Religion Poll

Christian--and I don't think that Christianity is against gays. It's just fools like Pat Robertson who make it that way. :biggrin: Seriously, one of the main messages of Jesus Christ was tolerance, and I think that living a Christlike life includes being tolerant of others; consequently, anyone who is intolerant toward gays is performing one of the least Christian acts possible.

 

True, however there is a difference between tolerating something and believing it is the right thing.

 

I chose "Other". I do believe in some sort of spirituality and after-live, but I do not associate my beliefs with any of the organised religions.

 

I chose 'Other', since I don't believe in religion. And I think pulsatory theory is more likely, since everything we know has cycles, why wouldn't the universe itself have cycles?

Anyway, Religion sucks, and religions is one of the causes (and a great consequence) of everything that's wrong in the world.

BTW: I'm not atheist either, I do believe that there is something else that we can't explain, but nothing like the 'GOD' or gods that religions describe... it's something closer to TAO or something.

 

Atheist means, specifically, "does not believe in a god or gods/higher power(s)/divinities/etc." What you're describing is more along the lines of an agnostic, someone who is not sure of the existence of the divine.

Merriam-Webster's definition of "atheist" (which is bad because it's a monotheistic definition but oh well)

M-W's defn of "agnostic" (again, super Judeo-Christian and monotheistic *sigh*)

"a" meaning "without" (as in amoral [being without morality])
"theist" meaning one who has/believes in god(s)/divine (same root as theology)

 

Hey don't beat yourself up over it! I'm just a word nerd.

 

buddhist...kinda...i mean my grandparents are buddhist and we sometimes practice with them...beside that i guess i could fit in the "other" section...lol

 

I'm "spiritual" which I know sounds like a New Age cop-out but really it's that I believe in stuff that's "bigger" than me but I've never really put any effort into sorting it into a specific theology. My beliefs are definitely NOT Judeo-Christian or at all monotheistic. I tend to gravitate most towards polytheistic practices like the Greek gods or Hinduism, so I guess I'm a very uninformed, non-practicing neo-pagan.

 

That's certainly correct, but let's keep in mind that Jesus said nothing to suggest an exclusively male-female relationship in marriage.

 

You have a very good point, proud_2b_gay. The funny thing, though, is that the people who say that Christianity denounces homosexuality as a sin are selectively choosing from the bible. The Old Testament is the only place in the bible where homosexuality is even mentioned (as chrisg said, Jesus never talked about it), and there are many funny things in the Old Testament...

One passage I remember reading talks about how God likes the smell of a burning bull, and it details the way to present it on the altar as you burn the animal. There are many other sacrificial rituals listed in the Old Testament. Here is an example (the rest of the passage can be found here):

And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.

And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.

And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.

But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses.

And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.

And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.

And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

So, why don't we kill animals and play around with their blood? How can a source that even mentions something like this be cited in order to prove that homosexuality is wrong? The only people that are selectively excluding parts of the bible are the people that use it to call us sinners.

Christianity comes from Jesus' teachings, from the New Testament. I'm guessing that the Old Testament is there for the stories that are in it, the ones told to children to convey morals. For Christians, the New Testament is there for religious guidance. (someone correct me if I'm wrong, because I have nothing to prove this idea other than memory)

In any case, all of this doesn't matter to me because I'm agnostic. :biggrin:

 

doctrine

Just thought I'd be helpful.

 

Let's be careful saying "christian/catholic/united" because there are many Christians who do not follow the Pope and who reject the authority of the Pope. He is only the leader to the Catholic faith, while other denominations choose not to accept such a hierarchy.

The alleged passage that homosexuality is a sin is not "undeniably there" in the Bible but requires a great deal of crafty interpretation. A site that I like to visit is http://www.religioustolerance.org/, which includes interpretations of the Bible that do not denounce homosexuality--with extremely good points to back up the assertions.

And imad, I couldn't agree more; going further than that, though, Christian teachings should be taken only from the sayings of Jesus. Paul and the others were merely evangelists who interpreted the Word.

 

Ah - I thought I had answered this - but obviously not.

Actually, my feelings are quite close to those of PaulUK. To me, "belief" is a very personal thing. I do believe in spirituality - but I am a looong way from being a fan of any sort of organised religion. I do applaud a lot of the precepts involved with Buddhism - but I am not a Buddhist.

 

I am a christian and I have spoken elsewhere about my struggle with it. But basically I can just echo what has been said above. The Old testament was written in excess of 2000 years ago and look at how society has changed since then. Only 700 years ago, we were still burning witches... Times have changed, society has changed and therefore I feel that the way that the bible and especially the old testament is interpreted should change.

I take the bible for a metaphorical sense rather than literally and I feel that that is often where religion falls down - I still uphold the core beliefs and principles of christianity, but in a much more 21st Century way.