Are you religious?

[ajbrun]

I can see now that I should have put more option in the poll, like "don't know" and "bit of both".

I think I would class myself as an athiest, but I do believe in the morals of religon. I see this as being "a good person" and someone who has morals, not being religious. I think that all people (religious or not) should be like that. I do not believe that there is a god or that Jesus existed. This might be down to the fact that the bible can be proved wrong sometimes.

I see there being two types of peope - I may be wrong.

1. Those who are more scientific, and want facts.
2. This who are open to suggestion, and might believe something until it is DISproved.

[nichomach]

OK, fair enough, my apologies for the misidentification; but there are a fair few million people who would classify their belief in exactly the same way - a belief in a higher force or power that doesn't conform to a specific faith. You wouldn't necessarily think exactly the same way as them, though, would you?

[Alex]

I can see now that I should have put more option in the poll, like "don't know" and "bit of both".

I think I would class myself as an athiest, but I do believe in the morals of religon. I see this as being "a good person" and someone who has morals, not being religious. I think that all people (religious or not) should be like that. I do not believe that there is a god or that Jesus existed. This might be down to the fact that the bible can be proved wrong sometimes.

I see there being two types of peope - I may be wrong.

1. Those who are more scientific, and want facts.
2. This who are open to suggestion, and might believe something until it is DISproved.

You are wrong.

Sorry, but it had to be said. All science, by its very nature, believes something until it is disproven. In science there are very few facts. gravity is not a fact. Neither is electricity.

[CMC]

Im a christian, and its the only way like, im not gonna diss other peoples religions, but i mean, why would God send His only son to be brutally killed, if it wasnt true, just for the crack? i dont think so, im not being cheeky like, its jus what i believe

[Elmo]

erm.... that doesnt make sense CMC....

if it wasnt true, it wouldnt have happened.... it would have been made up.... why would it be made up? i dunno, why do people write murder/rape stories into novels?

If you would like to believe that that's what happened then that's up to you. It wasnt just "jesus" who was "brutally murdered" in this way tho, if you're choosing to believe this, other "normal" people were too. "witches" were burned at the stake and drowned. People have been beheaded in the past and hung drawn and quartered. And many stories and myths and legends have been produced as a result of these brutal ways of killing.

You're chosing to base your life on something that revolves around some stories in a book that's been translated through hundreds of languages. Who's to say the same thing has happened as happens in a game of chinese whispers?

[Scientist]

Im a scientist, Im also an athiest so very easy choice..

[Purple]

I used to know what i was, Roman Catholic, then i spent many years realising that IMO the RC way of doing things was not what the religion was about. I swayed toward C of E and went to an Ecumenical church. Since then i have become agnostic.

I believe that all religions are the same - in that they all preach love, honesty, tollerance, amongst other wishy washy but nonetheless important things. and also the mother of all scams, woot here comes the collection plate.

I challenge the atheists to explain what was before the big bang.

[Scientist]

Purple - Trust me in terms of the theories that are currently available you dont even want to know what was before the big bang its that complicated - singularities etc...

[Purple]

and where did that come from?

[Alex]

erm.... that doesnt make sense CMC....

if it wasnt true, it wouldnt have happened.... it would have been made up.... why would it be made up? i dunno, why do people write murder/rape stories into novels?

If you would like to believe that that's what happened then that's up to you. It wasnt just "jesus" who was "brutally murdered" in this way tho, if you're choosing to believe this, other "normal" people were too. "witches" were burned at the stake and drowned. People have been beheaded in the past and hung drawn and quartered. And many stories and myths and legends have been produced as a result of these brutal ways of killing.

You're chosing to base your life on something that revolves around some stories in a book that's been translated through hundreds of languages. Who's to say the same thing has happened as happens in a game of chinese whispers?

I can see what you mean by all this, but the Bible, at least in general, is regarded as one of the most reliable historical documents we have, especially of Old Testament times. When people talk about how the Bible is 'just a load of stories', they (in general, you may well have researched this) have no basis for their statement of the hisotrical inaccuracy of the Bible, and most don't even know what these 'magical stories' are.

Besides, the Bible hasn't been translated through hundreds of languages, it's been translated into hundreds of languages. The New Testament was written in Greek, and this is still what we translate from. The Old Testament has the benefit of things like the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls to back up its historicity, or at least to back up the fact that it hasn't been tampered with.

As for the stories about Jesus, well, at the time, those who spread the stories were willing to die in horrific manners to spread the news, would you do that if you made it up?

If people decide to look at the Bible's accuracy and historicity in a completely unbiased way, and decide that it's bunk, then fair enough, but don't dismiss it out of hand at least.

I used to know what i was, Roman Catholic, then i spent many years realising that IMO the RC way of doing things was not what the religion was about. I swayed toward C of E and went to an Ecumenical church. Since then i have become agnostic.

I believe that all religions are the same - in that they all preach love, honesty, tollerance, amongst other wishy washy but nonetheless important things. and also the mother of all scams, woot here comes the collection plate.

I challenge the atheists to explain what was before the big bang.

Read Steven Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" - it explains all that as far we can currently understand.

Also, where do you think the money from the collection plate goes? To the vicar's new Bachelor Pad? Or to keeping the church going, as well as paying to help out local charities, as well as international crises? It's no scam, and if you go to church you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to...

[Raz316]

In short no.

I do not believe in the god spoken of in the bible, its just a story if ya ask me.

[Purple]

Alex - Your point is well taken, but the pope does live it up a bit doesnt he? and does the church really need all those gold plated trinquets. How about give one of those to a starving family.

im affraid that Mr Hawkins' book is beyond me right now - maybe in a couple of years.

[Alex]

lol, well, Im not RC, so I wouldn't like to comment on catholic traditions of ornamenting the entire place with expensive stuff

[Purple]

i think we should pledge our allegiance to the hypno-toad, wawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaw

[Spud1]

So in what way was religion trying to control you, other than trying to get you to live the morals of Christianity, which you still follow anyway?

going to church - giving up each sunday morning/evening
donations to the church
wasting time talking to some1 who doesnt exist [praying]

these are just the few examples that i thought of in the past few seconds, i'm sure i could get more if i tried.

not meaning to offend anyones beliefs here, these are just my thoughts...

[Alex]

going to church - giving up each sunday morning/evening
donations to the church
wasting time talking to some1 who doesnt exist [praying]

these are just the few examples that i thought of in the past few seconds, i'm sure i could get more if i tried.

not meaning to offend anyones beliefs here, these are just my thoughts...

No offense taken.

But if you think about it, if the church was trying to control you, these would be control mechanisms rather than things they would be trying to get you to do. The money one aside (I've already dealt with that one in an earlier post), going to church and praying would be methods of controlling you to live the morals you said you already subscribe to...