Unscientific survey of 'poly religious beliefs

[Mr. Harley]

Spiffor - terrible, but other's here have it worse. Velocyrix once posted what his childhood was like, and then there is Albert Speer, who I've picked up hints about his life. I was fortunate, I had a brilliant, truly wonderful mother. My little girl is healthy and bright. My wife loves me, if we can somehow deal with the safety issues (one reason my blood pressure has gone astronomical in the last year - now being treated with triple meds, successfully I might add).

However, my family had a bunch of very bad breaks, or as one friend put it we were Blue Cross (a US health insurance company) worst nightmare. What's even worse with the exception of my father's heart attack, they were all random. It is that which makes me refuse to believe in a Theistic, merciful God. If all the crisis had not occured, my father might have been a typical jerk dad, you love him but in very small doses. :ironic smile: Unfortunately instead it put a man on the edge over it into monsterhood, destroyed my brother's personality, gave my sister a really tough life, and gave my mother a lingering ten year death. I'll grant Job has me beat, but if I believed this was all because of a wager between God and Satan, I think I would truly despair.

[child of Thor]

And for people who do believe in something, especialy many from the organised religions; i guess its hard to explain why there is so much suffering in the world.
And often the suffering of clearly good and innocent people, while obvious evil-doers seem to be geting away with it.

So thats what never made me a follower of any of the organised religions - their stories of merciful gods and being good being the way, just doesn't seem to coralate with what we actualy see in the world all around us.

Still i've had what i've believed have been 'religous' experiences, impossible to describe and too personal to me to go into here. So i just believe now, and dont feel a need to prove anything - i've come to my conclusions in my own way and i think each person has to do the same in their lives. There is no right or wrong with these things imho.

[Brent]

Originally posted by Moral Hazard

We have more Christians who participate on this board than have voted here, so I believe that many of them aren't bothering to answer the poll.

Really I thought ~20% was high for Christian participation in an godless place like Apolyton.

Y'all mentally unstable athiests should stop complaining; I don't like being lumped in with popish idol worshippers, bible re-writing Lutherans, Robotic Calvinists, or Moron(i) worshipers but you don't see me complaining. I guess I just did.

As far as I know, no one worships Moroni any more than anyone worships Peter, James, John, Malachi, Noah, Mohammed, John Calvin, or Martin Luther. The Book of Mormon is named for Moroni's father, and is no different from there being Books of Ezra, Samuel, Isaiah or Ezekiel. "Mormons" worship the same god as any Christian or other monotheist. Using that name for our religion itself began with enemies of the church and is technically incorrect. Maybe you didn't really need these clarifications but I guess it doesn't hurt.

[Nostromo]

Boy, I'm sorry to hear about that Shawn. Sometimes, religious folks claim that we atheists are atheists because we didn't suffer enough, that we live a pampered life. But, sometimes, too much suffering can make you doubt. Btw, I'm not saying you're an atheist, but you clearly don't believe in all-mighty benevolent God anymore.

[Mr. Harley]

Taoism. With some Christian leanings.

[child of Thor]

Shintoism has its appeal to me.

[Mr. Harley]

Traditional Shinto can be a very kind, gentle religion. If you have children (present or future), get "My Neighbor Totoro." A very approachable movie that is based on the genuine Shinto of rural Japan, instead of the abomination created by the military to create cannon fodder for WW2.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
I'm a secular half-agnostic reformist jew. What do I pick?


I voted for judaism.

Reformist?

In the US at least, a Reform Jew attends a synagogue that emphasizes personal choice and doesnt consider jewish law to be binding. A reformist Jew, i suppose, is one who wants proper audits of all religious institutions

In Israel of course the movement associated with Reform Judaism is called Progressive. Which in America means your synagogue was founded by relatively recent migrants from central Europe, since they used the term Progressive rather than Reform. The terminology is totally different in UK where there are both Reform and Liberal movements, whereas in the US they are the same.


I assume however you are not a member of a Progressive synagogue? That would lend support to what ive argued for years with Orthodox friends, that far more Israels are really "Reform" in outlook than you get by looking at affiliation numbers.

[child of Thor]

@Shawn

That is the problem with many organised religions, they get exploited for political reasons - just look at the recent us elections(a neo-con plan apparantly)

[lord of the mark]

im jewish (surprise!)

my theology leans toward Kaplans Religious naturalism (G-d is all the forces in nature that tend toward salvation) as a working, day to day base, with an interest in Rosenzweigs Jewish religious existensialism, religion as quest for the eternal, with the existential affirmation of millions of jews over thousands of years as the basis of the possibility of a living eternal, and with a VERY strong bias towards the notion that none of this can be intelligibly discussed in words alone (convenient, I know) but must be lived and experienced. I am also influenced in the way Jewish mysticism is reconcilable, and even supportive of non-traditional views of G-d, as in the works of Arthur Waskow and Lawrence Kushner.

The bible is a collection of writings made by human beings over a long period of time. It (or at least the portion of it thats of interest to me) is not only a key source of Jewish history(used with approriate analytic care) , it is the product of the spiritual struggles of Jews of that time as the moved towards monotheism. That struggle, and the ongoing commitment of the people to it, render it holy. To the extent that the eternal, the force for good in the world, is wrapped up historically in that specific struggle of the Jews, it is correct to say that the bible is the product of what we call "G-d".

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski
If you ask me faith is something that you hold close inside. A person that has true faith has no reason to try and convince anyone of what they believe. I say this because those that are truly happy are in a set place it doesnt matter what others think.

Even if it DOES matter to you what others believe, trying to reduce your faith to a set of arguments, proofs, etc to proselytize others seems to do violence to the complexity of what living faith is. Thats my problem with proselytizing. In that sense evangelical christianity and militant secularism are two sides of the same coin to me - they think religion is a set of doctrines, something you can prove or disprove in an argument - even in a poly thread.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
I was born a conservative Jew, and now I'm more religious.

Are you Chabad LN? I go there alot, but out of Conservative convictions, Im afraid. I think they dont mind as long as more Mitzvahs are performed as a result

[Tassadar500]

I'm not Chabad, but I believe in most of their teachings. I go to a Chabad shul every Shabbas, I have personal teachings with the Rabbi twice a week, and I go to their Shabbatons. Two Christian families have recently converted to Chabad that now go to our Shul. One family was Swedish, and the Grandfather was a Neo-Nazi, who has disowned his son because of the conversion, and the other used to be a Preacher in a Church, and wanted to talk about some Jewish ideas, but the Church attenders resented Judiasm, and thus, they kicked him out, so he become Chabad.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by child of Thor
And for people who do believe in something, especialy many from the organised religions; i guess its hard to explain why there is so much suffering in the world.

the ONLY proper religious response to suffering, I think, is to DO something about it, not to try to justify it in any way. Try to BE the justification of G-d.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
I'm not Chabad, but I believe in most of their teachings. I go to a Chabad shul every Shabbas, I have personal teachings with the Rabbi twice a week, and I go to their Shabbatons. Two Christian families have recently converted to Chabad that now go to our Shul.

Now THAT says as much about Chabad from an anti-Chabad POV as one could wish!!! Me, I know some people who've converted to JUDAISM at MY shul.

Sorry for picking on what was undoubtedly unintended - I know what you meant - but you get my drift