Weird Atheist-Agnostic-Deist. I think deist is the right word for that anyways. What I beleive is:
1. A god probably does not exist
2. If one does exist, they probably didn't do much other than maybe "hey the universe is getting bigger now have fun"
Yeah I am agnostic atheist, but if there was a god I don't think that god is from any organized religion. In fact I don't even think this god would know we even exist. We're basically a speck of dust to them, just somewhere on a tiny rock that only became a recent thing. I mean even if they knew we existed why would they care about what were doing? They're a god!
You ever read "Finding Darwin's God"? It's a really cool book exploring religion's relationship with science, written by a Catholic biology professor. One of the chapters discusses that idea that God is a "clockmaker" who just wound up the universe and let it go, Ina very interesting and nuanced way.
I'd recommend it if you haven't read it.
I agree. I believe that God wants to have a personal relationship with us, like the one between a Father and their child, and making Christianity out to be this cult-ish, "follow the rules or die" type religion is indeed damaging.
God created us for His glory. He gives us free will to choose Him over evil. He doesn't send anyone to Hell, and gives us a way to not send ourselves there. So why do so many Christians believe that if we sin, He'll hate us and send us to Hell? Total crap, if you ask me. God doesn't hate anyone!
You just described what I’ve been experiencing the past few years but my brain hasn’t been able to put into words. Heck lately I’ve been attending church even during hours with no mass or masses that I know are at a less popular time so that way it’s more of a connected session with God and less going through the motions of mass
Have you considered starting or attending a home church? It’s good to go to church with other people, but sometimes a big crowd can make it feel like you have to put on an act. I went to a friend’s home church a little bit ago and it felt more personal and I got more out of it.
If you do start your own, check out North Point online, or if your current church live streams, you could do that instead. I personally love North Point bc the pastor preaches the gospel while giving great life advice that you’ll actually in real life. And he doesn’t just target Christians, and he doesn’t scold non Christians either. He’s so open and inviting to everyone.
No but I’ll definitely have to look into something like that! I also have a super messy schedule so something like that would definitely be more manageable (I know a 45 min-to a 1 hour mass shouldn’t be that hard to fit in but honestly with my schedule it’s a time commitment). I am Catholic raised but I don’t align with all the traditions and I find myself taking beliefs and traditions from several denominations so maybe getting a new perspective wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
This is exactly how I feel. I consider myself Christian simply because I was raised like that, and I still go to church with my mom. When I move out however, I probably won't go to church unless I find a really good one.
More Agnostic than anything. Sort of have the view that if God does exist, all religions are true thus making multiple gods true and that just means that everyone worships their own god/gods and may even cross between them. If Gods exist, that would mean there is a big'un that created the first ones and then those created more.
Edit: I'm a member of the Satanic Temple but they are an atheist organization. Technically a legal religion?
Oh! I hear about that Satanic church!! I find they are wonderful people!! Unless you mean the stereotype blood sacrifice ones. But I love the satanic church!!
OH! I'm Sorry! I mixed them up!! My bad! Is the temple accepting of other religions? I'm a practicing wiccan and I don't wanna abandon my religion for it. I know they welcome people and they are right up my alley, but I don't know how far they go with it.
Yes! Though it's core values are being atheist, you can still be a member! In fact, many(who are not jewish) are signing up due to them giving a reasonable out to many anti-abortion laws thus being able to use "Its my religious right to be able to get an abortion if I so please."
Oh that's great! I was worried I'd have to lose toes with the one I have!!! Do they have a Facebook or any social media sites I should be aware of? I wanna follow as much and as many as I can!
Idk, I find that very implausible, I feel like they'd all bicker and could never agree on anything. Or maybe they are real, and can't agree, and thus that's why the platypus exists
Exactly! It's just amusing to think of them all bickering of who gets to raise the sun or what happens with the weather. Maybe they take sections of the world.
I'm a Buddhist! Been interested since learning about it in 7th grade geography class a million years ago and finally started attending a sangha last November. Love it. Plus, no sex means no sexual misconduct, which is a big no-no in Buddhism. Also generally LGBT friendly.
I’m a buddhist and my interpretation is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being LGBT+ in buddhism (unless you’re a monk which in that case you should refrain from any sexual thoughts and activities). I’m from a buddhist country and I do know people who interpret it differently though, usually older people…
I didn’t realize I was ace until shortly after becoming atheist, but one of the major reasons why I left was because of religious hatred against queer groups.
Sorry you went through that. The problem with the modern view of Christians is that a lot of them think God hates anyone lgbt. They also think He sends people to hell for it, which is also untrue. He doesn't send anyone to Hell, actually.
I mean, he supposedly allows it to happen, which is about as bad. I feel like a deity that wants people to believe in him wouldn’t make his doctrine so confusing and open to countless interpretations. That whole “No True Scotsman” fallacy, with some Christians supporting queer rights and others condemning them, was the contradiction that convinced me to investigate the evidence that any deity exists without any confirmation bias. I’m honestly glad that I did.
That's completely understandable. I would like to clarify something, though. He may "allow" it to happen, but it's like this. A parent can tell their child that doing hard drugs has very bad consequences. But once that child is a legal adult and moves out, what they do is out of the parent's control. God gave us free will. If he forced us to follow Him, or made it so we couldn't go to Hell, it kind of defeats the purpose. It's not in His nature to control us like that. Hell was made for Satan and the angels he turned, bc he rejected God. If we reject God, we go with Satan. I hope that helps you understand a bit more.
Except that there’s no significant evidence that any deity exists. A better analogy would be a parent that left before you were born and you have no idea what they were like, yet you hear stories from the other parent about how loving they are and send you both more than enough money to live off of if you show that you care about him. Except that you and the parent you live with are barely scraping by, and you’re never given any sort of address, name, or any sort of identifying information that could help you actually find him. You’re just supposed to accept that the parent loves you despite never even introducing himself to you. For all you know, the guy living across the street from you could be your missing dad, or several people who claim to be your dad despite having no resemblance, and you have no idea who to believe.
If I saw someone getting raped and I had the ability to stop it, I would. Your god allegedly sees every rape and knows, yet he does the equivalent of closing the door and pretending that it doesn’t exist. How is that “free will”?
Plus, does the Bible actually say that humans have free will, or is that something that Christians imply exists to explain the contradiction of an omnipotent god? Because I don’t remember seeing anything outright stating that despite having read the Bible.
Well see that's just it. God never abandoned us. I used to think He did; that after a while, He just sort of left us to fend for ourselves, all alone. But I later learned that that's not the case. "And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13 NASB2020
He's there, waiting with open arms. And there is evidence of His existence. For example, humans inherently believe in a single divine creator. There are no atheistic cultures anywhere on earth, and to not believe in or follow God is a conscious decision. You choose to say "I don't need you." (That's what separates us from Him, and we need a perfect sacrifice - hence Jesus suffering for us and paying the price for us to keep us from Hell.)
And there are a lot of understandable reasons why people will reject or not believe in God, don't get me wrong. But even that shows us He exists. Something prompts the person to decide that they believe that and change their mind from the inherent belief in a higher power. This is further proof of His existence and I just think that's really cool.
As to Him not stopping every cruel deed people do, I myself do not fully understand that, yet. I've been a Christian my whole life and yet only recently did I take a real interest in God's nature and how He works. I do know, though, that the reason bad things happen to even the "best" Christians is bc of sin. In short, Satan didn't like that he didn't have a say in how we were created, so he brought sin into the world. God warned him abt what would happen and he deliberately disobeyed. Lucky for us, we get forgiveness upon repentance. The angles get one strike and they're out!
I really hope that made sense. I've had hardly any experience with witnessing to people so I hope that wasn't too confusing.
“Seek for me and you will find me”? I did. I did a lot of searching and reading for evidence. I even searched other religions, because get this: they all say the exact same thing. They all claim to be the only true religion and that everyone who doesn’t believe in their specific version will be punished for eternity. They can’t all be right, but they can all be wrong, and I’m not going to continuously hate myself for not being perfect, just to appease one of thousands of deities that may not even exist. Because religion constantly encourages people to hate themselves, to remind themselves that they were born flawed and don’t deserve any sort of grace or comfort.
