrogant fool, but I can't help it, nor am I going to try without any great persuasion. As I say, I seriously don't mean to offend.
I have a very... interesting view on Religion. It has done a lot of good and an equal amount of harm in my opinion. I am however well versed in the theology of many faiths, so I can answer a lot of questions about a lot of religions. As for my own personal beliefs, I really can't decide between agnostic, deist, and... neo-paganism. Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
i lost all faith in religion after i was beat, torn down, shunned, teased, egged, punished, and spat on for being bisexual and loving someone who live 500 miles away. Christianity, Jewish religion, Catholicism, even people who believe in Buddhism have attacked me because of my bisexuality. Until the day Religion learnes to not hate Difference, i will not be religious.
Bear in mind that not all Religions are like that. I'm kinda shocked even buddhists would insult you for that; they tend to be very welcoming, even towards sexuality, at least, buddhists I've met have been to me. Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
You also need to bear in mind that not only religion affects opinions on sexuality, but society too. You might just live in a rough area.
I'll say why Muslims are against homosexuality and bisexuality - the act of sexual activity before marriage is considered as "fornication/zina", which is a sin. The act of sexual activity is actually supposed to be used only in the hopes of having and making a child, after being married to your partner. Also, i'd like to clarify a couple of things about Islam: 1. Terrorism. Islam downright negates terrorism, so there can't be Muslim terrorists. When the act of terrorism is done, one has left the religion. I think this, actually, counts for all religions (?). 2. "Discrimination of Females". That what Islam practices is not discrimination of females. On the contrary, actually. Islam protects both females and males by making the females being dressed up quite well. Therefore, it's minimizing it to the very least amount of chance a raping or any other sexual activity before the marriage could happen. Remember, it mostly occurs in the moment - the brain just basically stops thinking, and the man submits to his desires. If you have further questions about Islam, do not hesitate to ask me. EDIT: Might I ask what this is doing in the "Literature" section? I think in "General discussion" it'd fit much better.
They weren't Buddhist. If they were, then they are very, very bad at it and probably have no idea what their religion even entails. For a start Buddhism believe against violence. It isn't what they'd call a 'sin', more the wrong way of going around something. I know you never said they attacked you physically, but the very concept of attacking in any medium is against the very foundation of Buddhism. As for prejudice against bisexuality, Western Buddhism especially is usually very tolerant of such things. I can only say if they really were Buddhist then they need to study their own religion. Anyway, there was a thread about religion before. I can't be bothered utilising either my brain nor fingers to the full extent, so I'll just copy and paste what I said there, here. Nobody knows how the universe was made, nobody knows if there's a god or not, so nobody can say they're religion is right nor not. It's personal belief. I don't agree with how religions are made into some sort of sect or organization, that has nothing to do with belief in a deity or anything personal. I also don't see the point in certain religious practices, such as refraining from eating beef purely because of religious reasons (as in the animal not being 'clean', not for ethical and/or medical reasons). Bottom line, make your own decision. It doesn't matter, nobody, including yourself, can ever say you're right or wrong. I just don't like it when people are religious for reasons such as tradition. Don't accept there's a god if you don't honestly believe it yourself. Your choice. I'm an agnostic athiest. I don't believe there's a god, but that's only because I doubt it. My belief in a god can be summed up by Russell's Teapot, which basically states just because you can't prove something doesn't exist when there is no logical evidence to support it does, it doesn't mean you should. I can't prove my sister's not a ninja trying to kill me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to punch her in the face when she's sleeping just to be sure. I do that anyway. Kidding, but seriously, I see little to no evidence for the existence of one, and I also theorize that the idea that one exists stems from prebiblical civilisations looking for a reason for the natural phenomena occuring around them without scientific explanations. Am I right? Is there a god because there's no proof? Nobody will ever know, so does it matter? No. It doesn't. I fully accept I could be wrong about God, heaven, all that jazz. But it's my beliefe, and nothing more. As for religions teaching you how to be a better person, that should be a universally applicable trait. It's my 'religion' to be happy, make others happy, and generally be a nice guy. If you want to point out the fact that I don't believe in a god to call me a heathen or whatever, fine. I can deal with that. In the end, it's like sexuality. It doesn't matter so there's no reason to care what I believe in. Theism or athiesm, there's no need to shove your beliefs in other people's faces, as it's their choice to make, not yours. Believe there's a god, believe there isn't, believe that Celestia is real and is the one true creator it really doesn't matter. Just be a nice person, it's all you need to worry about.
