Anyone non-religious here? Please be nice!

[1stepcloser]

Quote:
I have to say I agree 100% with you. That is why I really like the Ba'hai belief that there is one God but many, many paths to God. God doesn't care which path you take as long as you live a loving and honest life.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Loving this thread!!! Good job keeping things civil people!

I am with coop on this one: I call myself pagan because it gives other people a handle to hang on to. I think that "organized religion" is an oxymoron. Spirituality of some sort seems to be a human need, but religion is a man made construct. As such it is bound to be as incoherent as we are. There is much of this universe that we do not understand as much as an ant could not understand new york city.

I always found the monotheistic god versions to be kind of funny as if god created heaven and earth that means he is not from earth ergo he is an alien, an invisible polygamist alien.

So I am very spiritual and very not religious.

 

[silverbird]

Love this thread! Was feeling a bit like the odd person out, not being religious, nor pagan...so glad there are folks like me out there...deeply spiritual, but not finding what I need in organized religion. Went to a Catholic school, but never felt like that held the answers.
I discovered my spirituality when horseback riding....out on a trail by myself, I found myself awash with a deep sense of peace and belonging, which I now find in my daily life. Just tending my animals brings me to that quiet place. Sometimes words just don't convey well enough, but there is no doubt there is God/Universe/Goddess/whatever you call it out there and inside us all. As a Reiki master and healer I draw on that peace for healing work.
Look forward to reading more from you all--thanks for sharing.

 

[Damummis]

I was raised with religion shoved down my throat. I do have a sense that there is a Higher being, what it is I don't know. The more I research "religion" the more I relize I don't want part of the "organization" whatever it is. I am however spiritual. I am conscience of the "energies" that make the world go round. I respect nature and all that it entails.

This is a great thread and I hope it stays civil.

 

[1stepcloser]

Thought I would share one of my favorite quotes.

"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion. " Abraham Lincoln

 

[redux]

I hope it stays civil as well because I am so enjoying all of your responses. This is exactly the dialogue I was hoping for, and you have all delivered. I find your beliefs so interesting; and I find it heartwarming to know that I am not alone.

 

[haTHOR]

usually in these discussions you will hear a few people say, "i'm spiritual, but not religious". i'm the opposite--i'm religious, but not spiritual!

i am an agnostic*, and (yet) i think there is a great deal to be learned from the world's many religions. i am actually the director of religious education at our local UU (unitarian universalist) church, where we have atheists, buddhists, pagans, and christians among our members. so i spend LOTS of time in church/religious settings, but i'm not a believer. i like my church/job because it allows me the freedom to think for myself and to design a program for kids that teaches them about ALL faith pathways without shoving anything down their throats. we also have a big focus on social justice.

*the details--i'm a humanist: i believe that we humans have both the ability and the responsibility to make the world better, more peaceful, more just.

 

[kyeschicks]

Well when I was younger I lived with my mom and we never went to church, but we did believe in a creator and still do. I lived in Mexico by that time and we decided to come to USA to visit my dad.....well in my opinion I think it was the worst decision ever. My dad FORCED me to go to church! the only reason I disliked church was because of him

now that my parents are separated, I live a not-so happy life with my mom, but its better than to live with my dad who forced me to go to church. I'm no longer being forced, but me and my mom go to church when we think it's time to go

 

[EweSheep]

I am liking this thread really well! I was raised Methodist but my family and I were "not settled" on a church that we would be comfortable to listen to sermons. However for ME, it did not satisfy my inner need and I do not like to be questioned about how strong my faith is toward Jesus or some kind of "test" to see if you have fallen flat on your face and you must make your mistakes known. Nor would I like to be judged as "Judas" either and they would tell me to "choose my friends or else, you would go to hell" type of thing. Sorry, it just don't work with me.

I do believe in a higher sense, like God but I do believe in science as well....like how the earth is created. The Bible only probably a thousand years or less old when it was first written by one of Jesus' discliples. However somewhere down the line, the "missing" books and chapters were omitted by the scholars, "it was too long" to read.

I do not know what I call myself when I do believe in spirits, inner soul, treat someone like you want to be treated, know when you did something wrong, that it can bite you back later down the line, moral judgements and conscepts and believe there ARE dinosaurs, strange creatures in the deep sea, unknown to mankind, the carbon datings of things we wanted to know how old Earth is and how things have evolve from one point to another, either by a fluke or man's hand in breeding or genetics played a role in it.

So what do I call myself? I don't think it would call myself athetic because I still believe in "higher sense of being, greater than man" out there and the burning question "Is there a God?" That is a very hard question to ask. Also there is evolution, Darwinism kind of things that I believe that we MIGHT have "off shoots" of the apes, the odd kind of a genetic fluke that both chimp parents having a lesser haired, walking more upright (remember Lucy?).

 

[deb1]

What a wonderful thread, redux! Thank you so much for starting it.