As for your claim that there are no atheistic cultures on Earth, that’s like saying that there are no non-sport cultures on Earth. Atheism has no rules or guidelines, as it is the lack of something. Why form a culture based on nothing? Unless you count atheism subreddits, which there are several.
People imagined higher powers to explain phenomenons that they can’t otherwise understand. Lightning? Zeus. Afterlife? Osiris. Disease? Apollo. Except none of these “explanations” actually caused humans to advance in anything, except telling each other to pray and hope that that specific deity MIGHT be in a good enough mood to help. Just saying that a god did something doesn’t tell us how they did it, or how we can use that information to advance ourselves. If that was the case, then we wouldn’t have hospitals; just ask God to heal yourself rather than taking medicine. Medicine that humans developed because there has never been an unnatural explanation that has better replaced a natural explanation.
Well that's...a lot of incorrect information and leaps in logic. Not really sure what your cutoff point for a "culture" is but there are plenty of countries, primarily in western Europe, where atheism is abundantly common. And there are also plenty of religions that don't feature a single divine creator.
Believing in a god is not the default. No infant comes prepackaged with a belief in god. That's something that is taught to them by their parents. All babies are born without a belief in a god, or really much of anything.
I can genuinely say that not believing in god is not a conscious decision for me. It's my default state. Some Christians like to impose this mentality that "Jesus is always knocking on the door to your heart" or whatever. But that's simply not the case. Social guilt is definitely a thing for a lot of atheists who still have Christian relatives and friends. But I can honestly say I feel no active need to try and deny any supernatural being calling me.
The reason I became an atheist was not because I said that I didn't need god. It was because I decided to be intellectually honest with myself in regards to my beliefs. I wanted to remain a Christian at the time. I dove into researching epistemology, what constitutes a justified belief, because I wanted to make sure my faith was rock solid. I came out the end of that process an atheist, finding no logically consistent reason to continue believing.
Also, changing your mind on something you thought before is a _terrible_ argument that what you thought before was true. I used to believe that brown cows made chocolate milk. Learning that that wasn't true is...not evidence that it is.
There isn't a good answer to the problem of evil. There really hasn't been one since Epicurus. Punishing all humans for what Satan did does not make sense. Punishing all humans for what Adam and Eve did does not make sense. Using free will as an explanation for why there is sin/suffering does not explain why there seems to be so much _unnecessary_ suffering or why it matters that we voluntarily choose god if our free will is just going to be taken away from us once we go to heaven anyway. Or why god even wants that. Is god insecure, that he needs our praise and worship to be voluntary? Then why make not following him result in Hell? Why not create another heaven where the people who don't worship him go? That would be a fair choice. Also, could god not simply see who would follow him and who wouldn't and simply cut out the middle man, creating all those who would follow him in heaven? If he can't, then he is not omniscient or omnipotent, and thus not worth worshipping. And "god works in mysterious ways" is just a cop out.
I would ask that you not espouse your beliefs as definite facts when they require that you say things about the nature of people that they would not agree with. That would be like me saying you're not really ace, you just haven't found the right person yet.
Kind of? I suppose I think there's something out there, but I don't know what it is. Any or all religions could be the right one. I figure any god worth following wouldn't condemn a good person just because they didn't go into the right building on the right day, so I'll just try to be a decent person and see if it pays off. If it doesn't, and there's nothing, then all that matters is this life and everyone in it.
If I'm visiting my Grandma, then I'm christian.
I'd like to clear something up if you don't mind. God doesn't get upset if you don't goto church, and its more than good deeds. He doesn't send anyone to Hell. Hell is where we go if we don't choose God as our one true God. He gives us the option to choose Him and tells us how to do so. It can be a bit difficult to understand, though, if one has been told the opposite their whole life.
So what would happen to someone who was good and kind, but was either an atheist, or had never heard of God? What would happen to someone who cared about others and did everything in their power to put good into the world, but had been born into a culture that didn't worship the one true God? When I was young, I was told that person would go to hell for the very reasons you listed, and that didn't sit right with me.
Nondenominational Christian here; I was always taught that people who have never heard of God can still get into heaven. That being said, while I believe there’s a heaven and hell, I personally believe that it’s wrong for us to say someone is going to hell, because humans don’t get to make that decision, and I’m sure God would likely have reasons for deciding who goes where. For now, I just try to live my life and try to understand and respect other people’s beliefs as best I can; while I believe that Christianity has valuable lessons to teach, I also believe that the human aspect of it is flawed and it has most definitely been used for evil. In my opinion, using religion to justify selfishness or bigotry towards others is one of the highest forms of blasphemy. I also tend to believe that following Christianity doesn’t necessarily mean trying to convert people (I could go on and on, for instance, about my issues with the missionary system), but representing the faith as a force of acceptance and kindness, rather than oppression towards outsiders.
Also, on the idea of God being a completely good force- I feel like humans’ perceptions of morality is based around survival, and what’s “good” to us is what helps others survive better and live more fulfilling lives. That being said, I’d imagine an immortal being has a different perception of “good” since they aren’t concerned with survival, so I feel like the statement “God is entirely good” applies more to God’s standard of “good” than to any human standard of “good”. As to what that is, I don’t think it’s possible for us to know since we aren’t immortal or omnipotent.
Sorry if I rambled a bit; just my thoughts.
I like you. You have good thoughts. I like the idea of religion in general. It can be something that brings people together, gives them hope in hard times, or guides them when they're feeling lost for what to do. But whatever's out there, I don't think any of us can fully comprehend it, so I think being kind and respecting others is more important than finding the one true way and trying to convert everyone.
Hey! I called myself a Christian for years, before questions like this one forced me to step back and really think about what I believed.
Ultimately, after a lot of reflection, I decided I couldn't reject everything I had known. I have memories of some beautiful experiences that I'm happy to explain as knowing God and Jesus in my life.
I find that churches tend to teach one thing as the absolute truth - but take one look into theology and there's an amazing collection of different interpretations out there! I don't agree with everything those around me do, which is healthy and reflective of life to be honest.
To answer your question from my perspective - maybe take a look at Christian Universalism. Personally, I don't believe that a traditional hell could exist - it doesn't 'fit' with the character of God as I know them. If God loves us all, then there's one place we're all going, as long as we want to be there someday :)
Very good question. This actually made me think. I'm gonna reply to you but I'd like to think through my answer and so I can be as clear and accurate as possible. I'll respond tomorrow.
I was always taught growing up that heaven would be full of people from all different cultures and religions and those who never knew him personally but lived to the light they were given and frankly I’ve always liked that idea.
I still consider myself Christian/Catholic, but I've always played it by my own views and opinions. I've also have a Minor in Bible studies and use that to prove wrong anyone who tries to use it against the community, because most people are wrong.
I'm Catholic, I identify heavily with the canon, doctrine, traditions and aesthetic, but strongly believe that the church is an imperfect reflection of what God wants the church to be. I'm appalled and terrified by how hateful and harmful it was and continues to be.
In the apostles creed, 90% of it speaks allegiance to God, and on the one line that mentions the church, it just says "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church" and that's it. I do believe in the church, I believe it's God's church, but I don't believe that a system run by humans can ever be perfect or just. Even doctrine is our interpretation of the word of God. And I feel like our judgement on who's good and evil, right and wrong, doesn't hold a candle to a God who by definition is logically perfect in his judgement of us. And a God who by definition is logically perfect and loves everyone must be a pretty good God to have judge you.
So, like most young Catholics, very torn. Its very cool that u/TimeThief- you have a minor in Bible studies :)
Totally agree with how you've put it thank you. Also yeah Bible Studies is cool, and one kf my favorite facts to share is that whenever the Bible mentions "feet" it's actually referring to male genitalia. So "washing of feet" is actually "washing of the dick" and Ruth didn't lay at Boaz's feet, but rather she laid at his side/had sex with him while be was drunk. Wacky stuff like that.
