religion - your thoughts

Religion - Your thoughts.

I'm curious to know what, if any, religious beliefs my fellow BLs hold

If you do subscribe to a particular religion...

What is it and how strongly do you hold those beliefs?

Is it something you made a conscious decision on, or have you followed in what your family does?

On a side note, how do you reconcile your drug taking - which I'd imagine would be against most religions?

(Please don't take the above as a flame, cos it aint!)

Those who don't...

What's your reasoning?

***

As for me, I don't believe in God. On the one hand, evolution seems a far more viable theory to me. And also, the state of the world just leads me to doubt the existence of some higher being. My parents, although both raised in Christian families, always left it up to my sister and I to make our own choice on religion when we saw fit.

I was always the kid who sat up the back of scripture classes at school bringing up every question under the sun to try to stump the teachers... I guess nothings changed in that respect

Both my parents are athiests. In fact they never discussed religions or deities with us. It wasnt until I went to school and was surrounded by Christians and Jews that I knew there was such a thing called God. Because my parents scoffed at the idea I thought of my devout friends as being away with the fairies. One did try to convert me by giving me a Bible but failed on two accounts: she was a theif and a liar, therefore very unchristian and the only story I read in the Bible was the one on Jonah, and a story about a man who travels in the stomach of a whale was enough to convince me that these people were best avoided.

So I guess that my beliefs were founded on a basis of being naive and logical, if that makes sense.

Nowdays I would call myself an agnostic.

Not religious in anyway, don't go to church or anything like that, Nor do i believe in god,Never been to church, nor have read a book called the bible, thats just how i was brought up. Easter has no meaning either, it's just a another excuse for me to go out 3 nights in a row to get trashed if i wanted to

I don’t follow any prescribed religion. My family is one side catholic, the other pagan. The catholic side instilled in me a rabid hatred of organised religion at an early age. There is nothing more hypocritical than an adulteress who in drunken or chemically induced (yey for pharmie addicts) fits tells young children that they’re all bastards because their parents got married in a garden rather than a church.

I don’t believe in god per se, I do however believe that there’s something else out there. My beliefs are rooted in the pagan yet I’ve adopted facets from many religions to form my core philosophy.

As for reconciling my drug taking with my personal religious beliefs... Anything that opens your mind to other viewpoints must be good for you

Athiest here too, except i was brought up by my parents to be Christian. I think i gave up any concept of religion as soon as i really started to do some 'proper' growing up.
It is not uncommon that I refer to religion as something for the 'weak minded' or something for 'the rich people to control the poor with', HOWEVER, this does not reflect on anyone else and is simply my own beliefs, i respect anyone else's beliefs as long as they can respect mine. Makes for some interesting discussions with friends who are very religious though

Rational thought...

Hmmm now I'm not sure. I was raised as an Atheist, with some Buddhist tendancies, by Buddhist parents. I've most of my life called myself an Atheist, but these days I suppose I'd call myself either an Atheist with Zen Buddhist tendancies, or a Zen Buddhist, with Atheist tendancies.

I don't subscribe fully to the whole Zen Buddhist thing, I don't believe in Reincarnation for one, but most of the rest of it I believe. That I think is because in the main, Zen Buddhism isn't so much a religion as a lifestyle and attitude.

My drug taking, well drug taking isn't against the traditions of Zen Buddhism, and certainly there've been a few links raised and publicised between Buddhism and psychadelic drug use. I suppose if anything, my use of psychadelics has brought me closer to Buddhism.

I believe in evolution, I believe in science, and the handy thing is, Buddhism doesn't contradict those in any way at all, it is mainly just a lifestyle through which one can hopefully achieve harmony with the world in general, and inner peace.

Shit, now I sound like Oceanboy.

-plaz out-

I'm curious to know what, if any, religious beliefs my fellow BLs hold

If you do subscribe to a particular religion...

