Why do YOU follow religion?

[SILVERWOLF_87]

Just out of curiosity, what are your reasons for following whatever religion you choose to follow?

Peace :D

[Posthumous]

I do not follow an organized religion, but the closest one to my thoughts about the nature of consciousness would be Buddhism, since it is more psychology than philosophy. I believe in freewill.

[SILVERWOLF_87]

I can't say I follow any sort of religion at all either. If there's anything I really do follow, it's ethics and philosophy. However, I don't adhere to any specific school of thought, but rather, take little bits and pieces of various schools and syncretize them into a unified whole that becomes my personal philosophy.

My staunch individualist tendencies make me unwilling to be locked into a single belief system. :D

[WhisperingWoods]

I don't follow religion at all. I do follow the belief that the human mind is very powerful and useful for many things. I go from one mind fuck to the next in search of the best results! Currently, it's buddhism, entheogens, and playing with the subconcious by way of sigils. :D

Mostly, it's all about altered states for me.

[Bongish]

Just out of curiosity, what are your reasons for following whatever religion you choose to follow?

Peace :D
I choose to follow no religion.

My reasons are as follows:

1.religion is bullshit (in a nutshell).
2. see reason #1.

[smokindude]

I dont believe in religion, i believe in God.

[Posthumous]

I dont believe in religion, i believe in God.

And we have a winner for most Moronic Post in this Thread.

:party:

[Bongish]

And we have a winner for most Moronic Post in this Thread.

:party:
lmao

[SILVERWOLF_87]

And we have a winner for most Moronic Post in this Thread.

:party:Not necessarily, as God can be defined as many different things.

For example, when I think of God, I think of the collective Universe with the 10 dimensions combined into a unified whole. That is my definition of God.

However, I rarely use that definition since God is so ambiguous nowadays...

[Posthumous]

Not necessarily, as God can be defined as many different things.

For example, when I think of God, I think of the collective Universe with the 10 dimensions combined into a unified whole. That is my definition of God.

However, I rarely use that definition since God is so ambiguous nowadays...
I'll buy it in general, but specifically regarding the poster in question, doubt it.

[hippie_chick666]

I don't follow a religion. I am an active participent in Buddhism. You see, I feel that there is a difference between following and participating in a religion. Following implies passivity, such as doing what you are told without questioning it. I participate in Buddhism by learning about it, questioning the validity of what I learned, and discard or keep the info that I see fit. Does anyone else view religion the same way?

Peace and love

[brainstew]

i belive in god but not the bible, being MAN'S interpetation (i can't spell). no religion though.

[natural philosophy]

i dun follow any religion. i follow my heart. religion is for the blind who need guidance. my eyes are fully open.

peter tosh said that ya go to church to search

but once you've found it there's no need for a pulpit

just open your mind up and drop the books

[Jedi]

Just out of curiosity, what are your reasons for following whatever religion you choose to follow?

Peace :D

I think the more important question is, why doesn't everyone follow religion?

[BlackBillBlake]

I think the more important question is, why doesn't everyone follow religion?
One reason would be that many people don't believe in the teachings of religion but prefer other models of the way things are.

[Jedi]

One reason would be that many people don't believe in the teachings of religion but prefer other models of the way things are.that itself is their religion :)

I am talking about people who don't follow any religion.

[SILVERWOLF_87]

that itself is their religion :)

I am talking about people who don't follow any religion. Main Entry: re·li·gion http://www.m-w.com/images/audio.gif (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?religi02.wav=religion'))
Pronunciation: ri-'li-j&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back -- more at RELY (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rely)
1 a : the state of a religious (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/religious) <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/religious) faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/religious) attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/conscientiousness)
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith


"Other Models" do not necessarily imply "Faith", but religion does imply the implementation of some sort of faith. Faith is what made me abandon religion, as it is "firm belief in something for which there is no proof".

In other words, "believe what this says without questioning it".

Sorry, but I prefer to think for myself and think logically.

[Jedi]

hehe, I understand that you are very scientific. Let me ask you something and let me learn from it, do you believe in the existence of proteins? can I ask you why you believe in this? as a matter of fact, extend this question to anything that is proven "scientifically true" , why do you believe in it? do you believe it because it has been Proven to be true? and if it is the reason, did you see the proof with our own very eyes? Even if you work in a lab, like I do, you cannot see the protein with your eyes. You just have to believe that that is what is happening and the molecules are reacting in a certain way as to give you your product. Hence, there is a faith in this as well.

This faith is not different from the faith religion tries to ask us to have... for instance, just like the scientists , there are spiritual scientists who have seen a higher reality. Religious people's beliefs stem forth from their findings, just like scientific beliefs stem forth from scientists' findings.