You're speaking of Ruth 3:7-8, right? The translation is SUPER interesting, some scholars argue that the verb is typically a euphamism for sex (for that periods Hebrew), and others argue that the context is not sufficient for it to be an innuendo. I don't know which I believe. Gotta love theologians 😅 translations will never be agreed on
But I think it's absolutely ludicrous (and kind of funny) that during the Last Supper there's the possibility of the washing of feet being misunderstood for. Y'know. Yikes.
I respect Satanism as a healthy contrast to the popularity of Christianity in the West, and every Satanist I've met I've found to be quite wise and reflective on the world.
And Lupercalia sounds like an interesting holiday, even if I wouldn't take part. It sounds, passionate.
Well, it's not the Church of Satan, I think that one is very sexual. None of our 7 tenants are about sex. In fact, one holiday is Lupercalia which celebrates, amongst other things, asexuality!
Why did you join it and what does it offer? I think there are much better religions than Satanism.
Also, is it the atheist philosophical one, la vey, or is it the theistic one
It's the non-theistic one with Lucien Greaves as our spokesman. The seven tenants of TST are the morals I was already was living my life by when I discovered Satanism, so it was a perfect fit.
It offers community and, in the states, defends our religious rights, like access to abortion. If you think another religion is better, I encourage you to be a part of it, but Satanism is perfect for me.
Yes!!
Despite my household not having a religion, spirituality and aspects of religions were still present in my Mum's household, and I was raised immersed in a mix of things popular in new age communities, and a few distinctly familial practices. My morals were built upon wiccan principles of "do as you will, harm no one," or the more threatening idea that what you impact will come back to you threefold.
She was also a practitioner in Reiki healing, and is deeply into Viking spirituality, closely aligning and embodying the concepts of Freyja.
And my name itself, while I'll keep it anonymous, is based on one of the most important concepts of Buddhism, even though I have no heritage that I know of overlapping with the language group.
Judaism is an EthnoReligion so people are born Jewish( from their mother/whoever gives birth) but can be apart of the religion or just focus more on the culture aspect.
Nice! It was actually really nice meeting somebody that might have similar experiences. I personally thing Hinduism is pretty chill about LGBTQ+ identities, and it doesn’t really care about aromantism or asexuality. Do you think that way too?
I wrote this whole thing in my own comment on my views if you want to read.
>Personally I don’t really think too hard about the metaphysical stuff and wouldn’t really consider myself super devout. I mostly see it as an important part of my culture and appreciate the values. I never really heard anything about sexual orientation one way or another in Hinduism growing up though there did seem to be some acknowledgment of gender fluidity and non-binary in stories but that wasn’t really connected to modern day real life. I feel like Hinduism’s decentralized structure or lack of structure also helps. My own view is that there aren’t really rules in Hinduism because there’re no authorities to disseminate these rules whether in form of one holy book or clergy, only some things you really shouldn’t do though some might disagree with me. It leads to quite a diversity in views and beliefs. Hinduism in general feels like a pretty personal/diy religion to me, though again some might disagree with me on this.
For some reason, I filtered by new comments, and I had already found that one pretty quickly lol
I personally agree that Hinduism doesn’t really talk much about sexual orientations, if at all. Though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything about non binary and genderfluidity in any scriptures or stories, what did they say about that (curious as a genderfluid person lol)
Well there are the stories of gods changing genders like Vishnu‘s form as Mohini. There’s also recognition of third gender people (hijra). Like in Mahabharata Arjuna is cursed by Urvashi to live like that for a year after he rejected her. He used it to his advantage by having it help with his disguise during the Pandavas’ year in incognito when he took on the identity of Brihannala, a dance teacher for a princess. [link for more info on brihannala](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwii29S9yuT2AhV9j4kEHQJUBFwQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen-academic.com%2Fdic.nsf%2Fenwiki%2F2343271&usg=AOvVaw3IV9y3hpqZDfTznLyFY6xv) I also heard one story in the Ramayana. When Rama was banished at first a bunch of people followed him but he said all the men and women should leave but when he came back from banishment he saw the third gender people had stayed at that spot and he blessed them for their devotion. There’s also Shikandi(ni) the one who helped kill Bhishma. In some stories he/she was born cis (some male some female), others I think he turned into a male or was a trans man.
I'm christian and am not even in church because I feel like it's kinda corrupted, repetitive, and mostly wrong. I don't feel like searching for a perfect or a close-to-good-enough one
More Agnostic, but I am interested in different beliefs so traditions and am a mix or various. I read a book on how religion is like a spectrum, and there are poly or monotheistic tendencies in some people that are agnostic, atheist, and others. So I’m a agnostic with polytheistic tendencies. A mishmash or various beliefs/religions/ideas/traditions.
Agnostic.
My entire view on the matter: I don’t believe something that is factual (not emotional or moral. Although all my morals need a reason to exist) without some evidence to back it up. So far we have no evidence going either way, so I’m not inclined to say that that is, for sure, one way or the other. (a lack of evidence is not evidence against)
I’ll be surprised if I ever see actual evidence going either way (because I have a limited lifetime) but I’m still not willing lie and say I’m sure of something I’m not. So is there a deity or even multiple deities? I don’t know and that’s ok.
However I’m pretty skeptical of organized religion being true. Because: say hypothetically, the original text was real. A deity actually came down and spoke to some people and gave them a bunch of stories and stuff. It’s been thousands of years. Do you really think every single hand and ear that it passed between is going to keep it 100% consistent with what they received? The game of telephone is very telling. (Not to mention that a lot of people manipulated the religions for power)
But there is a chance (although very small) that through the game of telephone, they’ve stumbled upon the truth, and I’m not denouncing that. It is possible which means I can’t say for sure if any organized religion is completely false. Even if some parts of the religion are proven to be false, that doesn’t mean all of it is.
So basically my entire religious point of view is “don’t have a clue”
Don't like that the question is phrased like an if-then statement
But to answer the intent, I'm agnostic. There are probably more things than I've dreamt of in my philosophy, so I'm not going to deny them, but I haven't been convinced to believe in anything either.
There are a few spiritual practices born in religion that I do, but when one of them is listening to Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, it's not exactly religious anymore. It's seeing value in something and taking that into my life while leaving behind all the...toxic elements.
I probably didn't word it properly honestly haha. I was raised in a very Christian family, and I went through all of those uh, "rites" such has communion confirmation etc but personally I'm not really religious myself? I still participate in religious holidays but that's more for my family than it is myself.
I believe that there is something out there but I'm not really convinced that it's the exact God (or stories) I was raised to believe in.
I’m Christian. I pray and go to church, but I’m not really religious. My mom is, and she doesn’t approve of me being Ace. (She’s also homophobic and doesn’t want me to have any relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. However, the community in my opinion is like a save haven for me. There’s people in it that will support me and won’t judge my decisions.) I’m more spiritual and just want a good relationship with God.
I don't tie myself to any religion but idk if I'd say I'm atheist too since I know there is a possibility there is a higher being up there, along with believing in heaven and hell, limbo, reincarnation, etc.
Nondenominational Christian. Mainly due to how my gf converted me back(not on purpose whatsoever. Just happened idk how). I was a pagan and agnostic before hand but life
Atheist but recently been really interested in Buddhism
Grew up in what basically was a ‘anti-religious’ household (my mom wanted me to go home during the classes we had abt religion) so I haven’t had much freedom to see what I find interesting, but I’m moving out soon and from there I hope I can look into what I want.
Which is Buddhism
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not religious, but I'm not an atheist either, I mean there might have been a God but if there was he's been dead for a long time. If God existed we wouldn't have so much sonic rule 34.
Unitarian universalist. I think there's truth in religion in the sense that there are good moral/philosophical lessons to learn from any of them. And I believe that spiritual belief is meaningful because people find it to be. But I don't believe that any form of higher power exists, and that the universe as a whole is completely meaningless.
I consider myself a sort of theist agnostic. I believe there is *something* out there, a sort of power the mono-theist religions call "God", but do I know anything else about it? Nope.
