Belief in God.

[BeetleBailey]

Well since we can have political threads, why not a religious one?

I'm curious why those who don't believe in God have their belief. 3, 2, 1 go.

[Frazer]

I am living based on the assumption* that there is no god. How can we know? Some jahovas or mormons gave me a book on creationism today but I've already misplaced it :S Don;t knw where in the bookshelf to put it atm. I'll file the bible under fiction though.

Also, to more flly answer the question - I wasn't brought up in a religion. I fail to see any orginised religion with merit. Hoiw the fuck can they know? And they're relying ona fucking book of stries that they will interpret as they fucking will.

Orginised religion = shitpants. belief in something more fair enough, but that His name is Steven, that he was white living in kenya and that dinosaurs were secretly placed in teh ground by the soviets to confuse use. Afterlife? Fuck knows. I hope for Valhala, that always sounded fun.

[Rob]

I've always been skeptical by nature. My parents tell me I never really even bought into Santa Claus.

I'm curious why those who don't believe in God have their belief.

I think there's a falseness of phrasing here. I don't think it's so much a "belief" as it is a "lack of belief". I find the idea of an all-powerful man in the sky to be on the same page as the idea of a man who delivers gifts to all the world's children in one night, or a rabbit that gives chocolate eggs out one day a year. They're nice thoughts, but nothing more.

I know there's no such thing as Santa or the Easter Bunny, they're just nice stories parents tell their children; and so I don't really think about it much. Same principle when it comes to religion.

And for the record, my mum was raised Church of England/Anglican and my dad (as best I can tell, he doesn't really talk on the subject) is agnostic. They've always taken a "we'll support you no matter what you choose" stance. And no, I was not baptised.

[Rob]

Addendum:

I hope no-one will take my above post to mean that I discount the importance of religion to humanity in general. As an historian by education, I'm quite aware of its importance and significance as one of the major driving forces in the history of humanity; and I'm well aware of the role in plays in modern geo/sociopolitics as well.

I just don't buy it on a personal level.

[TylerDurden]

don't believe in god persay.

Everything has energy, and i believe that back in the day, people could only describe such things as "god" and pretty much put it in a form of man, so it could be easily swallowed.

i belive that to be the downfall of religion. When people look past the main point, and only focus on "god" being a man, and pretty much having faith in the man, which to me is so narrow minded. Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Meaning

just because we know things that surround us, like men, women, trees and cars, doesn't, or shouldn't mean that those things are the only answer, and that these things that have almost in a way been manifested, are the key to what is, and what isn't.

in conclusion, just because you haven't heard of it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[Burris]

Agnostic here. I am supportive of catholics and usually defend them when my mainly protestant friends bash them.

[Penguin]

I believe in God only so that I can hate Him.

Seriously, this guy creates a universe, fucks with people constantly, then goes into hippie mode (but Hippie Mode God, AKA Jesus, starts preaching about eternal damnation and hellfire but LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AND BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER MMKAY?). Then He's completely hands-off with the universe and and says "Next time I come back I'm killing every last one of you." He creates people with predispositions He doesn't like and tells his followers to persecute and kill them. To top it all off, He demands our love.

Seriously, what is our purpose? "To give glory to God." In other words, we exist solely for His own amusement. Outside of that each one of us lives an inescapably pointless existence. Every one of us is an utterly insignificant grain of sand in the desert of humanity. Being charitable, a beautiful and unique snowflake in an avalanche, eventually to melt away into forgotten nothingness, replaced by billions more.

Your fate is simply to spend eternity singing His praises in permanent induced joy or cursing Him in a state of permanent suffering. You might get to suffer a bit and THEN join the angelic choir.

Hating God gives me some semblance of purpose when I don't think I can go on any more. Someday, I hope to fight Him. Supposedly any human who were to gaze directly upon God would die from the sheer amount of pure love pouring from Him. Okay buddy. Let's see what He is really made of. High stakes. I win, the universe ends. I lose, the soul is utterly destroyed and I get out of the entirely pointless afterlife. It's a win-win.

In closing, a highly relevant Smith quote.

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

[Dr. Crawford]

I believe in a god yes, but I'm not quite sure how to explain that.

We had to have come from somewhere/something. Whether it is a sentient being or not, it is still "god".

A part of me says god is in all of us, because life is a miracle

and another part of me says that god also isn't this omnipotent omniscient being, but just our creator, who has better things to do than to tend to our every need.

To me, religion is about peace, love, and happiness. One of the most annoying things ever is religious extremism/intolerance. As long as you are happy, and are a good person, that is all that matters. Just because someone says they are part of some religion doesn't make them a good person.

I believe the bible is more of a book of morals than actual events.

I am not too concerned with what happens when I die, because I am not there yet. If I am to meet god, then that's cool. If not, then hey that's cool too. I live my life as if its all I've got, because it IS all I've got. The after life may be the best thing ever, but I want to enjoy as much as I can with this life just in case there is no afterlife at all.

I also believe it is wrong to pray to god and ask for things. Instead, you should be thanking god for the life you have.

I guess I could be classified as Agonostic or Deist.

[Burris]

I remember this dumb atheist hippy girl told me religion is responsible for all wars.

I then asked her to explain Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, etc.

[Rob]

There's one in every crowd.