Your thoughts on God and religion

[loseyourname]

Let's see if we can spark some discussion here. I want to know what you think about religion. Is there a God? How can you possibly know? Do you practice a religion? If so, then why. What are the advantages and disadvantages of religion, should there be a separation of church and state, etc.

I'm not a particularly religious person myself, though I would not go so far as to say I'm certain that all religions are completely wrong and I believe that there is no God. I've thought about it long and hard, and I can't find enough evidence to really sway me in either direction.

So, take the poll and post your comments. Hopefully, we'll be at each other's throats in no time.

[spiral]

"should there be seperation of church and state?"

In the US,yes.

Seperation of church and state is important since its such a diverse counrty, with people of various religious backgrounds.

as for other countries such as Armenian and Israel, No. Church and state go hand in hand. The church is the core of the people, and culture. Without the church, the state and culture can't be as strong, and will lack the solidarity which the church insures.

Part of the reason of the Haskalah movement was to preserve the religion of Judaism and the devotion to the Torah in the Jewish people.

culture and religion have a symbiotic relationship each feeding the other.

[Xpeed]

Originally posted by spiral
Part of the reason of the Haskalah movement was to preserve the religion of Judaism and the devotion to the Torah in the Jewish people.

I see somebody has been taking Jewish studies classes

God and religion I could care less. The only time I go to church is for weddings, other than that almost never sat foot in one.

[Artsakhtsi]

I Belive in God, always did, always will.

[sSsflamesSs]

I do believe in God (a higher power). Every time I've needed God, God has come through for me, sooner or later. Coincidence? I think not.

Many events take place that can't be due simply to chance. The rules of entropy wouldn't allow it. The existence of a higher power is necessary to make sense of these events.

Notice how I didn't use he or she? I think that the gender is irrelevant.

I am not someone who you'd call a religious person, in the sense that I do not go to church too often (average of 1x/year - for weddings/baptisms, or when I went to church in Armenia when I went back in 2000 and burned a candle for gratitude that I'd been able to go back) and do not pray in public. I think demonstrating your "religiousness" to others is plain bullxxxx. Who are you trying to impress? I can't stand people that freak out from the possibility of missing church on Sunday morning. Personally, I pray on my own, ALONE, with no one around. So yes, that's my story.

[SagGal]

I'm not very religious, but I believe in God. I go to church maybe like one or two times a month or so.

[Anonymouse]

Let's see if we can spark some discussion here. I want to know what you think about religion. Is there a God? How can you possibly know? Do you practice a religion? If so, then why. What are the advantages and disadvantages of religion, should there be a separation of church and state, etc.

Believing or not believing in God is purely a subjective matter, and ultimately depends on what world view you take. If you take the materialistic world view, which was advocated by many such as Freud, Marx, etc., the only thing that there exists is what we know and what we can establish with research and testability, indeed according to most of the scientific establishment. One does not have to assume religion in order to be of the spiritual persuasion that yes there is a dualistic nature of existence and a belief in God and another life perhaps.

Most people who reject God do so on the account of the belief in it not being "scientific", in other words not yielding to the laws of testability which come with science, whether its biology or physics, which deal with the material world. But how does one expect to answer the spiritual question of God using criteria for a materialistic world? Those are two mutually exclusive things. Freud called his world view "scientific" because of its premise that knowledge comes only from research. Of course this basic premise cannot itself be based on scientific research. Rather, it is a philosophical assumption that cannot be proven. One can only assume that all knowledge comes from science and "proving" and that no knowledge comes from the spiritual world view.

For me personally, I have gone through my phase of not believing in God, and according to Freud this is rooted both in our psyche and our childhood, our fear of being left alone, so he says we create a God out of this fear, sort of like a father figure. I have come to find that, no matter what earthly pleasures or ideologies or isms or rewards I have been exposed to, those things that offered you material bliss and eternity have never and cannot satisfy me in the way that my spiritual bond with the spiritual world exists, and which I gain through reading and analyzing and enriching myself.

I'm not a particularly religious person myself, though I would not go so far as to say I'm certain that all religions are completely wrong and I believe that there is no God. I've thought about it long and hard, and I can't find enough evidence to really sway me in either direction.

Ultimately its a conflict within your own self that is questioning the existence of a God or something beyond our intelligence, a force if you will, no matter how you hyphenate it. One doesn't have to subscribe to a particular religion or sect to be spiritually involved with God or general spirituality and metaphysical stuff. Of course I see many people without even examining the main monotheistic religions of the world, comparing them, studying them, but outright rejecting them because of the church and how it forces people to believe in something that you cant prove. For one, we must distinguish between Churchianity and what the actual books of the said religion speak of. Then we can compare Christianity to Judaism, to Islam, to other pagan religions before its time and see many similarities and all speaking about morality as absolute, a world or existence beyond the material world, and the theme of a savior and resurrection is prevalent throughout religions. But one does not need to subscribe to any religion, and if one does, there is no harm in that. Our political conditioning has taught us that it is wrong to be spiritual or enhance your spirit, and to only focus on the material world, and transcendence through materialism, by attaching yourself to ideologies and isms and external institutions that promise this or that reward. The bulk of humanity has for the most part lost its spirituality.

There is this saying that goes like this:

I turn to you. . . I poke you in the arm with my finger
and I ask, "Is this your body?" you answer, "Yes." I
then ask, "Well,.... if that's your body, WHAT are you?"
The answer of course is a spiritual being.

[Anonymouse]

Originally posted by patlajan This thread has been done atleast twice and to death.

Thank you Captain Obvious, you're opinion is worth...what do you call it when the cash register is all empty?

Now I don't know if eggplants are capable of discussing this topic, but maybe you can make history here.

[Anonymouse]

That's a good start.

Of course, Freud would go along with your explanation, in fact many of thepsychoanalysists and existentialists themselves would argue, ala Aristotle, that man needs purpose and a reason and man's mind is what creates these things.

Of course what this argue does is reduce all things to a material worldview. So you actually do not believe in anything beyond the physical world, or a spirituality? I cannot help but wonder at the precision of all things to believe that there is some intelligence behind this, and ultimately it is faith that allows me to make this leap, which for each individual is different.

Thus what most atheists do is try to marginalize it as "Bah you're using faith again to defend the lack of evidence for such things", but like I said, to try to answer questions regarding spiritual transcendence of individuals with purely materialistic science criteria is going off the road.

I am to assume that you are an agnostic more leaning towards atheism?

[Anonymouse]

So those that claim to have had spiritual transcendence are delusional right?