[Anthony]

I was raised Greek Orthodox, but honestly, I feel nothing from that faith.

I don't follow an organized religion. I definitely believe in souls/spirits, and I still question my belief in a God. I'm still searching, I'm still young.


I believe humans will never be able to understand a concept of god, or creation.
Just like an ant cannot comprehend advanced mathematics. humans cannot comprehend "divinity". I believe the concept is just too complex for us to understand. Similar to that scene in the movie Dogma. When the humans must cover their ears before god speaks, because it is too "divine". Something along that line.

[Nerina]

I really understand why some people are atheists, but I dont think I could not believe in God, I mean why else would we have wee baby kittens to play with?

I'm not trying to be funny, really, like I look at so many things, and I cant help believing there is someone up there that at least has compassion for my sorry ass sometimes.

The bottom line I guess is this:

No human can scientifically prove absolutely either way, if God exists or not.
In the end its a matter of personal belief and faith.
And I think that the main point of a religion is to give people happiness and inner peace, NOT to have wars over, or insult other religions, but to teach people to love eachother (or at least put up with eachother) and get along, and appreciate our differences.

Religion is an institution in its own right, the same as government, the powers that be dictate right and wrong, both religious leaders and government authorities, and really, without either of those two institutions, we would be up shit creek.
I am SO happy, that there are so many people that believe they will go straight to hell if they robbed me or murdered me, because without some level of fear, people would really do what they wanted, complete chaos.

Voltaire, who was known to criticize organised religion said "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

[darren]

I was raised in a completely non-religious household, and really have no time or patience for organized religion of any kind. Any time i've been to church services – weddings, funerals, baptisms, occasional mass when my dad's parents were in town, etc. – i wonder what it is that people get out of it. I just don't get it.

I marvel at the mysteries of the universe, and have pretty strong beliefs that there are other levels of existence that we're incapable of perceiving in our limited physical form, and that we are never likely to completely understand the universe and our place in it. But i'm not about to attempt to explain it with superstitions, fairy tales and stories of omnipotent beings.

I'm quite content with living a good life, trying to be a good person, and having a sense of morality and ethics.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by Chris

I was raised Catholic and relatively pious, but I don't attend mass all too often.

Ha! You're religious as shit, just like me. We celebrate the Irish mass, me boyo.

Here's our sacrament.

[ZeroSignal]

Originally Posted by The Dark Wolf

Ha! You're religious as shit, just like me. We celebrate the Irish mass, me boyo.

Hawaya.

[MrJack]

I don't despise the religions themselves as they usually try to give a good set of rules to live by and they can be a source of comfort for people. But what I do have a problem with is all the nutjobs who are using religion in order to justify their behaviour, which is usually looked down upon in the "holy scriptures" that they claim to encourage their actions.

And as has been said already in this thread, people who push their beliefs on other people are the worst.

[Carrion]

I am an atheist. Oddly enough, I was raised that way. Lately I have been leaning between atheism and deism.

[wes225]

im to the pioint were i find religon stupid its like putting rules on life. you know? i believe that could be a god. but ive never came across anything that can fully prove it was gods "sign" or whatever. so im open i geuss

[dream-thief]

I was raised atheistic, and both my parents were strictly against any major oganised religion (I guess most of my family are pagan, but my parents weren't, although they were uninterested supporters of it)

At the age of 12 or 13, after my parents split up, My mum turned heavily catholic (like mass every day, rosary 3 times a day, kind of "heavily catholic"), and she was going through a lot of shit at that time for various reasons, and I can hardly hold her to blame, but that gave me some really bad experiences with Christianity, and I've had a sort of subconscious phobia of it since.

Religiously my beliefs are what I'd say are my own. I can't find any way of describing them in one word in a way that "christian" or "pagan" does.

Morals always seem so tied up in religion, I suppose the ground reasons for each are tied to the other, But morally most religions are the same at base levels, With only other factions of extremists or choosers straying too far from the layed-down code. That's the only kind of religion I have a real problem with.

[TemjinStrife]

I HATE EVANGELISM (forcing religion down others' throats.) I respect your right to your beliefs, but stay the fuck away from me with them.

That off of my chest, I am born and raised Reform Jewish (the least orthodox sect), which is as much an ethnicity as a religion these days. I was bar mitzvahed and all that... but I don't practice beyond Passover, Hanukah (which is NOT a major holiday, contrary to popular belief; it's importance is based on the fact that it's basically a "fairness counter" to Christmas...) and the occasional High Holiday service.

I believe in a God, and I do believe that in some way prayer (in my case, an informal mental asking for help or thanks) can help one deal with and/or affect events. This faith does help me with somewhat difficult times (such as now) and I seem to have come by it slowly over the course of my teenage life, as I was rather anti-religion/faith when I was 12 or 13ish.