What best describes your beliefs in religion, God, and the afterlife?

[GhostWriter16]

Check all that apply. Poll coming.

 

[galdre]

agnostic - don't know and I don't really see how knowing would change the way I live

 

[Tani Coyote]

Religion - Nothing here really. I experimented with it, but dogma can get exhausting. I prefer secular virtue. It's also a million times easier to sell.

God - If there is a God, he will not condemn those who do not believe in him. He will reward those who were good, and all who were good will end up believing in him upon discovering his presence. Some people require evidence for God, and he acknowledges this. But nobody should require evidence to be good.

In line with the next part, I believe there could easily be super-massive souls that may as well be considered gods.

Afterlife - I believe in ghosts, spirits, and the supernatural. There are the souls of the dead, and souls from other planes intersecting our own such as angels and demons. All three can influence our world in some way or another with enough power. If we befriend them, we too can discover that power.

 

[sophie]

Beliefs in religion: Religion is pretty cool, given: it doesn't overstep its boundaries as moral guidance for weak willed people (i.e. it doesn't step into the realms of science, in which it has no business being, and given that they don't hoodwink people into performing barbaric and dated practices such as female circumcision and excommunicating people for using birth control.)

I appreciate religion for its contributions to art and culture, and I love the stories, so long as they are given as much creedence as we grant to the stories of Zeus and Thor (i.e. none). When things are kept in that sort of context, religions are pretty neat.

That being said, I don't believe anything a religious person says when they are trying to push their supernatural hoo-haa off as "fact".

God doesn't exist, or if he did it is he is very far removed from the everyday goings ons of the ordinary human, get over it.

When we die, that's it, there is nothing afterwards, so appreciate what you have, because it's the only one your going to get.

 

[shadowplay]

This sums up my religious belief pretty well:

Spoiler :

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

 

[Bei1052]

Fwiw, there really is no meaningful distinction between "macro" and "micro" evolution. Plus, evolution isn't something you believe. You either accept it as true or you don't.

 

[RedRalph]

Religion is fairytales. There is almost certaintly no God. There is, terrifyingly, almost certainly no afterlife.

 

[GhostWriter16]

I am a Protestant Christian.

The ones I selected in the poll were:

I know there is a God.

I believe I know generally who he is.

Free Will Exists.

There is a Heaven.

There is a Hell.

Religion in general has a positive affect on society.

Freedom of religion is important and should be carefully protected.

It only slightly affects my political views.

I don't believe in macroevolution.

@Bei1052- Your point about "Believing" is valid, but microevolution is different than macro. A lot of people (Myself included) accept micro but not macro.

 

[shadowplay]

Catholic

My selections are the same as Dom, only I do accept the science of evolution.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

One word: nonexistent.

I don't think scientists "believe" in theories, with all the implications of the word. They merely accept them based on the evidence available.

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

I'm interested to know how some one can "know" there is a God. Doesn't knowing at least require that some one can perceive God through one of the five senses?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I take issue with the "Some religions have a generally positive effect, others negative" option. I thought that would be the neutral option for religion's effect on society, but from its wording it seems like an effort to brand certain religions as harmful (gee, I wonder which ones).

 

[galdre]

since I answered before the poll was up - I voted

-I have no idea if God exists

-Free Will Exists

-Religion in General has a negative effect on society

-Freedom of Religion is important and should be carefully protected

 

[Tani Coyote]

I have no idea if God exists, though it doesn't matter to me either way since I believe in the afterlife still

I believe I know what God would be like if he exists

Free will exists

There is a heaven, for all people who were good, or died before they had a chance to do it

There is a Hell, existing to hold those who are wicked, and eventually release those who genuinely change. Those incapable of letting go of evil shall be punished for eternity. One could make the argument Earth IS Hell.

Possible some people will be reincarnated after death

Some religions have a positive effect, some negative

Freedom of religion is very important and the government's sole intervention in it should be to protect involuntary actions (or to get back for religion's intervention in government )

Any religious views I have do not affect my political views as I am a strong secularist

There seems to be plenty of evidence in favor of evolution, and regardless of if he created everything as is or just a bunch of cells that evolved, everything would come from God the same way we come from our great-great-grandparents despite the many changes we undergo

 

[Miles Teg]

God doesn't exist. I'm as sure about that as I am about anything else. Same for an afterlife. I don't claim to be able to say if religion is a net positive/negative, at least not once you remove the "Is it true" question from the equation. Arguments for a deterministic universe are unconvincing. Freedom of Religion is absolute, but can't be used as an excuse for things that aren't acceptable. I have problems voting for people who would increase the prominence of religion in the public sphere, but I could vote for someone of nearly any faith. Accepting good science isn't a religious thing.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

"I believe God doesn't exist, but I'm not sure" I voted for this. But only because my actual conviction fits in that vote. You can just shoehorn it in there. "I know there is no God" is too absolute for me.

I am close to certain God does not exist because of the staggering lack of evidence, including for me lack of personal evidence.

 

[Haseri]

Religion: Like alcohol, fine in moderate amounts, maybe even healthy, but dangerous in excess. Also like alcohol, I don't particularly like the taste of it, and I wasn't exposed that much to it while young (my parents didn't even baptise me. They thought I should make the choice myself when I'm old enough.)

God: Probably doesn't exist. Too many other options other than the Abrahamic god to be right (plus a whole lot of options within his faiths as well). The idea of a diety is an extrodinary thing to my mind, and there is no evidence that any exists. The evidence I do see, that many would say proves the existance of a diety, is a wonderful, complex universe that we can see patterns in to understand better.
In the end, a diety does not seem necessary to have started the universe. There doesn't seem to be anybody there. And if there is, they don't seem to be worth worshipping.

Afterlife: Nothing. Depressing, I know, but I just don't think about it. The here and now is much more important.

 

[civver_764]

-I have no way of knowing if there is a God but I don't care at all.
-I don't believe there is a God for obvious reasons.
-Free Will doesn't exist.
-Heaven and Hell don't exist.
-Some religions have positive effects, others negative. Generally negative effects.
-Freedom of religion should be protected for all.
-Evolution is a fact.

 

[GhostWriter16]

Alright: Just by looking at the way people have voted:

Civver- Having no idea whether God exists means you are equally open to the idea that he exists or doesn't exist. You said he probably does not exist. You should not have voted the third option.

Also, HOW THE HECK can you not believe in Free Will if you don't believe in God? Its easy to see how you could believe in both, and its possible to see how you can believe in God but not free will, but HOW IN THE WORLD can you believe in neither?
@Taniciusfox- I do not understand your religious system. You don't know if there's a God or not, but you believe in Heaven, Hell, AND reincarnation? How does this work?

EDIT: Civver you posted before I did. How can you deny the existence of both God and Free Will?

 

[civver_764]

EDIT: Civver you posted before I did. How can you deny the existence of both God and Free Will?

Well it's pretty easy...

Our minds are the product of nature like anything else. They are made of particles and stuff that follow the same laws of physics as anything else. There is only one way to follow the laws of physics, and so there is only one way our minds will operate.