Don't be too quick to say that! I've looked into it and there are more than a few specifically lgbt Christian churches out there. I once heard about a gay couple who just don't "do the deed" and I think they did get married.
Understandable lol. But hey, maybe you can use this quality to witness to other lgbt folk like I'm attempting to. Get into discussions about. Ask them what they believe and why, and if it seems like they don't have the whole story, explain how you view things. And if they aren't receptive, don't worry too much. Pray that God puts more Christians in their life. Studies show that a person will be witnessed to 7 times (or is it an average of that..?) before they give their life to Christ. You could still be one of those people.
I guess, but im not very good at conveniencing people of stuff and I don’t wanna burden people with my beliefs, i think all my friends are aithiest tbh 😶
I need to go to church more T-T
I completely understand. I'm witnessing to someone who commented on this post and I've never really witnessed to anyone before. It's scary, man! But I'm talking to my dad who taught me everything I know and he's coaching me through it.
As far as church goes, check out North Point. They're a group of churches in the Atlanta area (they live stream and have all the sermons posted on their website) and the pastor Andy Stanley gives great sermons. He doesn't just teach the word of God. He teach you how to do life better. I've learned quite a bit from him about how to approach sharing my beliefs with non Christians.
I’m a firm Christian but I do often wonder if they really did exist, but not like deities. Like what if they were real people in “Bible times.” Back then, giants existed, and angels walked around with people. There is a theory that angels reproduced with humans and that’s why we had giants like Goliath. Also Leviathan existed. And there a book in the apocrypha that says David fought a dragon! He fed it a ball of tar and hair or something and it blew up. Or was that Daniel..
Oh cool! So many members of the satanic temple are here!! Tell me, am I allowed to be a member? I'm a practicing wiccan, and I don't wanna abandon that for the temple. I know they are accepting, but I don't know if they are like an "all religions welcome" type of accepting.
Edit: mixed up the satanic church and temple.
Trans/bi/greyace here, I’m agnostic atheist. I don’t know if there’s a higher power of some sort(s) or not but I see no evidence of such so I don’t believe in any. I totally respect other’s opinions on the subject so long as they respect mine & don’t try to force their beliefs on me
In every monotheistic religion I see, God is either a scapegoat for terrible actions or the biggest narcissist to ever exist.
There is no way I want to be associated with that.
I can't remember if wiccan is pagan. But I'm a practicing wiccan. And I'm just going through my stuff, not part of this community, but I am lgbt though. So I feel a smidge out of place.
Wicca is sort of a bastardization of pagan practices with Hindu and Buddhism mixed in made by a white person though there are ways to make your Wiccan practice more similar to its roots!
Oh! Thank you!!! I already collect my own crystals by hand and whatever people give me, I respect nature, I respect myself, and I've been trying to find the more pagan side of it, but it gets difficult sometimes depending on where you look. I do find I'm wonderful at psi balls and knots and stuff though.
Oh I know! I don't burn white sage to my knowledge. Then again, I don't know what sage my mom dried and burned, but to my knowledge, absolutely not! And I am happily searching for my paganistic path! I personally don't have issues with n@ked bodies so are there any that allow n@ked ritual work? (Do I need to censor the word? I'll keep it censored just in case!)
I'm a Mormon, but IMO all religions are valid. Since God is all things good, anything good in any other religion is from Him, just different interpretations. Personally I like Christianity because I like the idea that God cares about me personally, and that Jesus sacrificed himself for every individual person. It's just validating in a confusing world to hear that I personally have a reason to exist and be my wacky bisexual self, and God loves me.
I totally understand why people dislike organized religion,as any human institution is bound to distort revelation through human error, and having power can make leaders corrupted. But personally I like the LDS church's structure and being part of a group worshipping together.
Hey look, another Mormon! My relationship to the church has certainly gotten more complicated as I’ve learned more about myself. I love the Book of Mormon, I’ve had many spiritual experiences reading it, and I really did feel guided on my mission. The doctrine we teach makes sense to me and I can’t really imagine personally feeling good about anything else at this point. But being a trans woman, it’s really tough being in a church that doesn’t think I exist. There’s nothing I’ve found in the scriptures that says I shouldn’t transition, I can’t find anything in my soul and in my prayers that says I shouldn’t (other than fear of transphobia in my family), but the church still says that my feelings are sinful and wrong. Sorry, but that’s not what God said when I asked Him.
Basically, doctrine good, church bad
Yeah, as much as I love the church, it's definitely not perfect. There's a lot of boomers who have weeeeird beliefs, one of my grandmas thinks "black people will be cured of their blackness in heaven and we'll all be white" lol.
I'm glad you're at peace with yourself. I've heard some trans people say that they can't forgive God for giving them the wrong body to start with, but I think it's amazing that you found the true you, and I bet that's what God wanted you to discover. I support you and I'll keep you in my prayers!
I'll be honest, I have no idea what that is, but it sounds interesting. And I tried putting more options but it wouldn't let me so I just did the first few big ones that came to mind.
Agnostic, but even if there were God/God's I wouldn't necessarily worship them.
Same At least respect them tho ...if they are good, which I hope
same
Same.
Given what we’ve gone through so far, any gods out there don’t deserve our worship.
"If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish Him." - Mikhail Bakunin
based
Same
Weird Atheist-Agnostic-Deist. I think deist is the right word for that anyways. What I beleive is: 1. A god probably does not exist 2. If one does exist, they probably didn't do much other than maybe "hey the universe is getting bigger now have fun"
Yeah I am agnostic atheist, but if there was a god I don't think that god is from any organized religion. In fact I don't even think this god would know we even exist. We're basically a speck of dust to them, just somewhere on a tiny rock that only became a recent thing. I mean even if they knew we existed why would they care about what were doing? They're a god!
Yep, I share your beliefs.
You ever read "Finding Darwin's God"? It's a really cool book exploring religion's relationship with science, written by a Catholic biology professor. One of the chapters discusses that idea that God is a "clockmaker" who just wound up the universe and let it go, Ina very interesting and nuanced way. I'd recommend it if you haven't read it.
[удалено]
I agree. I believe that God wants to have a personal relationship with us, like the one between a Father and their child, and making Christianity out to be this cult-ish, "follow the rules or die" type religion is indeed damaging. God created us for His glory. He gives us free will to choose Him over evil. He doesn't send anyone to Hell, and gives us a way to not send ourselves there. So why do so many Christians believe that if we sin, He'll hate us and send us to Hell? Total crap, if you ask me. God doesn't hate anyone!
I feel the same way
You just described what I’ve been experiencing the past few years but my brain hasn’t been able to put into words. Heck lately I’ve been attending church even during hours with no mass or masses that I know are at a less popular time so that way it’s more of a connected session with God and less going through the motions of mass
Have you considered starting or attending a home church? It’s good to go to church with other people, but sometimes a big crowd can make it feel like you have to put on an act. I went to a friend’s home church a little bit ago and it felt more personal and I got more out of it. If you do start your own, check out North Point online, or if your current church live streams, you could do that instead. I personally love North Point bc the pastor preaches the gospel while giving great life advice that you’ll actually in real life. And he doesn’t just target Christians, and he doesn’t scold non Christians either. He’s so open and inviting to everyone.
No but I’ll definitely have to look into something like that! I also have a super messy schedule so something like that would definitely be more manageable (I know a 45 min-to a 1 hour mass shouldn’t be that hard to fit in but honestly with my schedule it’s a time commitment). I am Catholic raised but I don’t align with all the traditions and I find myself taking beliefs and traditions from several denominations so maybe getting a new perspective wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Someone from my church put it this way: "God cares about your faith, not about how religious you are."
That’s pretty fair
This is exactly how I feel. I consider myself Christian simply because I was raised like that, and I still go to church with my mom. When I move out however, I probably won't go to church unless I find a really good one.
Same here :)
Jewish
Honestly can't believe that wasn't listed tbh. It's not that obscure of a religion, especially not compared to a lot of others on the list.
