Religious affilition, what do you believe?

[Stargazer]

my opinion is the total opposite.
I feel that what you call the unkowable is a very small part of all the available information in the universe. wille the knowable is so immensely huge, that we will probably never have the time to know it all. I have no or little belief in spirits and ghosts.

but hey, that's opinions for ya.

Evolution is in the business of specialization, and that's not an opinion. We animals, like all animals, have over a very long period of time been whittled and honed to perceive our environment in a very specific way and to be highly functional within a very narrow range. Sure we're very talented at stretching our specializations with telescopes and radar and written language and such, but we can't fundamentally step out of the way we sense our environment. We can't, for instance, know what it's like to exist as a four-dimensional being, or with other senses than the five we're endowed with.

It's an ultimately supernatural viewpoint to say that evolution, on this little ball of rock in the middle of nowhere, has designed us in such a way that we can perceive, much less understand, the majority of what lies beyond our physical senses. And all this at the same time evolution was designing tigers and spiders and algae to do what they do. We animals are pretty kickass, but not that kickass.

but we create machines to to see and record waves and radiation far outside what we could ever had imagined just 20 years ago.
To say that we as the most dominant species at this side of the galaxy
are hampered by evolution and specialisation to learn new things, is pretty
narrow minded. I think that with time and survival on our side, we could uncover most of the mysteries of the universe.

we are not cavemen any more, we can with science reach a hight of understanding that we can't comprehend at this time. IMO

[yummi4tunekookie]

Wow, haven't been here in FOREVER. Hello to all who remember me!

...Thought this thread was interesting and thought I'd throw in my own religious background. I was raised Muslim (conservative Chinese-Muslim parents BLOW, by the way) and only recently (about a year ago) renounced Islam (but don't tell my crazy folks!) and started really questioning my beliefs.

My biggest problem believing in an omnipotent, omniscient, wise, just, compassionate, forgiving God is the idea of an eternal hell/heaven. I don't see how ANY higher being could rightfully send ANYONE to an eternity of pain and torment or bliss.

I'd say more but it's 12:30 AM, and I have a STUPID HORRIBLE KILL ME NOW paper to write tomorrow. Ahh, procrastination.

...And I still need to visit Savannah and you, Toole. I haven't forgotten! I just...still....don't have a car or license *coughcoughifailatlifecough*

[lxskllr]

yummi!!!

How ya been girl?

I'm glad you stopped by. Don't be such a stranger. We need more female presence around here, as PP scares all the new women off :^D

[Premium Parrots]

hi Yum, glad you are back.

And.........screw you guys, I ATTRACT the women to snuson, not scare them away. 8)

[heppycat]

I was raised Southern Baptist, but can't say I believe in a christian god. There is something out there so I guess that makes me Agnostic.

[yummi4tunekookie]

Huzzah, I am remembered! That in itself makes me very happy!

Sorry I've been gone for so long. I've been busy, broke, and distracted all at once, and have been (shame on me) smoking more than ever. Just made a beastly order on Northerner, though, which puts me back in the "broke" category. Funny what got me back on snus, though--Camel Snus! Very, very much like candy, but I think they'll be good while I'm between orders!

[Multinic]

Chinese Muslim is an unusual combination. Does that mean from an ethnic Chinese muslim background (called "huizu" in China) or converted Chinese from Malaysia or Indonesia? Just curious.... as someone living among Chinese people.

[Roo]

I second Multinic's curiosity; are your folks from Xinjiang, Xian, or elsewhere? And Multinic: where are you in Taiwan? I was concived there and lived later in Taibei for a short while, although at a very young age. And no, not a "military brat", as the saying goes when people question my origins. Pops worked for Nike from day one til 1990.

[Multinic]

I live in Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong), which I prefer to Taip(b)ei: less rain, warm winters, affordable housing, more maritime etc. I have been living here for 15 years.

[captncaveman]

I'm Christian. I talk with the lord daily. I don't goto church. My house my family and myself is the church. Don't like showing up on sundays and it being about material possesions or only focusing my faith upon one day of the week.

I will speak out over unjust causes even if the traditional church will not. In simple do what the man would do.

So many people blame religions for wars, well thats bullshit if i ever hear it. Its a way for people with an agenda finding a way to exploit people and push their ideas in a nice family friendly packaging (wolf in sheeps clothing anyone?). Like the anit tobbacco shit faces (you all will become toothless piles of cancerious tumors).

[yummi4tunekookie]

To answer Multinic and Roo:

Err, all I know is that my family--going back to great-great-great-great grandparents are 100% Chinese and have been Muslim since then, and that both my parents' families come from around Beijing.

Interestingly, though, my maternal great-grandfather was an ambassador to Kuwait, and my mother happened to be born in Egypt, as her father also worked for the Chinese government. Don't know much more than that, though. I've seen a few black-and-white photos of my great-grandpa at a UN meeting and some old clippings from a Chinese newspaper about my maternal grandparents, but that's really all. My father never really talks about China much, just about how he studied his ass off (only to never make it to medical school, on account of his own father's early death).

It's sad, I really don't know much about my family's history; whenever I try to talk to either of them about it, the topic quickly turns into some moral lecture about how I should be a good little Muslim girl. My best friend, who interviewed them for a Sociology/Humanities (can't remember which) project, knows more about my parents than I do--and I still live with them! ops:

Great. Now I'm sad. :cry: *reminds self that she basically finished her stupid paper* Okay, happy again! :P

[Multinic]

yummi4tunekookie, it would be an understatement to say that you have an interesting background. Seems to be book material: an ethnic Chinese family that converted to Islam centuries ago and then got involved in government circles (maybe even on both sides: the KMT and the CCP), with episodes in Kuwait, Egypt, UN meetings and Georgia, where a young family member develops a passion for Swedish snus. Wow!

[yummi4tunekookie]

yummi4tunekookie, it would be an understatement to say that you have an interesting background. Seems to be book material: an ethnic Chinese family that converted to Islam centuries ago and then got involved in government circles (maybe even on both sides: the KMT and the CCP), with episodes in Kuwait, Egypt, UN meetings and Georgia, where a young family member develops a passion for Swedish snus. Wow!

I suppose so. You and Thomas (my best friend) can totally get that book together with my parents, because I'm telling you, I know nothing! ops:

[dhkosta]

So many people blame religions for wars, well thats bullshit if i ever hear it. Its a way for people with an agenda finding a way to exploit people and push their ideas in a nice family friendly packaging (wolf in sheeps clothing anyone?). Like the anit tobbacco shit faces (you all will become toothless piles of cancerious tumors).

While I'm not a member of the faithful, I universally defend religion against these criticisms. Religion doesn't cause war; it's simply a tool to garner public support for war. In the absence of religion, wars would not cease - they would simply need for alternate justification. As Christians (what I know best) are concerned, I cannot think of a war in history whose aggressor's actions were remotely in line with the teachings of Christ, though he's been touted as the banner leading many armies.

As God does not exist, he is naturally harmless. God's power to hurt men is endowed exclusively by mankind, and that power flourishes even in his absence.

[Kvlt]

Agnostic nihilist.