What is it and how strongly do you hold those beliefs? I am a Roman Catholic. I am a firm believer in God, Jesus and the Holy spirit. I used to be an alterboy if that helps make u understand how much I dedicated my life to god. I also contemplated joining the priesthood when i was a teen. Although my views of religion have changed very much since i left school. It is no longer about what religion u belong to rather its the values that religion brings out in you. I dont believe that God is going to kick out the Jews Muslims Buddhists blah blah just cause only Christians can go to heaven... thats complete bollocks... After studying religion for the HSC I became familar with many different texts and realised that organised religion preaches the same thing... and that the best way to view religion is of taking bits and pieces from all religions.

Is it something you made a conscious decision on, or have you followed in what your family does? I used to go to church because my parents made me go, I then attended a Catholic School... I dont attend church anymore because I dont agree with the Catholic way.. inrespect to the homily.. religion should be taken from the bible... the popes or priests interpretation means little to me and i dont really care what they have to say... u probably think that I sound like an Anglican or Lutheran but to be honest I think organised religion separates people into groups when everyone should be brought together... I subscribe to my own religion now.. expression through actions and meditation

On a side note, how do you reconcile your drug taking - which I'd imagine would be against most religions? Not at all ... Jesus and God never said anything about drug taking... God drank alcohol and ive read my websites about mushrooms and Jesus lol... Why would God give u the effect that drugs give u if it wasnt to explore your being and allow you to superficially be in contact with him for a short space of time... many religions throughout history have used psy drugs to communicate with the spirit world.. that I am also a believer in.

I took a saints name for confirmation... Its Ignatius and it reminds me about much of my religious past... just a bit of trivia for u.

i dont beleive in faith
but there are those out there that do and thats fine by me, except when ppl try to force there religion onto u.
by this i meen ppl coming to ur house or handing u pamphlets and what have u.

in all gods days of making this earth how ever it goes he doesnt create any dinousaurs, and we have fossilised remains of these so i see a huge hole in that book.

religion seems to give some ppl a 'purpose' or meening to there life, to me its nothing but to some its more.

^^^ hmmm it never said that God made monkeys either

Genesis is a story I dont believe it is fact... its just there to talk about mans ability to be tempted by evil. It is the basis of Judaism and Christianity and maybe Islam.

Just think a bunch of time went by between the creation of the world and the story of Abraham.... during this time dinosaurs would have roamed the earth.

Im not trying to get into a debate but its a possibility that this could fit the order of events... Its hard to believe that some magical character created the world but when u think about it, how did the first cell ever become created that went on to form everything there is today.

ive read some of the bible, the quaran, the bagavad ghita (sp?) and various texts on buddhism of various kinds, all to varying degrees (as well as hermetic, pagan, wiccan and "satanic" (8)) texts). religion and belief are sort of a passtime for me..

i dont subscribe to any kind and ive given up looking for something to fit me. i am who i am, i believe what i believe (which changes frequently) and thats how it is.

i dont believe in heaven or hell or reincarnation. not because i dont see them as possible but simply i dont see thier relevance to my life and am not willing to give any thought to a topic i cannot reach any conclusion on.. i feel it is a waste of energy. i concern myself with what is infront of me, what matters, and leave the maybes for when im dead (if im lucky enough to get a chance to consider them then).

my life is an adventure and im *trying* to live it, and learn from it, as best i can. that is what i am devoted to, that is what matters to me.

I'm Catholic. My parents never pushed it on me. They did follow tradition, ie baptised, holy communion because this is what they were taught and they wanted to pass it onto me. I actually enjoyed it, it made me feel special.

You get older, gain knowledge, view different opinions, create more advanced thoughts and you always question things. Religion has been one of them for me. I've questioned it many times, rebelled, BUT i don't think i'd ever deny my faith in the end.