^ That post is exactly how I think. I do want to add though that I believe the existence of religion can be a good thing. I have started some kind of Christian "confirmation" whatever, where you go to a church and talk about god and Jesus once a week because my family is Christians. I don't really believe in a god, but I have noticed that religion is very good at bringing people together, everyone who who believes in Jesus has something in common, and can relate to eachother. On my confirmation we are doing a lots of stuff togheter and having fun, if it wasn't for religion we wouldn't. Religious people feel good and safe when being a part of something big.
I actually know a few Satanists. One was LaVeyan, not sure what the others were. One thing I do know however, is that they were very good people with good morals. They're heavily discriminated against, and it's very hypocritical. It's like bronies. Preach love and tolerance, yet declare anything opposing their views as 'haters hating'. Not all of them, obviously, but you know what I mean.
I live in an extended Penticostal Christian family. I was grown up with believing it, but around the time I was about 12-13 I was skeptical about what I was told to believe in. Since then I find myself in between. I like the atmosphere and people I know who are Christian (I only know Christian and Atheist people), but I dislike the idea of dedicating my life to something that could be false. I also don't like the fighting that religion entails. I never paid much attention at church, so I guess you could say I was Christian word and not by belief. Even though I've never paid a lot of attention to what I've believed in, I still really dislike my friends poking fun of the religion, burning bibles we got at school assembly, and sorts of carry-on. Well that was a random incoherent mess right there, perhaps later I'll do a re-write :derpe:
Another misunderstood religion that is often associated with Satanism (for some bizarre reason) is Wicca/neo-paganism. Wicca is often viewed as a very cult-like religion, filled with magic and rituals and sacrifices and the like. This couldn't be further from the truth. Wicca is really a religion revering nature and the balance of all things, how everything has a "male" and "female" part, how nature is the most important thing. Its a lot more complicated than that of course, but I guess that is an extremely simplified version (any wiccans here please don't get upset at me, I know this isn't terrily accurate). The main thing about Wicca is the principle "Do what you want, so long as you do no harm.", which I already believe places it above most other religions. Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
I have a wiccan friend, one of the nicest people I've ever met. They there is this hardcore christian woman. She constantly calls him the devil and a demon that worships satan with his cult. You can not tell her anything. She tries to get him fired, she puts pictures of jesus everywhere. She plays jesus music constantly. The moment he tries any of the above, she treatens to go to management. I'm an athiest. I used to be christian until a 2001. I started question the idea of a god. I don't mind most religions, just not much of a fan of christinity. I'm sure I follow a religion by the way I already live. The cloestest thing I have to reilgion is straight edge and that really doesn't count. Spoiler: dumb joke bad religion is best religion -- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
I am a Christian. I took Jesus as my saviour and I am proud of it. Trust me though I am NOT the kind who will go and shoot other religions down or think that if you aren't with Jesus that you are with The devil. I have a lot of atheist friends and we all get along fine. I will speak up if someone seeks help or if someone else decides to attack Christianity but other wise if you are a different religion to me it doesn't matter. We can still be good friends. And basically if you don't like me being a Christian that is fine just don't hang around me then.
I should have mentioned that I don't care what religion a person is. It's between you and yourself only to decide what is for you. Just to make it clear I don't hate any religions just the radical people inside of them. Example: westboro bapist church. I don't care about there religion, they're just bad people. -- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
^This. I really don't have a problem with religion at it's heart (at least most of the time) but I draw the line when wealth starts being exchanged and people use religion to vent their own insecurities and prejudices. God hates *squee!*s? Really?