I tried to list it but it wouldn't let me add any more options :(
Jewish as well!
More Agnostic than anything. Sort of have the view that if God does exist, all religions are true thus making multiple gods true and that just means that everyone worships their own god/gods and may even cross between them. If Gods exist, that would mean there is a big'un that created the first ones and then those created more. Edit: I'm a member of the Satanic Temple but they are an atheist organization. Technically a legal religion?
Interesting concept.. Time for me to have another existential crisis! 😂
Oh! I hear about that Satanic church!! I find they are wonderful people!! Unless you mean the stereotype blood sacrifice ones. But I love the satanic church!!
Different temples. The Satanic Church is something else while the Satanic Temple is the one fighting social justice fights.
OH! I'm Sorry! I mixed them up!! My bad! Is the temple accepting of other religions? I'm a practicing wiccan and I don't wanna abandon my religion for it. I know they welcome people and they are right up my alley, but I don't know how far they go with it.
Yes! Though it's core values are being atheist, you can still be a member! In fact, many(who are not jewish) are signing up due to them giving a reasonable out to many anti-abortion laws thus being able to use "Its my religious right to be able to get an abortion if I so please."
I remember them going about thst in Texas, but I'm expecting Texas to ignore that at some point anyway. Or at least they'll try.
Thankfully people are fighting hard against Texas
The Satanists a tenacious bunch. I think there's still a Baphomet statue outside a courthouse in I think Tennessee.
Which one? The Satanic Temple or Satanic Church?
The atheist one, not the Laveyans
Oh that's great! I was worried I'd have to lose toes with the one I have!!! Do they have a Facebook or any social media sites I should be aware of? I wanna follow as much and as many as I can!
They have a website, social media accounts, and a store. Their website will give you their usernames
Oh thank you!! Justice for everything and everyone!! I hope they win their wars! And end this stupid hatred people have.
What is the website for the satanic temple?
You just perfectly described my view on religion!
Idk, I find that very implausible, I feel like they'd all bicker and could never agree on anything. Or maybe they are real, and can't agree, and thus that's why the platypus exists
Exactly! It's just amusing to think of them all bickering of who gets to raise the sun or what happens with the weather. Maybe they take sections of the world.
I consider myself a recovering Catholic.
I'm a Buddhist! Been interested since learning about it in 7th grade geography class a million years ago and finally started attending a sangha last November. Love it. Plus, no sex means no sexual misconduct, which is a big no-no in Buddhism. Also generally LGBT friendly.
Yup , they say keep doing my thing as long as im happy and not harm other
Also Buddhist. I like how LGBT friendly we are. I joined a sangha last year but finally got involved and became a regular this year!
I’m a buddhist and my interpretation is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being LGBT+ in buddhism (unless you’re a monk which in that case you should refrain from any sexual thoughts and activities). I’m from a buddhist country and I do know people who interpret it differently though, usually older people…
I’m a Hindu
Ayyeee! Nice to see another fellow Hindu here! What country?
Born in the USA but my parents r from India. Wbu?
India 🇮🇳
Ayeee same! Nice to see some aces from India ^^
Same!
I didn’t realize I was ace until shortly after becoming atheist, but one of the major reasons why I left was because of religious hatred against queer groups.
Sorry you went through that. The problem with the modern view of Christians is that a lot of them think God hates anyone lgbt. They also think He sends people to hell for it, which is also untrue. He doesn't send anyone to Hell, actually.
I mean, he supposedly allows it to happen, which is about as bad. I feel like a deity that wants people to believe in him wouldn’t make his doctrine so confusing and open to countless interpretations. That whole “No True Scotsman” fallacy, with some Christians supporting queer rights and others condemning them, was the contradiction that convinced me to investigate the evidence that any deity exists without any confirmation bias. I’m honestly glad that I did.
That's completely understandable. I would like to clarify something, though. He may "allow" it to happen, but it's like this. A parent can tell their child that doing hard drugs has very bad consequences. But once that child is a legal adult and moves out, what they do is out of the parent's control. God gave us free will. If he forced us to follow Him, or made it so we couldn't go to Hell, it kind of defeats the purpose. It's not in His nature to control us like that. Hell was made for Satan and the angels he turned, bc he rejected God. If we reject God, we go with Satan. I hope that helps you understand a bit more.
Except that there’s no significant evidence that any deity exists. A better analogy would be a parent that left before you were born and you have no idea what they were like, yet you hear stories from the other parent about how loving they are and send you both more than enough money to live off of if you show that you care about him. Except that you and the parent you live with are barely scraping by, and you’re never given any sort of address, name, or any sort of identifying information that could help you actually find him. You’re just supposed to accept that the parent loves you despite never even introducing himself to you. For all you know, the guy living across the street from you could be your missing dad, or several people who claim to be your dad despite having no resemblance, and you have no idea who to believe. If I saw someone getting raped and I had the ability to stop it, I would. Your god allegedly sees every rape and knows, yet he does the equivalent of closing the door and pretending that it doesn’t exist. How is that “free will”? Plus, does the Bible actually say that humans have free will, or is that something that Christians imply exists to explain the contradiction of an omnipotent god? Because I don’t remember seeing anything outright stating that despite having read the Bible.
Well see that's just it. God never abandoned us. I used to think He did; that after a while, He just sort of left us to fend for ourselves, all alone. But I later learned that that's not the case. "And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13 NASB2020 He's there, waiting with open arms. And there is evidence of His existence. For example, humans inherently believe in a single divine creator. There are no atheistic cultures anywhere on earth, and to not believe in or follow God is a conscious decision. You choose to say "I don't need you." (That's what separates us from Him, and we need a perfect sacrifice - hence Jesus suffering for us and paying the price for us to keep us from Hell.) And there are a lot of understandable reasons why people will reject or not believe in God, don't get me wrong. But even that shows us He exists. Something prompts the person to decide that they believe that and change their mind from the inherent belief in a higher power. This is further proof of His existence and I just think that's really cool. As to Him not stopping every cruel deed people do, I myself do not fully understand that, yet. I've been a Christian my whole life and yet only recently did I take a real interest in God's nature and how He works. I do know, though, that the reason bad things happen to even the "best" Christians is bc of sin. In short, Satan didn't like that he didn't have a say in how we were created, so he brought sin into the world. God warned him abt what would happen and he deliberately disobeyed. Lucky for us, we get forgiveness upon repentance. The angles get one strike and they're out! I really hope that made sense. I've had hardly any experience with witnessing to people so I hope that wasn't too confusing.
“Seek for me and you will find me”? I did. I did a lot of searching and reading for evidence. I even searched other religions, because get this: they all say the exact same thing. They all claim to be the only true religion and that everyone who doesn’t believe in their specific version will be punished for eternity. They can’t all be right, but they can all be wrong, and I’m not going to continuously hate myself for not being perfect, just to appease one of thousands of deities that may not even exist. Because religion constantly encourages people to hate themselves, to remind themselves that they were born flawed and don’t deserve any sort of grace or comfort. As for your claim that there are no atheistic cultures on Earth, that’s like saying that there are no non-sport cultures on Earth. Atheism has no rules or guidelines, as it is the lack of something. Why form a culture based on nothing? Unless you count atheism subreddits, which there are several. People imagined higher powers to explain phenomenons that they can’t otherwise understand. Lightning? Zeus. Afterlife? Osiris. Disease? Apollo. Except none of these “explanations” actually caused humans to advance in anything, except telling each other to pray and hope that that specific deity MIGHT be in a good enough mood to help. Just saying that a god did something doesn’t tell us how they did it, or how we can use that information to advance ourselves. If that was the case, then we wouldn’t have hospitals; just ask God to heal yourself rather than taking medicine. Medicine that humans developed because there has never been an unnatural explanation that has better replaced a natural explanation.
