What is your religion/philosophy?

If you have one, what religion or philosophy do you adhere to?

I'm been going on a spiritual journey lately and currently identify as an Agnostic whom draws inspiration from Buddhism, Hinduism and Paganism.

Please be civil with your discussions.

 

I like Buddhism. I remember studying it in history & their ways or commandments seemed right to me. But I remember one, I think it said something like "Pleasure for yourself is a sin." XD idk, If they're talking about masturbation or being spoiled to yourself.

 

My philosophy is secular feminism.

 

Secular humanist.

 

i was raised baptist so extremly strick bringing up but now i just live without the need for religion im kind to others and try not to offend others its worked out a lot better than the religion i was born into

 

I don't have a religion. There are some things in some religions that I agree with, but never will the whole thing. Also I'm not that much into that "supernatural" stuff. God, spirits, or whatever you call it.
Now about philosophy I don't think that there is something that I totaly agree either. Maybe some things sound and are perfect in our minds but that's what makes them utopian. They are great, but WE (humans) are not. My philosophy is that people suck. All people suck. We all are too selfish. Including and first of all myself. That doesn't mean that I don't try to make things better (I support equality and everything) ,but the thing is that the fact that I do that just corroborates that it's all about me. And every "me"s. Too cynical?
Of course there are things that I do find beautiful. Even a human being. That's part of my and our imperfection I guess. I mean if god does really exist and if god is that perfet and also god made us it makes me think that we would be perfect. But are we?
I don't want to offend anyone or anyone's religion and I trully apologize if that heppend. Everyone has the right to deeply believe whatever they want to. I'm not judging. Just sharing my thoughts...

 

My philosophy on all things spiritual is best described as Heinz 57. It's got a little bit of everything from everyone in there. I never read scripture, and don't attend services in any house of worship. I simply talk to God when I'm feeling low, and believe that God communicates with us in ways we can not necessarily understand at first.

 

I believe there is a 'higher power'. I believe that when said 'higher power' comes to their senses, that humanity will be wiped out and replaced with a better species. Like cats.

...In all seriousness, I was raised Catholic but have struggled with my faith for years. I don’t know what to believe.

 

This.

 

I don't really have a particular religious title that fits for me. I have been raised as a Reform Jew, but in a temple that accepts people who don't believe in G-d and encourages people to form their own opinions and or beliefs. I do believe that there is some sort of power beyond current explanation out there, and for now I'm calling it G-d. I don't think of G-d as some omnipotent being who is going to judge you, rather a source of strength and comfort- the simple good in life, I guess.

 

I identify primarily as an atheist. There is a new movement within atheism right now called "atheism+" that I quite like. It's similar to secular humanism; however, it does have some slight differences, not in beliefs so much as in emphasis, approach to religion and believers, and history. I'm waiting to see whether it goes anywhere before officially identifying with it.

I also like Pret Allez' response.

 

What is secular feminism Pret Allez? I tried looking it up but I couldn't find anything on it. I'm just curious since I've never heard of it.

 

I have to commend you for including "philosophy" in the title to make this discussion inclusive of all worldviews, theistic or otherwise.

I think that out of all of the major religions, Buddhism gets it right the most. But I think its tenants are just not followable in a modern society. Are there lessons to be learned from them? Absolutely. But I don't think perfectly following the path of Buddhism is feasible or practical in our modern world.

My own philosophy could probably be most succinctly described as secular egalitarian humanism. That said, I give spirituality a lot more credit than I think many atheists do. When I sit down and talk with some who describes themselves as "spiritual" or "deistic", I often find that the only difference between them and I is that I don't ascribe any kind of supernatural explanation to the phenomenon we talk about.

For example, when I talk spirituality with my mother, who is spiritual, we usually end up talking about the same things, just calling them different names. What she calls our thoughts attracting the things we think about, I call self-fulfilling prophecies. What she calls the soul, I call our vitality or our reputation (depending on the context). When she says, "Everything happens for a reason," I say, "Your hardships can be learning experiences."

What I usually find to be the main difference between my philosophy and that of a spiritual person is that all the things a spiritual person ascribes to some kind of deity or force, I think come from within ourselves. I know there are a lot of people who talk about "God" as some kind of force within us. I think that force is us. When a spiritual person says, "God gave me strength," I think the strength really came from within them, and the just didn't believe they could be that strong. I say, believe it. Believe in yourself. That's my philosophy.

 

Atheism.

The only thing I do believe in is that there is such thing as fate. I believe that certain things happen for a reason to create a certain outcome. I've experienced many situations where a string of events happened, contrary to what I expected or originally planned, that led to me meeting certain people in my life or that led to some drastic changes in my life. So it's basically belief that "A" happened because of "B, C, and D." If "C" had been "E," "A" would not have been "A." One minor change in a sequence of events can lead to a totally different outcome, so I believe that fate is when a series of events happen exactly the way they happen and produce an outcome beyond our control or intention.

