Religion

[cowmuflage]

Haha nice. I got told I was going to hell for eating meat once from some guy on the street XD

[TygerDarkstorm]

Haha nice. I got told I was going to hell for eating meat once from some guy on the street XD

That's one of the strangest I've heard. XD

[Vephriel]

As far as the evolution discussion, well, I've studied a hell of a lot of biology in school. To me, it's a fact, not something that is seriously debatable. Kinda like gravity.

Hehe, that's exactly how I think of the subject as well.

[Setanta]

Yeah evolution is pretty much not debated anymore.

heh, I should introduce you to the Theocracy that is known as the State of Kansas

But in all seriousness, out of those I would go with Agnostic....although in the past it was more known as the type of Deism practiced by a great deal of the American Founding Fathers. I have no problem with the idea and/or concept of their being a "supreme being" that may or may not have created life. I tend to think that life on this planet if anything is some sort of crazy science experiment that was forgotten by the kid who created it eons ago.

Then again, the Dolphins could be responsible for everything.

[Moore]

Yeah evolution is pretty much not debated anymore.

heh, I should introduce you to the Theocracy that is known as the State of Kansas

But in all seriousness, out of those I would go with Agnostic....although in the past it was more known as the type of Deism practiced by a great deal of the American Founding Fathers. I have no problem with the idea and/or concept of their being a "supreme being" that may or may not have created life. I tend to think that life on this planet if anything is some sort of crazy science experiment that was forgotten by the kid who created it eons ago.

Then again, the Dolphins could be responsible for everything.

I am from Kansas.

[Setanta]

I am from Kansas.

coincidentally, I am.....originally.

[Anyia]

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

[Turgus]

First, I am sorry that someone brought it up, but since they did, I have to post the following response.

Did you believe in logic? because if you believe in logic you can never believe in evolution.

This is an Argument from Ignorance. (A Logical Fallacy)

The evidence for Evolution is everywhere (molecular, and paleontological) and it is a FACT regardless of if you have seen it, believe it or not.

This is the only logical conclusion that one can come to after looking at the preponderance of evidence.

So please, with all due respect, educate yourself; as your statements of pure conjecture on this matter just shows your absolute ignorance of the subject.

Thank you.

[cowmuflage]

Dude that person's a troll hes only posted once.

[Turgus]

Trolls here on Petopia?!?

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[Golden]

Begone troll! *waves magic wand*

[Saturo]

Yaay, Saffie Magic Mod Powers! \o/

S'anyway... Yep, evolution is a fact nowadays. It might seem illogical that we have things like advanced eyes, or highly developed brains or whatnot, but really, it's been going on for a REALLY long while, and you can find evidence of it everywhere. For example dinosaur fossils of the same species with the talons growing larger over time.

[cowmuflage]

But Saturo dino bones where put in the earth to test out faith! Really I know a guy who thinks that.

[Saturo]

How about old human bones? Or imprints of amoebas in those thingies!?

Yeah, the people do exist. I respect their right to say things like that, but I do not agree with it at all. It just seems incredibly unlikely to me that some omnipotent entity spawned the universe, put us there, and then placed lots of fossils, asteroids, and all other kinds of stuff that proves the opposite.

[Mearra]

Atheist but I am a spiritual person in general. I love studying up on other religious beliefs, but that's about as far as I'd go these days. When I was younger I did delve into paganism, even briefly joined a wiccan coven and still have various books on it, the love and connection to nature was probably the largest draw for me. The largest downside was the image people would conjure up as soon as you mentioned such things, or how some would actually think that the stereotypes were true and try to live them >.<. I looked into various paths trying to find what I best fit into. I've worked for Innerself Magazine, so I had quite an assortment of beliefs to look into while there as well. Mind you, much of this was done in secret from my family, since if my father had ever discovered the literature I'd been delving into etc, he would have been quite enraged.

I've always loved Mythology, other cultures Gods/Goddesses (which would explain why almost every single one of my hunters pets is named after one) and found other belief systems fascinating.

I was originally raised Roman Catholic, but I walked away from it as soon as I was able. It isn't a shocker either that my Sunday school teacher and I got in an argument over whether or not animals would go to heaven. Suffice to say I was kept a long time after class to be "put in my place" and when it came time to register for Sunday school classes, I never registered again.

I respect everyones right to believe in what they choose, whatever gives them strength and stablity is fine with me. As long as it does not harm others (physically, emotionally or mentally) and that they do not force their religion on other people...then it's all good. I do believe in science, evolution and all that jazz. I believe that nature is to be respected not exploited. I am a big believer in karma and treating others and your environment well, not because of 'wanting good things to happen to you in the end' but because thats the way things should be. I believe that it is your actions and intentions that make you the person that you are, not the label that you carry and that no amount of confession can erase your past, you can only improve yourself by learning from your mistakes, trying to fix the wrongs and moving on to doing better things in the future. I think I'll stop there.
Much <3

Edited: I was being too private, seeing other people opened up a bit, well...I might as well.