[mati]

because I'm not stoned enough to realize that everything is an illusion

[themnax]

many may have come to feel they live in a universe where "believing in" something makes everything all good and wonderful. the rest of us live in one where it us up to us to avoid screwing everything up for each other.

i don't live in a world that is "out to get us" either. just one with no good reason to give a dam. yet one who'se real mercy is precisely its diversity.

my experience of feelings though is one of the contact and pressence of something big, friendly and nontangable, and a whole lot of little friendly and nontangable somethings or others too.

so i'm not, or don't call myself, a "fallower" of anything, rather a non-denier, or attempted non-denier of whatever feelings and experiences i might happen to encounter. WITHOUT attempting to interpret them through the lense of ANY sort of popular or otherwise, organized belief.

i could say i'm a fallower of the nalanuthu of lananara though. which is a little like taoism and a little like shinto and a little like indiginous traditions. a name which means litteraly way or path in the mountains. a little like many beliefs and a lot like no single one of them.

i could say that, but then you might ask what in the hell am i talking about, and then i'd have to confess these names and thoughts somehow occured in my own heart and head and spirit, and must readily grant it is not my place to claim for them any loftier origen, nor do i.

though they might also be at least partialy holdovers from previous lives on other worlds, such as the lananara as i believe myself to have previous to being born into thing one, lived on. that "small green planet, in a distant galaxy".

=^^=
.../\...

[SILVERWOLF_87]

hehe, I understand that you are very scientific. Let me ask you something and let me learn from it, do you believe in the existence of proteins? can I ask you why you believe in this? as a matter of fact, extend this question to anything that is proven "scientifically true" , why do you believe in it? do you believe it because it has been Proven to be true? and if it is the reason, did you see the proof with our own very eyes? Even if you work in a lab, like I do, you cannot see the protein with your eyes. You just have to believe that that is what is happening and the molecules are reacting in a certain way as to give you your product. Hence, there is a faith in this as well.

This faith is not different from the faith religion tries to ask us to have... for instance, just like the scientists , there are spiritual scientists who have seen a higher reality. Religious people's beliefs stem forth from their findings, just like scientific beliefs stem forth from scientists' findings.In science, things are not "proven". Proofs are in the realm of mathematics and logic alone. However, in science there is the concept of "sufficient evidence to support <insert claim>", and that is the method that is used. True, that science DOES require faith, but it is not the same faith that is employed by religion. It is simply faith in emperical evidence observed through the senses.

So, in the case of proteins, they can be observed through a variety of ways, whether it be a microscope, chemical equation, and so forth.

In the case of religion, there is no "sufficient evidence" nor can "God" or any other divine being be observed as emperical evidence.

Of course I could always bring up Global Skepticism and show how we really know almost nothing at all...

[mati]

skepticism is not "not knowing" but rather not giving assent to declarations about the "external world", at least that is what it appears to be to me at this time.

[StayLoose1011]

I follow the principles of Buddhism because it makes perfect sense to me and has worked for many people before me. It is just nice to feel like you are part of a greater community of people who have experienced problems similar to yours and have decided upon a solution similar to yours as well. My life has been so happy since I took a real plunge into Buddhism :) I would recommend it to anyone. Peace everyone

[Jedi]

In science, things are not "proven". Proofs are in the realm of mathematics and logic alone. However, in science there is the concept of "sufficient evidence to support <insert claim>", and that is the method that is used. True, that science DOES require faith, but it is not the same faith that is employed by religion. It is simply faith in emperical evidence observed through the senses.

So, in the case of proteins, they can be observed through a variety of ways, whether it be a microscope, chemical equation, and so forth.

In the case of religion, there is no "sufficient evidence" nor can "God" or any other divine being be observed as emperical evidence.

Of course I could always bring up Global Skepticism and show how we really know almost nothing at all...heh, some people claim that there isn't sufficient evidence for the existence of things like dark matter etc. but they are mathematically valid assumptions to make to understand the universe and its collective content mathematically. Similarly, you may claim there is no sufficient evidence for the existence of God or any other higher reality, but making an assumption that there is a God or a higher reality is valid in many cases when tryiing to understand our lives.

[Varuna]

Just out of curiosity, what are your reasons for following whatever religion you choose to follow?

Peace http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gifOh, there are many reasons. For me, the three most basic ones are:

1. Fascination. Whatever else Religion may be, it IS an extensive, interwoven assembly of information (about all of the varieties of relationships between humans and the divine) that makes any music composition look simple by comparison. The fascinating thing is that in the midst of all that apparent complexity is a simple truth. It is fascinating to know what the great mystics knew and any interested person has access to their knowledge.

2. Inspiration. I find inspiration in the simple fact that religion exists. It would have been impressive if there were only one continuing tradition, reasonably well-documented, thousands of years old, that discusses the big questions about human nature, existence, transcendence, the absolute, the unknown, the nature of the Divine, and so on. That there are at least 6 or 7 major religions, and as many other spiritual paths as there are ways to count them, well, to me, that is simply mind-blowing. It suggests that there is far more reality than just the information our senses offer to the mind. Such abundance is to be celebrated. To celebrate is to be inspired.

3. Function. Life is much easier and better knowing most of humanity is at least aware of, and at best, respectful of, some expression of the Torah, or Dharma, or whatever you call the teachings. This basic trust in that my fellow humans are influenced by enlightened, inspired ideals allows for involvement in more meaningful, creative activities than mere self defense or a continuous struggle for survival. Without this trust, this world of ours would present even more of an appearance than it seems to, these days, of one big prison yard.

Life, especially human life, should be more fulfilling. Religion is really a multi-generational conversation about the ways one may make it so.

So be it.

Peace and Love

[The_Walrus]

I'd like to have something to believe in and something to fall back onto.

My parents raised me on a religion (Christianity, or more specifically, Protestantism), but they're letting me choose my own religion now.

I like the idea of having a religion.

I'm converting to Judaism.

[Neo-hippie]

I don't think i follow any religion, i'm just seeking my own way through.