Regardless, I don't think any of this has to do with a higher power, just to be clear.

 

My religion is Islam and as for my political views I identify myself as a Socialist.

 

Thank you.

Since you are the only one who has outright said "atheism", I have a question for you or anyone else who wishes to answer.

What do you think of those who do believe in "God"? Personally, despite being Agnostic, I do believe in a universal consciousness/intelligence. Even though there is great suffering in the world, there are just as many (if not more) amazing things life for it to be just simply be an inconsequential accident or for us to be here "just because". Just look at the complexity of an atom or the irises of our eyes. I do believe that the universe runs on natural laws, but how did those laws come to be?

Of course, I don't know the answer; but I don't believe that this life is all we experience. Whether there is an afterlife, we are reincarnated or something else entirely.

 

To answer your question in two parts:

1) What I think of those who believe in "God" - Now, I'm just being totally honest with my opinion without the intention of offending anyone who believes differently than me, but I think believing in "god" is a way for people to cope or deal with life's many tragedies...and maybe at the same time, to have something to thank for the good that does happen in their lives. I feel like people who "live for god" or who are always attributing everything in their life to god just need to have something to believe in in order to feel some comfort that maybe there's something/someone "watching over them." They want to pray to believe that a higher power will answer; they want to thank to believe that their gratitude is being heard or to think that they will continue to be blessed for their faithfulness to a god. Whatever the case is, I personally don't buy it at all. For example, I hate when celebrities win an award and thank god for it...what the hell makes them think a god was responsible for any of it? Why don't they just recognize that they have talent and thank the people who voted for them! God didn't cast any votes... And for people who go through a huge natural disaster that kills thousands of people, ruins their home, and ruins their lives and who still thank god that they came out okay...what the hell. Sure, things could always be worse, but thanking god?!

Again, I don't mean to sound harsh, but you asked, so I'm answering with the truth of what I feel/think.

2) I don't know how to explain how everything in this world came to be; in fact, nobody can ever answer that. It does bother me that I'll never know, and most of the time, I'm amazed by nature and by existence itself. I have no clue how humans came to be, and I'm astounded by the diversity of the animals that exist in the world. But, I'm still not willing to attribute any of this to a "God." It is what it is; we are here. If anything, I believe in science.

 

Well first you're asking about the people who belive in god and then you're talking about god himself (actually I don't know if I can use that word. I mean "himself".) and the reason things happen leeding me to the conclusion that you're asking if someone believes that god does or does not exist. Sorry if I got it wrong.
I'm afraid I can only answear to the first part because the second one is a little tricky. I don't know if god exists but if something does I think it's not the way anyone is decribing(talking about relegion) it.
So about the first part. I do believe that people believe in god because they need to. They need him. They need hope. Which I find very natural. I myself have wished god really existed at some points (again not saying that he doesn't). Without god what is the actual point of living? In my country most people are baptised christians (when I say most I'm talking 98% [well at least as far as I can see]) which means people believe that the true life is not now. That they will live for eternity. And that is getting their hopes a bit up don't you think? Wouldn't a lot more people be deppressed and so on if they couldn't find a meaning in life?
I don't believe that there actually is a reason that we do exist. I think it's just coincidence. But then what is coincidence? I don't know if there is an end in this story or if it just keeps going perpetually... I mean why am I here? Why am I typing right now? What if I hadn't been gay and have never found this site or if I was born in Africa and had already died from starvation right know or what if I was raised in a totaly deferent environment where I wouldn't have to be here because being a homosexual would mean the same thing as if being a heterosexual. Who am I anyways? What am I? Do I really exist?

 

@musikk021

I do completely agree with you about people who thank God for trivial things. If there is a God, the creator of the infinite universe, it has better things to worry about than the award you won or whether or not your football team wins the Superbowl.

I do believe in Science as well. I'm pro-evolution and anti-biblical creationism, I think the Big Bang is the closet to us knowing how the universe began, etc. And so it is clear, while I do think there MIGHT be an intelligence behind all this, I'm not a subscriber to Intelligent Design as a science. It is not a science (more of a philosophy) and should not be taught in public schools as such.

 

I identify as an atheist, a secular humanist (although I also "secular feminist," which might be more accurate), and a democratic socialist. Each leads logically to the next, in my opinion. That is, I am a democratic socialist because I am a secular humanist, and I am a secular humanist because I am an atheist.

On a more discrete level, I draw my worldview from elements of Buddhism (concept of no self), liberation theology (working to achieve a vision of Heaven on Earth), existentialism (finding meaning in meaninglessness), Judaism (need for atonement before forgiveness, judging societies by how they treat the worst off people, charity as a moral duty--although one that I am currently failing at), and Christianity (not judging others--or at least trying not to).