About the drugs, i don't see it as a sin. I'll leave it at that

generally speaking i dont believe in religion at all. the main reason of it is that i am an analyitical person by nature and i dont see the logic (even thought the concept of logic can be debated) in some of the issues.

the idea, the concept of religion i agree with though. society does need a .......set of guidelines to regulate itself. at the end of the day, its going to be a long time, if ever we are to arrive in a utopian society, so we need some rules to govern our behaviour.

so, i like the concept of looking at it as GUIDLINES not hard and fast rules. because times change, situations change, the infinate number of possiblities of events are always changing and its impossible to have a hard and fast rule for everything.

first hand experience though...i dont beleive that taking a hard line stance on being agnostic or athiest is a healthy as being a religious nut.

oh. i beleive in mdma btw.

I was raised, baptised and christianed Roman Catholic. I don't like religion and don't consider myself Catholic but I do believe in God and things beyond what we can see and touch. Interestingly it's been my life experiences and also science (biology, physics) that have suggested to me there is a supreme intellect and intelligent design to life and the universe.

As for drugs? Well I met God for the first time in a k-bubble on a couch at Revolver at 7am Sunday morning.

Choice of religious beliefs was never an option for me whilst I was growing up, it was forced hard. If my parents thought they were doing what was best for me, then they were truly mistaken. I grew up being very angry and distrusting of everyone. But even though I never spoke out against it whilst I was growing up to my parents, you'd kind of think that they'd get the message and just want their child to be happy. Sadly they never got what they wanted and neither did I. My parents were converted Pentecostalists, which is a rather extreme interpretation of the Bible. I still haven't spoken out against it to my parents, despite not living with them anymore and they still push the issue. I am just hoping that conventional wisdom will eventually take over. I don't believe in any religion at the moment, although I believe that there must besome superior being out there.

Proof religion fucks everyone over!:

Last nite was with 2 mates, we were looking for a place to grill, saw some big church.. so we decided to pull up on the road in front of it and smoke cones.. 2 seconds later, fucking OINK OINKs pull up to the car, get out, see scissors in the back of the car and start searching the car, they found the bong and took the cone piece... but left the bong.. after about 30 min of the fucking pigs searching every part of the car, they fuck off.. then.. for some reason, we couldn't find our weed.. the cunt had stolen it!!!! CORRUPT PIGS!!! oh yeah.. religion sucks..

I feel very strongly about this topic. I am a spirtual person in that I believe in god, I believe and have absolute faith in a higher power but which only guides us along the way and does not condemn us for the choices we make. I cannot make sense or come to any logical conclusion why God would provide us with the power of making choices and then condemn us for making the wrong choices. Religion has no place in my spirtual beliefs, I do not see a connection between them. Religion to me is about manipulating large groups of people with the power of fear. Churches to me are not places of worship and peace but are places which religious leaders like to create a flase sense of security for their misconstrued idealogies about god as a entity to be feared. They then use this tool as a process of conning millions, billions of dollars even out of believers pockets, who unfortunately think they giving to the greater good, who think that obeying these freakish outdated rules will send them away from their fears of everlasting hell. This is proven with the Catholic church owning the most real estate in the world and its net value in the billions. Its truely a sick world when something as special and untouchable as spirtuality is turned into a tool to manipulate millions. Spirtuality is a personal journey, i would be shocked if someone shared the exact same beliefs as i do, its up to an individual to decide what suits them and whats right for them. Basically I cannot see how humans should control their right to choose and be condemned for it. How dare someone tell me how to pray, speak and even visualise god; then go even futher to tell me how to live my life. This isnt spirtual on any level, its constrants are inhumane and do not , and never have reflected our most cherised human ability, that being being the power to choose.

