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Poll: What is your religion?

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Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#261

Post by elliottkember »

chanakya wrote: post #257
Gormo wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apathetist is a better description. An agnostic says he doesn't know the answer; I'm saying the question is meaningless.

Studies have been done on the effect of (other people's) prayers in curing a patient. They've all shown no effect, but let's say the experiment had shown convincingly that prayers of the followers of a specific religion result in major improvements to the patients' health. Would you still say the question was meaningless? If not, how can a question be meaningless if it depends on the result of an experiment?

It's still jumping to an unrealistic conclusion. Interesting, for sure - but it'd just mean better scientific explanation is required, otherwise it's the very definition of superstition.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#262

Post by robin_reala »

baddox wrote: post #216
Gormo wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apathetist is a better description. An agnostic says he doesn't know the answer; I'm saying the question is meaningless.

Isn't the question only meaningless if the answer is No? Assuming you're talking about the traditional Judeo-Christian God, then you would certainly be missing out on a lot of good (both in this life and the next) if the answer is Yes.

a.k.a. Pascal’s Wager: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager . It’s rather broken as a theological argument, if only for the fact that who’s to say you’re choosing the right religion if you do decide to go down the spirituality route?

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#263

Post by axod »

SandB0x wrote: post #37

Hmm, mostly agnostic eh? Looks like a startup could shake things up here. Let's bootstrap a new religion! http://god.ly has a nice ring to it.

languages, frameworks, etc are the religions around here. Do you believe in node.js? jquery? git?

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#264

Post by tome »

etherael wrote: post #194
[deleted] wrote: post #184

[deleted]

No, I think it's absurd to have a religion linked into ethnicity and I find the whole jewish is it a religion or is it an ethnicity question very confusing. I'd love a conclusive answer but as far as I can tell there doesn't appear to really be one.

Jewishness is a combination of religious, ethnic, and cultural factors. There's a lot of typically "Jewish" thought, for example, that is not religious.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#265

Post by tome »

robryan wrote: post #98
caf wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, from a purely philosophical standpoint, I tend to agree that I can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God. As such, I used to describe myself as an agnostic. However, more recently I have recognised that underneath that, deep down I just don't believe that there is a God - while simultaneously acknowledging the unprovability of this belief. So I now self-describe as atheist, and the reason why seems to…

Not only does it have little value in explaining the world around us but it encourages people just to accept the world around them as is and not attempt to understand it better.

I strongly disagree. I think some forms of religion, Christianity included, are very good at explaining how to understand the world and the forces (especially good and evil) at work in it -- and it encourages its adherents to change the world for the better.

I also happen to think that these religions' interpretations of the world are wrong.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#266

Post by ntoll »

I practice Zen, but since there is no concept of God or other supernatural "magic" I can also accurately describe myself as an atheist although this might be better categorized as "it's complicated".

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#267

Post by tome »

lukeqsee wrote: post #93
zephyrfalcon wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, well. I am from the ungodly Netherlands and have been living in Florida for about 9 years now. From what I can tell, the European media sure like to paint the US as a very religious country (among other things); and certainly, many Americans feel like they are, or pretend to be. At the same time, many of those same Americans do everything their god forbids, and apparently seem to think this is perfectly OK, assu…

In the USA it is culturally and socially acceptable to be "religious." Many individuals take up a religion for acceptance one way or the other, without harking to the power of it. So basically, they slap a name on themselves, and go to church off/on. You cannot tell religion till it is unpopular, and oftentimes till it is persecuted.

You cannot tell religion till it is unpopular, and oftentimes till it is persecuted.

Great point. It's hard to tell if someone really believes in something when professing belief in that thing is universally expected in society.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#268

Post by rubinelli »

revolvingcur wrote: post #234
rubinelli wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Faith is the belief in what you can't prove. From a strictly rational point of view, it's a kind of madness, and the gospels explicitly point it out. To use a source I'm sure you know, in I Corinthians 13 there is an apparent contradiction: even if you act piously, you act in vain if if you don't feel love. The religious experience is emotional and visceral, not logical. It comes before codes and rules. From this per…

I'm not sure your example proves your assertion. This isn't sarcasm, I simply don't follow your reasoning. I will acknowledge, though, that the scriptures certainly do assert (Hebrews 11:1) the distinction between faith and proof. I was using the word "prove" ironically. My actual contention was that believers lack not just proof, but also reason. They act certain, but cannot explain their certainty except with self-…

I see. The Bible is the Word of God because the Bible says so. There's no logic to follow here. So how can people be so sure? As I said, it's because they believe deep down in their emotions, not in their logical mind. You can't be convinced; you have to be converted.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is that Christianity isn't meant to be intellectually satisfying. It's about flesh and blood, as you can see from the Holy Supper. Christians ritually eat the Messiah to be united with Him.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#269

Post by klipt »

etherael wrote: post #194
[deleted] wrote: post #184

[deleted]

No, I think it's absurd to have a religion linked into ethnicity and I find the whole jewish is it a religion or is it an ethnicity question very confusing. I'd love a conclusive answer but as far as I can tell there doesn't appear to really be one.

There are several ethnicities (Ashkenazim, Sephardim, etc.) which are historically Jewish, just as there are several ethnicities (Irish, Hispanic, etc.) which are historically Catholic. When someone says they are ethnically Jewish it generally means they belong to one of those ethnicities, and grew up with the associated foods, festivals and other cultural influences.
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