Religious affilition, what do you believe?

[deebocools]

strong atheist

I don't believe it's as faith-based as religion. If someone told you there was flying pink elephants, you wouldn't say "maybe, maybe not, but I won't put my belief in it" you would say "no there isn't". God is not a special case for belief, so I say there is no god.

[jamesstew]

Re: Religious affilition, what do you believe?

We seem to be a pretty diverse group on here, thought it may be interesting.

I am an episcopalian. The episcopal (anglican) denomination is, I find, a nice middle way between the protestant and catholic traditions. I particularly appreciate the emphasis that the episcopal church places on reason as one of the three components of the faith (the other two being the gospel and tradition).

What I believe can be found in the Nicene Creed.

I used to be an episcopalian, actually was baptized Church of England but switched to the episcopalian church when I moved to the U.S. That was all before I discovered Zod. Even although I was never a believer and was skeptical even as a boy I do have some fond memories of the church.

[pangloss]

I'm Mexican Catholic meaning that I adhere to some of the beliefs of Roman Catholicism mixed with mexican tradition (i.e. lighting candles, doing blessings with eggs for evil eye, etc.)

[lxskllr]

strong atheist

I don't believe it's as faith-based as religion. If someone told you there was flying pink elephants, you wouldn't say "maybe, maybe not, but I won't put my belief in it" you would say "no there isn't". God is not a special case for belief, so I say there is no god.

But what if the pink elephants were invisible? And what if their invisibility also made them invisible to radar? :^D

[Condor]

Odinist.

[HK11]

I am spiritual in that I believe there is more to life than just humans and what is on this planet. I cannot put a finger on it exactly but I feel there is more going on than meets the eye. I think we were both created and evolved. Now what I do not know is if we were a genetic experiment as suggested by some of the ancient texts, if we are some sort of growth determined by our distance from the sun, if some guy said "lol, humans" and snapped his fingers, or any real idea.

We all have beliefs about that but no proof, so all theories are good with me until I die and find out, or die and become dirt.

I see organized religion as a tool for control and manipulation of it's followers. There are a lot of good people who follow the religions though and for the most part they direct people to live by a good set of rules. I don't feel like God really needs 10% of my earnings.

I'm not sure where that puts me as far as any label goes.

[Fightin Phils]

Catholic

[Starcadia]

strong atheist

Isn't that sort of redundant? :wink:

I don't believe it's as faith-based as religion. If someone told you there was flying pink elephants, you wouldn't say "maybe, maybe not, but I won't put my belief in it" you would say "no there isn't". God is not a special case for belief, so I say there is no god.

Atheism is absolutely faith-based. If you're taking a stance that firmly denies a possibility, that is in essence making a guess, and you can't guess about something with empirical rigor. Thus, faith.

Not that there's anything wrong with faith. It is the bound counterpart to logic. A yin-yang, matter-energy sort of relationship.

[ODurren]

Momma always taught me to be open minded no matter what and be fully accepting of everyone's religion even if I don't have on for my own. I'm along the lines of "some days I want to believe" But in order for me to truly believe something is going to have to come down here and either shake my hand or smite my a**.

[justintempler]

Atheism is absolutely faith-based. If you're taking a stance that firmly denies a possibility, that is in essence making a guess, and you can't guess about something with empirical rigor. Thus, faith.

Do you have empirical evidence Santa Claus doesn't exist?

Not believing in Santa Claus doesn't require faith.
Not believing in unicorns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in leprechauns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in dragons doesn't require faith.
Not believing in god doesn't require faith.

Atheism, no faith required.

[HK11]

Atheism is absolutely faith-based. If you're taking a stance that firmly denies a possibility, that is in essence making a guess, and you can't guess about something with empirical rigor. Thus, faith.

Do you have empirical evidence Santa Claus doesn't exist?

Not believing in Santa Claus doesn't require faith.
Not believing in unicorns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in leprechauns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in dragons doesn't require faith.
Not believing in god doesn't require faith.

Atheism, no faith required.

Interesting. I can see both sides of this argument. On one hand, you do not require faith to be an atheist. On the other hand atheism is faith in the idea that God/Santa does not exist. Both sides are right. No ideal like God can be proved or disproved, so everyone wins.

[Starcadia]

Do you have empirical evidence Santa Claus doesn't exist?

Not believing in Santa Claus doesn't require faith.
Not believing in unicorns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in leprechauns doesn't require faith.
Not believing in dragons doesn't require faith.
Not believing in god doesn't require faith.

Atheism, no faith required.

You've conveniently grouped unicorns and dragons, which are mythological beasts, with God, which is a metaphorical, philosophical device, which messes up your logic.

[Premium Parrots]

What about the Easter Bunny?

[HK11]

What about the Easter Bunny?

Also, why don't I get any chocolate Jesus' at Christmas? On a side note, what exactly is the plural of Jesus?

[justintempler]

You've conveniently grouped unicorns and dragons, which are mythological beasts, with God, which is a metaphorical, philosophical device, which messes up your logic.

Philosophical device, yep humans being aware of their own mortality and afraid of their own nonexistence.

Logic?......Talking snakes, men living inside fishes, pregnant virgins, the worldwide flood Jesus talked about, and sacrificing himself to himself.

John 3:16 revised
For God so loved the world,
that he had to sacrifice himself to himself
to appease himself
to satisfy rules he made himself
because of a problem he himself was responsible for from the beginning.

Logic?... Believe whatever you want, but don't talk to me about logic!