Religion

I'm sick of religion. I'm tired of religion being too present in our [American] society. I'm sick and tired of feeling like I have to hold my true thoughts on religion. I can't talk to most of my family about my dislike of organized religion because they'd probably disown me, or at least never let it go once they heard about it. I can't talk to a lot of strangers I meet in public about it because some people are still shocked at the thought of atheism being a thing. Well, so sorry I don't want to keep living like I'm as brainwashed as anybody else. I love being able to think freely, but hate having to stay closeted about it.

I finally found a religion that works for me. I believe in the Golden Goddesses; Din, Nayru and Farore. It makes as much sense as any classical religion, even more so if you consider how completely the forces they represent drive humanity. Power, Wisdom, and Courage. No matter which drives you at the core, you can't exist without the other two. The Triforce is one of them resting on the other two; if you turn it on its side to make another of them most important, it is still one force resting on the other two.

Religion was something that the church used to control people back in the day. The church were the only people who were allowed to read and write and thus when they spoke at mass they were seen as God themselves. It was a way to make everyone submissive and controllable.

Now when latin was introduced the church didn't see it as a threat to them. After all it was the speak of commoners. But there were restrictions on it, such as no one was allowed to translate the bible into latin because they didn't want anyone to question it. Since that would lead to them not having control over anyone anymore. And in 1516 no one was allowed to publish anything without the church's permission. There was even a bill where they burned all books.

Religion is based on the Sun, "the son of god." It is all based on astrology. 12 disciples, 12 constellations of the zodiac. And I could go on and on...

In my complete and total opinion religion is a cult. I was raised Roman Catholic and am now a strong atheist. i respect other people that are religious because it is your right to be so. I just will never be a religious person, I know that science is right and can and will never believe in a higher power. I feel as though there is already too much of the world being controlled by religion, government, and peoples own willingness to fit the molds of "good citizens" of their country.

What ever happened to protests? Apparently we are so in the mind set of "this-is-how-it-is-and-it-will-always-be-this-way" that we won't question anymore, rather sit back on our asses and watch the propaganda that is television. I digress from my first point... but to me religion is just another way - of the many that exist today - to control people.

I am a tonal animist. What this means is that I believe all sounds come from something's soul. Specifically, that all music comes from its creator's soul. Some music has more soul than others, of course. Overproduction can take away a lot of that soul; think of soul as a gem's mass, and production as diamond cutting. It can make it look a lot prettier, but if you just need weight it's got FAR less value. Some musicians just have less soul, too. As a general rule, if you can figure out what emotion the song is trying to portray without listening to the lyrics, it has soul. Sometimes the exact same notes can have different soul when being played different times, by the same person. And usually, you can tell when soul is trying to be forced. It's a good church to be a part of. It needs more structure though. The ideal religious service here is little more than giant jam sessions, trying to communicate emotions through jazz improvisation.

I am a spiritual void. I have never been religious, I don't hold any beliefs as regards souls or karma or afterlives. What will happen when I die doesn't particlarly tickle me as a point to think about; there's no way to know til I die, and then I'll just... know. So why waste time theorising about something that can't be known?

Religion and spirituality hold no interest for me. I am a spiritual void, and that's cool by me.

I am not, and probably never will be, a religious person. Not Judaism, which, if any, is the one I'm born into. Definitely not christianity. And not Buddhism, Daosim, Hinduism, Animism, Paganism, Satanism, or Wicca, either. Nor am I "spiritual." I don't even know what that's supposed to mean, but I don't believe in spirits, ghosts, demons, the soul, crystals, chakra, chi, ley lines, dowsing, or psychics, either. Meditation is, for me, pretty much a worthless exercise, since I am neurologically incapable of achieving a state of inner calm, peace, and contentment, with the possible exception of the moment of orgasm. I don't really see the need for any of that. I fear dying, as any sane person should, but I have no particular fear of actually being dead, so the need to believe in some immortal substance never really took. The way I see it, I didn't mind not existing before I was born, so I probably won't mind being worm food, either. If I come anywhere near spirituality or religion, it's in this: I believe that if life has any purpose, it is to understand. Thus, as the only species we are aware of that is actively trying to discover how the universe works, the only two things more important than humanity now are humanity later when we have better tech and a better understanding of the universe, and the known universe's ability to produce more intelligent life after we wipe ourselves out. From such thoughts are environmentalists made.

As this whole thing with my mom persists, I think I'm losing faith in my religion. I hate to admit that, but I think i am. I'm no where near an atheist but, I'm no where near how I used to be.

My mom has been an avid believer in God, and faith her entire life. I'm just not understanding why this is happening to her. If shit like this happens to someone that is hardcore religious, then what's the point.

The same thing happened to my grandmother. She never stopped believing, and she died a very painful death.

What is the fucking point?

I'd like to talk to my mom about it, but I know how much it will hurt her and i would hate to do that. i need to talk to someone.

I don't fucking know right now.

So, my parents are really up tight about how their religion is the correct on, they're protestant christians of the church of christ sect. Me... I'm not...they don't know it yet, but I havent' been for years....

Religion is such a silly thing. I don't think it matters what you believe in so long as you believe in something. Even if that something is yourself, you should believe in something. It gives your life some purpose.

Me, I don't know how to classify me. I'm something of a spiritualist, I suppose... I mean, I'm pretty blah....

Ultimately, as humans, what do we know? Religion allows us to cope with ourselves I think. But, that's just me.

My maternal grandparents, and half-heartedly also my mother, were church-going Christians, so I was taken to church and Sunday school every week as a young child. I don't remember ever identifying myself as a Christian, because as far as I could tell, this is just something that everybody did, and I would just as likely ascribe a special title to someone who goes to church on Sundays as someone who goes to the bathroom when they have to take a shit. But I realized at one point that there were people in the world that didn't hold the same beliefs and didn't have the same practices. In fact, most people don't hold the same beliefs and don't have the same practices. I tried to figure out why the people around me had deliberately chosen this spiritual and cultural minority and discovered that it didn't seem deliberate at all. In fact, the other children around me didn't seem aware that they were assigned a lifestyle without a choice. I asked the adults around me about some of the other major world religions, and the combination of knee-jerk hostility towards any different belief systems and the sheer number of different points of view that diminished Christianity's apparent dominance of the philosophical marketplace drove me to take a step back from Christianity and objectively figure out where my own principles, beliefs, and desires lead me. After all, if the Church is the one true place of salvation, then that should make itself obvious to me among the thousands of religions and their variants throughout the world, right?

Nope.

In fact, once I started critically considering it, Christianity came off as a particularly unappealing faith for me, especially in light of the fact that all of the biggest assholes in my life were Christian and the nicest people I had ever met were atheist.

Nonetheless, I'll keep an open mind and call myself unbiased. Still, I expect Christianity to seem as repugnant next year as it was last year, and for me to keep a good distance from it for the rest of my life, while cheering on Buddhism, Taoism, and eastern philosophy in general.