Poll: what is your religion/spirituality?

[Misanthrope]

I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist. Mainly because I am lazy and can't be arsed with burdens of proof or allegations of fence sitting. I am another kind of Ist as well. An, I don't care ist. How it works is I have a view of each to their own. Have fun, enjoy what you enjoy. I am glad something makes you happy and gives you meaning. Right up until the point it is weaponized, used as a tool of shame, violates choices, and engages in violence. Then it simply becomes my enemy. It could be the most benign ideology in the world of simply wishing to make sure everyone tastes the joys of doughnuts. But if you are force feeding me doughnuts, however nice doughnuts are, you are still my enemy.

 

[Smilla]

I answered witchcraft. Were you raised as an atheist/always atheist, or did it dawn on you at some point?

I was steeped in Catholicism—catholic schools, mass every week, confession every week.

Used to say the rosary every single day when I was in 5th grade, spent recess in the chapel on my knees.

At 13, I lost my faith completely.

 

[Kyrok]

I was raised as a Catholic but began questioning my religion from an early age.
Well, not actually Christianity per se, but the idea of an omniscent, omnipotent and loving god at the same time.
For a brief period of time of my childhood I still believed in God, mainly because I didn't even know what the word "atheist" meant (what a cool thing religious indoctrination of children, huh?), but my "God", even though theorically omnipotent and omiscent, was not "better" than the average human being.
It demanded obidience, attention, was uncaring/evil... basically what we'd call a piece of shit.
Then I discovered atheism and it made so much sense to me.
I "rationalized" my lack of a belief in any deity. Then the study of philosophy and science/physics at school made me more confident of my position.

And here I am now.



Interesting question. I think that human knowledge cannot 100% disprove the concept of a deity, but that's not an excuse for a "fatalistic skepticism" as I'd call it.
Not knowing for sure and not knowing are two very different concepts.
Tools like Occam's razor, Hitchens' razor and various mental experiments allow us to say that X belief is just a delusion.
I'm "agnostic" when it comes to the idea of God as I'm agnostic towards Russel's teapot, last thursdaysm, solipsism, unicorns etc.
If something cannot be proven and its existence is not necessary there's no need to think that it's real.

A reason why I prefer agnosticism is that I lack confidence in Scientific Realism. The world as we experience it may not be anything like the world independent of how we experience it. That doesn't get me to Theism, but it has me viewing Realism as dogma.

 

[Dor]

Nothing conventional, not religious, no particular philosophical beliefs. I do have my own existential theories though, some really silly, some kind of clever. However everytime I try to explain it comes of as gibberish. Might also be because it actually is gibberish, I dunno.

 

[Kdawg2018]

I was actually just talking about this tonight. I feel spiritual. I was raised Christian and sometimes I pray in my head, I don't know why I do this, I think it is a habit. I recently thought that maybe bad things were happening to me because I wasn't being a good Christian. I haven't been active in any church or religion for over 10 years. I have felt more spiritual in a yoga class than I did in a Church. Yet the other day I found myself staring at the ocean and praying to "God" to remove this depression and suicidal thoughts from me. I recently watched an interesting video that has me considering Islam. I lack meaning and spiritual fulfillment in my life. I feel energy. I just described to a person who believes in science that I feel the energy of a plant in a room and that it is not just a plant, I don't think the plant has a spirit, I just think that the plant brings an energy to the room because it is alive. He said that it is just science that it grows and we water it. I told him I wish that something would make me feel not suicidal and that whatever I need to grow would happen to me and if it is science then why can't I have this depression cured? I have read that depression can be a chemical balance, but how do these doctors know about the meds they are giving me without doing any blood tests or scanning my brain? I feel frustrated. Anyways, let me check for the Islam video. I think I lack community other than SS, which I find a lot of comfort in.

 

[Armadillo]

The world as we experience it may not be anything like the world independent of how we experience it.

That's for sure. The way we experience the physical world is just an interpretation of it,
the thing-in-itself, the "objective reality", is not something one can hope to experience through the senses.
Things like colours, shapes, smells, tastes etc. of physical objects only exist in our brain.
If someone says that the word "Hello" when heard "sounds" green, he's not wrong. It's synesthesia, just because he "sees" what we "hear" it doesn't follow that his interpretation of something physical like vibrations travelling through air is less correct.

But still, this is no excuse for not-knowingin-isms, non-objective knowledge is still knowledge. Moreover, the knowledge that comes from the senses is not our only form of knowledge.