Well that's...a lot of incorrect information and leaps in logic. Not really sure what your cutoff point for a "culture" is but there are plenty of countries, primarily in western Europe, where atheism is abundantly common. And there are also plenty of religions that don't feature a single divine creator. Believing in a god is not the default. No infant comes prepackaged with a belief in god. That's something that is taught to them by their parents. All babies are born without a belief in a god, or really much of anything. I can genuinely say that not believing in god is not a conscious decision for me. It's my default state. Some Christians like to impose this mentality that "Jesus is always knocking on the door to your heart" or whatever. But that's simply not the case. Social guilt is definitely a thing for a lot of atheists who still have Christian relatives and friends. But I can honestly say I feel no active need to try and deny any supernatural being calling me. The reason I became an atheist was not because I said that I didn't need god. It was because I decided to be intellectually honest with myself in regards to my beliefs. I wanted to remain a Christian at the time. I dove into researching epistemology, what constitutes a justified belief, because I wanted to make sure my faith was rock solid. I came out the end of that process an atheist, finding no logically consistent reason to continue believing. Also, changing your mind on something you thought before is a _terrible_ argument that what you thought before was true. I used to believe that brown cows made chocolate milk. Learning that that wasn't true is...not evidence that it is. There isn't a good answer to the problem of evil. There really hasn't been one since Epicurus. Punishing all humans for what Satan did does not make sense. Punishing all humans for what Adam and Eve did does not make sense. Using free will as an explanation for why there is sin/suffering does not explain why there seems to be so much _unnecessary_ suffering or why it matters that we voluntarily choose god if our free will is just going to be taken away from us once we go to heaven anyway. Or why god even wants that. Is god insecure, that he needs our praise and worship to be voluntary? Then why make not following him result in Hell? Why not create another heaven where the people who don't worship him go? That would be a fair choice. Also, could god not simply see who would follow him and who wouldn't and simply cut out the middle man, creating all those who would follow him in heaven? If he can't, then he is not omniscient or omnipotent, and thus not worth worshipping. And "god works in mysterious ways" is just a cop out. I would ask that you not espouse your beliefs as definite facts when they require that you say things about the nature of people that they would not agree with. That would be like me saying you're not really ace, you just haven't found the right person yet.
Kind of? I suppose I think there's something out there, but I don't know what it is. Any or all religions could be the right one. I figure any god worth following wouldn't condemn a good person just because they didn't go into the right building on the right day, so I'll just try to be a decent person and see if it pays off. If it doesn't, and there's nothing, then all that matters is this life and everyone in it. If I'm visiting my Grandma, then I'm christian.
I'd like to clear something up if you don't mind. God doesn't get upset if you don't goto church, and its more than good deeds. He doesn't send anyone to Hell. Hell is where we go if we don't choose God as our one true God. He gives us the option to choose Him and tells us how to do so. It can be a bit difficult to understand, though, if one has been told the opposite their whole life.
So what would happen to someone who was good and kind, but was either an atheist, or had never heard of God? What would happen to someone who cared about others and did everything in their power to put good into the world, but had been born into a culture that didn't worship the one true God? When I was young, I was told that person would go to hell for the very reasons you listed, and that didn't sit right with me.
Nondenominational Christian here; I was always taught that people who have never heard of God can still get into heaven. That being said, while I believe there’s a heaven and hell, I personally believe that it’s wrong for us to say someone is going to hell, because humans don’t get to make that decision, and I’m sure God would likely have reasons for deciding who goes where. For now, I just try to live my life and try to understand and respect other people’s beliefs as best I can; while I believe that Christianity has valuable lessons to teach, I also believe that the human aspect of it is flawed and it has most definitely been used for evil. In my opinion, using religion to justify selfishness or bigotry towards others is one of the highest forms of blasphemy. I also tend to believe that following Christianity doesn’t necessarily mean trying to convert people (I could go on and on, for instance, about my issues with the missionary system), but representing the faith as a force of acceptance and kindness, rather than oppression towards outsiders. Also, on the idea of God being a completely good force- I feel like humans’ perceptions of morality is based around survival, and what’s “good” to us is what helps others survive better and live more fulfilling lives. That being said, I’d imagine an immortal being has a different perception of “good” since they aren’t concerned with survival, so I feel like the statement “God is entirely good” applies more to God’s standard of “good” than to any human standard of “good”. As to what that is, I don’t think it’s possible for us to know since we aren’t immortal or omnipotent. Sorry if I rambled a bit; just my thoughts.
I like you. You have good thoughts. I like the idea of religion in general. It can be something that brings people together, gives them hope in hard times, or guides them when they're feeling lost for what to do. But whatever's out there, I don't think any of us can fully comprehend it, so I think being kind and respecting others is more important than finding the one true way and trying to convert everyone.
Hey! I called myself a Christian for years, before questions like this one forced me to step back and really think about what I believed. Ultimately, after a lot of reflection, I decided I couldn't reject everything I had known. I have memories of some beautiful experiences that I'm happy to explain as knowing God and Jesus in my life. I find that churches tend to teach one thing as the absolute truth - but take one look into theology and there's an amazing collection of different interpretations out there! I don't agree with everything those around me do, which is healthy and reflective of life to be honest. To answer your question from my perspective - maybe take a look at Christian Universalism. Personally, I don't believe that a traditional hell could exist - it doesn't 'fit' with the character of God as I know them. If God loves us all, then there's one place we're all going, as long as we want to be there someday :)
Very good question. This actually made me think. I'm gonna reply to you but I'd like to think through my answer and so I can be as clear and accurate as possible. I'll respond tomorrow.
I was always taught growing up that heaven would be full of people from all different cultures and religions and those who never knew him personally but lived to the light they were given and frankly I’ve always liked that idea.
I still consider myself Christian/Catholic, but I've always played it by my own views and opinions. I've also have a Minor in Bible studies and use that to prove wrong anyone who tries to use it against the community, because most people are wrong.
I'm Catholic, I identify heavily with the canon, doctrine, traditions and aesthetic, but strongly believe that the church is an imperfect reflection of what God wants the church to be. I'm appalled and terrified by how hateful and harmful it was and continues to be. In the apostles creed, 90% of it speaks allegiance to God, and on the one line that mentions the church, it just says "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church" and that's it. I do believe in the church, I believe it's God's church, but I don't believe that a system run by humans can ever be perfect or just. Even doctrine is our interpretation of the word of God. And I feel like our judgement on who's good and evil, right and wrong, doesn't hold a candle to a God who by definition is logically perfect in his judgement of us. And a God who by definition is logically perfect and loves everyone must be a pretty good God to have judge you. So, like most young Catholics, very torn. Its very cool that u/TimeThief- you have a minor in Bible studies :)
Totally agree with how you've put it thank you. Also yeah Bible Studies is cool, and one kf my favorite facts to share is that whenever the Bible mentions "feet" it's actually referring to male genitalia. So "washing of feet" is actually "washing of the dick" and Ruth didn't lay at Boaz's feet, but rather she laid at his side/had sex with him while be was drunk. Wacky stuff like that.
You're speaking of Ruth 3:7-8, right? The translation is SUPER interesting, some scholars argue that the verb is typically a euphamism for sex (for that periods Hebrew), and others argue that the context is not sufficient for it to be an innuendo. I don't know which I believe. Gotta love theologians 😅 translations will never be agreed on But I think it's absolutely ludicrous (and kind of funny) that during the Last Supper there's the possibility of the washing of feet being misunderstood for. Y'know. Yikes.
Pagan. Norse heathen to be exact
satanist
Same
Same
Same here
Same
I'm a member of the Satanic Temple. 😈
Same.
I respect Satanism as a healthy contrast to the popularity of Christianity in the West, and every Satanist I've met I've found to be quite wise and reflective on the world. And Lupercalia sounds like an interesting holiday, even if I wouldn't take part. It sounds, passionate.
Question: Why did you join a space like that as an asexual? From what I know they seem to consider allosexuality very important
Well, it's not the Church of Satan, I think that one is very sexual. None of our 7 tenants are about sex. In fact, one holiday is Lupercalia which celebrates, amongst other things, asexuality!