i was raised catholic and always believed in god and the bible etc cos thats what i was brought up with and even baptised my son catholic and put him in a catholic private school...he goes to a public school now and in the past few yrs (esp the last yr) my thoughts have changed

i believe in recarnation...that however we live our lives now will determine what form we will come back as in the next....but who really knows what the best form is? a cockroaches life could be higher one if u think about it...i mean they dont have to worry about superficiality and materilasm and all the bad human traits like hate and greed *ponders*

i also believe though that broken down we really are all just recycled matter ..hense also the recarnation beliefs i guess

i believe their is a heave aswell though but that its that big that we all get our own little piece of it cos everyones idea on heavem is completely different and that hell is a state of mind really

i dont really like organised religions and my son is actually questioning his beliefs aswell and even though hes been brought up catholic (ummm by a mum who had him out of wedlock ) so he believes in god etc but hes on a quest to find out whats real so he asks everyone what they believe and his school offers different scripture classes and he has asked if i can give him permission to go to all of them rather then just the cristian one such as the muslim etc because he is interested in what other ppl believe and knows there is more than one answer to every question because ive always taught him about difference in ppl look wise and thinking wise

i went to a parent night and asked the teacher if he may go to all the scripture classes and the other parents actually gave out a laugh 8) the teacher however was very nice and said of course he could after i told him that he is actally interested in finding out more then whats just fed to him...should have seen the look on the others parents faces

a_muse said:

One did try to convert me by giving me a Bible but failed on two accounts: she was a theif and a liar, therefore very unchristian and the only story I read in the Bible was the one on Jonah, and a story about a man who travels in the stomach of a whale was enough to convince me that these people were best avoided.

Click to expand...

LOL, this is the funniest thing I've read for ages!! :D

And yay to doofqueen for letting your son make his own mind up about stuff...big props :D

Umm, my family are all roman catholic, but of the "We only go to church for funerals and weddings" variety, and I went to catholic schools from kindergarten up until Year 10.

I do believe in a God who created us and loves us. I do believe that when we die, there's something approximating Heaven, where we'll all be reunited with the people we love forever. I believe that Jesus was the son of God, and that he preached a message of acceptance and love that I try to follow whenever I can.

It's the church I have a problem with. To me, organised religion and true spirituality are worlds apart. I can't believe in an organisation that is so prosperous when there are so many poor people in the world that it could be helping. I've met some wonderful priests and nuns, and I can totally respect that this is the life they've chosen, but I can't reconcile placing my spirituality in the hands of an organisation which has existed historically as a way of controlling the masses.

As far as other religions go, I remain open-minded. I have no proof that there's no such thing as resurrection or pantheons of gods, or naiads who live in the streams, so I'll gladly respect any other beliefs that someone may have as long as that doesn't hurt anybody.

Gosh, this is long....I guess ultimately what I believe in is a benevolent force which wants us to be happy, and what really pisses me off is human beings who want to capitalise on people's spiritual beliefs for their own prestige or power.

Great topic!

--Raz-- :D

i've similar beliefs to a fair few others here...

my parents were never really religious, but encouraged me to be christian at a young age (more for values than belief i think). i never really considered my own views on religion until about a year ago.

i've many close friends who are very devout christians and they have tried to 'convert' me (kinda pissed me off!) on numerous occassions.

after some thought, i decided that i don't need to fit into a religion. if there truly is some higher judgement passed on after death, i very much doubt it would be based on faith. however, i do believe that treating others the right way, being open minded, and being generally a 'good' person (so general, but really, 'good' is based on common sense. most of the time we can make the right decision based on common-sense, and if not, then if you've bothered putting some thought into your decision and it seems right, then you've done the best you can) would result in not only a positive judgement from 'god' (if there is one) but also a happier and guilt-free lifestyle. perhaps 'god' is our own judgement on ourselves, our conscience? fuck i dont know, and i probably wont ever know, but at least i've tried to think it through!

in the end, doing the right things by yourself and by others leads to positive experiences. i believe being a strong great person is much better than being a strongly religious person.

I like to think I'm open to most religions, but I'm pretty doubtful/negative towards most...

My parents are both Buddhist and tried to get me into the whole thing... but, I prefer just not having religion in my life. Not that I ever have... apart from school religion.