 

[Kyrok]

That's for sure. The way we experience the physical world is just an interpretation of it,
the thing-in-itself, the "objective reality", is not something one can hope to experience through the senses.
Things like colours, shapes, smells, tastes etc. of physical objects only exist in our brain.
If someone says that the word "Hello" when heard "sounds" green, he's not wrong. It's synesthesia, just because he "sees" what we "hear" it doesn't follow that his interpretation of something physical like vibrations travelling through air is less correct.

But still, this is no excuse for not-knowingin-isms, non-objective knowledge is still knowledge. Moreover, the knowledge that comes from the senses is not our only form of knowledge.

A bit of Kant there, as well as primary/secondary quality distinction... Both convey my point. Atheism need not mean certainty that there is no God, but I'm inclined to think outside of experience and demonstration, agnosticism is the rational position. Practically, though, agnosticism and atheism may be equivalent.

 

[TAW122]

I am an atheist. I simply cannot intellectually accept the premise of Christianity or there being a God without concrete proof (observable, testable, and comprehensible). Furthermore, I don't agree with the values of religion, it just doesn't sit well with my values and morals. I simply follow the morals of a secular society and also morals/ethics of the fellow man.

 

[Smilla]

I am an atheist. I simply cannot intellectually accept the premise of Christianity or there being a God without concrete proof (observable, testable, and comprehensible). Furthermore, I don't agree with the values of religion, it just doesn't sit well with my values and morals. I simply follow the morals of a secular society and also morals/ethics of the fellow man.

You are a humanist then.

 

[SelfishMom]

I'm a Christian. I don't believe in hell. I'd say I've drifted away from the faith a bit, only because I've been so sick and wrapped up in myself.

 

[JohnDoe1]

ex-Muslim Atheist...and, I live in a country where Apostasy is punishable by death...that's one way to ctb, i guess...but, I am pretty sure, they would torture me first...

 

[Walilamdzi]

Agnostic with a lot of admiration for Buddhists

 

[LastFlowers]

Agnostic/Atheist,
I don't believe in a god or a higher power so to speak, but I also don't claim to know-for a fact-that anything remotely like that doesn't exist.

No faith or lack of faith brings me comfort. Most of my family is religious, mainly on my mother's side.
It can be frustrating to be alone in your beliefs when you see yourself as the one being reasonable and realistic. (But I have bigger fish to fry.)

I was raised catholic but slowly and surely became disillusioned with the religion and any religion at all.
I think it is a societally accepted delusion. I think its existence is in direct contrast to the condemned community of the "mentally ill".
We are required to respect any and all beliefs so long as they denote a religion.
All I can say is that anyone who believes there is-as they say-a little man in the sky, is in no place to call anyone else "crazy."

I also don't think anyone should commit suicide with the expectation of something coming afterwards.
That's a dangerous game to play.
IMO this life is most likely the only one we get and if we want out, we should understand that it probably means we are out for good.

I know faith gives some people solace in times where it is too distressing to face reality, but I rarely agree with the route of finding comfort in lies and unknowns.

 

[DoomedxFromBirth]

Atheist, my mom put me into a catholic school because she wanted me and my sister to be "raised right" I was bullied there. Because of all the bullshit that was going on at home I ended up getting left back in 3rd and I begged to get out. I was put into public school and was a top student. Religion never made any sense to me.

 

[Rukia]

I am a Roman Catholic, I pray but do not attend the church...I am also losing my faith bit by bit...

 

[not_a_robot]

Absurdist Nihilist.

 

[Oblivion Lover]

I am an agnostic in a family of christians. Luckily enough I escaped their wicked brainwashing process by reading a lot of scientific books and watching documentaries as a kid. Deep inside me, however, there're an engrained fear that a tyrannical, irrational and narcissistic god might exist. If I had ultimate proof that god indeed existed I would start worshipping Satan.

 

[not_a_robot]

I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist. Mainly because I am lazy and can't be arsed with burdens of proof or allegations of fence sitting. I am another kind of Ist as well. An, I don't care ist. How it works is I have a view of each to their own. Have fun, enjoy what you enjoy. I am glad something makes you happy and gives you meaning. Right up until the point it is weaponized, used as a tool of shame, violates choices, and engages in violence. Then it simply becomes my enemy. It could be the most benign ideology in the world of simply wishing to make sure everyone tastes the joys of doughnuts. But if you are force feeding me doughnuts, however nice doughnuts are, you are still my enemy.

I'm American and I became obsessed with saying "can't be arsed" in relation to my doctors last year. No one here is familiar with British slang but they didn't like it I don't think.

Absurdism - Wikipedia

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