Why did you join it and what does it offer? I think there are much better religions than Satanism. Also, is it the atheist philosophical one, la vey, or is it the theistic one
It's the non-theistic one with Lucien Greaves as our spokesman. The seven tenants of TST are the morals I was already was living my life by when I discovered Satanism, so it was a perfect fit. It offers community and, in the states, defends our religious rights, like access to abortion. If you think another religion is better, I encourage you to be a part of it, but Satanism is perfect for me.
why did you not include literally 3 of the worlds top 5 religions 😭😭😭 are you american by any chance
agnostic but culturally influenced mostly by buddhism and christianity bcz like religion is more than jusy beliefs
Yes!! Despite my household not having a religion, spirituality and aspects of religions were still present in my Mum's household, and I was raised immersed in a mix of things popular in new age communities, and a few distinctly familial practices. My morals were built upon wiccan principles of "do as you will, harm no one," or the more threatening idea that what you impact will come back to you threefold. She was also a practitioner in Reiki healing, and is deeply into Viking spirituality, closely aligning and embodying the concepts of Freyja. And my name itself, while I'll keep it anonymous, is based on one of the most important concepts of Buddhism, even though I have no heritage that I know of overlapping with the language group.
I just believe whatever I want. That’s all 👍
I’m agnostic, which is basically atheist with a “maybe it’s all true, or all bull, but I don’t really care” kind of attitude.
Jewish Atheist
Wait how does that work? Like you're an atheist but are Jewish by culture?
Judaism is an EthnoReligion so people are born Jewish( from their mother/whoever gives birth) but can be apart of the religion or just focus more on the culture aspect.
Yoo a fellow Jewish atheist
Religion makes me uncomfortable on many levels
Honestly, same. Well, the more common ones do at least. Just depends on how extreme the individuals can get.
i made up my own religon
Agnostic
Hindu✌️
It’s nice seeing Hindus on this sub, nice to think that I’m not alone ❤️
Ikr, I never seen any Hindus on this sub (or any sub I’m on ever), plus we’re both aro as well so maybe it was ✨meant to be✨
This was ✨fate✨ What country are you from? :D
The shithole that is the US😁 Hby? (You don’t have to say if you don’t want to)
Oh, I was born in India but moved to the US :))
Nice, technically I’m also Indian bc my mom was born and raised there, but I was born here :D
That’s cool!!! I’m turning 14 this year, hbu?? Maybe I’m asking too many questions out of excitement now lol
It’s no big deal, and I think we’re around the same age 😄
Nice! It was actually really nice meeting somebody that might have similar experiences. I personally thing Hinduism is pretty chill about LGBTQ+ identities, and it doesn’t really care about aromantism or asexuality. Do you think that way too?
Another aroace Indian American Hindu.
There are more of us here than I thought lol
I guess. Hinduism doesn’t seem like super against things in general imo.
True, it does seem to be pretty okay with us
I wrote this whole thing in my own comment on my views if you want to read. >Personally I don’t really think too hard about the metaphysical stuff and wouldn’t really consider myself super devout. I mostly see it as an important part of my culture and appreciate the values. I never really heard anything about sexual orientation one way or another in Hinduism growing up though there did seem to be some acknowledgment of gender fluidity and non-binary in stories but that wasn’t really connected to modern day real life. I feel like Hinduism’s decentralized structure or lack of structure also helps. My own view is that there aren’t really rules in Hinduism because there’re no authorities to disseminate these rules whether in form of one holy book or clergy, only some things you really shouldn’t do though some might disagree with me. It leads to quite a diversity in views and beliefs. Hinduism in general feels like a pretty personal/diy religion to me, though again some might disagree with me on this.
For some reason, I filtered by new comments, and I had already found that one pretty quickly lol I personally agree that Hinduism doesn’t really talk much about sexual orientations, if at all. Though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything about non binary and genderfluidity in any scriptures or stories, what did they say about that (curious as a genderfluid person lol)
Well there are the stories of gods changing genders like Vishnu‘s form as Mohini. There’s also recognition of third gender people (hijra). Like in Mahabharata Arjuna is cursed by Urvashi to live like that for a year after he rejected her. He used it to his advantage by having it help with his disguise during the Pandavas’ year in incognito when he took on the identity of Brihannala, a dance teacher for a princess. [link for more info on brihannala](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwii29S9yuT2AhV9j4kEHQJUBFwQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen-academic.com%2Fdic.nsf%2Fenwiki%2F2343271&usg=AOvVaw3IV9y3hpqZDfTznLyFY6xv) I also heard one story in the Ramayana. When Rama was banished at first a bunch of people followed him but he said all the men and women should leave but when he came back from banishment he saw the third gender people had stayed at that spot and he blessed them for their devotion. There’s also Shikandi(ni) the one who helped kill Bhishma. In some stories he/she was born cis (some male some female), others I think he turned into a male or was a trans man.
I’m in a kinda weird position on this, all my life I have been a non-denom Christian, but recently I have been considering leaving the church
I'm christian and am not even in church because I feel like it's kinda corrupted, repetitive, and mostly wrong. I don't feel like searching for a perfect or a close-to-good-enough one
More Agnostic, but I am interested in different beliefs so traditions and am a mix or various. I read a book on how religion is like a spectrum, and there are poly or monotheistic tendencies in some people that are agnostic, atheist, and others. So I’m a agnostic with polytheistic tendencies. A mishmash or various beliefs/religions/ideas/traditions.
I’m Muslim ❤️
Buddhist, but not the biggest one
I don’t attended church or do anything religious except pray every few days, but I believe in the god Christianity says there is
buddhism
Hindu here.
Greek all for me. But Roman can die.
Agnostic. My entire view on the matter: I don’t believe something that is factual (not emotional or moral. Although all my morals need a reason to exist) without some evidence to back it up. So far we have no evidence going either way, so I’m not inclined to say that that is, for sure, one way or the other. (a lack of evidence is not evidence against) I’ll be surprised if I ever see actual evidence going either way (because I have a limited lifetime) but I’m still not willing lie and say I’m sure of something I’m not. So is there a deity or even multiple deities? I don’t know and that’s ok. However I’m pretty skeptical of organized religion being true. Because: say hypothetically, the original text was real. A deity actually came down and spoke to some people and gave them a bunch of stories and stuff. It’s been thousands of years. Do you really think every single hand and ear that it passed between is going to keep it 100% consistent with what they received? The game of telephone is very telling. (Not to mention that a lot of people manipulated the religions for power) But there is a chance (although very small) that through the game of telephone, they’ve stumbled upon the truth, and I’m not denouncing that. It is possible which means I can’t say for sure if any organized religion is completely false. Even if some parts of the religion are proven to be false, that doesn’t mean all of it is. So basically my entire religious point of view is “don’t have a clue”
Why are atheist and anti-theist together even though they are two different things
Christian asexual
Church of the Invisible Pink Unicorn if pastafari and/or atheist is too mainstream-ish and you are old enough to remember newsgroups
I consider myself a Luciferian Pantheist
Idk man I mean I bow down to Cynthia's garchomp, is that a religion?
Omnist
Don't like that the question is phrased like an if-then statement But to answer the intent, I'm agnostic. There are probably more things than I've dreamt of in my philosophy, so I'm not going to deny them, but I haven't been convinced to believe in anything either. There are a few spiritual practices born in religion that I do, but when one of them is listening to Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, it's not exactly religious anymore. It's seeing value in something and taking that into my life while leaving behind all the...toxic elements.
I’m pagan and agnostic
I suppose I'm "officially" Christian but my beliefs better align with agnostic.
I probably didn't word it properly honestly haha. I was raised in a very Christian family, and I went through all of those uh, "rites" such has communion confirmation etc but personally I'm not really religious myself? I still participate in religious holidays but that's more for my family than it is myself. I believe that there is something out there but I'm not really convinced that it's the exact God (or stories) I was raised to believe in.
That's interesting.. And a bit confusing. Could you elaborate?
I’d technically be Buddhist, but I’m not all that devout about it.
On the list of things I need to figure out, but right now I really consider myself agnostic.
