[Kingcoal]

What do I believe? I believe that we have a lot to learn.

[Aaron]

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '[')img]http://peakoil.com/images/jesus.jpg[/img]

[gwmss15]

im a theavarda buddhist

[CrudeAwakening]

I'm agnostic with respect to a deeper explanation behind our existence, but atheistic with respect to the organised religions, which are far too anthropocentric for my liking.

I'm just not sure that there is an answer to the "why" of existence. Just because most "why" questions appear to have an answer, doesn't mean that the ultimate "why" question necessarily does.

But the human mind abhorrs uncertainty.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')Jesus never was human...never walked the earth...never existed.

Get over it.

[jboogy]

Funny how all that was old becomes new again , like this thread . Is there a word for an atheist who wants to believe ? I would like to be able to pray and get stuff. I also have no problem pretending to believe if it will make the believer feel more comfortable with me. That's a shitty way to be I admit but I feel it's a white lie sorta'. Plus if there is a GAWD it's probably better to have him/her think I'm ambivalent just in case . He/she might not be all knowing and seeing and I'll shmooze my way in on judgement day.Best to leave the options open. Really irrelevant when you consider all the real , concrete visible shit we have to deal with. Remember the twilight zone where the small-time crook goes to hell and thinks it's heaven ? Didn't ring true for me . If that was hell you can sign me up.

[Polemic]

Lifelong atheist. There is no evidence for the supernatural, magic, gods, or ghosts.

Christianity is a ridiculous fraud on its face, and only profound morons fail to see this.

Google Video: 'Zeitgeist'

[Laughs_Last]

I would describe myself as monotheist, in search of a decent religion. Christianity is on my short list for most wicked, absurd, and contemptible religion ever. It has a few redeeming features. It has some otherwise decent people as members, and it is less retarded than Scientology.

[ohanian]

Oil is my religion
My car is my temple
Arabia is the holy land

[eastbay]

gwmss15,

Hi. I'm a Buddhist too. Just starting along The Path. Got a considerable ways to go.

[lys3rg0]

I'm pretty much anti-supernaturalist... but generally I don't have things I believe in. There's things I know that are true, things that i know that are false, and things that i don't know (yet) or may never know. I'm working as fast as i can to shrink the last part, but i don't let concepts that aren't yet in one of the first 2 categories to influence my life or my decision making. I feel no need for faith or any kind of belief without a base on facts in my worldview.

[emersonbiggins]

I say "live and let live" and get the hell off my lawn. As for atheism being defined as a religion, I find I'm not much of a stamp collector myself.

[threadbear]

I couldn't be an atheist if I tried. As difficult as it is for some people to develop a spiritual sense, I am wired to ponder "otherness" from an intellectual standpoint, but more importantly to feel it, to the point of almost touching it, or being touched by it.

I'm immersed in another presence at all times. It seems to appreciate honest emotion, if this makes any sense. It also seems to be nourished by grief and compassion, the kind of sweet sorrow that lies just a little shy of a sentimental O'Henry short story, and down a little dark alley that begins to slope upward slowly, and broaden into a field blazing with light.

It seems to be me and not me, at the same time. Whatever it is, it helps me whenever I request help.

I've been tempted to call on it to curse people who have driven me crazy with hurt, which usually segues into intense anger, but was able to contain myself. That was tough.

I know I'm not alone here. Many people feel the way I do and unfortunately many rush to take this body of experience and sensation and define it through a religious belief. I don't know what it is and I don't know what exactly is going on, but it seems to be a good thing.

My father's mother's family were ancestral Lapp shamans, though my father, himself is/was atheist. Maybe that's where it comes from.

Wayyyyyy too much information here. Oh well, perhaps some of you will relate to my experiences here and write more in depth about your own.

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'I') couldn't be an atheist if I tried. As difficult as it is for some people to develop a spiritual sense, I am wired to ponder "otherness" from an intellectual standpoint, but more importantly to feel it, to the point of almost touching it, or being touched by it. --snip-- Wayyyyyy too much information here. Oh well, perhaps some of you will relate to my experiences here and write more in depth about your own.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('burritos', 'I') find that people who are more logical, scientific and thoughful don't find much use in believing in an almighty. Am I off base?

[pillowhead]

There is today a popular phenomenon in the mainstream about the opposition between Religion and Science. This is totally infantile prole-feed that makes no difference, a pure spectacle with nothing "at stake" in it.

Faith is said to be "opposed" to Reason. But, Reason always functions from a particular perspective, relying on presuppositions and axioms that are not certain, immutable, necessary or eternal, and are acquired irrationally. "Reason" at the heart of it is irrational and turned out to be an even worse tyrant than religion. Hiroshima, Auschwitz, etc. are proof of this.

Today, techno-science is not at all concerned with telling us anything about "reality." A concept is defined purely in terms of the operations that are used to measure it, without knowledge of what it is "really" that is being measured. In extreme experimentation, previous theory influences the interpretation of results imploding the distinction between theory and "external facts" that are supposed to be "objective." There have been many books on this topic. To cut a long story short, Science is a vast simulation model just like Christianity.

Except, Christianity still makes a nihilistic attempt to get rid of the central metaphysical question: "Why are there beings at all instead of nothing?" It is nihilistic because a three letter word covers over the most important question a human can ask. Techno-science doesn't even recognize it as a question at all.
So what if Christianity is a joke, no-one really believed it. Most people just go through the motions, the pure spectacle of it, because its tradition, because the rest of the herd is doing it. (With scientists there is also herd mentality, also called "actor-network." Actually, there is no single "science" but many different mutually incommensurable language games, each trying to defend its own "turf")

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zensui', 'T')hrough meditation I've developed an almost steady serene state... with sudden burst of pure happyness and absortion --snip-- hehe, is that kind of the reply you were expecting?

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pillowhead', 'E')xcept, Christianity still makes a nihilistic attempt to get rid of the central metaphysical question: "Why are there beings at all instead of nothing?"

[pillowhead]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '
')Maybe that is the thing, I seem to be more interested in the hows than the whys and very little at all with the metaphysical...