[Mania]

Hey, this hasn't devolved into a flame war yet! I love you all. But let's be careful about making judgement calls regarding people who see evolution in a particular way, at least in this thread. Mostly we have, but consider this a reminder.

For myself ... I have no idea how to answer the poll even though I am familiar with the terms. I was raised as a strict atheist, converted to Discordianism, trained in a Gardnerian Wiccan coven, and like to consider myself to have personal connections with several gods, including Eris, Kali, Loki, and Coyote. I believe in the reality of all the gods, even (especially) the contradictory ones, and even (especially) the different aspects of the gods that have evolved over time (c.f. Eris) ... as well as the reality of physical and logical laws, including the ones we don't know about yet.

I might describe my belief system as a kind of belief multiverse - except that the normal view of the multiverse has us experiencing only one universe at any given time. To paraphrase the Red Queen, I've put in my time believing impossible things.

But all of that is about believing in the reality - the existence - of things. My sense of spirituality revolves around the putative force that coheres the multiverse, which is the chaos as the heart of order, sure, but also the defining pattern inside the random. I have faith that this force means me no harm, but that's just faith - and secondary. More importantly, I find that force to be the most gawd-awful, amazing, terrifyingly beautiful ...

Well. It's hard to describe. The closest I have found to an accurate description of what I feel is in writings of certain bipolar authors in an advanced manic state. This probably shouldn't surprise me given that I am bipolar. On the other hand, I've never hit high mania, being limited to hypomania so far, so ... take that as you will.

[GormanGhaste]

hmm...my spirituality is being in the moment, being...in the interconnectedness of everything. My cathedrals are made of sunlight and silence.

[ummeiko]

Let's see...

I used to use the phrase "Spiritual, but not Religious" to describe my belief system. Basically to get across that yeah, I believe in a higher power, but not in the organized system that a lot of religions employ. Then a mentor explained the terms differently than I had been thinking. He said something along the lines "Spirituality is your beliefs, but Religion is how you act out or take part in those beliefs." And the way he was explaining it all made a lot of sense.

So here goes.

Yes, I'm religious. No, I'm not Christian. Or monotheistic. However, I'm very much a practicioner of my craft. Every day.

I don't claim to be Wiccan. I used to 5 or 6 years ago because that was the closest blanket statement I could find that people might understand (and not ask a lot of questions about, because I've always viewed belief systems as highly personal and sometimes nobody else's business). But I'm not in a coven and I'm not trained in any Wiccan tradition, least of all Gardnerian (and that opens up a whole other argument of which Pagan traditions can call themselves Wiccan outside of those who can trace coven lineage back to Gardner... an argument I'm frankly tired of at the moment.) And so, born from further study and practice and out of respect to those who ARE trained in the more traditional ways (or even those who aren't), I don't claim Wiccan as a title.

If I had to pick a label, it would be Eclectic, but I don't particularly like the label because it often is viewed as someone who isn't serious about their beliefs or studies, or someone too lazy that just picks and chooses to suit their needs, or someone that only wants the good parts of belief systems and none of the hard work or negative aspects, or the dreaded "fluffy bunny" accusation, or just some young person rebelling against the norm... actually, there are a lot of negative views towards Eclectic practicioners. I'm sure it's not all unjustified, but on the other hand I personally, as well as many people I know and respect, take our religion and our spirituality very seriously, with a lot of study and practice, who just don't follow any particular pre-existing path.

[Makoes]

I do not believe that god is some old guy sitting in the clouds who created all things. God was said to be the creator of all things, that he is everywhere and in everything. God is said to be indistructable...To me, God sounds like Energy, which is in everything, is everywhere, it can neither be created nor distroyed, only transformed.
Thus it is my beliefe that "God" is just another word for the Energy that resides in everything and is everywhere. The soul of a being is mearly another form of that energy, and thus what we are is never lost, only changed. When we die I believe that energy that we are is not lost, but is returned and then reborn anew, in a new life, thus I believe in re-incarnation. And that aspects of what our energy once was is passed on to the new life which holds that energy, thus we never die, we are only transformed.
I believe that it is what we do everyday that shapes the form of the energy that we are, from the day that energy is first a part of us, to the day it is not, and that it is unjudgmental, we are what we are and there is nothing wrong with that in the grand scale of it all.

So, I live everyday for that day. I do not wonder if there is a heaven or hell, or a god. Everyday is what it is, and I can only live that day once, I might as well enjoy it.

I do believe in Evolution, I think there is far to much proof to dispute that. I believe that the world is in a constant state of evolution, its just not that noticable in the small scale of it all. And even then, evolution does not have to be physical change, it can be mental change as well. Species becomeing smarter, adaptation to changes, that is evolution on a day to day basis.

[Mania]

I hear you about the Eclectic label, unmeiko. Agnostic has some of the same problems.