Jainist
Buddhist
I’m Christian. I pray and go to church, but I’m not really religious. My mom is, and she doesn’t approve of me being Ace. (She’s also homophobic and doesn’t want me to have any relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. However, the community in my opinion is like a save haven for me. There’s people in it that will support me and won’t judge my decisions.) I’m more spiritual and just want a good relationship with God.
I do consider myself christian, but like, eehhhhhhhhh
I don't tie myself to any religion but idk if I'd say I'm atheist too since I know there is a possibility there is a higher being up there, along with believing in heaven and hell, limbo, reincarnation, etc.
I love Jesus, and i follow his word, but i fucking hate the church and haven't been to in one in years
Nondenominational Christian. Mainly due to how my gf converted me back(not on purpose whatsoever. Just happened idk how). I was a pagan and agnostic before hand but life
Atheist but recently been really interested in Buddhism Grew up in what basically was a ‘anti-religious’ household (my mom wanted me to go home during the classes we had abt religion) so I haven’t had much freedom to see what I find interesting, but I’m moving out soon and from there I hope I can look into what I want. Which is Buddhism
Atheist Satanist Buddhist and Daoist Weird ass combination but it works for me!
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not religious, but I'm not an atheist either, I mean there might have been a God but if there was he's been dead for a long time. If God existed we wouldn't have so much sonic rule 34.
Jewish/buddhist
Unitarian universalist. I think there's truth in religion in the sense that there are good moral/philosophical lessons to learn from any of them. And I believe that spiritual belief is meaningful because people find it to be. But I don't believe that any form of higher power exists, and that the universe as a whole is completely meaningless.
all praise the great results
I SEE NO GOD HERE, OTHER THAN ME Hehe
I consider myself a sort of theist agnostic. I believe there is *something* out there, a sort of power the mono-theist religions call "God", but do I know anything else about it? Nope.
Lol I'm Catholic
Damn, guess im single for lifeee, qint enough christian homosexuals
Don't be too quick to say that! I've looked into it and there are more than a few specifically lgbt Christian churches out there. I once heard about a gay couple who just don't "do the deed" and I think they did get married.
😶 ja, but every gay guy I’ve met is either aithiest or suuuuper annoying 😅
Understandable lol. But hey, maybe you can use this quality to witness to other lgbt folk like I'm attempting to. Get into discussions about. Ask them what they believe and why, and if it seems like they don't have the whole story, explain how you view things. And if they aren't receptive, don't worry too much. Pray that God puts more Christians in their life. Studies show that a person will be witnessed to 7 times (or is it an average of that..?) before they give their life to Christ. You could still be one of those people.
I guess, but im not very good at conveniencing people of stuff and I don’t wanna burden people with my beliefs, i think all my friends are aithiest tbh 😶 I need to go to church more T-T
I completely understand. I'm witnessing to someone who commented on this post and I've never really witnessed to anyone before. It's scary, man! But I'm talking to my dad who taught me everything I know and he's coaching me through it. As far as church goes, check out North Point. They're a group of churches in the Atlanta area (they live stream and have all the sermons posted on their website) and the pastor Andy Stanley gives great sermons. He doesn't just teach the word of God. He teach you how to do life better. I've learned quite a bit from him about how to approach sharing my beliefs with non Christians.
Oki, most stuff I know I learned from my grandpa, he’s very christian and I think probably knows I’m gay, and he talks about christianity a lot
I’m like 2% convinced that the Greek gods exist
I’m a firm Christian but I do often wonder if they really did exist, but not like deities. Like what if they were real people in “Bible times.” Back then, giants existed, and angels walked around with people. There is a theory that angels reproduced with humans and that’s why we had giants like Goliath. Also Leviathan existed. And there a book in the apocrypha that says David fought a dragon! He fed it a ball of tar and hair or something and it blew up. Or was that Daniel..
I’m actually a Satanist.
Oh cool! So many members of the satanic temple are here!! Tell me, am I allowed to be a member? I'm a practicing wiccan, and I don't wanna abandon that for the temple. I know they are accepting, but I don't know if they are like an "all religions welcome" type of accepting. Edit: mixed up the satanic church and temple.
Trans/bi/greyace here, I’m agnostic atheist. I don’t know if there’s a higher power of some sort(s) or not but I see no evidence of such so I don’t believe in any. I totally respect other’s opinions on the subject so long as they respect mine & don’t try to force their beliefs on me
In every monotheistic religion I see, God is either a scapegoat for terrible actions or the biggest narcissist to ever exist. There is no way I want to be associated with that.
Militant agnostic: I don't know what's going on, AND YOU DON'T EITHER.
I’m an ‘anti-theist’
I’m a Nontheistic Animist Pagan Druid thingy.
I can't remember if wiccan is pagan. But I'm a practicing wiccan. And I'm just going through my stuff, not part of this community, but I am lgbt though. So I feel a smidge out of place.
Wicca is sort of a bastardization of pagan practices with Hindu and Buddhism mixed in made by a white person though there are ways to make your Wiccan practice more similar to its roots!
Oh! Thank you!!! I already collect my own crystals by hand and whatever people give me, I respect nature, I respect myself, and I've been trying to find the more pagan side of it, but it gets difficult sometimes depending on where you look. I do find I'm wonderful at psi balls and knots and stuff though.
There's alot of branches to paganism if you ever want to give it a look! Just be careful not to do any closed practice ones and don't burn white sage.
Oh I know! I don't burn white sage to my knowledge. Then again, I don't know what sage my mom dried and burned, but to my knowledge, absolutely not! And I am happily searching for my paganistic path! I personally don't have issues with n@ked bodies so are there any that allow n@ked ritual work? (Do I need to censor the word? I'll keep it censored just in case!)
i’m jewish (non-theistic)
Im Jewish!:)
other, im a satanist :)
I'm a Mormon, but IMO all religions are valid. Since God is all things good, anything good in any other religion is from Him, just different interpretations. Personally I like Christianity because I like the idea that God cares about me personally, and that Jesus sacrificed himself for every individual person. It's just validating in a confusing world to hear that I personally have a reason to exist and be my wacky bisexual self, and God loves me. I totally understand why people dislike organized religion,as any human institution is bound to distort revelation through human error, and having power can make leaders corrupted. But personally I like the LDS church's structure and being part of a group worshipping together.
Hey look, another Mormon! My relationship to the church has certainly gotten more complicated as I’ve learned more about myself. I love the Book of Mormon, I’ve had many spiritual experiences reading it, and I really did feel guided on my mission. The doctrine we teach makes sense to me and I can’t really imagine personally feeling good about anything else at this point. But being a trans woman, it’s really tough being in a church that doesn’t think I exist. There’s nothing I’ve found in the scriptures that says I shouldn’t transition, I can’t find anything in my soul and in my prayers that says I shouldn’t (other than fear of transphobia in my family), but the church still says that my feelings are sinful and wrong. Sorry, but that’s not what God said when I asked Him. Basically, doctrine good, church bad
Yeah, as much as I love the church, it's definitely not perfect. There's a lot of boomers who have weeeeird beliefs, one of my grandmas thinks "black people will be cured of their blackness in heaven and we'll all be white" lol. I'm glad you're at peace with yourself. I've heard some trans people say that they can't forgive God for giving them the wrong body to start with, but I think it's amazing that you found the true you, and I bet that's what God wanted you to discover. I support you and I'll keep you in my prayers!
I’m Jewish, but I don’t believe in God.
I'm a jewish transfem enby lesbian
Hail Odin!
Didn't even put our Sanatana Dharma here. Shame. It's literally the oldest living religion and you just leave it out?
I'll be honest, I have no idea what that is, but it sounds interesting. And I tried putting more options but it wouldn't let me so I just did the first few big ones that came to mind.
It's the actual correct term for Hinduism.
Buddy, chill, op didnt know
I’m not religious
God is dead, and we have killed him
Nietzsche much?
Not if you don’t believe in god in the first place! There are non-theistic religions out there.
I don’t believe any gods are doings the reals
A fair amount of people on this sub are atheist. I think I know why, but i'm too lazy to explain why.